Foster Love Project

Providing love in action

Pittsburgh, PA   |  https://www.fosterloveproject.org/

Mission

We seek to provide love in action to foster children as well as support to the foster families who are providing care for them.

Ruling year info

2016

Executive Director & Founder

Kelly Hughes

Main address

PO Box 8779

Pittsburgh, PA 15216 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

81-2263514

NTEE code info

Foster Care (P32)

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

Over 1,500 children in Allegheny County are in foster care. We aim to make their transition from their first home to their foster home as smooth as possible as well as supporting them during their time in foster care with the hopes for reunification as often as possible.

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?

Donation Center

We operate a free donation center for kids in foster care to come shop, free of judgement, full of love and compassion and focused around the child's well being. The Center provides items such as new and gently used clothing, accessories and shoes, baby items such as car seats, strollers, cribs, diapers and formula, toys and games for all ages, as well as hygiene kids and specialty hair care products.

Population(s) Served

Our Annual Retreat started in 2019 as a way for kids who experience foster care or adoption to have the opportunity to build relationships with other kids who experience similar life
circumstances and to bring foster families together to to share their stories and experiences.
Due to the pandemic, the Retreat shifted to a virtual event and families joined us for discussion during 4 meetings. On Friday night Angela Tucker, a trans-racial adoptee, hosted an hour of discussion. On Saturday morning we were joined by our birth mom panel and Saturday evening we switched gears to hosting a fun filled hour of trivia games, magic, storytelling and giveaways! Our teens were also able to meet for their own private hour of discussion with Angela.
The Retreat in 2020 was filled within 22 minutes and attendees have already requested their spots for 2021.

Population(s) Served

Foster children experience trauma in many ways and one way that Foster Love Project supports their healing is with the new Excellent Hair Care program. It is specifically designed for African American children in foster care because our experience shows that when placed within white foster families, their hair care is often overlooked. We work closely with two African American owned businesses who educate foster parents on the essential care needed for their foster children. African American hair requires specific products and treatment - this program provides the education alongside the products for African American children to have the proper care for their hair. We host this event twice a year and provide hair care products to all families who visit our free Center.

Population(s) Served

Every year, since our inception we have hosted a placement bag drive to provide foster children with their very own backpack of items that will help them feel loved and welcome in their new home. Foster children are often taken to an unfamiliar place with little to no time to plan, they must leave their belongings behind and there is trauma in this stage of their lives, that is eased a tiny bit by having a bag of carefully chose items that are age specific and brand new. Each bag costs $75 in total and we serve over 2,000 children each year.

Population(s) Served

In August of 2020, we hosted our first annual Back To School program. Even in the midst of a pandemic, the pivot from in-person to a virtual event, went very smoothly. We provided a fun hour of music, magic, story telling, pop quizzes and giveways - everyone had a blast. The virtual fun was followed by a "drive-by pick up" of brand new tennis shoes, hoodies and goody bags for 141 kids impacted by foster and adoption. We paln to make this an annual program as it was so well-received.

Population(s) Served

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 foster youth served in the Donation Center

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Donation Center

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Foster children can shop up to 4 times a year and each trip results in them leaving the Center with items of an average value of $150.

Number of foster youth served with transition bags

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Placement Bag Drive

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Transition bags ease the stress, anxiety and trauma of the first night a child is away from their home and often provides needed items for the first week.

Number of foster youth served with Foster Love Project programs

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Foster children benefit from the Foster Love Project programming via our donation center, transition bags, Annual Retreat, Angel Tree gifts, Tickets for Kids, and more.

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.

Foster Love Project is a unique organization that has grown by the sheer determination of one foster mother and an army of volunteers passionate about giving children in situations out of their control the love and respect they deserve. Foster Love Project’s mission is to provide love in action to foster children as well as support to the foster families who are providing their care by providing placement bags for children, easing their transition with items of need, gift cards, assisting with additional resources and connecting families with a time of respite.

Our strategies are to provide items, education and support to all foster children who are in need.
We provide placement bags for the child's first week in foster care, we provide 4 shopping trips to our Center, we support families at the very stressful back to school time, we host an annual retreat for families to come together to connect and support one another, we provide hygiene and hair care products and we provide holiday gifts during the month of December.

Our donation Center is the hub for all of our strategies to come to fruition. We rely heavily on our army of volunteers to maintain the Center as well as support all programs and events. Donations and grant funding are continually being sought and we have an active board supporting our small staff.

We have wrapped around over 12,000 foster children in the past 6 years.
The next steps for Foster Love Project are to find a new location that can accommodate our growth. We need about 8,000 square feet to expand our donation center, to host educational programming and fun events for foster families, to hold our Connections teen mentoring meetings, and to continue to grow all of the already established programs.

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 demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

    Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Suggestion box/email,

  • 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,

  • What significant change resulted from feedback?

    Our mission is always to focus on the well being of the foster child. We hosted our first virtual event - a one hour fun Zoom meeting with the intention of creating excitement for foster kids to go back to school with music, magic, storytelling and a quiz with prizes - culminating with a "drive by pick up" of new tennis shoes, hoodies and goody bags. Our survey results told us that internet lag time caused anxiety in the kids who were not the first to answer. We switched gears and picked the winners of the prizes randomly. Our second virtual event for our Annual Retreat went much more smoothly with no complaints from the attendees about lag time. We would not have been able to address this concern from our families as quickly as we did if we had not sent a survey out after the first event.

  • With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

    The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,

  • 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

Foster Love Project
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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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  • 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.

Foster Love Project

Board of directors
as of 10/21/2020
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Kelly Hughes

FOSTER LOVE PROJECT

Term: 2014 -

Summer Dean

Advancement Advisors

Jordan Shoenberger

​Jeremiah's Place, A Crisis Relief Nursery

Ja-Neen Jones

Three Rivers Adoption Council

Randy Blincow

Executive Pastor, ​North Way Christian Community

Emily Thornton

Co-Director, Sonshine Quality Childcare

Bruce Thornton

Director, Don’t Worry Childcare

Jeff Alex

Senior Assoiciate Counsel, UPMC

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 ? 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? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 09/14/2020

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
Heterosexual or Straight
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: 10/20/2020

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

Policies and processes
  • 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.