Haven Acres
Healing Hearts and Homes Through Horses and the Love of Jesus
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Haven Acres was founded in response to the dire situation we find our youth in today due to a significant increase in depression, anxiety, and a myriad of other mental health and behavioral challenges. We are passionate about offering troubled youth an opportunity to have a safe place where they can discover the love of God, experience the encouragement of a mentor, and develop a strong work ethic while also rescuing animals, particularly horses for rehabilitation.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Mentorship Program
Haven Acres offers a safe, country environment where hurting youth find hope, healing, and restoration through their interaction with horses and loving mentors that exhibit the transformational love of Jesus. The design is to pair one child with one mentor and one horse that will work together on a weekly basis. A child between the ages of 9-17 will come out, free of charge, once a week for a 90 minute session. They will help do chores around the farm for the first half of the session and then work with the horse, grooming and learning basic horsemanship for the last half of their session. They will be given opportunities to build confidence, trust and a good work ethic which will help them as they deal with other challenges they may face in the future.
Deaf/ Hard of Hearing Program
Haven Acres offers special programming to youth that are deaf or hard of hearing. ASL interpreters and deaf mentors are available to work with the kids one-on-one for 90 minute sessions for 12 weeks during the summer. Sessions are offered free of charge to the participants.
Horse Rescue/ Adoption/ Animal Care
Horses used in our youth mentorship program are generally adopted or rescued due to illness, injury, neglect, or some other reason. These horses are rehabilitated and are used with at-risk youth. In the Haven Acres program, one child, one mentor, and one horse work together for 90 minutes on a weekly basis. The lessons help the participants to build trust, confidence, and a good work ethic. Since most of the horses have been neglected or cast off for some reason, a mutually beneficial relationship develops between the horse and the child. Both receive the love and attention they deserve which ultimately leads them through the process of healing and restoration.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Star of the North Award 2015
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of animals provided with long term care
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Horse Rescue/ Adoption/ Animal Care
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This is the amount of horses we took care of during the year.
Number of horses aquired from a rescue situation
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Horse Rescue/ Adoption/ Animal Care
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Rescue horses is one of the pillars of Haven Acres. Some of these horses have been rescued from the site of neglect and/or abuse and some have been adopted from a rescue organization.
Number of youth mentored
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
Related Program
Mentorship Program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2020 reflects lower numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions causing the ranch to be closed for part of the summer as well as reduced numbers of people allowed on site upon reopening.
Total dollars received in contributions
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2020- Haven Acres received a large, one time trust fund donation.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn 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?
Our overarching goal is to "Heal hearts and homes through horses and the love of Jesus." When we break this down we have four pillars through which we seek to accomplish this: To restore hope, to rescue horses, to mentor children and adolescents, and to serve families.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Haven Acres follows the proven model of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in Oregon. The founders and a couple of their volunteers have traveled to Oregon on a couple of occasions to attend training conferences in order to implement best practices at Haven Acres. The staff from CPYR are available to consult with the leadership of Haven Acres when there are questions. The Board brings various business and nonprofit experience to the organization. They meet quarterly to assess financial needs and evaluate program strengths and potential areas of improvement. Key staff also consult with other local similar ministries to obtain counsel and guidance as the program continues to grow and develop.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Haven Acres will continue to build on relationships with current individuals and church donors while acquiring new ones. They will hold various fundraisers throughout the year including but not limited to: Pizza Ranch Tip Nights, Cub Foods bagging grocery days, the annual Bowling for Bucks Fundraiser, Booster t-shirt fundraisers, and GIVE MN Give to the Max Day. There is also a season ending program called the Round-Up in which family and friends of the participants are invited to observe a special program put on by the participants. This serves as a fundraiser as well. Haven Acres staff are also submitting grant proposals to foundations and have acquired several grants in previous years. Haven Acres has been privileged to participate in an annual local Ministry Fair at Celebration Church which showcases multiple local services to the community. Haven Acres will continue to reach out to organizations within the community and create partnerships in order to further their impact within the community. One such partnership is with MN Hands and Voices. This partnership has allowed for expansion of services to deaf and hard of hearing children.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the last four years we have sought to accomplish our goals and every year we are able to pursue them more fully.
In seeking to rescue horses, we have given homes to four donated horses and also adopted two rescue horses since our beginning. Our first rescue horse, Trixie, was from a case where the horses had been so neglected that they had eaten all of the manes and tails off of each other as well as all the manure off of the property. Also due to neglect she has lost the vision in her left eye, but she has become a good little pony for the participants here. Our second rescue horse, Jedidiah, was just rescued fall of 2016 from going to slaughter. After gaining weight he has turned out to be an amazing horse.
In trying to mentor children and adolescents we have grown from reaching 8 our first season to serving over 60 this past season. With that comes the need for extra volunteers, and we have expanded our volunteer base at the same rate as we have gained participants. Every year we have been working more and more on training the mentors, such as making training videos for the mentors and having group and individual training sessions before the season starts.
In serving families we have also increased the number of families that we have reached with our program expansion. When parents bring their children to the ranch they have the opportunity to sit and just breathe in a peaceful environment that our property offers, or go and run errands that they might not usually get to run on their own. We also try to catch up with the parents and offer to pray with them when we can.
Finally, in restoring hope we have been taking time every few weeks to have spiritual lessons during the sessions. We've been seeking to teach the participants about God and His love for them through analogies where we use horses to teach the lessons about sin, trust, and the gospel. This also gives somewhat of a doorway for the mentors to take to pursue farther conversation about life with their participants that they might otherwise not have had.
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
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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 act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is hard to come up with good questions to ask people, It is difficult to assess life-change through feedback questions on a page
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.
Haven Acres
Board of directorsas of 11/20/2023
Mr. Jason Heath
Ameriprise Financial
Mary Lubinski
Mike Lubinski
3M
Terry Schouweiler
United Health Group
Jennifer George
CAT Ziegler
Evelyn Jones
Enrique Garita
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? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
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? No -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? No -
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:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data