By Kids Inc.
We create understanding through storytelling
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
BYkids believes that we can understand the world's challenges -- and how to best meet them -- through the personal stories of young people. BYkids is a global movement that uses storytelling through film to inform, engage and inspire action. BYkids provides kids around the world with the training and the video cameras to make short documentaries about their lives. Renowned filmmakers mentor these young people in the art of filmmaking. Through innovative distribution platforms including public television, Discovery Education and PenPal Schools, BYkids films enable fresh perspectives on topics like poverty, displacement, juvenile justice and access to education. Thousands of people are joining our movement, seeing our films, developing and engaging with our educational curriculum. Please join us and support the production of a new series of films about living with disability, the effects of globalization, resurgent Jewish life in Germany, mental health and modern-day slavery.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
FIlm Production
Yearly, BYkids packages the five films for wide distribution including film festivals, television broadcast, video on demand, DVD distribution, school programs and web downloads.
These are stories that reflect critical global issues from a perspective rarely told in the mainstream media. BYkids is contributing to international awareness within the American public, stimulating debate through virtual and grassroots networking, and offering new solutions to global issues.
Education
In addition to the 35 million students and one million teachers reached through Discovery Education, PBS delivered free, standards-aligned educational resources to at least 115,000 educators and 218,000 students since the early 2016 national broadcast, which reached 64 million viewers across America. The collection of materials accessible via PBS LearningMedia, a web portal with more than 1.6 million subscribers worldwide. Finally, a companion course that connects students globally around the films via social media is available to all educators through PenPal Schools, an online learning community with more than 70 thousand student and teacher subscribers from 90 countries
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of broadcast audience members
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
83 million American households engaged with Seasons One and Two FILMS BYKIDS on Public Television on 240 channels. An additional 1 million saw them on CBS digital.
Number of teachers who use BYkids films and curricula to address diverse global issues with empathy.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
BYkids films and educational materials are distributed to 1.6 million teachers through PBS LearningMedia and five million teachers through Discovery Education reaching over 52 million students.
Engaging in meaningful conversation around globally-relevant topics.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Using BYkids films and educational material, partners Discovery Education and PenPal Schools help us reach 52 million kids who can learn outside the classroom.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
BYkids produces documentary films by kids about their lives with the goal of engaging audiences of other kids in conversations about topics like immigration, bullying, juvenile justice, climate change and child marriage. BYkids films are distributed through platforms including public television, Discovery Education and PenPal Schools, which provide teaching materials to make the film topics relevant and actionable.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
BYkids finds globally-relevant stories to bring to a wide audience, focused on in-school engagement. BYkids pairs a master filmmaker with one kid who tells his/her story. Public television broadcasts the films nationally and provides teaching material to millions of teachers. The films and School Guides are distributed through Discovery Education to half the middle- and high- schools in American and to 150 countries through PenPal Schools. Additionally, BYkids hosts wide-ranging public events including school outreach, film festivals and public screenings and conversation at Film at Lincoln Center and the United Nations, to name a few.
Our young filmmakers create empathy and spark conversations that lead to social engagement.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Dynamic, expert and engaged board.
Partners include Discovery Education, PBS, PenPal Schools, Film at Lincoln Center, the United Nations, UNICEF, the Clinton Global Initiative.
International advisors from philanthropy, journalism and film production.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Produced two seasons of FILMS BYKIDS on PBS illuminating topics from the ravages of AIDS to Islamophobia to access to education for girls in the developing world to the Syrian refugee crisis.
BYkids aims to deliver Season 3 to broadcast on PBS to include a film about globalization in Bhutan, mental health on a Native American reservation, living with a disability and resurgent Jewish life in Germany in the face of rising worldwide anti-Semitism.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person),
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We use our Teacher Advisors to create educational material around each of our films.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
By Kids Inc.
Board of directorsas of 09/17/2020
Lucy Price
Hilary Adams
Holly Carter
BYkids
Susan Hoenig
LA Producer
Jonice Pahilha
J. Sisters
Graham Messick
60 Minutes
Lucy Price
Decors Price
Ric Burns
Steeplechase Films
Melanie Grisanti
Sesame Street
Alan Murray
Fortune Magazine
Cleo Godsey
Estee Lauder Companies
Stacy Boge
Boge Creative Group
Janet Goldsmith
MACA Associates
Eduardo Martinez
Citigroup
Michele Mitchell
Filmat11.tv
Tamsin Smith
SlipStreamStrategy
Hilary Adams
Sammy Chadwick
Stephanie Apt
Final Cut
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes