Best Friends Foundation-Donor Info

"...If you want to avoid poverty...you need
to complete high school, work full time
and marry before you have children.”
We are thankful that you have helped our students avoid poverty.

Thank you for donating to help our students.
Print a .pdf of our appeal brochure with a form for your donor information for credit card donations or enclosed check and mail to: Best Friends Foundation Appeal 5335 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 440 Washington, DC 20015 Gifts may also be made online on our site through the Network for Good at www.bestfriendsfoundation.org/FoundDonorInfo.html Please contact Ann Goldsmith, (202) 478-9685 or email her for questions and for phone or other types of donations. Your financial support is vital to sustaining and expanding the Best Friends and Best Men Programs in Washington, DC area public schools. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Best Friends Foundation receives financial support from individuals, private foundations, corporations nationwide and state and federal government. Gifts to the Best Friends Foundation are fully deductible to the extent allowed by law. At this special time of year, please know how grateful we are for your gift. – Elayne Bennett, President and Founder, Best Friends Foundation.
"...If you want to avoid poverty...you need to complete high school, work full time and marry before you have children.” We are thankful that you have helped our students avoid poverty.
Almost 30% of children live in single parent families. Poverty rates in single parent families are five times higher than in two parent homes. Above quote and statistics above taken from...“Five Myths About Our Land of Opportunity,” Isabelle Sawhill and Ron Haskins, Washington Post, November 1, 2009 In Washington, DC 32% of children live in poverty. National Center for Children in Poverty: Low income Children in the United States: National and State Trend Data, 1995-2005; U.S. Census Bureau, 2005 American Community Survey. Children living in poverty are more vulnerable to poor health, low school performance and teen parenthood.	• 90% of Best Friends and Best Men students say they want to be married one day. • 91% of Best Friends and 89% of Best Men students believe it is best for children to be born into two parent families. • 87% of Best Friends and 81% of Best Men students did not skip any days of school. • 100% of Diamond Girl and Best Men Leadership students graduate from high school. • 95% of Best Friends and 82% of Best Men students are not members of a gang. 2008-2009 pre-survey and post-survey data from Washington, DC Best Friends and Best Men students.
“The years that I have been in the program, I can say it’s been incredible. I am and always will be a Diamond Girl and I appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to participate in such a life-changing organization. Being a Diamond Girl is something to be proud of and cherish. As I go off to college, the lessons that I have learned in this organization will be used throughout my life.” – Senior Diamond Girl Leadership student, McKinley Tech High School, Washington, DC. Now a freshman at Trinity Washington University	"My life began to go in a downward spiral. I really found no reason to live if it wasn’t for the Best Friends Foundation. It was my escape from the horrible life that I was living. Without them I would probably be living the life of drugs, alcohol and sex.” – Best Men Leadership Senior, Woodrow Wilson High School, Washington, DC. Now a freshman at West Virginia State University
Your contribution will provide students with the opportunity to develop skills to make positive decisions and become good citizens. • $5,000 Provides Best Friends and Best Men Programs in three middle schools serving over 200 students. • $2,000 Provides a Best Friends or a Best Men program for one student for 6 years (6th - 12th grade). • $500 Provides a school teacher as a Best Friends or Best Men Mentor for 3–5 students for the academic school year. • $100 Provides weekly fitness and nutrition classes for a student in middle school for the school year. • $ 25 Provides a student with a Best Friends or a Best Men Student Journal – which contains researched and developmentally sound risk prevention curriculum, hot line information and inspirational readings.
Print a .pdf of our appeal brochure with a form for your donor information for credit card donations or enclosed check and mail to: Best Friends Foundation Appeal 5335 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 440 Washington, DC 20015 Gifts may also be made online on our site through the Network for Good at www.bestfriendsfoundation.org/FoundDonorInfo.html Please contact Ann Goldsmith, (202) 478-9685 or email her for questions and for phone or other types of donations. Your financial support is vital to sustaining and expanding the Best Friends and Best Men Programs in Washington, DC area public schools. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Best Friends Foundation receives financial support from individuals, private foundations, corporations nationwide and state and federal government. Gifts to the Best Friends Foundation are fully deductible to the extent allowed by law. At this special time of year, please know how grateful we are for your gift. – Elayne Bennett, President and Founder, Best Friends Foundation.