PLATINUM2024

Basic Kindness

Sharing bags and kindness

MEDIA, PA   |  https://www.basickindness.org

Mission

Provide people opportunities to combat hunger by gifting care packages for people living without shelter with fans as they leave concerts and events so they will have something available to share when they encounter someone asking for help.

Ruling year info

2019

Founder

Heather Bickley

Main address

100 AMANDA DR

MEDIA, PA 19063 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

83-2693116

NTEE code info

Homeless Services/Centers (P85)

IRS filing requirement

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

Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Basic Kindness works to create awareness about housing insecurity by providing opportunities for people to engage in mutual acts of kindness. We believe that if more people had the opportunity to engage with each other they would continue to support each other. We would like to encourage more people to work to end housing insecurity and homelessness. Eradicate these structural problems will require municipalities, organizations, and individuals to work together using both large scale and grass roots programs and practices. We took note of the amount of people we saw in cars or walking on the sidewalk, ignore other people, often unhoused people, asking them for help. We focus our efforts on this part of the solution, we would like to increase the number of people who stop and interact with people who ask them for help. Our goal is to create mutually beneficial opportunities for acts of kindness.

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?

Basic Kindness Bag Sharing Program

Basic Kindness creates awareness about food and housing insecurity by providing resources and support for
individuals or groups to engage in meaningful and mutually rewarding exchanges through intentional acts of kindness. People take a free basic kindness bag when they leave events or businesses and share the bag,
the next time that they meet someone asking for help. We also work with youth groups, businesses, and organizations to support bag building and bag distribution events. Basic Kindness Bags include approximately three dozen research based basic necessities.

Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
People with diseases and illnesses
People with disabilities
Substance abusers
Homeless people

Where we work

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 care packages delivered

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Homeless people

Related Program

Basic Kindness Bag Sharing Program

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We have been invited to over a dozen events in our short existence and we have shared over 360 care packages for people living without shelter with attendees leaving these events.

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.

Basic Kindness works to create awareness about housing insecurity by providing opportunities for people to engage in mutual acts of kindness. We share basic kindness bags, care packages for people experiencing homelessness with people leaving concerts and events, businesses, schools, and other organizations so that people can take a free bag and share it the next time they meet someone experiencing homelessness. According to Dr. Waguih William IsHak, of Cedars-Sinai, "We all seek a path to happiness, practicing kindness toward others is one we know works." He explains that engaging in acts of kindness creates a biochemical reaction in our brain that makes us happy and feel better, however, kindness is most beneficial as a practice. To maintain the feeling you have to keep engaging in acts of kindness.* Our mission is to provide opportunities for people to engage in a mutual act of kindness as the start of a practice. *https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/science-of-kindness.html

We share bags at concerts and events. Additionally we help other organizations create bag building and distribution events, and provide bag donations to organizations that do grass roots outreach.

We have several connections to local business and musicians. Additionally we have several volunteers and connections with local colleges to help us to collect materials, identify possible events, and create care packages. We have been able to maintain our goal of sharing bags a minimum of twice a month, often exceeding our goal. We also continue to share at a pace of 1,000 bags a year, also exceeding our goal.

Each year we have increased our connections to people who can support our programs and outreach. These include other organizations, businesses, community leaders, and people in the music industry to support our programs and outreach. We have also expanded our programing through collaborations with local businesses and nonprofit organizations, doing retail bag item collection and distribution, and participating in community festivals. Each year, with the exception of 2021, which was greatly impacted by covid, we have been able to increase our programs, outreach, and distribution.

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 shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    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 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 take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, 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 demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), 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 share the feedback we received with the people we serve

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection

Financials

Basic Kindness
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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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  • 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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Basic Kindness

Board of directors
as of 05/07/2024
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Heather Bickley

Founder

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? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 5/7/2024

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

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

Transgender Identity

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 05/07/2024

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 review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • 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 have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.