PLATINUM2023

South Oakland Shelter

Building equitable communities that alleviate poverty.

aka Lighthouse MI   |   Pontiac, MI   |  www.lighthousemi.org

Mission

We endeavor to build equitable communities and alleviate poverty in partnership with and in service to individuals, families, and organizations

Ruling year info

1989

President & CEO

Ryan Brandt Hertz

Main address

46156 Woodward Ave

Pontiac, MI 48342 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

38-2847849

NTEE code info

Temporary Shelter For the Homeless (L41)

Housing Expense Reduction Support, Rent Assistance (L82)

Housing Search Assistance (L30)

IRS filing requirement

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

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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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?

Emergency Shelter

Lighthouse recently opened a family emergency shelter that serves up to 18 families (54 individuals) each night. The individual apartments give families privacy and Lighthouse provides meals, activities, and case management to help families get back on their feet. This is the only permanent family emergency shelter in Oakland County.

In 2022, Lighthouse provided emergency shelter to 434 individuals (including 244 children under 18). This total 30,943 total nights of shelter.

Population(s) Served
Homeless people

Implementing housing-first programming allows Lighthouse to serve more people while reducing the increased community costs associated with re-stabilizing a greater number of people exposed to the trauma of homelessness. Lighthouse provides critical housing assistance programs targeting specific sub-populations, including: Chronic-Homeless Leasing Assistance Program, Rapid Re-Housing, and Supportive Housing for Individuals and Families in Transition.

In 2022, our Medium-Long Term Housing Programs (Permanent Supportive Housing, Transitional Housing, Emergency Housing Vouchers) provided housing assistance to 275 individuals within 145 households. We also served 62 households through Rapid Re-housing.

Population(s) Served
Adults

We believe that access to ongoing supportive services greatly assists households
in quickly resolving, and in some cases totally preventing, crises. Our supportive services
center around helping households retain their housing and increase their overall
stability. If enrolled in one of our housing programs, households are provided with consistent in-home
case management. Clients and case managers work together to establish service
plans that are specific to clients’ needs, goals, and desires. Supportive services
may include connection to benefits such as social security and SNAP, landlord
engagement to help households with lease compliance, access to basic needs such
as transportation and personal care items, and referrals to other service providers.

In 2022, 579 individuals from 275 households were served through Stability Service programming. 93% of those who exited Stability Services maintained their housing and increased their self sufficiency.

Population(s) Served

Many of the needs households have are unique or not covered by existing grant and funding streams. Lighthouse helps households meet these needs through our flexible online fundraising platform, HandUp. Since inception, we have raised nearly $4.5 million on HandUp to support projects and clients at Lighthouse. These funds have helped support our programs and over 1,000 clients meet their goals by providing funds for housing, transportation, education, medical expenses, and other basic needs.

Population(s) Served
Homeless people

Lighthouse continues to distribute emergency food in ways that protect clients, volunteers, and staff from contracting and spreading COVID-19. From our newly established food warehouse we store, package, and distribute produce and shelf stable food boxes. Lighthouse makes every effort to provide well-balanced food boxes packed with fresh produce, milk, bread and pantry stables such as pasta, cereal, canned meats, peanut butter, jelly, soups and beans. We distribute through home delivery, curbside pick-up at our Pontiac and Clarkston pantries, and at offsite partner locations in Royal Oak, Ferndale, Clarkston, and Southfield.

Home deliveries are happening through a network of volunteers and a partnership with Amazon delivery drivers. In 2022, we served 54,677 total individuals from 21,503 households. We also completed 14,520 at-home food deliveries.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Adults
Families

Where we work

Awards

Most Outstanding Volunteer Program 2009

Governor's Service Award

Health Impact Award 2022

Governor's Service Award

Finalist - Best Managed Nonprofit 2020

Crain's

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 bed nights (nights spent in shelter)

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Emergency Shelter

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Percentage of clients in our stability service programs that maintained their stability for one year.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Follow-up Care

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Holding steady

Number of individuals served through our housing programs

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Housing Programs

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of individuals served through our Emergency Shelter Program

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Emergency Shelter

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

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.

What we learned throughout 2020 and in the months following, is that while our team was able to sufficiently meet the increased need, our response was merely a short-term band-aid to a wide-scale, systemic issue. While COVID-19 exacerbated the needs of those struggling prior to the pandemic and impacted others for the first time, it also showed us a better way to serve people. With more attention and support from our community of donors, volunteers, and local officials, Lighthouse has been able to serve more people, more efficiently, and with more dignity than ever before. We now have a much better understanding of what is needed.

Lighthouse aims to increase our role in the emergency food services to help meet Oakland County’s scope of need, explore increased emergency shelter availability for children, adults, and families, become a leader in educating and inspiring members of the community to alleviate poverty, and increase services to existing clients through programs like the Center for Working Families.

The sense of urgency around sheltering the homeless and providing food to families in the midst of a pandemic shifted funding and program policies in a way that allowed us to serve a greater number of people in need. Lighthouse plans to work with community leaders, partner agencies, and government officials to continue serving at this heightened level while working towards implementing long-term solutions to the problems our community faces. We know what to do, and if given the right opportunities with the right partners and adequate funding, we can work together to alleviate poverty within Oakland County.

In February 2023, Lighthouse announced a $20M campus redevelopment and expansion project that include a housing opportunity center, a social supermarket, community spaces, and an economic opportunity center.

As one of the only emergency shelters equipped to serve families, and one of only a few 5-day a week food pantries that also offers food delivery in Oakland County, Lighthouse has been at the forefront of serving low-income families for decades. We know the struggles our neighbors face and the toll poverty takes on families and communities.

Lighthouse has identified the goals listed above as part of our strategic plan for the organization and is working to connect with community leaders, partner agencies, and government officials to help accomplish these goals. We have been growing our team to help us keep up with the growing demand in our community and are working with experts on long-term plans.

In February 2023, Lighthouse announced a $20M campus redevelopment and expansion project that include a housing opportunity center, a social supermarket, community spaces, and an economic opportunity center.

Stay tuned to our website for more updates.

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 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

Financials

South Oakland Shelter
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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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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

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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.

South Oakland Shelter

Board of directors
as of 06/23/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Richard Lewnau

Ryan Hertz

Lighthouse MI

John Harvey

Serenity Christian Church

William Mott

St. John Providence Health System

Richard Lewnau

Paul Plante

Jim Ciroli

Flagstar Bank

Harry Maisel

Susan Wellman

Keating Network

Jackie Buchanan

Genisys Credit Union

Manisha Dostert

Christ Church Cranbrook

Lamontre Harris

Honor Health

Jim Lambrecht

Lambrecht Realty

Sonja Lengnick

Kienbaum Hardy Viviano Pelton Forrest

Colleen Ochoa Peters

Meaningful Impact

Jacqui Spicer

Baker College

Dennis Blender

Blender Consulting Group

Jonathan Burleigh

Bodman PLC

Rachael Allen

Susan Cooper

Dr. Chanel Hampton

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 2/22/2023

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
Middle Eastern/Northern African
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data