PLATINUM2023

Action Wellness

Putting good health into motion

aka Action Wellness   |   Philadelphia, PA   |  http://www.actionwellness.org

Mission

Action Wellness is a Philadelphia-based organization committed to helping people living with chronic diseases. Its services include medical case management; a range of health screenings including HIV testing, treatment as prevention, and prevention education; supportive housing; and volunteer services. Continuing its legacy of providing support and myriad services for individuals living with HIV disease, its Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers work together to sustain and enhance the quality of life for the diverse community it serves.

Ruling year info

1987

Executive Director

Ms. Mary Evelyn Torres

Deputy Executive Directo

Ms. Elizabeth Hagan

Main address

1216 Arch Street 6th Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19107 USA

Show more contact info

Formerly known as

ActionAIDS

EIN

23-2446355

NTEE code info

Personal Social Services (P50)

Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (F12)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

In September 1986, a group of 84 committed volunteers came together in Center City Philadelphia to form a community of care to provide services to people with AIDS. These were the partners, family, and friends of our founding volunteers. These volunteers acted, and ActionAIDS was founded. The mission statement simply read: “ActionAIDS believes that no one should face AIDS alone.” In June 2016, ActionAIDS expanded and rebranded as Action Wellness so that it could bring the same quality of medical case management, caring family atmosphere, and expertise to a broader base of clients.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Case Management Services

Medical Case Management is at the heart of Action Wellness. Our Medical Case Management program serves thousands of individuals and families each year in more than 30 locations, and is recognized both regionally and nationally. Establishing trust through one-on-one relationships, our Medical Case Managers work closely with clients to coordinate care, navigate through complex government systems, and expertly access medical, social, legal, and emergency services. We take great pride in the innovative programs we have developed and launched that uniquely address unmet client needs with measurable outcomes.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Action Wellness provides housing counseling and housing for homeless individuals and families with chronic illness. For our clients with HIV disease, Casa Nueva Vida (House of New Life) which was opened in 2004, provides permanent supportive housing. In addition, our Positive Living Program provides rental assistance to 20 HIV+ led households in scattered sites.

Population(s) Served
People with HIV/AIDS
Chronically ill people

The Buddy Program at Action Wellness provides volunteers who supply emotional support, companionship, and occasional assistance with the tasks of daily living within a mutually agreed-upon schedule of contact. Action Wellness provides preliminary training and ongoing peer support for Buddies throughout their service. The Action Wellness Buddy Program is one of the oldest and largest Buddy programs in the US, with more than 200 dedicated Buddies serving over 250 individuals and families each year.

Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses

Where we work

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of clients served

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

LGBTQ people, Economically disadvantaged people, Incarcerated people, People with diseases and illnesses, Substance abusers

Related Program

Case Management Services

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Action Wellness continues the ActionAIDS legacy of providing steadfast support to people living with HIV/AIDS. Having expanded its reach of opportunities to provide assistance, it is now helping people suffering from all chronic illnesses to gain access to the healthcare services they need. The work of Action Wellness continues to build a strong, diverse, and committed community of caring to make sure that no one faces their illness alone.

Action Wellness enhances the lives of individuals living with HIV and other serious chronic illnesses by providing holistic and trauma-informed health, prevention, and supportive services. The agency empowers those it serves to rise beyond the barriers of disease to achieve wellness and increased stability within the community.

Each year, Action Wellness serves over 4,000 clients through the efforts of over 400 dedicated volunteers and 100 professional staff. Our volunteers and staff focus on building relationships one person and one family at a time. Our services are relationship trauma informed, focused, client centered, and individualized.

2019 saw Action Wellness work with 3,414 unique clients and provide a range of programs for them. Our most frequent undertaking has remained HIV medical case management, and we are proud to be continuing the original purpose for which ActionAIDS was founded: to ensure that no one faces their illness alone. However, as time goes by, the way we put that mission into practice has changed. New forms of treatment and prevention of HIV are constantly being researched and discovered, and we are optimistic that these breakthroughs, along with the assistance provided by Action Wellness, will transform the lives of those we serve, helping our clients to achieve WELLNESS.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • 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

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    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 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

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve

Financials

Action Wellness
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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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

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

Action Wellness

Board of directors
as of 10/25/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board co-chair

Ms. Whitney Strickland

Temple University Hospital

Term: 2023 - 2025


Board co-chair

Mr. Jeffrey Alexander

Beneficial Bank

Term: 2023 - 2025

Leah Chaplin

Retired

Patricia Bass

Constella Futures

Kenneth Kleinman

Stevens Lee, LLP

Karl Krumholtz

Retired

Kate McGrann

Retired

Frank Pittner

Chubb

John Butts

PerformRX LLC

Rochelle Laws

TD Bank

Joe Quinn RN, BSN

Retired

Jonathan Beatty, MD

Elements Behavioral Health, Inc.

Meg Butler

City of Philadelphia

John Dawson Jr, PMP, CQA

Retired

Daniel DiBuo

U-Haul

Brenard Lundy

Retired

Dan Parente

Retired

Whitney Strickland

Temple University Hospital

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 10/25/2023
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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
Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx
Transgender Identity
Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Decline to state
Disability status
Person without a disability

The organization's co-leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender
Disability status
Person with a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

No data

Transgender Identity

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 01/20/2023

GuideStar 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

Data
  • 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.
Policies and processes
  • 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.