"I Have A Dream" Foundation Analysis
- 2. Class of 1981 EUGENEM. LANG FOUNDER the beginning
- 3. OUR MISSION The "IHave A Dream" Foundation empowers children in low-income communities to achieve higher education and fulfill their leadership potential by providing them with guaranteed tuition support and equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and habits they need to gain entry to higher education and succeed in college and beyond. By helping our Dreamers gain access to college, we are putting our Dreamers on a different academic and life trajectory, while having a broader impact on the students' families and the generations that follow.
- 4. We will onlyachieve promise as a nation when all children have the opportunity to fulfill their potential Nearly all students can achieve at a high level when given the opportunity An early start is needed to get our students on the pathway to college Preparing all students for college will enable us to fully capitalize on our collective talent We need to address not just our students’ academic needs but the broader context in which they’re operating Enduring change will require that we empower core students, their families, and the broader community beliefs in addition to fixing schools
- 5. college- Resources Guarantee ready students the model
- 6. Sponsor(s) Program Families Coordinator Teachers Dreamers Community the model
- 7. • Higher collegeentrance • Model for other programs • Leading education entrepreneurs the broad impact
- 8. • Set overarching direction • Lead new site expansion • Maximize network performance • Build the brand and visibility • Forge national partnerships • Bring together dreamers for learning and leadership the role of the national branch
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- 19. 1.Clear mission statementand program 2.Providing information to all audiences 3.Using pathos to encourage participation things they do well
- 20. 1.Start national socialmedia accounts 2.Update news and events 3.Provide website template for local programs recommendations for the future
Editor's Notes
- #3 You just heard Eugene Lang and some of the dreamers who are part of the I Have A Dream Foundation. It all started in 1981 when Lang visited his former elementary school and was told by the school principal that ¾ of the graduating sixth grade class class would probably never finish high school. He decided on the spot that he would pay the college tuition for every member of the class that graduated. This was how the I Have A Dream Foundation was born.
- #4 After helping that class Lang and the people who assisted him saw a continuing need and formed the foundation. This is their current mission statement. It’s a little bit long but very specific in what their goals are and why they are doing what they do. They let the reader know they’re empowering low income children and they say exactly how they do that, and then they tell you why.
- #5 The foundation has six core beliefs which can be summarized as one idea: If students are to reach their full potential, they must get an early start on the pathway to higher education, and helping them achieve their full potential will help not only them individually but also their communities and future generations.
- #6 With these core beliefs I Have A Dream created a model for a program that begins when a sponsor makes the commitment to provide financial resources to a class, along with the guarantee that all members who graduate from high school will have their tuition paid. The financial resources are then used to improve all aspects of the students’ lives.
- #7 The approach is comprehensive and for the long term. The sponsor stays with the dreamers all the way through the college admissions process and uses their financial resources to pay for a full time paid program coordinator, teacher training, after school programs, and trips to colleges, among other things.
- #8 The program has already helped over 15000 children graduate from high school. Dreamers generally perform higher academically compared to their local peers. The program has also served as a model for entire school districts and federal programs. IHAD is making new leaders in education out of both dreamers and sponsors .
- #9 The national branch of the foundation serves mainly as support for the local branch. The main thing the national branch needs to work on is maximizing the performance of local branches, because there are currently at least a few local branches that are struggling or have fallen apart because a sponsor has broken their commitment.
- #10 Depending where you look on the website, there are either 17 or 29 active local branches. The list of current affiliates is not updated and contact information for certain local branches is incorrect and needs to be fixed. One interesting thing to note is that there is one international branch in New Zealand.
- #11 This is the home page of the national branch’s website. It’s a bit plain, but the good thing about their website is that it does contain a lot helpful information for volunteers, potential sponsors, and other audiences. The information is neatly sorted and categorized in such a way that it does not get overwhelming or frustrating to go through.
- #12 One effective way IHAD gets people interested in their cause is by including specific stories of dreamer alumni who went on to become highly successful. There a couple of celebrity basketball players that tell their stories and about half of the stories include pictures of the dreamer. These stories generally have a great emotional appeal to the reader.
- #13 A great choice IHAD made is putting this sidebar on every page of their website. If you read something and are inspired and want to donate or tell a friend , you can do so easily and quickly by clicking the button. And if you are not interested in donating cash, they provide a specific list of things they want and need. It doesn’t look like this page is updated very often though.
- #14 The News and Events portion of their website has a lot of potential but some portions of it have not been updated since 2006. I do like that they have about three different pdf handouts that can be quickly printed and handed out or just read over by people who want a quick rundown of the foundation. I printed out one of the handouts for you.
- #15 They not only provide information about their foundation on their website but also have a lot of general education resources. They have scholarship links, websites for teachers, and info about other nonprofits that may better help an individual than I Have A Dream is able to.
- #16 The national branch does not have facebook or twitter page, but they do have a youtube page. However, there are only four pages on it, and from the dates it looks like those videos were uploaded all in one day four years ago and then no one did anything with the website after that, which is a shame because they seem to be pretty good at making effective videos. They have that donate button under their videos.
- #17 The national branch only has a youtube page, but certain local programs have twitter and facebook pages. Most of them are not utilized well, but the boulder county branch does a great job of using their pages. They update more than once a day usually and have a substantial program for a small local program
- #18 Here are some of the homepages of the local programs, looking through them you can see that there is not any continuity in how the local websites are developed. I think the national branch should provide a website template for local programs to create more cohesiveness and credibility throughout the entire foundation.
- #19 Also, as far as the design and logo of the organization go, I find them to be a little simplistic. The one unifying symbol of the graduation cap and book looks like clip art to me.Also, while cute, most of the pictures of the dreamers and alumni on the website are of poor quality.These problems can be fixed easily.
- #20 I have a dream foundation is clearly already doing some things right if they have helped thousands of children. They have a clear mission statement and program model that has probably grown out of years of work and is now pretty well formed. Their website does an excellent job of providing resourcesand information to at least five different audiences and the dreamer stories, pictures of children, and introductory video all do a good job of moving someone who is just learning about the organizaiton in my opinion.
- #21 Some things for them to work on include starting up social media accounts asap and updating their website’s news and events pages. I would also strongly recommend they include a timeline of their five year plan because amking the comment “they are working on it” without including information about it or updating the website regularly makes it seem like the organizaiton may not be active at all.