PLATINUM2024

Hope For Three

Autism Advocates. Providing Help. Creating Hope.

aka Hope For Three   |   Sugar Land, TX   |  www.hopeforthree.org

Learn how to support this organization

Mission

To walk alongside and support families on their autism journey.

Ruling year info

2011

CEO

Mrs. Darla Farmer

Main address

4771 Sweetwater Blvd. #358

Sugar Land, TX 77479 USA

Show more contact info

Formerly known as

Blessed Be Hope For Three, Inc.

EIN

27-3572770

NTEE code info

Autism (G84)

Disabled Persons' Rights (R23)

IRS filing requirement

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

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Register now

Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Autism is the leading and fastest-growing developmental disability in the United States, affecting 1 in 36 American children. Autism is more common than pediatric AIDS, childhood cancer, and juvenile diabetes combined. A child is diagnosed every 11 minutes. The annual cost of care for one child is about s about $60,000 and the lifetime cost of care is estimated to extend up to $2,400,000. The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder increased over 317% in the last 20 years (CDC, March 2023). Autism is not going away, nor is the need for critical support for families with autistic loved ones.

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?

Outreach and Awareness

Hope For Three initiates education and outreach in the community and school systems so we can better reach our target audience. Outreach increases awareness and builds support for those affected by autism, while also providing knowledge to families who might not have previously been able to obtain treatment and services for their children with ASD. It's Cool to Care is a county-wide awareness campaign presented in the public school systems. The program is an effort to educate empower and enable young people about other young people with unique abilities - autism. From this effort a Teen Huddle was formed. The Huddle created two programs, 1) Sibling Sessions and 2) Parents Time Out. The Huddle is comprised of 18 teens from local area high schools. The Huddles mission: To increase autism awareness, acceptance and understanding among teens. The Huddle partnered with a local church to hold the Sibling Sessions (SS) & Parents Time Out (PTO). SS is a mentor program exclusively for siblings of kids with autism. The Sessions allow siblings to have the undivided attention of a teen “buddy” for the duration of a school year, develop friendships and encourage support through group activities and mentor sessions. PTO offers parents a safe place to drop all their kids for a three hour respite giving caregivers some much needed time off; a rare occasion for most, a first time out for many. PTO provides activities for both children with autism and their siblings simultaneously. The programs were developed to provide support to parents, caregivers and children affected by autism that might not otherwise have access to these opportunities. CIT (Crisis Intervention Training) focuses on training local law enforcement professionals and first responders to recognize and respond effectively to hostile situations that may have a child on the autism spectrum involved. Hope for Three is the official autism educator of The Fort Bend County Sheriff department.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Caregivers

Hope For Three offers free resources to any inquiring party and financial aid to qualified residents in Fort Bend County, TX. Through the Family Resources program we address the urgent need to provide financial aid (Family Assistance Awards) to uninsured or underinsured children so they have access to vital services, including, but not limited to physical, occupational, behavioral or speech therapies, at the earliest stage of life possible. After an extensive application process, approved payments are always made to the service provider, treatment facility or vendor and never to the family directly. Although we attempt to help any child with ASD, the client population we typically serve is 2-12 years of age. Hope for Three is the only nonprofit in the county to provide financial assistance and the only nonprofit to focus exclusively on the leading developmental disability in the United States, autism spectrum disorder. Although we work in concert with other organizations, no one does what we do.

Population(s) Served
Caregivers
Adults

Where we work

Affiliations & memberships

Texas Crisis Intervention Team Organization of the Year 2023

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

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

Hours of mentoring

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

Children and youth, Adults, Ethnic and racial groups, Caregivers, Families

Related Program

Outreach and Awareness

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Teen Huddle: host Sibling Sessions, teen volunteers with the sibling of a child with autism for the duration of a school year. Friendships are formed and bonds created through a host of activities

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.

Our primary goals include identifying families with children on the autism spectrum, providing support including increased access to a higher-quality of treatment and services at the earliest stages of life, and increasing resources available to families. Early intervention is imperative to improve life outcomes.

Also, generate community outreach to increase awareness, and build support for those affected by autism, while also providing knowledge to families who might not have previously been able to obtain services for their children on the autism spectrum.

We strive to bridge the financial gap between providers and families, raise autism acceptance and understanding and provide inclusive opportunities for children and their families.

Thousands of children with autism will soon become thousands of young adults with autism. The human and financial costs for those who do not receive adequate treatment can devastate families for a lifetime. It is proven that with early intervention and proper treatment children with ASD will assimilate into society more easily and family stress will be reduced.

The more our community learns about the challenges of living with autism from outreach efforts we provide, the better they are able to understand and support families through the difficult journey of diagnosis, intervention and management of autism. By integrating children with disabilities, such as ASD, we not only enrich their lives, but our lives and the lives of those in our shared community. With increased programs and services to children with autism, everyone benefits.

In addition to increased funding opportunities, we plan to continue to recruit, train and utilize an increased number of volunteers for the organization in a variety of facets. By engaging these volunteers, we are able to build our support for families affected by autism and awareness within the greater community.

Hope For Three has garnered local and regional support from media partners and volunteers. Now that we have a dedicated, trained, and qualified staff in place, we plan to expand these efforts by providing consistency, developing relationships, and maintaining Hope for Three's place in our community's hearts and minds.

Reach thousands in the community through outreach and awareness efforts; an estimated 8,000 community and family members.
Increased collaborations with Greater Houston service providers, professionals, and community partners.
Featured on television, monthly publications, and community newspapers. We reach an estimated audience of about 500,000 annually, including all social media channels.
Trained over 4,000 members of law enforcement and first responders on the characteristics of autism and engagement strategies.
Since its inception in 2011, Hope For Three awarded over $1,800,000 in financial assistance to children with autistic children, loved ones, and their families, and has provided over 7,000 quality resources to inquiring parties.
The urgent need to reach more families, educators, and others is the organization's primary concern, as is letting the public know who we are, what we do, and how we can help.

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 demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
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 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

  • 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, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time

Financials

Hope For Three
lock

Unlock financial insights by subscribing to our monthly plan.

Subscribe

Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our 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.

Operations

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

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.

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.

Hope For Three

Board of directors
as of 09/09/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Mr. Patrick LaRue

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Term: 2012 -

Patrick LaRue

Partner, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

Mary Ann Gardner

Community Volunteer

Jacque Davis

Community Relations, OCuSOFT, Inc

Keith Borgfeldt

Spartan Wealth Management LLCPresident/Founder

Elizabeth Chipinski

Ret. Attorney, Phillips 66, Managing Counsel Labor/Employment/Benefits

Joe Cunneff

Financial Consultant, RJFS, The Noble Group

Sandra Stewart

VP Marketing, TNT Crane and Rigging

Tony K. Duckett JP, MBA

Lawyer, Mediator, Realtor

Chandeep Kohli

Program Manager of Specialized Programs, FBISD

Tracy Jackson

Deputy Chief Communications Officer, METRO Houston

Justin Moehn

Self-Advocate, Data Entry Clerk, BlueSprig

Debbie Neilson Perez

Ret. Educational Diagnostician

Talia Pennington-Dorsey

Director of College Counseling, Incarnate Word Academy

Michelle Watts

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 5/17/2024

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
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

Disability

We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.

Equity strategies

Last updated: 09/09/2024

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.