Overcoming Obstacles
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
1992
Principal Officer
Jill Chalsty
Main address
1330 Avenue of the Americas, 38th Floor
New York, NY 10019 USA
EIN
95-4367454
NTEE code
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 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Register now
Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
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
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.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
The Overcoming Obstacles mission is to make comprehensive life skills instruction an integral part of every student’s education.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
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.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
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.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
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
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.
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.
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.
Overcoming Obstacles
Board of directorsas of 3/10/2021
Jill Chalsty
Community for Education Foundation
Jill Chalsty
Community for Education Foundation
Michael Gelfand
President, Terra Vista Management, Inc.
John Chalsty
Chairman and CEO (Retired), Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
Sandy Brossard
Chief, Teaching and Learning, Richland School District One
James 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
Lisa Marino
Elementary School Teacher (Retired)
Board leadership practices
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
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Thanks for signing up!
An email has been sent to the address you provided. Click on the link in that email to get more GuideStar Nonprofit Profile data today!
(Don't see an email in your inbox? Click here to resend it.)
GuideStar Pro Reports
Report successfully added to your cart!
Want more data?
A GuideStar Pro report containing the following information is available for this organization:
- Email contact information
- Financial trends metrics for five most recent years 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015*
- Financial statements for 2019, 2017
- Letter of Determination
- Officer and/or Employee data for 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
- Contractor and/or Paid Preparer data for 2019, 2018, 2017
- Board of Directors data for 2021
- *with the ability to download the data for 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
Download it now for $125.
Need the ability to download nonprofit data and more advanced search options?Consider a Pro Search subscription.