Forward Edge International
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The problem is poverty. Our efforts target 6 different programs in countries around the world to provide consistent nutrition, safe water, medical care, educational support and the gospel for vulnerable children. In the developed world, most of these needs are met, but there is a deep desire felt by all people to discover their purpose and make a difference. We connect the global Church by integrating child-focused community development programs with short-term mission trips. Our model, which mixes missions and development, creates lasting transformation economically, socially and spiritually for children and communities suffering from extreme poverty, while also developing life-long disciples both in the States and abroad.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Forward Edge seeks to provide holistic care for some of the world's most vulnerable children. In addition to meeting the physical, educational and spiritual needs of children, our programs also work to empower their families and communities. We call this child-focused community development.
Short-Term Mission Trips
Every year, hundreds of short-term volunteers serve with Forward Edge in support of our long-term programs in Haiti, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uganda, Cuba and the United States.
Villa Esperanza
The Villa serves at-risk girls who are in residence through high school and then in college and Job and career training. The young women receive room, board, health care, professional counseling services, and more.
Where we work
External reviews

Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of groups/individuals benefiting from tools/resources/education materials provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, At-risk youth
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These numbers reflect impact on the families of the children being served through our programs as well as short-term mission team participants.
Number of service recipients who are employed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, At-risk youth, Self-employed people
Related Program
Villa Esperanza
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
2014 provided opportunities for recycling services in Haiti. 2015 & 2016 began employment and career training in Nicaragua.
Number of clients participating in educational programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, At-risk youth
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Includes educational support for children in Haiti, Kenya, Nicaragua; technical and career training in the Villa Esperanza program in Nicaragua. The 2018 crisis in Nicaragua impacted our program.
Number of participants changing undesirable behavior, as reported by experts
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, Adolescent girls, Adolescent boys
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Teachers and program leaders reporting children committing to abstention before marriage in sex education in Nicaragua public schools.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Short-Term Mission Trips
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Short term mission trips to help with disasters and long term programs The crisis in Nicaragua impacted 2018 #'s and the pandemic impacted 2020 #'s.
Number of program graduates
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric reflects the number of children graduating to the next level in their education.
Number of people reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Children in our programs receive ongoing spiritual discipleship while our short-term mission teams also share the gospel while serving on location. The 2018 crisis in Nicaragua impacted our program.
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Adolescents, Children, Preteens
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric reflects the number of meals provided to children and their families in a year.
Number of liters of safe water provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Health, Children and youth, Adults
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of hours of discipleship provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adults
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Discipleship is part of every program and the children and their families are the beneficiaries.
Hours of tutoring administered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Child-focused Community Development Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric includes education and tutoring hours provided.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
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 goal, or mission, is to create opportunities for people to discover their true value and pursue God’s extraordinary purpose for their lives.
Our vision is to see activated churches and individuals in the U.S. and around the world empowering the vulnerable and growing as disciples of Jesus Christ.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We accomplish our mission by partnering with visionary Christ followers in various locations to conduct child-focused community development and phase II disaster recovery projects, and by mobilizing volunteers to support these projects, internationally and in the U.S.
Our child-focused, community development programs are located in Cuba, Haiti, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Uganda. Our goal for them is to help children trapped in poverty reach their full, God-given potential by meeting their basic needs (food, safe water, health care) and empowering them with quality education, vocational training, and spiritual discipleship. Through them, we also reach their families and communities to influence lasting change.
All of our programs are envisioned and run by local leaders pouring into their own people. We work with our communities, not for them, to determine their unique needs and discover creative solutions to overcome poverty.
Additionally, for more than 35 years, Forward Edge has engaged, organized, and equipped more than 20,000 Christ-followers on nearly 1,600 mission teams to step out in love to many parts of the U.S. and 34 countries. Over this time, we’ve learned how to conduct the best mission trips—trips that truly help and lead to lasting transformation for all involved.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have decades of experience. Forward Edge was founded in 1983.
We establish and nurture long-term ministry partnerships—deep relationships built on trust with key ministries in the locations we serve.
We offer customized trips that match the gifting and calling of teams from around the country.
We provide training and administrative support through proven training materials and complete logistical coordination before and throughout the trips.
We provide on-site, knowledgeable Field Staff—dedicated servants who support our group leader(s), ensuring all our team's needs are met while on-site.
We offer worldwide service opportunities as we have relationships throughout the world and can help people answer God's call on their lives and experience the adventure of service.
Our short-term teams partner with our national partners and field staff to ensure that long-term, child-focused community development projects and initiatives are sustained and completed.
We faithfully pursue the leading of the Holy Spirit, and rely on Him for the vision, wisdom and energy to carry out the work He sets before us.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Over the years, FEI volunteers have been used in the U.S. and around the world in many remarkable ways. Here are some examples.
In the 1980s, constructed orphanages in Guatemala and Nicaragua, which today are home to hundreds of children
In the 1990s, constructed youth centers on the Crow (Montana) and White Mountain Apache (Arizona) reservations
Since the 1980s, provided health care to thousands in Latin America and Africa
In 1992, distributed emergency aid to victims of Hurricane Andrew in Florida
In 1999, rebuilt a village in Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch
In 2000, repaired the homes of widows and orphans in Kosovo following Balkan war
In 2001, built homes for earthquake victims in El Salvador
Following the 9/11 attacks, fed and prayed with rescue workers at Ground Zero in New York City
In 2005, built permanent homes for tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka
2005 to 2013: repaired homes and church buildings in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama following Hurricane Katrina
2013 to present: repaired homes and church buildings in Missouri, Oklahoma, New York, Colorado, Philippines, Mexico, Nepal and Puerto Rico following floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, typhoons, and hurricanes
In 2008, Villa Esperanza, "Hope Village" was created. This is a place where young girls have found refuge who once lived in the Managua dump called La Chureca or other dangerous environments. Here at the Villa they are given their first individual bed with clean sheets, and clothes and food. School suddenly becomes an option and with it hope for a better future. In short, they are given a new life!
Villa Esperanza goes further, by offering life-skills and social skills training, psychological evaluation and counseling, and medical care. Here the children receive personal care in a family environment. And they are taught about a loving Savior and are encouraged to love others as He would. The children of Villa Esperanza are given the tools they need to reach their full, God-given potential.
Since then, we have created additional holistic child sponsorship programs for vulnerable children in Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Kenya and Uganda which provide things such as nourishing food, education support, healthcare, clean water, and emotional and spiritual care.
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
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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
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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
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.
Forward Edge International
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
Greg Seifert
Dave Andersen
Andersen Construction
Joseph Anfuso
Forward Edge International
Karen Anfuso
No Affiliation
Brad Fenison
Pediment Publishing
John Greholver
Salvation Army
Kay Moore
Lisa DaSilva
Gabe Winslow
Greg Seifert
Wendell Robinson
Mt. Olivet Church
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 -
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
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
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/22/2021GuideStar 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 disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- 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 help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.