PLATINUM2023

BELIEVE IN DREAMS

Fulfilling dreams of resilient children

Beachwood, OH   |  www.believeindreams.org

Mission

Our mission is to fulfill dreams of economically disadvantaged youth who have survived non-medical adversity by providing access to enriching opportunities, connection to community and hope for the future.

Ruling year info

2015

Executive Director

Katie C. Eichenauer

Main address

26300 Cedar Road Suite 1105

Beachwood, OH 44122 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

47-1382653

NTEE code info

Youth Development Programs (O50)

Children's and Youth Services (P30)

Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (S12)

IRS filing requirement

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

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Limited agency and resources due to poverty and traumatic experiences having unimaginable impacts on youth and their families. From poor academic and health outcomes to a cyclical lack of opportunity. The everyday experiences that bring joy, enrichment and motivation to ones life, such as taking a lesson or class or attending a community event such as a ballgame or concert, are out of reach. Some of the most amazing, resilient youth in our community have no access to the opportunities that should empower them and enable them to succeed. A lack of transportation, lack of funds or lack of support can lead to learned hopelessness and despair. In addition , the child serving organizations that are designed to help youth and their families have gaps in these types of services that their traditional funding streams won't cover. Believe in Dreams goal is to fill these gaps and wrap our community around our youth to help empower them to succeed.

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?

Individual Dream Granting

Youth are nominated by professional adults they come into contact with (counselors, social workers, teachers, etc.) who have observed the child’s positive qualities and resilience. A Dream coordinator is then assigned to coordinate an individualized experience based on the specific wishes of each child. Examples of dream experiences include, but are not limited to: sporting events, lessons, classes, activities, memberships, amusement parks, career shadowing, material items of a hobby or interest, attending a major event or visiting somewhere for the first time (within Northeast Ohio), meeting or shadowing someone who inspires, or coverage of costs to remove barriers from achieving a goal previously unattainable. We are committed to trauma informed practices and customize each dream experience to help increase capacity for resiliency.

Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Ethnic and racial groups
Social and economic status

Motivational Seminar for Adolescent Youth sharing simple, yet effective habits of overachievers, giving youth the foundation, and motivation, of how to dream big and accomplish those dreams.

Population(s) Served
Adolescents

Where we work

Videos

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 Nominations Received

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people, Victims and oppressed people

Related Program

Individual Dream Granting

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Children must be nominated by a professional they work with in the community. A non-relative adult in order to qualify for a dream experience.

Number of grants received

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people, Victims and oppressed people

Related Program

Individual Dream Granting

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of Customized Dreams Granted

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people, Victims and oppressed people

Related Program

Individual Dream Granting

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of Nominating Partner Organizations

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Social and economic status, Age groups

Related Program

Individual Dream Granting

Type of Metric

Input - describing resources we use

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.

Believe in Dreams goal is to reach 1000 customized, impactful dreams by 2028 for Northeast Ohio youth. The goal of a dream experience is to remove barriers that local children, who are under resourced and have endured traumatic experiences, face when trying to access enrichment opportunities and community connections. We help fill gaps in services for youth that our partner Child Serving Orgs. cannot provide through their traditional funding streams. Our mission is to provide enriching opportunities, connection to community and hope for the future.

-Community partnerships with nominating providers
-Customized Dream experience packages designed by Dream Coordinators (DC's) who are trained in Social work (or related fields) and are trauma informed. DC's work directly with the nominator and parent/guardians, with or on behalf of the dreamers, to ensure the most impactful dream experience package is created.
-Partnerships with the local business community, donors and volunteers who serve as Dream Granters
-Needs assessments, Resource linkage and 'Keep Dreaming' enrichment opportunities
-Developing a robust volunteers program
-Developing a robust dreamer alumni community
-Sharing data drive impact of our work

We have a solid, working strategic plan with core values, mission, vision and focus that our Board of Directors, staff and volunteers are all strongly committed to. We utilize the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) method for both our strategic plan and day to day operations. With this method, everyone on our team has specific roles they are accountable for and clear goals and objectives that help us remain lazer focussed the organization's mission.

Accomplishments so far: We have fulfilled over 450 personalized dream experiences since our inception in 2014.
We have provided the Choosing Greatness Dream Big seminar to over 600 youth since 2017.
We partner with over 35 youth serving agencies and schools in the Northeast Ohio area as a nominating partners.
We are a lean organization with only 4 FT and 1 PT staff. The rest of our team are interns and volunteers.
We partner with local Universities, serving as Field Instructors for both Bachelors and Masters Social Work programs as well as Communications & Marketing programs.

What's next:
To reach 1000 individualized dreams by 2028.
To build an alumni community network of dreamer families to support eachother
To develop a robust volunteer program for anyone who wants to get more involved
To deeper connect Northeast Ohio communities in sustainably impactful ways, bridging the divide between under-resourced communities and those with an abundance of resources in our local area.

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 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, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback

Financials

BELIEVE IN DREAMS
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

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.

BELIEVE IN DREAMS

Board of directors
as of 01/27/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

John R. DiJulius, III

The DiJulius Group

Term: 2014 -

Erin Leebow, Esq.

Egon Singerman, Esq.

Singerman & Associates

Jeff Kavlick

Moreland Connect

Robert Platt

True North Financial Solutions

Lesa Evans

MAI Capital

Camille Ho-A-Lim, CPA, CGMA

Ciuni & Panichi

Harvey Siegel

Coit Cleaning & Restoration Services

Greg Roche

Avatera

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 3/18/2022
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 03/18/2022

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 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 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.