Nonprofit Investor provides independent charity evaluations available for free download.
NPI's most recent research includes: Review of The Cara Program, Review of Center for Employment Opportunities, Review of Delancey Street Foundation, Review of Do-All, Inc., Review of Dress for Success, Review of FareStart, Review of Jobs for the Future, Review of Year Up
2. The Cara Program is a leading job training and placement provider for homeless and at-risk individuals in the Chicago area. NPI Rating: BUY TCP has proven to be effective in helping break the cycle of poverty and homelessness in the Chicago Area through its job training and retention services, social enterprises, community centers and its partnerships with other organizations. NPI highly recommends making a monetary donation, volunteering for one of TCP’s programs, and/or hiring TCP graduates.
3. Center for Employment Opportunities offers services exclusively for people with criminal records, focusing on a structured program of life skill education, short-term paid transitional employment, full-time job placement and post-placement services. NPI Rating: HOLD CEO has exhibited strength in support and revenue growth but maintains a large exposure to government funding sources. Further, high G&A expense and low wages for direct participants relative to program expenses put increased pressure on demonstrating program effectiveness. Decreases in criminal activity are encouraging; however, CEO has not been able to exhibit consistent improvements in long-term employment rates for participants.
4. Delancey Street Foundation is a leader in residential, educational and rehabilitation services to former drug/alcohol abusers, homeless and others. NPI Rating: BUY DSF is pioneer of residential self-help for former felons. They have developed a model which requires a small amount of public funding to serve a large number of beneficiaries. Furthermore, DSF expands its impact by training other organizations in the process that they have developed over 40 years. NPI recommends replicating the DSF model, making a monetary donation, or patronizing DSF's social enterprises.
5. Do All, Inc. seeks to provide education and training to emotionally, mentally, and physically handicapped individuals through work service contracts with local businesses. NPI Rating: HOLD Do-All provides diverse services to its surrounding communities and corporate partners, but the lack of more recent evaluation metrics and company information make it difficult to assess how impactful its programs are on its disabled workers.
6. Dress for Success provides professional attire, career development tools and support to help low-income women seeking employment and self-sufficiency. NPI Rating: BUY Dress for Success creates impactful programs while ensuring a high degree of visibility and accountability. We see DFS well positioned for scale driving both a global reach and enhanced brand recognition. As such, we highly recommend 1) replicating the DFS model 2) opening an affiliate 3) making a monetary/ product donation or 4) volunteering time and service.
7. FareStart is a culinary job training and placement program for homeless and disadvantaged individuals in the greater Seattle area. NPI Rating: BUY FareStart has achieved remarkable success in several areas: training programs, restaurants and cafes, and catering service. FareStart also has excellent financials and focuses on effectively managing costs. FareStart has reached a mature level of operations in the Seattle area; as such, another area of contribution consideration would be to support Catalyst Kitchens (which was launched by FareStart), which focuses on a nation-wide effort of job training in the food service industry.
8. Jobs for the Future seeks to accelerate the educational and economic advancement of youth and adults struggling in today’s economy. NPI Rating: HOLD JFF’s programs reach nearly 200 communities across 41 states, offering thousands of Americans the opportunity to improve their education and succeed in a global economy. But JFF’s lack of organizational and impact transparency makes it difficult to assess financial red flags—as well as overall program results—and leaves enough questions unanswered that we rate it a HOLD until additional information is made available.
9. Philadelphia Youth Network provides college preparation services, career training programs and employment and internship opportunities. NPI Rating: BUY Since being founded in 1999 as a small non-profit subsidiary, PYN has grown into an independent, citywide organization with substantial support within and recognition from the Philadelphia community. Having developed relationships with key policymakers and stakeholders, the company appears to be in a great position to continue to grow and create opportunities for Philadelphia’s youth for years to come.
10. Year Up is an intensive training program that provides urban young adults with technical and professional skills, college credits, an educational stipend and corporate internship. NPI Rating: BUY Year Up is a high-impact, scalable organization moving towards becoming more financially sustainable. If it can continue on its current trajectory while placing additional focus on providing more transparency and visibility into its financials, it will be well on its way to achieving its goal of closing the opportunity gap among urban youths.
11. NPI is a free resource to help individuals and foundations donate to the most effective, transparent charities. NPI research is written by volunteers with due diligence skills developed in industries such as private equity, investment banking, consulting and equity research. Download full research reports for free: http://nonprofitinvestor.org/?q=research