Teen Lifeline Inc.
Teen Lifeline Inc.
PO BOX 10745
Phoenix AZ 85064-0745
Phoenix AZ | IRS ruling year: 1999 | EIN: 86-0966427
To prevent teen suicide by enhancing resiliency in youth and fostering supportive communities.
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PO BOX 10745
Phoenix AZ 85064-0745
Phoenix AZ | IRS ruling year: 1999 | EIN: 86-0966427
To prevent teen suicide by enhancing resiliency in youth and fostering supportive communities.
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This charity's score is 99%, earning it a Four-Star rating. If this organization aligns with your passions and values, you can give with confidence.
This overall score is calculated from multiple beacon scores: 80% Accountability & Finance, 10% Leadership & Adaptability, 10% Culture & Community. Learn more about our criteria and methodology.
We recognize that not all metrics and beacons equally predict a charity’s success. The percentage each beacon contributes to the organization’s overall rating depends on the number of beacons an organization has earned.
Use the tool below to select different beacons to see how the weighting shifts when only one, two, or three beacons are earned.
Rating histories are available for a growing number of rated organizations. Check back later to see if this organization has a rating history!
The IRS is significantly delayed in processing nonprofits' annual tax filings (Forms 990). As a result, the Accountability & Finance score for Teen Lifeline Inc. is outdated and the overall rating may not be representative of its current operations. Please check with the charity directly for any questions you may have.
Teen Lifeline Inc. has earned a 100% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of a charity's financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.
This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2020, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us.
Learn more
Charity Navigator looks for at least 3 board members, with more than 50% of those members identified as independent (not salaried).
The presence of an independent governing body is strongly recommended by many industry professionals to allow for full deliberation and diversity of thinking on governance and other organizational matters.
Source: IRS Form 990
An Audit, Review, or Compilation provides important information about financial accountability and accuracy. Organizations are scored based on their Total Revenue Amount:
Total Revenue Amount | Expectation to Receive Credit |
---|---|
$1 million or higher | Expected to complete an audit |
$500,000 - $1 million | Expected to complete an audit, review, or compilation |
Less than $500,000 | No expectation (removed from scoring methodology) |
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a conflict of interest policy on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy protects the organization and by extension those it serves, when it is considering entering into a transaction that may benefit the private interest of an officer, director and/or key employee of the organization.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks to confirm on the Form 990 that the organization has this process in place as an accountability and transparency measure.
An official record of the events that take place during a board meeting ensures that a contemporaneous document exists for future reference.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a document retention and destruction policy per the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy establishes guidelines for the handling, backing up, archiving and destruction of documents. These guidelines foster good record keeping procedures that promote data integrity.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for the existence of a whistleblower policy per the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency measure.
This policy outlines procedures for handling employee complaints, as well as a confidential way for employees to report financial or other types of mismanagement.
Source: IRS Form 990
Charity Navigator looks for a website on the Form 990 as an accountability and transparency metric.
Nonprofits act in the public trust and reporting publicly on activities is an important component.
Source: IRS Form 990
The Liabilities to Assets Ratio is determined by Total Liabilities divided by Total Assets (most recent 990). This ratio is an indicator of an organization’s solvency and/or long-term sustainability.
Liabilities to Assets Ratio | Amount of Credit Received |
---|---|
Less than 50% | Full Credit |
50% - 59.9% | Partial Credit |
60% or more | No Credit |
Source: IRS Form 990
The Program Expense Ratio is determined by Program Expenses divided by Total Expense (average of most recent three 990s). This measure reflects the percent of its total expenses a charity spends on the programs and services it exists to deliver.
Program Expense Percentage | Amount of Credit Received |
---|---|
70% or higher | Full Credit |
60% - 69.9% | Partial Credit |
50% - 59.9% | Zero Points for Program Expense Score |
Below 50% | Zero Points for Both Program Expense AND Liabilities to Assets Scores |
Source: IRS Form 990
This chart displays the trend of revenue and expenses over the past several years for this organization, as reported on their IRS Form 990.
Presented here are up to five of this organization's highest compensated employees. This compensation data includes salary, cash bonuses, and expense accounts and is displayed exactly how it is reported to the IRS. The amounts do not include nontaxable benefits, deferred compensation, or other amounts not reported on Form W-2. In some cases, these amounts may include compensation from related organizations. Read the IRS policies for compensation reporting
Source: IRS Form 990 (page 7), filing year 2020
Below are some key data points from the Exempt Organization IRS Business Master File (BMF) for this organization. Learn more about the BMF on the IRS website
Activities:
Activity data not reported from the IRS
Foundation Status:
Organization which receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or the general public 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) (BMF foundation code: 15)
Affiliation:
Independent - the organization is an independent organization or an independent auxiliary (i.e., not affiliated with a National, Regional, or Geographic grouping of organizations). (BMF affiliation code: 3)
The Form 990 is a document that nonprofit organizations file with the IRS annually. We leverage finance and accountability data from it to form Encompass ratings. Click here to search for this organization's Forms 990 on the IRS website (if any are available). Simply enter the organization's name (Teen Lifeline Inc.) or EIN (860966427) in the 'Search Term' field.
This organization was impacted by COVID-19 in a way that effected their financial health in 2020. This normally would have reduced their star rating. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, we give charities such as this one the opportunity to share the story of COVID's impact on them, and doing this pauses our revision of their rating. Charities may submit their own pandemic responses through their nonprofit portal.
Teen Lifeline Inc. reported being impacted by COVID-19 in the following ways:
Program Delivery
Fundraising Capacity
Revenue
Staffing
Administrative Capacity
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's operations financially:
In 2020, we canceled our largest annual fundraising event of the year, the Connections of Hope Gala, in order to protect the health of our community in accordance with CDC guidelines at the time. However, with the assistance of grants and donations, Teen Lifeline maintained the employment of our full staff and even expanded our services to meet the increased mental health and crisis needs of Arizona teens.
How COVID-19 impacted the organization's delivery of programs:
Though many classrooms were remote for most of 2020, the requirements of the Mitch Warnock Act to train all school staff in suicide prevention still needed to be met. Teen Lifeline was one of the first agencies to provide virtual suicide prevention training for schools using approved curriculum and giving support to schools who had to quickly learn how to remotely identify and help youth at-risk. Virtual trainings take both three times as much time and three times as many staff to conduct while ensuring all participants feel supported and meeting best practice standards. Even still, our prevention department quickly transitioned to a virtual environment to meet our community’s needs. In addition to our previous in-person programs, our prevention education now includes a robust set of virtual trainings and eLearning units, meaning we can train schools and parents no matter if their classrooms are in-person, remote, or both.
How this organization adapted to changing conditions caused by COVID-19:
- Adopted a hybrid work model to limit the number of staff in our facility while maintaining constant clinical support on-site for volunteers and schools - Added virtual suicide prevention training programs for schools to satisfy the Mitch Warnock Act for both virtual and in-person classrooms - Added 15 hours per week to our texting services on our peer counseling hotline, starting in March 2020 and remaining today—texting crisis hotline hours are now 12-9 p.m. during the week and 3-9 p.m. Saturday/Sunday; calling remains open 24/7/365
Innovations the organization intends to continue permanently after the pandemic:
When students, schools, and families needed support during COVID-19, Teen Lifeline acted immediately to provide critical support services. We extended our services for our hotline, our volunteers, and our prevention education to accommodate the needs of social distancing and address the mental health impact of the pandemic. All the while, our Peer Counselors continued to show up and support both hotline callers and each other through the challenges the pandemic brought. The virtual prevention education and 15 more texting hours per week that began in response to COVID-19 remain in place today, meeting our community to support them where they are at. Calls and texts to our crisis hotline remain significantly higher than they were pre-pandemic—a positive thing, as it means more and more teens are reaching out when they need help!
Not Currently Scored
Teen Lifeline Inc. cannot currently be evaluated by our Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.
Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.
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Teen Lifeline Inc. reported its three largest programs on its FY 2020 Form 990 as:
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Peer Counseling Hotline Growing up is complicated, sometimes difficult, confusing and overwhelming. Research has shown that when teens want to talk about their problems, they are more likely to turn t ... (More)
Peer Counseling Hotline Growing up is complicated, sometimes difficult, confusing and overwhelming. Research has shown that when teens want to talk about their problems, they are more likely to turn to their peers first. That is what makes Teen Lifeline so unique our peer-to-peer model. Through calling or texting the hotline, teens can talk to someone their own age who understand what they are going through because they have gone through it too. Trained teen peer counselors are helping teens to find a connection of hope, build healthy coping skills and learning problem solving skills to make healthy decisions. Our hotline assists troubled youth through Arizona and is answered 24/7/365, with Peer Counseling and our text messaging service available from 3pm to 9pm daily. The hotline is FREE and CONFIDENTIAL, with all our trained Peer Counselors supervised by a Master level clinician at all times. In 2020, Teen Lifeline received 23,341 calls and 11,497 texts from troubled youth across the state. One in three calls was from a young person considering suicide. (Less)
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Life Skills Teen Lifeline is not only is a safe place for teens to call in for help and hope, but is also a safe place for our volunteers who take those calls. For many of our teen volunteers, Teen Li ... (More)
Life Skills Teen Lifeline is not only is a safe place for teens to call in for help and hope, but is also a safe place for our volunteers who take those calls. For many of our teen volunteers, Teen Lifeline becomes a home away from home. They describe the (Less)
Spent in most recent FY
Percent of program expenses
Community Education and Prevention Services Our prevention efforts focus on decreasing risks, increasing protective factors and creating resiliency in the lives, families, and communities of Arizona y ... (More)
Community Education and Prevention Services Our prevention efforts focus on decreasing risks, increasing protective factors and creating resiliency in the lives, families, and communities of Arizona youth. Teen Lifeline provides free education through outr (Less)
Teen Lifeline Inc. has earned a 88% for the Culture & Community beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's culture and connectedness to the community it serves.
Learn more
This organization reported that it is collecting feedback from the constituents and/or communities it serves. However, it did not respond to one or more survey questions, and therefore is not eligible for a score on this metric. (View our beacon methodology.) Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations that engage in inclusive practices, such as collecting feedback from the people and communities they serve, may be more effective.
How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Community meetings or town halls
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 identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
With whom does your organization share the feedback you got from the people you serve?
Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners
What challenges does your organization face in collecting feedback from the people you serve?
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
Briefly describe a recent change that your organization made in response to feedback from the people you serve.
Note: The organization did not respond to this question.
100% of beacon score
This organization's score of 88 is a passing score. The organization reported that it is implementing 6 Equity Practices. Charity Navigator believes nonprofit organizations implementing effective equity policies and practices can enhance a nonprofit's decision-making, staff motivation, innovation, and effectiveness.
Equity Practices (2/7) | |
---|---|
We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race. | |
We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and/or portfolios. | |
We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization/'s programs, portfolios, and the populations served. | |
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. |
Equity Policies and Procedures (4/7) | |
---|---|
We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity. | |
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. |
Teen Lifeline Inc. has earned a 100% for the Leadership & Adaptability beacon. See the metrics below for more information.
This beacon provides an assessment of the organization's leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes in constituent demand/need or other relevant social and economic conditions to achieve the organization's mission.
Learn more
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization's mission
To prevent teen suicide by enhancing resiliency in youth and fostering supportive communities.
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking through articulating the organization’s vision.
We envision a world where all youth possess a sense of connectedness and hope for their future.
Source: Nonprofit submitted responses
The nonprofit organization presents evidence of strategic thinking and goal setting through sharing their most important strategic goals.
Goal One: Expanding services to statewide including Tucson in an overall effort to move our program statewide.
Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.
Goal Two: Satisfy the Mitch Warnock Act for AZ schools through our suicide prevention education. Support community suicide prevention initiatives. Foster supportive communities in AZ.
Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.
Goal Three: Reaccreditation of the organization.
Goal Type: Invest in the capacity of our organization (financial, management, technical, etc.).
The nonprofit provides evidence of investment in leadership development
Since Teen Lifeline’s inception in 1986, staff and leadership development has continued to be a priority. During the pandemic, that did not change. Staff and leadership continued to attend and present at conferences and training for continual development. The Clinical Director also attended and graduated from the American Express Leadership Academy during this time frame.
The nonprofit provides evidence of leadership through focusing externally and mobilizing resources for the mission.
Strategic Partnerships
Networks of Collective Impact Efforts
Thought Leadership
Raising Awareness
Community Building
Policy Advocacy
Teen Lifeline enacts its mission to prevent teen suicide within the community in ways including: - Spearheading Arizona's annual Teen Suicide Prevention Awareness Month through community rallies, interagency partnerships, an increase in school training/resource building, and awareness campaigns both online and offline that involve teen mental health/suicide prevention education and teen-to-teen PSAs. - Presenting at numerous suicide prevention and youth-focused conferences across Arizona. - Providing suicide prevention education that satisfies the Mitch Warnock Act for Arizona schools, both in-person and virtually. - Aid schools in satisfying the Arizona school ID mandate by placing Teen Lifeline's hotline information and a message of hope on junior and high school IDs. - Create and spread mental health education pieces (articles, social media posts, news) for print, digital, and social media platforms.
The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
When students, schools, and families needed support during COVID-19, Teen Lifeline acted immediately to provide critical support services. We extended our services for our hotline, our volunteers, and our prevention education to accommodate the needs of social distancing and address the mental health impact of the pandemic. 2021 marked the return of this event for the first time in two years after we canceled it in 2020 to protect the health of our community during the pandemic. The pandemic placed a spotlight on our healthcare community. Everyone who attended truly exemplified the “care” in healthcare, making this our highest-grossing fundraiser gala ever.
Impact & Results
Accountability & Finance
Culture & Community
Leadership & Adaptability
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