PLATINUM2023

Overcoming Obstacles

aka Overcoming Obstacles   |   New York, NY   |  www.overcomingobstacles.org

Mission

Overcoming Obstacles' mission is to ensure that all young people learn the communication, decision making, and goal setting skills they need to be successful in life.

Ruling year info

1992

Principal Officer

Jill Chalsty

Main address

1330 Avenue of the Americas, 38th Floor

New York, NY 10019 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

95-4367454

NTEE code info

Educational Services and Schools - Other (B90)

Educational Services and Schools - Other (B90)

IRS filing requirement

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

Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2020, 2019 and 2018.
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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Every day, students leave school without learning essential life skills, making them dramatically more susceptible to bullying, violence, substance abuse, dropping out of school, and unemployment. By teaching young people vital skills like how to communicate effectively, make good decisions, achieve meaningful goals, cope with stress, empathize with others, and resolve conflicts, educators can ensure they are prepared to live a successful and fulfilling life.

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?

Overcoming Obstacles

The Community for Education Foundation's Overcoming Obstacles Life Skills Program includes curriculum materials for elementary, middle, and high school educators to use with their students. The program provides 180 hours of instruction on over 20 topics, including communication, decision making, goal setting, bullying prevention, conflict resolution, college and career readiness, and more.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Where we work

Videos

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 students who develop essential life skills (e.g., communicating effectively, making good decisions, achieving meaningful goals).

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Overcoming Obstacles

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

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.

The Overcoming Obstacles mission is to make comprehensive life skills instruction an integral part of every student’s education.

Overcoming Obstacles provides its award-winning and research-based K-12 life skills curricula for free to all educators around the world via its website, overcomingobstacles.org. Once they have registered, any educator can view and download the entire elementary, middle, and high school level curricula immediately, without any restrictions. In addition, Overcoming Obstacles provides its activity sheets (the primary way students interact with the lessons) in over 20 languages, ensuring that ELL students have the same opportunity as their English-speaking peers to receive a life skills education.

Overcoming Obstacles consists of a board of directors, staff members, and a volunteer board of educators, advocates, and philanthropists who are committed to ensuring all students receive a life skills education. In addition, the organization is supported by an endowment that funds the creation and dissemination of all Overcoming Obstacles materials to educators globally for free, now and forever.

Since 1992, 160,000 educators have taught the Overcoming Obstacles lessons to over 40 million young people around the world. The goal of the organization is to reach more students globally, as well as continue to develop new, engaging material for educators while ensuring our existing curricula is updated regularly for relevancy.

Financials

Overcoming Obstacles
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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

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Overcoming Obstacles

Board of directors
as of 02/13/2023
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Jill Chalsty

Community for Education Foundation

Jill E. Chalsty

Community for Education Foundation

Michael D. Gelfand

President, Terra Vista Management, Inc.

Sandy Brossard

Chief, Teaching and Learning, Richland School District One

James E Buckman

Vice Chairman (Retired), York Capital Management

Gary Wrinkle

Director of State and District Partnerships for School Improvement, Southern Regional Education Board

Vincenzo Capone

Managing Director, Overcoming Obstacles

Valerie Rowe

Clinical Associate Professor (Retired), Fordham University

J. Cody Fitzsimmons

Partner, Schaeffer Venaglia Handler & Fitzsimmons, LLP

Eva Baucom

Director of Graduate Admissions, Wingate University

Rossana Villaflor

K-8 Visual Arts Specialist, Jersey City Public Schools

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? No
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No
  • 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? No
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? No
  • 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 3/10/2021
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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 (cisgender)

Race & ethnicity

No data

Gender identity

No data

 

No data

Sexual orientation

No data

Disability

No data