Heroes For Children
No family with a child battling cancer will fight alone...
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Financial Assistance
The HFC Financial Assistance program is our largest budget item and the foundation of our mission. We provide direct and immediate financial assistance to families with children battling cancer. Through a collaborative approach with our many hospital partners, Heroes for Children is able to immediately respond to the pressing needs of our families. Families in need are identified and screened by social workers at Texas hospitals. The application process is very minimal as to respect the time of not only our families but our social worker.
Each year Heroes for Children provides financial assistance to approximately 500 families. The average financial assistance grant is $750, with families sometimes receiving more than one assistance grant during the year.
Our most common requests for financial assistance include: mortgage and rent payments, utilities, phone, gas, car payments, hotel and travel expenses for families to travel to and from the hospital, and sadly, funeral expenses.
Family Financial Assistance
The HFC Family Respite Program provide social family programs and events to support the parents, children and family as a whole. These events allow parents to not only spend time away from the hospital environment, but to also to interact with other parents going through the same struggles. Program events also provides the whole family with the ability to relax, celebrate, and laugh.
• Valentine’s Dinner was created so parents could reconnect and enjoy some much-needed time alone away from the hospital.
• Movie Day was created to provide families with the opportunity to watch a private screening of the current blockbuster and experience a day together outside the hospital.
• Night at the Museum event provides an evening of exhibits and explorations every October for families.
• Holiday Heroes brings the magic of the holiday season to families with a child battling cancer by providing gifts and gift cards for the entire family.
Social Assistance Program
Heroes for Children’s Social Assistance Programs provide social family programs and events to support the parents, children and family as a whole. These events allow parents to not only spend time away from the hospital environment, but to also to interact with other parents going through the same struggles. Program events also provides the whole family with the ability to relax, celebrate, and laugh.
• Valentine’s Dinner was created so parents could reconnect and enjoy some much-needed time alone away from the hospital. Parents are treated to an intimate three-course dinner at a private club reserved exclusively for HFC families. HFC patients and siblings enjoy their own party and are cared for by professional nannies. Activities include arts and crafts, games, movies and a live kid-friendly performance.
• Movie Day was created to provide families with the opportunity to watch a private screening of the current blockbuster and experience a day together outside the hospital. It’s easy to miss out on simple activities, like watching a movie with your family, when you’ve spent every night in the hospital. This event includes a meal, popcorn and drinks for the entire family.
• Night at the Museum event provides an evening of exhibits and explorations every October for families. This program occurs around Halloween at the Perot Museum in Dallas. Our families have all six floors of the museum to themselves as they trick-or-treat from station to station learning about dinosaurs, the solar system and trying their best to outrun Tyrannosaurus Rex!
• Milestones Program is a unique initiative to help families with a child battling cancer celebrate life’s special occasions. A fourth birthday may not seem like a typical milestone in a child’s life; however, when you’ve never celebrated a birthday due to cancer treatment or hospitalization, and your family is struggling financially, suddenly a fourth birthday is the most important day of that child’s life. Celebrations have included birthdays, graduations, proms, quinceañeras, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, and Celebrations of Life. Heroes for children has provided everything from food and beverage, entertainment, outfits, decorations, venues, gifts and more for these special occasions.
• Holiday Heroes brings the magic of the holiday season to families with a child battling cancer. Each holiday season, families from all hospitals served by HFC are selected for this program. Families are then “adopted” by individuals, corporations and community sponsors.
• Laptops for Love donates new laptops to adolescents and young adults battling cancer. This unique program provides them with a link to the outside world while undergoing cancer treatment, and allows them to keep up with their school work while away from the classroom.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Charity Navigator 2021
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of families served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with diseases and illnesses
Related Program
Financial Assistance
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The number of families we served is based upon the total number of families that we provided direct assistance to from our financial resource programs.
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 overall vision for 2025 is to annually reach all 1,800 children in Texas who are diagnosed with cancer.
1. Triple Our Impact so that we can provide $1.4M in annual financial assistance for monthly bills to 1,200 families who have an annual household income of $50K or less.
2. Expand Laptops for Love to 1,200 children and teens annually.
3. Create Milestone Events
4. Expand Funeral Assistance to 200 families each year by providing $400K in assistance.
5. Influence 29.9M Texans through social media, targeted ads, TV and radio
6. Enhance Fertility Assistance so teens can have the ability to have their own biological children later in life.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1. Increase fundraising in order to expand our impact and programs to more children and families.
2. Partner with corporations to provide in-kind support like laptops.
3. Partner with funeral companies to receive in-kind support and discounts on funerals.
4. Create strategic committees on the Board.
5. Increase staff.
6. Partner with media companies in order to extend our reach to all Texans to learn about and support Heroes for Children.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Recent changes in staff leadership and board leadership will allow us to reach these goals. Strategic planning with key board members, partners and staff will allow us to plan and execute these goals.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
To date, plans to work with corporations and funeral companies are already in the works. Meetings have been scheduled and contracts are ready to execute and move forward.
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 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
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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 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
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
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.
Heroes For Children
Board of directorsas of 06/09/2023
Mr. John Crabb
Mandy Lu Ristow
Danielle DeWolf
Tracy Hennesy
Donya Davis
Steve Eckerman
Pablo Franco
Stan Goldman
Manny Gonzalez
Morgan Hallman
Larissa Linton
William Papadopoulos
Kristy Ellis Ramundi
Jackie Sheahan
John Crabb
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? 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
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
No data
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/03/2021GuideStar 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
- 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.
- 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.