Friends for Life
Hope for Generations
Friends for Life
EIN: 74-2550748
as of November 2024
as of November 11, 2024
Programs and results
Reports and documents
Download annual reportsWhat we aim to solve
Friends for Life is working to address issues of isolation, loneliness, and lack of support systems for the elderly and people with disabilities. Over half of the elderly people living alone who need help with activities of daily living are not receiving any help at all. Over half of the people who are in long term care never receive a visit from anyone. We are insuring that the most vulnerable people know that there is someone who cares for them and someone they can call when they need help.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Adult Day Care
Friends for Life operates an Adult Day Care Center at 5000 Lakewood in Waco, TX. the center is open from 7:30am to 6pm, Monday through Friday providing nursing care, nutritious meals, activities, transportation and more.
Guardianship
Friends for Life is appointed by judges to serve as guardian for people who are unable to make decisions for themselves and have no qualified family members willing to serve.
Money Management
Friends for Life helps the elderly and people with disabilities make sure their bills are paid. Staff and volunteers advocate, intercede with creditors, help with budgets, balance checkbooks, reconcile bank statements and stop exploitation.
Independent Living
Friends for Life recruits, trains and organizes volunteers to help the elderly and people with disabilities live in their own homes as long as possible. Volunteers grocery shop, run errands, provide transportation to the doctor, do minor household repairs, change lightbulbs and much more.
Quality of Life Programs
Friends for Life recruits, trains and organizes volunteers to improve the quality of life for seniors and adults with disabilities. Through programs like Adopt a Grandparent, Visiting, Gifts for Grannies and Grandpas, too, Friends for Thanksgiving, Telephone Reassurance and more, Friends for Life is helping people know someone cares and that there is someone they can call if they need help.
Life Skills Training
Trainers provide help people with developmental disabilities in nursing home become more independent with a goal of empowering them to move back out into the community.
Where we work
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of phone calls/inquiries
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors, People with disabilities
Related Program
Adult Day Care
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This year our Adult Day Care Center reached capacity. We receive more than 200 calls a year from people inquiring about this service and we now serve 120 clients in this program.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors, People with disabilities
Related Program
Quality of Life Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
During COVID, the number of Volunteers decreased. We are working to reconnect with individual and groups of volunteer to get back to between 1,000 and 3,000 volunteers each year with Friends for Life.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Guardianship
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of clients living independently
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors, People with disabilities
Related Program
Independent Living
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of training programs created
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Seniors, People with disabilities
Related Program
Guardianship
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In addition to our in house training, in 2016 we developed an online training and orientation for our volunteers. Online Guardianship training created with Baylor University.
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?
Friends for Life has worked for over 34 years to make life better for seniors and people with disabilities especially those who are without family. Protecting against abuse, neglect and exploitation and empowering vulnerable people to be the best they can be are an important part of this work as is serving people in need without compromising their dignity or their right to confidentiality. With an ultimate goal of being able to reach into rural counties across the state to serve unserved people, Friends for Life is working now to become strong enough financially to accomplish the goal of helping people across the state continue to live independently and to improve the quality of their lives.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Friends for Life has looked at each part of its work to determine what is working and what is not. By streamlining its operations, the charity is becoming more efficient and able to serve more clients with fewer paid staff. Communication internally and externally is being improved. Processes have been reviewed to increase productivity. Job descriptions have been studied and positions redefined to make the entire program more cost effective. New funding strategies are being implemented and as funding makes it possible the program areas will be expanded to serve more isolated elderly and people with disabilities.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Friends for Life has a talented, committed, connected Board of Directors, a very qualified, dedicate staff and thousands of volunteers who are helping us accomplish our objectives. The charity partners with hundreds of businesses, churches, civic organizations, and others who multiply our ability to serve. Much of our ability to serve has come from 34 years of experience serving the elderly and people with disabilities. This experience has provided opportunities to meet those who refer new clients to us as well as those who can help us serve these people in need. This network is a huge asset. Well developed systems for each aspect of serving provide us with capability to serve. And, we are blessed with creative people who constantly come up with new ways to improve the lives of people in need. Well established relationships with schools, churches and civic organizations are giving us interns, work study students, and a constant flow of volunteers.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Friends for Life began in September of 1989 in a small borrowed office with no paid staff, no volunteers, no programs, no funding and no clients. Today its headquarters is a 26,000 sf state of the art Intergenerational Center. The charity has offices in Abilene, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Texas City and Tyler. With a paid staff of 85, thousands of volunteers, dozens of programs, Friends for Life has served almost 26,000 people over the years.We would like to double the size of our Adult Day Care Center, create a Supported Decision Making Program and take our Independent Living, Quality of Life, and Money Management Programs into unserved counties across the state and we would like to do this debt free.
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, 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
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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 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
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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, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
Financial documents
Download audited financialsRevenue vs. expenses: breakdown
Liquidity in 2023 info
0.56
Months of cash in 2023 info
2.2
Fringe rate in 2023 info
13%
Funding sources info
Assets & liabilities info
Financial data
Friends for Life
Balance sheetFiscal Year: Sep 01 - Aug 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: Sep 01 - Aug 31
This snapshot of Friends for Life’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 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unrestricted surplus (deficit) before depreciation | -$152,204 | -$99,505 | $503,804 | $49,210 | $366,801 |
As % of expenses | -5.7% | -3.3% | 19.0% | 1.6% | 10.8% |
Unrestricted surplus (deficit) after depreciation | -$235,057 | -$182,155 | $419,931 | -$33,171 | $281,756 |
As % of expenses | -8.6% | -6.0% | 15.3% | -1.0% | 8.1% |
Revenue composition info | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total revenue (unrestricted & restricted) | $2,711,493 | $2,869,903 | $3,158,758 | $3,137,299 | $3,757,975 |
Total revenue, % change over prior year | 15.4% | 5.8% | 10.1% | -0.7% | 19.8% |
Program services revenue | 82.9% | 77.1% | 57.2% | 71.4% | 69.9% |
Membership dues | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Investment income | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.7% |
Government grants | 8.3% | 0.0% | 28.8% | 0.0% | 11.2% |
All other grants and contributions | 8.7% | 21.7% | 13.0% | 28.3% | 18.2% |
Other revenue | 0.1% | 1.2% | 1.0% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
Expense composition info | |||||
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Total expenses before depreciation | $2,656,002 | $2,974,007 | $2,654,954 | $3,086,711 | $3,391,174 |
Total expenses, % change over prior year | 15.2% | 12.0% | -10.7% | 16.3% | 9.9% |
Personnel | 77.6% | 82.8% | 82.3% | 80.1% | 80.7% |
Professional fees | 2.4% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
Occupancy | 3.2% | 3.5% | 3.7% | 5.2% | 3.9% |
Interest | 2.5% | 2.1% | 1.8% | 1.5% | 1.4% |
Pass-through | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
All other expenses | 14.3% | 10.9% | 11.7% | 12.7% | 13.4% |
Full cost components (estimated) info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
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Total expenses (after depreciation) | $2,738,855 | $3,056,657 | $2,738,827 | $3,169,092 | $3,476,219 |
One month of savings | $221,334 | $247,834 | $221,246 | $257,226 | $282,598 |
Debt principal payment | $90,239 | $0 | $553,993 | $0 | $95,099 |
Fixed asset additions | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Total full costs (estimated) | $3,050,428 | $3,304,491 | $3,514,066 | $3,426,318 | $3,853,916 |
Capital structure indicators
Liquidity info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Months of cash | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.2 |
Months of cash and investments | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.2 |
Months of estimated liquid unrestricted net assets | -0.6 | -1.7 | -0.2 | -0.4 | 0.4 |
Balance sheet composition info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
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Cash | $17,980 | $172,202 | $62,438 | $470,397 | $622,942 |
Investments | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Receivables | $138,472 | $132,160 | $148,650 | $139,269 | $205,105 |
Gross land, buildings, equipment (LBE) | $3,579,249 | $3,598,237 | $3,627,179 | $3,631,725 | $3,690,269 |
Accumulated depreciation (as a % of LBE) | 43.5% | 45.6% | 47.6% | 49.0% | 50.6% |
Liabilities (as a % of assets) | 67.5% | 76.8% | 55.3% | 63.0% | 55.0% |
Unrestricted net assets | $708,556 | $526,401 | $946,332 | $913,161 | $1,194,917 |
Temporarily restricted net assets | $0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Permanently restricted net assets | $0 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Total restricted net assets | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Total net assets | $708,556 | $526,401 | $946,332 | $913,161 | $1,194,917 |
Key data checks
Key data checks info | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Material data errors | No | No | No | No | No |
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Documents
Executive Director
Mrs. Inez Russell
Inez Russell is both the founder and the Executive Director of Friends for Life. She has almost thirty years experience in management and is also an author and a presenter. She is the recipient of a number of awards including the Pathfinder Award for Civil Service, Woman of the Year, Woman of Distinction, Citizen of the Year, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World. This work is her mission.
Number of employees
Source: IRS Form 990
Friends for Life
Officers, directors, trustees, and key employeesSOURCE: IRS Form 990
Compensation data
There are no highest paid employees recorded for this organization.
Friends for Life
Board of directorsas of 10/07/2024
Board of directors data
Mr. B J Greaves
ARCHITEXAS
Term: 2021 - 2023
Tom Ray
LAN Engineering Firm
Leonard Englander
Retired, Sunbright Paper
Erma Ballenger
Retired, Baylor University
Marylea Henderson
McLennan Community College
Sandy Ray
Retired
B J Greaves
Architexas
Nancy Williams
Retired
Robin Jamison
Mission Medicare Insurance Agency
Janie Martinez
Bluebonnet Health Services
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 -
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
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
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/01/2024GuideStar 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 ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- 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 disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- 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.
- 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 have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- 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.