National Fatherhood Initiative® Earns 2021 GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency

For Immediate Release

MEDIA CONTACTS

Maggie Spain                                       
Spearca Communications           
405.812.0685, maggie@spearcadenver.com

Melissa Steward
National Fatherhood Initiative®
240.912.1273, msteward@fatherhood.org

National Fatherhood Initiative® Earns 2021 GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency
Recognition comes as the nation’s leading nonprofit organization working to end father absence marks 10 million resources distributed to fathers, organizations, and communities.

GERMANTOWN, Md. – Dec. 13, 2021 – National Fatherhood Initiative® has received the 2021 GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency, indicating the organization’s commitment to transparency and communicating progress toward its mission. GuideStar is the world’s largest source of information on nonprofit organizations. The platinum rating is GuideStar’s highest level of recognition.

“NFI is honored to have received GuideStar’s highest level of recognition for our commitment to transparency and providing meaningful data for donors to evaluate our work,” said Christopher Brown, president, National Fatherhood Initiative®. “This recognition supports continued confidence in our evidence-based programming, training, and technical assistance initiatives that have impacted millions of fathers and families over the past 27 years.”

The GuideStar seal is the most widely adopted symbol of transparency in the U.S. social sector. Approximately 5% of the more than 1.7 million nonprofits registered with the IRS have achieved a GuideStar seal.

On top of its GuideStar platinum recognition, NFI is celebrating 10 million resources distributed since the organization was founded in 1994. Today, 18.3 million American children live in homes without a biological, step, or adoptive father. Children with involved fathers have a strong foundation for child well-being. They are at lower risk for a host of poor childhood outcomes, including:

• Neglect and abuse
• Substance abuse
• Teen pregnancy
• Incarceration as juveniles
• Suicide

NFI is the nation’s leading trainer of organizations and staff on how to intentionally and proactively engage fathers in their children’s lives. NFI services build capacity through father-friendly assessments, skills training, technical assistance, strategic planning, and community mobilization around fatherhood. Since 2002, NFI has trained more than 37,000 staff on how to deliver NFI programs. NFI’s evidence-based 24/7 Dad® program is the most widely used fathering program in the country among community-based organizations and its InsideOut Dad® program is the standard fathering program across all corrections facilities for men.

According to Ronnie Cage, NFI program partner and case manager for Operation New Hope’s Ready4Release program, “Operation New Hope provides support and training to people affected by the criminal justice system to help them reconnect to the workforce, their families, and the community. We are working to break the cycle of incarceration and poverty, and the support from National Fatherhood Initiative® has made a huge impact on the success of our clients. By delivering the InsideOut Dad® program to incarcerated fathers in Northeast Florida, we are helping dads rebuild and strengthen bonds and set goals for their return.”

For more information on NFI, visit www.fatherhood.org.  

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About National Fatherhood Initiative

National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) was founded in 1994 to reverse our nation’s destructive trend towards father absence. Today, nearly 20 million American children live in homes in which their biological fathers do not live. Yet, the fact remains that millions of families interact with human-service organizations every year that are primarily mother-focused. Therefore, NFI’s mission is to increase father involvement by equipping human service organizations and communities with the father engagement training, programs, and resources they need to be father-inclusive. Our vision is that all human service organizations and communities are proactively father-inclusive so that every child has an involved, responsible, and committed father in their lives.

Accordingly, we accomplish our mission by:

• Educating all Americans, especially fathers, through social media, earned media, research, and free resources.
• Equipping organizations and communities with fatherhood programs and resources, and through training, planning, and technical assistance services.
• Engaging and assisting organizations and communities to mobilize at the micro- and macro-level to increase the involvement of fathers in children’s lives. 

For more information on NFI, visit www.fatherhood.org.