Friends of the Children is a nonprofit organization that provides long-term mentoring for vulnerable children from kindergarten through high school graduation. It aims to break cycles of abuse, incarceration, and poverty by selecting children most in need and matching them with professional mentors for 121⁄2 years. Research shows the program generates $3.4 million in social benefits per graduate. It has expanded to other cities and countries, and plans to serve 7,500 children by 2026. Madeline Hooper interned as a communications intern, observing mentors and children, writing blog posts and articles, researching partners, and handling social media and publicity. The internship helped her realize she wants work putting her in direct contact with people and

1. Madeline Hooper, Centre College Class of 2014
Mission
It Works!
To provide our most vulnerable children a nurturing and
sustained relationship with a professional mentor who
teaches positive values and has attainable expectations
for each child to become a healthy, productive member
of the community.
Vision
To provide a Friend to all vulnerable children who need
one and to change the way the world views and treats
our most vulnerable children.
Method
Friends of the Children contracts with an independent program
evaluator, NPC Research, to measure success in its three
quantifiable goals. Another measure of success is social ROI
analysis by the Harvard Business School Association of
Oregon, which estimates $3.4 million in social benefit from
mentoring each FOTC graduate. Further, FOTC is currently
engaged in a longitudinal randomized controlled trial conducted
by researchers from the University of Washington, Princeton
University, and the University of Oregon. Initial results are
highly positive.
Friends of the Children is a nonprofit unlike any other. It
was founded in 1993 by Portland entrepreneur Duncan
Campbell, who wanted to devise a new way to break
generational cycles of abuse, incarceration, and poverty.
Friends of the Children is set apart from other mentoring
programs by several key features:
•Early intervention – children are matched with a
mentor (called a “Friend”) in kindergarten
•Long-term mentorship – FOTC commits to each child
from kindergarten through high school graduation. 12½
years. No matter what.
•Helping the most vulnerable children – uses a
comprehensive, in-depth method to select the children
from the most difficult circumstances, where the “ripple
effect” of their success will have the greatest impact
•Professional mentors – the Friends at FOTC are welltrained and supported individuals whose full-time job is
mentoring, meaning that they can commit an average
of four hours per week to each youth
The organization, which started in Portland, has added chapters
in Klamath Falls, Seattle, New York and Boston, meaning that
FOTC now aids hundreds of youth across the country. This
year, FOTC announced an ambitious scaling plan that will allow
them to 7,500 vulnerable children by 206 through sharing best
practices, adding affiliates, and using data collected in the child
selection process. This process is off to a good start; this
summer, FOTC added its first international affiliate. Trelya, a
youth services organization in Cornwall, England, will select its
first group of kindergarteners this year and has consulted with
FOTC for mentor training and child selection methodology.
Communications Intern
• Observed, interacted with, and interviewed kids and
mentors
• Found stories and wrote blog posts showcasing
specific efforts
• Wrote content for Fall Newsletter
• Wrote press releases
• Researched potential partners
• Searched for mentoring and child poverty research
and news stories
• Researched Facebook contest platforms and
designed photo contest
• Posted to social media (twitter, facebook, pinterest)
• Tracked media statistics
• Edited and updated thank-you letters to donors
• Oversaw filming for local news channel
• Drafted article proposal for Stanford Social
Innovation Review
• Attended Portland State University’s Summer
Symposium on Mentoring Research
Past and Future
My internship with Friends of the Children – Portland
introduced me to the nonprofit sector while building
upon my experience as a PR Intern for Tin House and
giving me the opportunity to hone my craft as a writer.
With an English major and psychology minor, it’s not
easy to create a service-based project that relates to
my educational background, but FOTC allowed me to
use my abilities in order to serve Portland’s neediest
kids. The internship was more demanding than my
previous one; FOTC required more
creativity, initiative, and independence, and it
challenged me to write as a journalist. I know the skills
I built there will be useful no matter what my future
career may be.
However, the internship did help narrow my focus. I
realized that I need to do work that frequently puts me
in direct contact with people and that I need to feel like
I’m making a difference in the lives of those people. I
am currently looking for short-term but worthwhile
options (e.g. Teach for America) and in the long-term, I
plan to continue my education with a PhD in clinical
psychology or an advanced degree in a related field
(e.g. applied psychology, education, counseling).