Is it realistic? 9/10
Certainty in Terms of the Specific Usage of Donation:
Some of the non-profit organizations involved in technology development may have carried out research that has failed to yield the desired results, meaning that the time and money invested have gone to waste. For the shoes donating organization, the main portion of donations have to be used to purchase shoes, every donor has to ensure the shoes are being delivered to the children. Each school is held responsible for making sure they identify children that are most in need and report the exact shoe size. There is a high likelihood that the majority of donations are directly used to solve the problem. 91% of the fund goes to serving every child but there is a low risk of failure in the process. Therefore, there is a greater degree of certainty in terms of the specific usage of the donation.
Questionable Sustainability:
Children aged 5-12 outgrow their shoes fairly quickly, and this logic explains why families can't afford shoes that fit their children. Hence, this fact implies that every new pair of shoe people donate won't fit the children for longer than few months. That is not very sustainable.
Improvements that could be made:
A solution would be to develop a long-term donation plan that would constantly follow up with one child a benefactor aids. If he or she outgrows of the shoe size, news pairs are bought for her.
Additionally, the shoes could be recycled or children return the shoes to get bigger pairs. Staff members from Shoes that Fit can collect the shoes and send them to other needy children. In this way, more people can benefit from the program and resources are saved.
- Are the people qualified to take on this work? 9/10
Claremont Based Leadership:
As mentioned, the first shoes were donated by a Harvey Mudd faculty member. Their board members are Claremont-based and include the city manager of Claremont, CFO of Pomona Valley Hospital Center, Director of Pomona-Pitzer Athletics, and the CEO of Claremont University Consortium.
Organization structure
4 Board Directors
Board President, Ann Morgan, Psychologist
Board Vice President, Tony Ramos, City Manager of Claremont
Board Treasurer, Juli Hester, CFO of Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center
Board Secretary, Ron Cohen, Partner of Sidley Austin. LLP
The board directors of Shoes that Fit gained leadership skills from their working experiences. In fact, among the 13 board members, 4 of them work for schools, including the Pomona Unified School District. The work experience in the education field is key to legitimizing Shoes that Fit because it focuses mainly on educational institutions.
Volunteerism
There are only 7 administrative staff members. All the other operations, such as the distribution of the shoes and measuring the students, are run through an impressive network of volunteer-run local grassroots chapters. This arrangement cuts a lot of operation costs, while not necessarily reducing the efficiency of the program due to the point to point shoe delivery model as previously mentioned.
The credibility of the Leadership:
In this Charity Navigator's Assessment of Accountability and transparency of the organization, Shoes that Fit qualifies independent voting board members, audited financials prepared by independent accounts, and documents board meeting minutes. There are also conflicts of interest policies, whistleblower policies, records retention and destruction policies, CEO listed with salary, processes for determining CEO compensation, and board listed/ board member not compensated.
Compensation % of Expenses Paid to Title
$115,000 2.64% Amy Fass Executive Director
This organization receives a score of 100 on transparency and accountability, which implies a healthy organization structure and policy. A healthy internal structure is the base of a sustainable company.
