Break The Silence Against Domestic Violence

The International Voice of Domestic Violence

aka BTSADV   |   Colorado Springs, CO   |  www.breakthesilencedv.org

Mission

To educate communities on the dangers of domestic violence. To connect victims, survivors, and families impacted by domestic violence, and assist them in the transformation of their lives - by providing a personal development retreat, scholarships, financial empowerment, an advocate-run hotline, and our innovative awareness campaigns.

Ruling year info

2012

Executive Director

Heidi Lynne

Main address

530 Communication Circle

Colorado Springs, CO 80905 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

46-0720615

NTEE code info

Family Violence Shelters and Services (P43)

Civil Rights, Social Action, and Advocacy N.E.C. (R99)

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

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) aged 18 and older in the United States have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. As soon as a victim leaves their abusive relationship, it takes time, and often the road is difficult to heal. Break The Silence Against Domestic Violence compliments the services crisis shelters offer and assist in decreasing the number of times victims return to abusive partners. Recovering after abuse can be a lifelong journey. We are committed to addressing healing after the crisis by providing a national network for survivors to connect, speak out, and advocate against abuse. Our BTSADV “family” provides support to: Eliminate isolation and suicidal thoughts Reduce anxiety Build trust in healthy friendships Inspire passion Provide tools to manage PTSD symptoms Reduce depression symptoms

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?

Survivor Sister Retreat

Break The Silence Against Domestic Violence offers an Annual Survivor Sister Retreat for women affected by domestic violence. This intense program allows participants to engage in various workshops and activities throughout the course of the weekend. Together, our time is devoted to promoting individual development, bridging relationships amongst survivors, empowerment, and increasing awareness on mental health practices to encourage effective healing after trauma. We immerse survivors into a holistic healing journey created by survivors, for survivors. We believe a peer group approach encourages and supports an environment of true transformation and accountability for growth for each of our attendees.

The Annual Survivor Sister Retreat encompasses various workshops and activities to educate, empower, and connect survivors. The program encourages attendees to step outside of their comfort zone to truly experience healing like never before. The survivor advocates support each attendee through open discussions and break-out groups. We welcome survivors who are ready to begin their healing journey and experience a lifelong transformation alongside survivor sisters.

Population(s) Served
Women and girls
Victims and oppressed people

Every year, 5 million children witness abuse in their homes here in the United States.

This heartbreaking statistic inspired us to bring holiday cheer to homes impacted by domestic violence.

Holidays of Hope is our Annual gift drive to touch the hearts of families who are in need of holiday gifts. Our team of Holiday Helpers sponsor children under the age of 18 with necessary essentials or wish list items.

This program is particularly special because we sponsor Angel Babies. Angel Babies are bereaved children who have lost a parent(s) due to domestic violence homicide. These harsh tragedies are terribly difficult to cope with as a small child. Many of these children are now under the care of surviving relatives or grandparents.

Since the inception of this program, our Holiday Helpers have sponsored over 400 families and children who have been impacted by abuse. It is through this program that we hope to continue instilling the feeling of love and support during the holiday season.

Population(s) Served
Families
Caregivers

Share hope. Share healing. That’s exactly what BTSADV’s annual Angel Families Retreat does for those who have lost a loved one – an Angel – to domestic violence.

Our Angel Families Retreat is the only one of its kind in the country. To fully grasp its tremendous impact, it is important to understand the shame and isolation that family members feel when their loved ones have been murdered as a result of domestic violence. The Angel Family Retreat allows these family members to come together and share their pain and their memories.

Our Impact:
>Establish an outlet for this grieving population where none exists.
>Create a safe place for family members to share memories and learn coping and grief strategies.
>Give a reprieve from the judgment of others who minimize the suffering of family members.
>Allow families to share their coping strategies for the benefit of others.
>Offer hope beyond the boundaries of the Angel Retreat by creating a continuous virtual network of support.
>Strengthen family members so that they can begin to use their tragic loss as a lesson to save the lives of victims of domestic violence.

Population(s) Served
Families

Break The Silence Against Domestic Violence recognizes and honors our angels who have lost their lives to domestic violence. Our heart goes to every family devastated by this tragedy. As a part of our mission, we remember our angels through our memorial scholarship fund. Each of our scholarships are uniquely named after one of our angels.

Population(s) Served
Students

Volunteer advocates are available 8 am to 5 pm PST to speak with callers about experiencing and overcoming domestic violence, seeking resources and information, or talking about concerns and unhealthy aspects of their relationship.

Population(s) Served
Victims and oppressed people

Where we work

Videos

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.

BTSADV has grown to become an international nonprofit organization led by survivor-volunteers who serve victims, survivors, and families affected by domestic violence. We understand survivors' unmet needs and have developed a unique organization that could bridge the gap in services between emergency shelters, direct service providers, government agencies, academic institutions, businesses, and the community. Each program we offer is designed to empower, educate, and fulfill survivors and their families' need through our unique connective resources.

BTSADV compliments the services crisis shelters offer and helps decrease the number of times victims return to abusive partners. Recovering after abuse can be a lifelong journey. We are committed to addressing healing after the crisis by providing a national network for survivors to connect, speak out, and advocate against abuse.

By providing various programmings for individuals and families in various stages of the healing progress. Utilizing social media, the Survivor Helpline, and BTSADV programming, we'll be able to help bridge the gap and allow them to heal at their own pace.

By offering various programming such as.


Survivor Sister Retreat: To support a leadership development program, which empowers female survivors of domestic violence as they partake in workshops devoted to promoting a positive self-image, individual development, life skills training, and enrichment courses.

Angel Families Retreat: The Angel Families Retreat is an overnight program that hosts families who have lost loved ones from domestic violence. Attendees experience healing through group activities, intimate discussions, and workshops led by trained professionals and guided meditation and reflection.

National Scholarship Program: Break the Silence against Domestic Violence recognizes and honors victims, survivors, children, and relatives of those affected by domestic violence through our annual scholarship program. Recipients must be committed to academic excellence, leadership, and community service.

Holidays of Hope is our way of spreading love and cheer for children who have been devastated by domestic violence through surprise gift-giving.

Survivor Helpline: Break the Silence against Domestic Violence now offers a unique service many other nonprofits typically do not. We offer a Survivor Helpline, which is answered Monday – Sunday.

Confidential Social Media Support & Advocacy: Technology has been an increasingly popular outlet for survivors and victims of trauma to seek refuge. Our trained advocates provide support and care for those who are looking for help “anonymously.”

In 2019...

-BTSADV ranked top 125 nonprofits by Facebook.
-BTSADV volunteers answered 2,200 Survivor Helpline Calls
-Over 139k followers joined us on social media
-Launched the 'Promise Tour' and traveled over 15k miles nationwide to educate communities on DV
-Partnered with 30 new academic institutions and businesses
-Hosted 2 retreats
-Opened a new office in Colorado Springs in partnership with Mt. Carmel Veterans Service
-Teamed up with Sephora to provide training on domestic violence.
-Awarded $22,000 in Academic Scholarships.
-Adopted 60 families for Holidays of Hope.
-We employed 6 survivors of domestic violence.

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 collecting feedback from the people you serve?

    SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), social media,

  • 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,

  • With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

    Our staff, Our board,

  • 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 act on the feedback we receive, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded,

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,

Financials

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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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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.

Break The Silence Against Domestic Violence

Board of directors
as of 02/22/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Tara Woodlee

Midori Davidson

Megan Lee

Nicki Fleming

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 3/30/2021

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or other sexual orientations in the LGBTQIA+ community
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

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

Equity strategies

Last updated: 03/30/2021

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.