Babies of Homelessness

- Improve access to basic necessities such as diapers, wipes and formula.
- Improve the health and wellbeing of children and families as a result of our services.
- Expanding our reach to underserved rural and historically disadvantaged communities serving high percentages of BIPOC and immigrant and refugee families.

Most diaper banks distribute diapers directly to clients or partner agencies. Our diaper bank offers three programs to easily and quickly access services: direct service, partner distribution and mobile service.

We created a robust delivery model that:

- remedies accessibility barriers (i.e., long waitlists, receiving an inadequate quantity of diapers, embarrassing intake processes and lack of transportation to access diapers);
- limits unnecessary duplication of services reduces administrative expenses and works collaboratively to solve a basic human need at the community level;
- sets families up to succeed because we provide a 30-day supply of diapers to each child on an ongoing basis versus the 25 diapers other diaper banks provide per child every 30-days.

When it comes to procurement, we source inventory in two ways: in-kind donations or purchased. Babies of Homelessness staff, volunteers and community members host online and in-person donation drives throughout the year. We collect and store inventory at a 2400 sq footage Bellevue facility with a loading dock, forklift, and a 53-foot truck. The Operations Manager places wholesale orders at discounted prices for diapers we still need, enabling us to stretch donor dollars for maximal impact. We also partner with companies like Ridwell and Parasol to receive hundreds of thousands of free diapers.

Babies of Homelessness operates under the thoughtful guidance and direction of a volunteer Board of Directors, a staff of 3 full-time employees, 4 contractors and 42 volunteers.

We measure impact using a Salesforce key performance indicators (KPI) dashboard. Some of the programmatic metrics we record include the number of diapers distributed, the number of children and families served based on zip code or agency, the number of intake calls, volunteer hours, and more. Twice a year, we also collect qualitative information such as testimonials via surveys and interviews. We also conduct an annual formal program evaluation with a social science firm to measure family health, well-being and workforce participation outcomes as a result of our programs.

Last year, three full-time staff, four contractors and twenty-five volunteers served 5173 children through three programs. In the first three months of 2022, we served 60% of last year's total number of children and distributed 40% more diapers. We are well on our way to delivering one million diapers this year compared to the previous year's 300,000 diapers.

As families in King County continue to confront diaper need, we plan to expand our diaper bank by 40% by 2023. We have identified 22 other agencies (currently NOT being served by any other diaper bank) needing diaper support, but we need the funding.