SEALKIDS
SEALKIDS supports the children of Naval Special Warfare—everyday kids living in extraordinary circumstances.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Navy SEALs have a dangerous, demanding job that takes them away from home nine months of every year. Their children live in a world that few of us can comprehend. The fear of not knowing when—or if—they’ll ever see their dad alive again can cause academic, emotional, and behavioral issues that put additional stress on their families and prevent them from thriving.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Testing and Evaluation Program
SEALKIDS' Testing and Evaluation Program connects families to and provides funding for professionals devoted to finding the root cause of a child's learning difficulties. Our testing and evaluation service providers go through a rigorous vetting process and are highly respected by their colleagues in their field. Testing and evaluation provides targeted interventions to help the child more effectively overcome difficulties.
Specialized Needs Program
SEALKIDS' Specialized Needs Program connects families to and offers funding for professionals, recognized in their field, who provide interventions and therapies for children with learning disabilities and special needs. We provide funding for therapies that are not covered, or only partially covered, by Tricare.
Academic Support Program
SEALKIDS' Academic Support Program provides personalized educational assistance, whether a child needs help in all subjects or just one. We connect families to and provide funding for service providers who utilize proven methods to offer the appropriate help to improve academic performance for each child.
Enrichment Program
SEALKIDS' Enrichment Program provides outdoor leadership and education experiences to positively impact young adults in the NSW community. This program prepares these young adults for a lifetime of confidence and success, offering a unique learning experience outside of the classroom. This program serves a small number of students through a competitive essay-based application process
Advocacy Program
SEALKIDS' Advocacy Program connects families to and provides funding for education advocates in cases when parents need help navigating school systems, insurance companies, treatment providers, and even the judicial system. Advocates help parents ensure that their child's needs are met.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients participating in educational programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of children enrolled in one or more of our programs during the selected year.
Total number of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Total number of grants awarded to children enrolled in our programs.
Number of grants awarded to children with one or more diagnosed learning diability
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, People with learning disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
How many SEALKIDS grants served students with one or more diagnosed learning disabilities in the given year.
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?
SEALKIDS, through its programs, supports the children of Naval Special Warfare—everyday kids living in extraordinary circumstances. Through an encompassing approach of academic testing, tutoring, therapy, advocacy, and enrichment we foster the success and well-being of the child, critically reducing family stresses and ultimately keeping today’s Navy SEAL in the fight.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
As one of our country’s most elite military units, Navy SEALs are courageous and strong, and so are their families. However, even our bravest and strongest individuals need support, and it can be difficult to ask for that help. SEALKIDS has a deep and personal understanding of life in the NSW community and can help families to navigate both stated and unspoken barriers to a child’s success. Families in the Naval Special Warfare community, whether retired or active duty, have made great sacrifices for our country. SEALKIDS seeks to lessen the burden of their service by helping to ensure long term academic success for their children.
SEALKIDS works to serve the needs of these children through our five programs:
• The Academic Support Program provides personalized and individual educational assistance, whether a child needs help in all subjects or just one. We provide the appropriate help to improve academic performance for each child.
• The Specialized Needs Program provides interventions and therapies for children with learning disabilities and special needs. We assist with therapies that are not covered, or not fully covered by Tricare (the federally funded insurance program available to members of the US Armed Forces and their dependents). These are services and curriculums specifically for children with unique needs.
• The Testing and Evaluation Program is devoted to finding the root cause of a child’s learning difficulties. This knowledge allows interventions to be targeted and help the child more effectively overcome difficulties.
• The Advocacy Program provides education advocates in cases when parents need help navigating school systems, insurance companies, treatment providers, and even the judicial system. Advocates help parents ensure that their child’s needs are met.
• The Enrichment Program is designed to leverage the positive aspects of being a child in the Navy SEAL community through leadership and adventure opportunities to create a positive transformational impact.
We offer these programs through two grant cycles each year that align with academic semesters (Spring and Fall). Families seeking our support reach out through our website to begin the process. Once we have their information, they are paired with one of our Program Specialists who works to determine and implement an individualized plan to best meet their needs. By working with over 150 exceptional service providers to serve each child where they live, we have a strong track record of helping children address their educational difficulties, helping these students reach their full potential and reducing stress for a Naval Special Warfare family. In 2020, 100% of SEALKIDS' participant children showed increased academic performance in at least one measure.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The SEALKIDS staff and board are a capable group of individuals that strive to adhere to the SEALKIDS values of honor, commitment, courage, excellence, and empathy. Every staff and board member is highly dedicated to serving the NSW Community.
• The Executive Director of SEALKIDS, Dr. Gretchen McIntosh is responsible for day-to-day operations, consistent achievement of program and financial objectives and the implementation of sustainability practices in efforts to fulfill the mission. She brings extensive experience navigating organizational and legislative policy initiatives and ensures ongoing programmatic excellence.
• The SEALKIDS Program Specialists serve as points of contact for the families and service providers. These hardworking members of our staff assist the families by connecting the family with a skilled service provider that matches their child’s individual needs. They assist the families and service providers with the grant application process and are the point of communication and accountability for everyone involved with the grant process. Program Specialist Alma Fowler is based on the West Coast and Program Specialist Lesley Witt serves families on the East Coast.
• SEALKIDS Service Providers are experts in their fields. They implement pre and post-assessment, develop individualized service plans, and capture objective measurements to show progress toward skill mastery for each student. Service Providers are located in the child’s hometown, allowing partnership with the student’s teacher and school.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2020, our most impactful year to date, 80% of grants were awarded to students with one or more diagnosed learning disabilities. A total of 606 grants were awarded in 2020 to 311 participants, providing thousands of hours of services to children in 15 different states and Guam. Distribution across our programs was as follows: 61% in Academic Support, 4% in Advocacy, 27% in Specialized Needs, and 8% in Testing and Evaluation. In 2020, 100% of children showed improvement in at least one academic measure.
SEALKIDS' goal is to expand our services in order to serve every child in the Naval Special Warfare community that needs our help.
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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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
NSW and NSW-support Active Duty/Separated/Retired Families
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Open communication between families served and SEALKIDS Family Advocates,
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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 inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve,
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
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?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We act on the feedback we receive,
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What challenges does the organization face when 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
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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.
SEALKIDS
Board of directorsas of 06/20/2022
Greg Bonifield
SEALKIDS Inc.
Term: 2021 - 2023
Ray Fitzgerald
Greg Bonifield
Joe Valentine
Thomas Zaccagnino
Holly Fussell
Robert Smith
Alexander Krongard
Leigh Madden
Joseph Popp
Walter Schuppe
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? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
No data
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data