Undies For Everyone
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Families living in poverty experience domino effects including material hardship, directly affecting a child’s chances at future success. A pediatric journal article, “Poverty is Not Just an Indicator: The Relationship Between Income, Poverty, and Child Well-Being” highlights the issue, “Income poverty is associated with lower parental capacity to invest in developmental inputs that contribute to children's development and educational outcomes”(https://www.academicpedsjnl.net/article/S1876-2859(15)00383-6/fulltext ). Lack of underwear is a clear material hardship, made more difficult for impoverished families to secure because new underwear is not accepted by clothing donation organizations, it is a costly item, and few agencies give children underwear. A survey commissioned by JCPenney found that “46% of parents living in poverty say that underwear is among the clothing items that tend to be the hardest to find or get for their child(ren)” (https://www.jcpnewsroom.com/news-releases/20
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
2023 Underwear Distribution
UFE is giving 7 pairs of underwear to over 214,000 children living in poverty and/or crisis. Distribution partners include federally mandated school district Homeless Department, Child Protective Services, Community Closets, Boys and Girls Clubs and pediatric mobile units. Over 75 distribution partners work with UFE to distribute 1.5 million pairs of underwear in 35 U.S. cities.
Undies for Change
Undies for Change: Created to make it possible for children anywhere in the US to receive underwear and offer a companies and organizations an opportunity to volunteer in their own offices. When a company or organization sponsors an Undies for Change program, we ship a minimum of 2,520 pairs of flat underwear, bags, and stickers. A UFE staff member trains the group leader to roll and pack the underwear in bags of 7, box it and deliver it to a local children’s organization. Undies for Change has quickly become a very popular program, and to date, participant companies include Chevron, Geico, Emerson, Halliburton and countless volunteer organizations.
One Click Undies
One Click Undies has informally been a part of UFE programming for more than five years but was officially named and partner materials created in 2021. Using a custom created Amazon wish list, individuals, organizations, and companies sign up to do a virtual drive that can easily be added onto Undies for Change or done as a stand-alone project. The underwear is sent to Undies for Everyone World Headquarters in Houston, then packed by volunteers for shipping to partner distributors.
Volunteering in Houston
Volunteering in Houston is a popular activity for families, groups and companies committed to volunteering. As one of the only nonprofits that welcomes children as young as 6, many families bring their children to us for their first philanthropic experience. We are committed to family participation, believing that we can serve children in need and teach children who do not need underwear about the importance of helping kids just like themselves.
Where we work
Awards
2019 Innovation in the Field of Child Advocacy 2019
Children at Risk
Amy Weiss named Hero 2022
CNN Heroes
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsHow many children receive underwear each year
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
2017 totals DO NOT reflect Hurricane Harvey numbers. Decrease from 2020 to 2021 reflects change in programming from serving one pair per child after an in school accident to each child receiving 7.
How many pair of underwear are distributed each year
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
2017 numbers do not reflect serving men, women and children affected by Hurricane Harvey. 1,500,000 pairs.
Number of new donors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Other - describing something else
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of organizational partners
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
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?
2022 Goals:
1. Distribute 1,100,000 pairs of underwear to underserved US children.
2. Add Los Angeles as the 16th UFE city.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1.Implement expansion plans to serve children in 16 US cities .
2.Identify and create partnerships with volunteer and granting organizations in each city.
3. Partner with vetted social service agencies and federally mandated school district Homeless Departments.
4. Employ PR and marketing communications to establish presence in new cities.
5. Offer local packing opportunities to benefit additional local children.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Undies for Everyone has capabilities limited only by our imagination. New underwear for disadvantaged children is a need that has not been specifically addressed by other organizations and UFE is well aware of the opportunities to successfully replicate the program in other cities and states.
The COVID pandemic opened an opportunity for UFE to change distribution, focusing on giving 7 pairs to children served by school districts and social service agencies. This change assists children in millions of impoverished homes experiencing material hardship.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
-In 2021 UFE is set to increase underwear distribution by 26%.
- UFE has distributed over four million pair of underwear since its inception in 2012, including 2 million pair to those affected by Hurricane Harvey.
- UFE partners with federally mandated school district homeless departments, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and vetted social service agencies directly serving impoverished children.
- More than 1,800 volunteers serve UFE each year (prior to COVID). Reopening volunteers this year.
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 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 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 people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive
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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
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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
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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.
Undies For Everyone
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2024
Ms. Megan Ryan
Jim Grace
Grace McEwan
Barry Mandel
Discovery Green Conservancy
Megan Ryan
Patient Advocate
Stephanie Magers
Chevron
Lisset Garza
Shell Oil, retired
Cyndy Garza-Roberts
Comcast
Mark Parsons
Reliant Energy
Dominique Calhoun
Calhoun Meredith
Dr. Sanghamitra Misra
Texas Children's Hospital
Evan Wildstein
Every Texan
June Deadrick
CenterPoint Energy
Jamie Kaplan
Consumer Electronics Association
Rebekah Herman
PNC Bank
Jason Buchman
Stratum Reservoir
Jay Aiyer
Harris County Attorneys Office
Noemi Scantlebury
United Airlines
Jaclyn Goodell
Conoco Phillips
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? No
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
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/04/2023GuideStar 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 disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- 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 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.