PLATINUM2023

Heroes For Children

No family with a child battling cancer will fight alone...

aka HFC   |   Plano, TX   |  www.heroesforchildren.org

Mission

Heroes for Children advocates for and provides financial and social assistance to families with children (0-22 yrs of age) battling cancer.
We serve all children and their families who are receiving cancer treatment in all Texas pediatric hospitals.

Ruling year info

2007

CEO - Executive Director

Mr. David Hancock

Main address

6010 W. Spring Creek Pkwy

Plano, TX 75024 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

83-0489882

NTEE code info

Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (E12)

Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution (F12)

IRS filing requirement

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

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Register now

Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

This profile needs more info.

If it is your nonprofit, add a problem overview.

Login and update

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?

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.

Population(s) Served
Family relationships
Health
Social and economic status

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.

Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
People with diseases and illnesses
Parents
Caregivers

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.

Population(s) Served
Caregivers
Parents
People with diseases and illnesses

Where we work

Affiliations & memberships

Charity Navigator 2021

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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 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

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

Heroes For Children
lock

Unlock financial insights by subscribing to our monthly plan.

Subscribe

Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our 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.

Operations

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

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.

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.

Heroes For Children

Board of directors
as of 06/09/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

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

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 11/3/2021

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
Male, Not transgender
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or Straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data

Equity strategies

Last updated: 11/03/2021

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 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 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.