Friends of the Children of Venezuela Inc
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Venezuela is submerged in a Complex Humanitarian Emergency. Children & newborns have the highest level of malnutrition, weigh deficiency, and mortality rate (+30%). +60% of infant deaths are newborns. Severe malnutrition more than tripled and 2018 was even worse. 87% of the population live under poverty, 60% under severe poverty, and food scarcity affects 9 out 10 households. Hospitals turn malnourished infant away because do not have enough beds or medical supplies to treat children. +63% of hospitals nationwide do not have milk formulas for pediatric patients. Regarding school-age children, school dropout is +50% in low-income areas. Students & teachers don't attend regularly or go hungry due to food scarcity, its high costs (inflation +1'000,000) , the long queues to obtain it, etc. Moreover, 90% of schools don't have the Student Feeding Program (PAE) normally provided by the government.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
AMIGOS DEL HOSPITAL DE NIÑOS DE VALENCIA (www.amigosdelhospitaldeninos.org)
Dedicated to improve the quality of care of the children and their families who come to the “Hospital de Niños Dr. Jorge Lizarraga”, the largest Pediatric Hospital in the Central-Western region of the country with 200 beds and assists more than 120,000 children and adolescents a year.
Thanks to FRIENDS, this hospital receives medicines, supplies and medical-surgical equipment, food and nutritional supplements, among others, which are critical to recover the health and save the lives of these children.
ALIMENTANDO FUTUROS (www.alimentandofuturos.org)
Born in 2017 in the face of the growing school drop-out experienced by all low-income schools in Venezuela (up to 50%) to provide a daily balanced meal to school-age children and thus, help them to grow and develop correctly, have an incentives to attend school, and ultimate have the opportunity for a better future.
The resources collected by FRIENDS go entirely to the acquisition of the food that is necessary to prepare this
balanced meal which includes the four basic food groups: proteins, vegetables, carbohydrates and healthy fats. The people who buy the food, cook it, prepare the meals and serve it to the children, they are volunteers from the
community.
Where we work
External reviews
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Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of children receiving medical services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, People with disabilities, People with diseases and illnesses, Substance abusers, Pregnant people
Related Program
AMIGOS DEL HOSPITAL DE NIÑOS DE VALENCIA (www.amigosdelhospitaldeninos.org)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Patients treated at least once. Whether is the family or the children, we look at clients receiving medical attention, medicines, etc.
Number of children reached with a meal each school day
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people, Grandparents, Single parents
Related Program
ALIMENTANDO FUTUROS (www.alimentandofuturos.org)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
School-age children & teachers are part of our daily meal program/ Numbers reflect most part of the year, as clients are added or drop out along the year.
Number of containers of aid shipped
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, People with disabilities, People with diseases and illnesses, Substance abusers, Pregnant people
Related Program
AMIGOS DEL HOSPITAL DE NIÑOS DE VALENCIA (www.amigosdelhospitaldeninos.org)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Taking a 20' container as reference. This metric in addition to number of individual shipments and their volume per month.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
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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?
For those coming to “Hospital de Niños Dr. Jorge Lizarraga”, the largest Pediatric Hospital in the Central-Western and supported by Friends' program "Amigos", we want to not only have a larger capacity of medical attention but also improve the quality of care of the children and their families by providing them (and the health care workers too!) with medicines, medical & surgical equipment and supplies for proper medical treatments, formulas, food and nutritional supplements, multivitamins, among others, which are critical to recover the health and even save the lives of these children.
For those schools also in poor, underprivileged, areas and under "Alimentando Futuros", our daily nutritional meal program where we reduced school dropout from +50% to 3% or lower, we need to secure the funds that go entirely to the acquisition of the food that is needed to prepare this balanced meal. Given the increasing hyperinflation and currency devaluation that challenges budgeted meals and funds, our goal is to also partner with suppliers of nutritional meals, such as fortified rice, oatmeal, etc that can stretch our funds and/or strengthen the nutritional value of our current meals.
Alimentando Futuros not only wants to expand its meal program to additional public schools in low-income areas (and a result, lower school abandonment rates) but also implement its project "Educando Futuros" that is more focused on the quality of education and the need to integrate technology into the teaching and learning experience.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
* Build on our local strengths coming from a long presence and relationship with the pediatric hospital Dr. Jorge Lizarraga, giving us on-site expertise, direct monitoring, control and assessment of needs & efforts.
* Ensure transparency and legitimacy on all our operations and the way we work by defining and implementing procedures along our supply chain, inventory management, and timely reporting.
* Build a solid identity of who we are and a community of donors, supporters, and advocates by enlarging our database of potential donors and cultivating and developing relationships with current ones.
* As a (still) new non-profit in the US, establish a formal communication channel with strong engaging storytelling for different audiences, through our social media presence, newsletters, and other to properly inform about our work, initiatives and efforts, results, and certainly the impact of their donations.
* Build robust grant applications and request very large in-kind donations to major NGOs, corporations, or other for-profit and non-profit organizations that relate to our cause, the current situation in Venezuela, and recognize our capabilities to receive, manage, allocate, and report on larger funds and donations.
* Pursue additional key certifications, alliances and endorsements from the industry and major non-profit organizations. Build on very first successful partnerships and achievements too.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
*Long-standing formal presence in and relationship with Pediatric Hospital Jorge Lizarraga, in Valencia-Venezuela.
*Local teams in Caracas and Valencia for a direct assessment, work, and monitoring of daily situation and needs in Venezuela, both with the Hospital and in the schools under our daily meal programs.
*Direct execution, assessment, control and monitoring of results of any project or effort implemented, with clear reporting guidelines in place.
*Implementation of Sortly, a real-time inventory management program so as to have full visibility of inventory levels in Miami, on transit, and in Venezuela.
* Strong partnership with freight forwarders to ensure delivery of goods and minimum shipping expenses to Venezuela.
* First certifications and endorsements obtained (ex. GlobalGiving, Abraham Foundation, International Aid, Univision Miami, etc) are allowing us to build on new ones.
* Dedicated, full-time professional from Marketing, Communications and Business, with +10 years of experience in the USA and Latam from the corporate world and recently in the non-profit sector, that allows us to cover many fronts in the organization with a corporate view. All this resulting in a fast learning curve and implementation of different efforts.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
YTD Feb 11, 2021 Results:
✔ In 2020, 8,979 children benefited from our program "Amigos" at the pediatric hospital in Valencia.
✔ +300 health care workers were also benefited in 2020 and on a daily basis by Friends’ program "Amigos"
✔ 1,810 school-age children and teachers also benefited from our daily balance meal program in 2020.
✔ Grants increased by 91% and contributed with 92% of all monetary donations in 2020.
✔ $680,627 raised in Total Revenues in 2020, that is -5% compared to 2019 and still far from 2018 ($129,924), the very first full year of Friends’ activities.
✔ Major levels of efficiency: 99 cents of every dollar Friends spent went directly to execute its programs and accomplish its mission.
✔Shipping expenses to Venezuela (at the core of the nature of Friends’ mission) only represent 2.7% of Program Services in 2020 and thanks to strong partnership with cargo companies that contributed with more than $13,000 in savings, +30% improvement compared to 2019.
✔ 24 shipments from the USA to Venezuela in 2020, mostly by door-to-door sea shipments and through freight forwarders. Same as 2019.
✔A total of 1,647 cubic feet in shipments in 2020, this is 31% more than 2019 and 34% more when compared to a 20’ sea container.
✔Higher levels of trust and legitimacy reflected from first recurrent or monthly individual donors, increased average donations by individuals, consecutive and new major grants obtained, etc.
✔ Higher levels of recognition and endorsements from NGO's, charity organizations, charity platforms, philanthropy sector (Platinum Seals, Superstar Status, Top-Ranked Organization, etc)
✔ Larger and stronger Friend's community of donors, supporters and advocates, from individuals to organizations (from less than 100 in 2018 to 900 in 2020).
Next:
✔ Earn 2021 seals and certifications related to transparency, effectiveness, etc.
✔ Develop a larger network of partners to access to a wider selection of supplies (fee-based model or straight donations).
✔ Secure recurrent grants and continue building on this first success to expand to new grant making partners.
✔ Maintain current levels of efficiency through strict control of expenses, better agreements, or additional funds for shipments covered by donor themselves.
✔ Find partners to develop "Educando Futuros" project, aiming at integrating technology as part of the teaching and learning experience.
✔ More frequent, engaging, and personalized communications with donors and supporters, together with more impactful, clear and transparent reporting.
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
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
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Friends of the Children of Venezuela Inc
Board of directorsas of 05/17/2023
Jose Alvarez
Jose Alvarez
Alexandra Stelling
Andres Caldera
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