CREATING A FAMILY
The National Adoption and Foster Care Education and Support Nonprofit
CREATING A FAMILY
EIN: 27-0679437
as of September 2023
as of September 18, 2023
Mission
Creating a Family is the national adoption & foster care education and support nonprofit. Our mission is to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
Notes from the nonprofit
Creating a Family is the national adoption, foster, and kinship care education and support nonprofit. Our mission is to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Our vision is that every adopted and foster child has a family who understands their unique gifts and challenges and is equipped to help them thrive.
Ruling year
2010
Executive Director
Dawn Davenport
Main address
874 Lambs Creek Rd
Brevard, NC 28712 USA
EIN
27-0679437
Education
Health
Human services
Population served
Adults
NTEE code
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (P01)
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (E01)
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (B01)
IRS subsection
501(c)(3) Public Charity
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
Tax forms
Communication
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reportsWhat we aim to solve
As reflected in our name, our mission is to help couples and individuals create their families by providing support and unbiased information before, during, and after adoption, foster care, kinship care, or infertility treatment. As the national adoption, foster care and infertility education and support nonprofit, our primary strength is in creating engaging content and disseminating it across digital media platforms.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Creating a Family:Talk about Adoption and Foster Care Radio Show
The Creating a Family radio show is a national internet radio show using the podcast model. We interview leading experts in the fields of adoption, foster care, and infertility. All old shows are archived on our site and the radio station site and can be listened to or downloaded whenever and wherever desired.
Creating a Family Communities and Support Group
Creating a Family has created online communities for pre and post adoptive families and those suffering from infertility. Our primary communities are on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. We also have a peer to peer support group as a closed Facebook Group.
Creating a Family Resource website
The Creating a Family website (www.creatingafamily.org) is a resource rich website providing education for pre and post adoptive, foster and kinship care families and those suffering from infertility. We add two pieces of new educational content each week.
Creating a Family Education for Parents
Creating a Family has over 65 expert-based courses to help pre and post adoptive parents learn about all relevant issues that adoptive families may face. Also, this site includes in-service training courses for foster and kinship care families. These courses offer a quiz and certificate of completion, are mobile-friendly, and are Hague-aligned.
Creating a Family Education for Social Workers
Creating a Family has a partnership with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) #886829466 to offer CE-granting coursework for social workers. These online, mobile-friendly courses are especially relevant to those working in child welfare. They are expert-based, and offer a post test as well as a certificate of completion.
NurseEd CE
NurseEd CE for Infertility & Women’s Health Nurses provides engaging continuing education on topics directly relevant to nurses practicing in this field.
Support Group Curricula for Parent Support Groups
Parent support groups are one of the most effective ways to provide support for adoptive, foster, and kinship families. Creating a Family's Support Group Curricula provides a turn-key resource for facilitators. Each curriculum is expert-based and trauma-informed. They center around specific topics to guide these parents in a discussion, helping to build community and decrease parental stress. In addition to the educational materials, we also provide facilitator training and support throughout the year.
Each curriculum includes:
- facilitator guide
- handouts
- additional resources
- video
- certificate of attendance to be used for foster parent continuing education
- evaluation links for both participants and facilitators
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of Facebook followers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Parents
Related Program
Creating a Family Communities and Support Group
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Parents
Related Program
Creating a Family Education for Parents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Hours of programing delivered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Parents
Related Program
Creating a Family Education for Parents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Hours reflect the total course hours utilized on CreatingaFamily.org's Online Education Platform.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
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?
We started in 2007 with a vision of becoming the national resource for adoption and infertility education and support. This generation of researchers gets their information online, so in order to meet them where they are, we have created the largest online social networking community in adoption and infertility. Since our inception, we have added to our resources to include the world of foster and kinship care. Our resources utilize all the cutting-edge Internet technology (web, audio, video, social media). We also strive to tailor our resources to fit different learning styles and time availability. Accurate, unbiased, and easy for busy people to use, our resources connect our audience to the leading adoption, foster care, kinship care and infertility experts.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Creating a Family utilizes its resource rich website, its weekly radio show, and online communities and support groups to educate and support pre and post adoptive, foster care and kinship families and those suffering from infertility.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The forefront of our work begins with www.creatingafamily.org - one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date adoption, foster, and kinship care websites offering over 1,500 pages and at least 2 pieces of new content each week. To help couples make informed choices, the major highlights of our website resources include:
- “A-Z Resource Guides" for adoption, foster and kinship care give users a comprehensive topical index and quick access to our extensive resources (audio interview, articles, fact sheets, and research summaries)
- Weekly expert-based podcast
- Over 65 Adoption and Foster Care Education Courses with certificates of completion
- Support group curriculum for adoption/foster/kinship parent support groups
- “Adoption Comparison Charts" serve as a unique tool for helping couples choose what type of adoption is best for them, as well as how international adoption differs by country
- Weekly email outreach bringing easy access to support and the latest in adoption and infertility
- Plus multi-media guides, webinars, etc.
All these resources are free except for our online Adoption and Foster Care Education courses and curriculum, which have a minimal charge.
In addition, Creating a Family also runs a moderated peer-to-peer online support group (pre and post adoption) with over 9,000 members. Online support groups are rapidly replacing traditional in-person support groups because they offer easy access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Online support also allows people the ability to respond at their pace without geographic and transportation barriers.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We are independently rated as one of the top online influencers in the field of fertility, adoption, foster care, and kinship care, meaning that we are reaching a substantial number of our intended audience. Some metrics that help describe our reach include:
- 102,000+ monthly page views on average at CreatingaFamily.org and CreatingaFamilyED.org.
- 2 million+ "listens" to the Creating a Family radio show/podcast. Podcast downloads for the last 12 months: 113,000+
- 21,100+ Facebook followers, 6,400+ Twitter followers, and 6,300+ Pinterest followers, 2,000+ Instagram followers, 4,000+ LinkedIn connections
- 10,100+ online support group members
- 12,000+ e-newsletter subscribers
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
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
-
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 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
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2021 info
2.14
Months of cash in 2021 info
19.4
Fringe rate in 2021 info
8%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Financial data
CREATING A FAMILY
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot survive long, but the types of assets and liabilities must also be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan, and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.
Fiscal Year: Jan 01 - Dec 31
This snapshot of CREATING A FAMILY’s financial trends applies Nonprofit Finance Fund® analysis to data hosted by GuideStar. While it highlights the data that matter most, remember that context is key – numbers only tell part of any story.
Created in partnership with
Business model indicators
| Profitability info | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | $14,211 | $25,822 | $44,511 | $119,882 | $90,929 |
| As % of expenses | 6.4% | 11.1% | 16.2% | 48.9% | 28.0% |
| Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | $4,309 | $25,822 | $44,511 | $119,882 | $90,929 |
| As % of expenses | 1.9% | 11.1% | 16.2% | 48.9% | 28.0% |
| Revenue composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $236,280 | $258,756 | $319,410 | $365,260 | $433,849 |
| Total revenue, % change over prior year | 0.0% | 9.5% | 23.4% | 14.4% | 18.8% |
| Program services revenue | 24.4% | 32.5% | 51.6% | 47.8% | 48.1% |
| Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Investment income | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Government grants | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 4.8% | 0.5% |
| All other grants and contributions | 74.4% | 66.4% | 47.4% | 46.5% | 50.7% |
| Other revenue | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 0.8% | 0.8% |
| Expense composition info | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses before depreciation | $222,069 | $232,934 | $274,899 | $245,379 | $324,694 |
| Total expenses, % change over prior year | 0.0% | 4.9% | 18.0% | -10.7% | 32.3% |
| Personnel | 77.6% | 77.8% | 72.0% | 58.9% | 67.9% |
| Professional fees | 0.0% | 0.6% | 5.3% | 26.0% | 14.1% |
| Occupancy | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Interest | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Pass-through | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| All other expenses | 22.4% | 21.6% | 22.7% | 15.1% | 17.9% |
| Full cost components (estimated) info | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total expenses (after depreciation) | $231,971 | $232,934 | $274,899 | $245,379 | $324,694 |
| One month of savings | $18,506 | $19,411 | $22,908 | $20,448 | $27,058 |
| Debt principal payment | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $2,000 |
| Fixed asset additions | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total full costs (estimated) | $250,477 | $252,345 | $297,807 | $265,827 | $353,752 |
Capital structure indicators
| Liquidity info | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Months of cash | 2.2 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 10.7 | 19.4 |
| Months of cash and investments | 2.2 | 2.6 | 4.5 | 10.7 | 19.4 |
| Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | -0.5 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 8.8 | 10.0 |
| Balance sheet composition info | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $40,554 | $49,734 | $104,138 | $218,953 | $523,585 |
| Investments | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Receivables | $6,083 | $5,480 | $2,381 | $10,886 | $565 |
| Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $33,887 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 120.7% | 73.7% | 48.5% | 25.0% | 45.8% |
| Unrestricted net assets | -$10,176 | $15,646 | $60,157 | $180,039 | $270,968 |
| Temporarily restricted net assets | $0 | $0 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Permanently restricted net assets | $0 | $0 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Total restricted net assets | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $18,226 |
| Total net assets | -$10,176 | $15,646 | $60,157 | $180,039 | $289,194 |
Key data checks
| Key data checks info | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material data errors | No | No | No | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
Executive Director
Dawn Davenport
Dawn Davenport is a leading expert in adoption, fostering, and infertility, and the host of the top-rated radio show on adoption and infertility in the US—Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption and Foster Care. She is the Executive Director of Creating a Family, the national adoption, foster care education and support organization. Dawn is a frequent speaker at conferences, including keynote addresses. She speaks on a variety of topics including post adoption support, transitioning from infertility to adoption, training for foster parents, infertility nurse education, etc. Creating a Family has won awards for excellence from both the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption. The radio show won the International Infertility in the Media award, which involved a trip to Rome to receive the award. Dawn is the author of The Complete Book of International Adoption (Random House) and has published in national and regional publications,
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
CREATING A FAMILY
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.
CREATING A FAMILY
Board of directorsas of 06/29/2023
Board of directors data
Gina Samuels
University if Chicago
Deborah Phillips
Children's Connections Intl
Amanda Baden
Montclair State University
Renae McDougal
Stephen Hayes
Adoption Attorney
Leon Coleman
UNC: Chapel Hill
Micah Ennis
Rowan County Department of Social Services
Harold D. Grotevant
Rudd Adoption Research Program
Page Lemel
Keystone Camp, Inc.
Gaile Osborne
Carrie Sgarlata
Elizabeth Williams
Hendersonville Pediatrics
Brinton Wright
Law Offices of Brinton Wright, PLLC
Erica Burgess
CCR
Robin Gurwitch
Duke University Medical Center
Alicia Jones
Heather Luczak
MX Technologies
Jamie Morningstar
Qualtrics
Gaile Osborne
NCDSS
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? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
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? Not applicable
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
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/04/2022GuideStar 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 employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
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 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017*
- Financial statements for 2021
- Letter of Determination
- Officer and/or Employee data for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017
- Board of Directors data for 2023
- *with the ability to download the data for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017
Download it now for $125.
Need the ability to download nonprofit data and more advanced search options?Consider a Pro Search subscription.