Founded in 1998, the My Stuff Bags Foundation provides duffels of new belongings to children nationwide who must be rescued from abuse, neglect, abandonment, homelessness, and child trafficking. Traumatized by the events leading to their rescue, these children often arrive at crisis shelters and foster care with nothing of their own. Rescuing agencies rarely have the resources to provide something as essential as a toothbrush or as comforting as a teddy bear. We fill that gap with My Stuff Bags, individual duffels lovingly packed by volunteers with donated, new childhood essentials. My Stuff Bags address the immediate physical and emotional needs of these disadvantaged children, helping support the agencies caring for them. Each My Stuff Bag sends the message to a hurting child that their community and country surrounds them with love, support and hope. To date, more than 650,000 children across the United States have received a My Stuff Bag.

Since the My Stuff Bags Foundation has already provided more than 650,000 rescued children with the gift of a My Stuff Bag, our current vision is to reach over one million rescued children across America with our individual duffels of new belongings. Our Foundation will continue providing much needed Psychological First Aid to children who have suffered from unimaginable situations of abuse, neglect abandonment or homelessness by providing them with the things they need to restore their dignity and bring them comfort during their difficult transition into crisis care. Because the Bags are provided at no cost, we also support the rescuing agencies by allowing them to utilize their cash resources more efficiently and simultaneously encouraging them to establish trust and connection between themselves and the children in their care. Lastly, we aim to educate all participants of the My Stuff Bags Program about the unique circumstances and needs of the rescued children we serve.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: The Foundation will continue to fundraise through online solicitations, grant proposals, direct mail, social media and email campaigns, benefit events, fundraisers, and speaking presentations.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Two: The Foundation petitions and receives large donations of new children’s items. We will increase solicitations for in-kind donations to manufacturers, corporations, and community organizations.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Three: The Foundation will continue volunteer recruitment through increased participation at volunteer fairs, and keep expanding our outreach to local community organizations, corporations, and schools.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Describe an investment in leadership

Program and Development Associates participate in weekly sessions led by the CEO to discuss and plan the implementation of development efforts. Program and Development Associates are coached on relationship development with the Foundation’s Partner Agencies to meet our distribution goals across the United States. Program and Development Associates are provided with communication tools and resources throughout the year to ensure donor retention and to secure large donations of in-kind items from prospective manufacturers. Program and Development Associates are coached on relationship development throughout the year with individual, community, and corporate volunteers, and provided with communication tools and resources to recruit new volunteers.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Our Foundations works collaboratively with non-profit agencies across the United States to meet the unique needs of the children in their care. Through our large and ever-expanding network of child protection agencies, we distribute rescued children with the items they need and deliver the message that these children have not been forgotten. Our Foundation has an active social media presence and email marketing program that allows us to engage thousands of donors and volunteers, provide updates on our Foundation’s progress, and highlight significant contributions. Our vigorous volunteer program provides opportunities to individuals, community organizations, corporations, and schools groups to participate within their community. In addition to our social media and email marketing and volunteer opportunities, the CEO’s participation in local and national presentations and conferences provides educational insight about the circumstances and needs of abused and neglected children.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented several major challenges to our organization, which compelled us to quickly adapt our volunteer program, donor retention efforts, and Bag distribution model. First, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we could not allow volunteers (our major labor force, 2000 Volunteers per year) into our Volunteer Center to help us prepare and fill the My Stuff Bags. During the lockdown, our loyal volunteers were happy to participate in remote projects, such as assembling toiletry pouches and name tags, and making blankets, which helped speed up production and distribution of My Stuff Bags. Our Volunteer Center eagerly reopened to vaccinated volunteers in the spring of 2021, and safely allowed Stuff-a-Thons and other volunteer activities to resume. Second, schools, community and corporate groups were not allowed to enter our building with collections of new items for the kids. In response, we provided a contactless donation drop-off bin which was soon overflowing with new items each day. We called upon major in-kind donors to provide large quantities of blankets, stuffed animals, clothing, books and more to fill the Bags. Despite the economic struggle, many of our monetary donors generously continued making contributions, some even increased their giving! Lastly, many of our Partner Agencies had to adjust to remote work situations and were temporarily unable to reach children in need of services. Our small staff safely kept production going, in anticipation of the increase in domestic violence cases, and the rising numbers of children entering crisis care. In 2021, we partnered with a new shipper to deliver Bags at a lower rate to rescuing agencies across the country, and encouraged local agencies to safely pick up the My Stuff Bags from our distribution center. Despite these challenges and adaptations, nearly 34,000 children in need received a My Stuff Bag through 144 Partner Agencies in 19 states in the 2020-2021 fiscal years.