Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
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4
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Philadelphia, PA
Founded: 1904
Mission: Each time Big Brothers Big Sisters pairs a child with a role model, we start something incredible: a one-to-one relationship built on trust and friendship that can blossom into a future of unlimited potential. And thanks to the first-ever nationwide impact study of a mentoring organization, we have the facts to prove it.
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
T. Charles Pierson.
T. Charles Pierson joined Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as President and CEO in June 2012. Prior to assuming this national role, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star, the largest Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliate in the country, for nine years. Under Pierson's leadership, the agency increased its services by 180%…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
13.59%
Total Revenue:
$18,288,669
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
230 North 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA
Twitter:
Story:
For over a century, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been helping change kids’ perspectives and giving them the opportunity to reach their potential. And we have over a century of volunteers, donors, and advocates just like you to thank.
It all started in 1904, when a young New York City court clerk named Ernest Coulter was seeing more and more boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these kids stay out of trouble, and he set out to find volunteers. That marked the beginning of the Big Brothers movement.
At around the same time, the members of a group called Ladies of Charity were befriending girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. That group would later become Catholic Big Sisters.
Both groups continued to work independently until 1977, when Big Brothers Association and Big Sisters International joined forces and became Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
More than 100 years later, Big Brothers Big Sisters remains true to our founders’ vision of bringing caring role models into the lives of children. And, today, Big Brothers Big Sisters currently operates in all 50 states—and in 12 countries around the world.
Expert Reviews of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Evidence of Impact Summary:
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been praised for its strong programs and effective model. When implemented correctly, the long-term mentor model employed has been shown to create lasting, positive impacts on youth involved, including increases in confidence, achievement in school, and better future prospects.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Over the past decade, the organization was able to expand its reach in the number of youth served and also developed funds well. Additionally, Big Brothers Big Sisters' marketing is very good, especially with their use of technology. They also use diverse fundraising approaches.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Experts observe that, because each local association is independent, the leadership quality and implementation of the model varies. Big Brothers Big Sisters would benefit from strengthening its local centers.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
Select the boxes to display the results according to expert type.
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Positive Outcomes |
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F
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Big Brother Big Sister Mentoring Programs have proven to make a difference in young people's lives. While each office is independently run, each are using the same framework, training and evaluation metrics. Research has shown that the main thing an at-risk child needs is a caring, interested adult to provide nurturing and role-modeling. Mentors do this through BBBS programs and the program tracks improvements in academics and risky behaviors. | ||
Great Reach |
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has extraordinary reach with one-on-one relationships (proven as the most important asset one can provide at-risk youth). | ||
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They have a large reach. In Denver, BBBS draws the largest number of mentors. | ||
Great Evaluation |
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has had great success with their work with youth, especially given their reported impacts. These outcomes have solid data. | ||
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has strong evaluation. | ||
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They have a very powerful study demonstrating the impact they have. | ||
Great Programs |
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of America prevents risky behaviors through its programs. | ||
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When implemented correctly, the long-term mentor model employed has been shown to create lasting, positive impacts on youth involved, including increases in confidence, achievement in school, and better future prospects. | ||
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F
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BBBS mentoring programs can be particularly effective in rural communities where youth experience several barriers to participation in youth development activities such as transportation. | ||
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They create strong individual relationships and mentoring opportunities. | ||
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N
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The partnership this organization provides for young males/females to be able to have someone they can look to get a different outlook on life other than what (maybe) they are living with is so important. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Financial Stability |
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Big Brothers Big Sisters has shown their ability to survive in a harsh economy. | ||
Great Reach |
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The strengths are that they are well connected. | ||
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Big Brothers Big Sisters has a national footprint. | ||
Effective Marketing |
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Their marketing is very good, especially their use of technology. They also use diverse fundraising approaches (e.g. collection of goods for re-sale). | ||
Great Outreach |
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Community involvement and leadership in Big Brothers Big Sisters is remarkable. | ||
Strong Leadership |
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Big Brothers Big Sisters benefits from strong leadership, performance management and measurement, and a solid board. | ||
Expansion |
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Over the past decade, the organization was able to expand its reach in the number of youth served and also developed funds well. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Finances |
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Big Brothers Big Sisters would benefit from better financial management. | ||
Model |
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They allow the Big Brother/Sister to just drop the child because at times the mentors see the situation too overwhelming and they bail out, leaving the child abandoned. This is not healthy for the child because the child might feel rejected and once rejection is in play it's more difficult for the next mentor to be trusted. | ||
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I am not familiar with the association per se, but I am familiar with the model and the local organization. I think that the research and practice in the area of youth development has left the "Big" movement behind. Plenty of organizations using trained and paid staff build meaningful and supportive relationships with at-risk youth while doing other things such as building academic skills or vocational skills. This leaves the "Big" approach look anemic. | ||
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They should figure out ways to extend the one-on-one mentoring model so it's more easily implemented and can be more generally applied. For example, using high-school students as occasional "bigs" did not prove successful. | ||
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Their model makes it difficult to reach a large number of youth. | ||
Quality Control |
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Because each local association is independent, the leadership quality and implementation of the model varies. From what I have seen, the model seems to work best in urban centers. It would be best if the organization can recruit mentors that are similar in background to those it is mentoring, which is strives to do but often struggles to achieve. | ||
Recruitment |
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O
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They are experiencing difficulty with recruitment of mentors. It is so fundamental to what they do; need to benchmark for recruitment strategies. | ||
Reach |
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Their model does not enable them to serve many youth. | ||
Partnerships |
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They still have several small, weak affiliates. | ||
Leadership
T. Charles Pierson
President & CEO
President & CEO
Pierson first became involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters in 1993 as a volunteer mentor. He has since served as a Big Brother to three Little Brothers and earned the title of 2001 Big Brother of the Year for the State of Texas. He served as a board member for Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star (then called Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas) from 1996 to 2003 and served as board chair for the 2001-2002 term.
Prior to joining the non-profit sector, Pierson had a successful thirteen-year business career in for-profit channels, including as the general manager of Chase Elastomer, a business unit of publicly traded PolyOne.
Pierson has been recognized with numerous academic, professional and community awards including the 1997 Tom Vandergriff Leadership Award for the City of Arlington. He is active as a Ministry Leader and Bible School Teacher in his church, the Creekside Church of Christ in Midlothian. He holds both a Bachelor’s of Science and a Master’s of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University where he played football and started for 3 years. Mr. Pierson resides in Pennsylvania and has been married to his wife Pamela for 27 years; they have two children, Janae and Carl.
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.
