Autism Speaks
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
We aim to: --Increase global understanding and acceptance of people with autism -- Be a catalyst for life-enhancing research breakthroughs -- Increase early childhood screening and timely interventions -- Improve the transition to adulthood --Ensure access to reliable information and services throughout the life span
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Autism Response Team
The Autism Response Team (ART) is specially trained to connect people with autism, their families and caregivers to information, tools, and resources. https://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/autism-response-team
888-AUTISM-2
Advocacy
Advocating for policies and programs in support of individuals and families with autism https://www.autismspeaks.org/advocacy
Autism Care Network (ACN)
The Autism Care Network (ACN) is a collaboration of Autism Speaks® and some of the finest children's hospitals and academic institutions in North America, specializing in multi-disciplinary medical care for children with autism. As a learning health system, together, they work to develop evidence-based protocols and standards of care for many of the most challenging medical conditions surrounding autism today. ACN best practices are shared with physicians and medical facilities nationwide to improve outcomes for all children with autism.
https://www.autismspeaks.org/autism-care-network
Science
Autism Speaks is committed to being a catalyst for research breakthroughs that enhance lives today and deliver a spectrum of solutions in the years ahead. This work involves unraveling the biology of autism, including its varied sub-types and dimensions and translating research findings into life-enhancing solutions.
https://www.autismspeaks.org/press-release/autism-speaks-launches-mssng-portal-open-access-genomics-research
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 children screened for autism and other developmental delays
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Infants and toddlers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
By taking the M-CHAT questionnaire, families help their child’s doctor determine whether additional screening is needed. Learn the Signs public service campaign empowers families to seek help early.
Number of Facebook followers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our Facebook community increases understanding and acceptance of people with autism by sharing their diverse and inspiring stories of adults and children on the spectrum.
Number of Autism Speaks supported publications
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Academics, People with disabilities
Related Program
Science
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
# of publications (original research, chapters, review articles, other scientific content) supported by funding (in part or in whole) published in peer-reviewed journal/invited with editorial review
Number of people with autism and their families served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adults
Related Program
Autism Response Team
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Personalized info provided by our specially trained Autism Response Team, tool kits on a variety of topics accessed, unique resource page views on our website, and postings of autism friendly events.
Number of volunteer grassroots advocates, including advocacy ambassadors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Advocacy
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our community of active advocates and volunteers from across the country work hand-in-hand to implement advocacy initiatives: research funding, education, transition, lifelong services/supports.
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?
Autism Speaks is dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the life span for the needs of individuals with autism and their families. Our vision is a world where all people with autism can reach their full potential.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We do this through our mission based programs including Services & Supports, Science Research, Public Health, and Advocacy, and our collaboration and partnerships with organizations and professionals in the autism community.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Autism Speaks will relentlessly pursue strategies that make significant progress toward outcomes over the next 10 years. We have established strong research, public health, advocacy and services and support teams to drive our efforts as stated in the Next10 Vision, 3-year strategic plan and the annual business plan. We have also established strong field, operations, and fundraising teams to support and fuel our mission delivery efforts.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
It is clear that the mission of Autism Speaks will require the organization to grow in new ways and build capacity to be a sustaining organization to accelerate progress in science and support individuals with autism and their families over a lifetime. This will require investment in people, infrastructure and process in order to operate as a best in class non-profit organization. We have developed a Next10 Vision and subsequent 3-year strategic plans. The strategic plan is developed with input from volunteer leadership, board of directors and staff. Each year a business plan is developed to support the goals in the 3-year strategic plan. All staff members' individual goals are tied to the business plan goals. All metrics are reported monthly to ensure progress is being made.
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 using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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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
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- 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.
Autism Speaks
Board of directorsas of 09/13/2023
Brian Harper
RPT Realty
Term: 2020 -
Adrian Jones
Managing Director, Merchant Banking Division, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Term: 2016 -
Curtis Arledge
CEO, Mariner Investment Group. Former Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BNY Mellon Investment Management
Tom Bernard
Retired from a 30-year career in global finance. Co-founder with wife Sallie, of The Extreme Sports Camp, providing recreational opportunities for children on the autism spectrum.
Scott R. Carpenter
President and Chief Executive Officer, Savor Street Foods
Jennifer Caserta
Chief Transformation and People Officer, AMC Networks
Barry R. Feirstein
Retired founder of Feirstein Capital Management, a private investment management firm.
Adam Frazier
Vice President and Head of New York Leasing, Oxford Properties
Brian L. Harper
President, Chief Executive Office and Trustee, RPT Realty
Matthew Higgins
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, RSE Ventures
Adrian M. Jones
Managing Director, Merchant Banking Division, Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Tim Jones
Chief Executive Officer, Americas, Publicis Media
Aidan Kehoe
Co-founder, CEO and Board Member, Skout Secure Intelligence
Kevin J. Murray
Managing Director, BNY Mellon Investment Management
Jacquelyn Nance
President, Philanthropic Solutions, Ltd.
Herbert Pardes, M.D.
Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Jamie T. Richardson
Vice President, White Castle System, Inc.
Stuart Savitz
Founder, Law Offices of Stuart M. Savitz, LLC Operating Board, CP Acquisition LLC
Stephen Shore, Ed.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor, Ammon School of Education, Adelphi University
Steven P. Stanbrook
Former Chief Operating Officer International, S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
Cheryl Vitali
Worldwide General Manager, Kiehl's
Thomas Frazier, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology, John Carroll University: EVP, Virtual Clinical Care, Quadrant Biosciences
Robert C. Schwenkel
Corporate Counsel, Fried Frank
Darren Goode
Chief Marketing Officer, Zumper
Bill O'Connor
CEO of O'Connor Capital Partners
Subriana Pierce
Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Navigator Sales & Marketing
Jennifer Seidel
Digital Partnerships, Mastercard
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
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/04/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.