BEB 2023 Year in Review

2023 YEAR IN REVIEW

Mission

Transforming Global Child Welfare through Technology and Collaboration

Vision

We envision a world in which every child grows up in a loving family.

Millions of suffering children are hidden behind the walls of institutions and orphanages. The primary reason is simply because countries lack the digital infrastructure that creates visibility into who and where they are. Without a digital identity, institutionalized children face a bleak future. BEB works to capture comprehensive digital profiles of children through Children First Software (CFS), a technology-driven advocate designed to identify a child’s best opportunity for family-based care. Collaborating with countries around the world, we empower government authorities to move vulnerable children to their best future, a chance to grow and flourish in a loving family.

IN 2023 ALONE,

CFS GAVE

4,071 children digital identities

Nuevo Leon, MX

Guatemala

The Gambia

Ecuador

Nigeria

Paraguay

Family is the best place for a child to be. Through the work of Children First Software, thousands of children who were growing up in institutional care are instead realizing their best potential in the care of loving families. We are seeing the impact of CFS on children as they are reunified with their biological families, placed with foster families, or adopted into families. With CFS, government child welfare systems are more secure, transparent, and effective for the children they serve. This growth is setting the stage for a transformed global child welfare system so millions of children no longer have to grow up in institutions.

2,016

465

children permanent families children’s homes the power to work for their countries’ children.

Ethiopia

Uganda

Tanzania

Malawi

Zambia

Congo-Brazzaville

BEB welcomed 6 new partner countries in 2023, including 566 new CFS users.

Children First Software is changing the future for thousands of children around the world.

Fekadu’s Story

Last year, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, we experienced a beautiful moment of a teenage boy, Fekadu, returning to his mother after years of separation.

Abandoned by his father as a child, Fekadu was left to provide for himself. He found himself begging on the streets, susceptible to addiction, and lost to the rest of the world. He thought he would go to the capital and find success, but he could only make a little money filling buckets as portable toilets.

Separated from his family for three years, with no way to trace them, Fekadu had nowhere to go. He felt alone and hopeless living on the streets until he met Abba Angelo at Bosco Children’s Home. He told Fekadu about a program called “Come and See,” with the hopes of reintegrating impoverished children into their lost families.

Bosco Children’s Home could provide Fekadu with what he needed: basic education, nourishment, and people to care for him. The thought of being reunited with his family was out of the realm of possibilities for Fekadu. Little did he know that BEB was working to provide his children’s home with the technology to make this dream a reality. Zena Gebregiorgis, BEB’s Country Manager in Ethiopia, stated, “What used to be near impossible with pen and paper, BEB made possible through CFS.” Abba Angelo thought of Fekadu. The boy with no way to trace his family. The boy with nowhere to go.

Fekadu wanted to find his family and be reunited with them. Through the work of CFS, their data was found in minutes. Seeing his mother for the first time in years, Fekadu was moved to tears. He and his mother were able to hold each other as a reunited family. His life was saved.

Regional Highlights

By Mark Schwartz, President

Our leadership has our annual planning session in January of each year to discuss our goals and identify core objectives for the year, and gratefully, I’m happy to report that we hit or exceeded nearly all those guiding targets in 2023. Our primary goal at BEB has always been to get kids into families. We are encouraged with every reunification and to see an increasing enthusiasm for domestic adoption in many of our partner countries.

A few key examples:

The OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights extended a Cooperation Agreement with BEB for an additional three years, allowing us to continue to work toward our goals in Paraguay and Ecuador and other potential partners in Latin America.

Through our generous and committed partners at Show Hope, ten domestic adoptions were completed in Uganda. This collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Show Hope and BEB is sowing the seeds that we anticipate will grow into a favorable culture of adoption throughout the country and continent of Africa.

Our partners in The Republic of Congo, The Gambia and Zambia Without Orphans have signed Memorandums of Understanding with BEB and have begun the implementation of CFS expanding our African footprint to nearly 40% of the continent’s population.

We continue to see our international staff overcome the challenges they encounter and work with their country partners to transform their child welfare systems. In-country managers and representatives continue to develop and demonstrate their commitment to the BEB goals for the vulnerable children in their countries.

Our US leadership team traveled to visit our partners in eleven countries. We cover those miles to get invaluable in-person time with our international partners where we continue to witness confidence in CFS and its growing functionality and effectiveness.

During the final quarter of 2023 we were excited to have our first BEB gala in Dallas, Texas - our goal was to raise awareness about our organization and vision and to cultivate a family of support. Country leaders from Ecuador, Honduras, Nigeria, and Paraguay joined the event and shared our achievements and challenges. With over 230 people in attendance, we met our donor development goals for the evening and enjoyed sharing our lofty mission with many new friends and supporters.

All our accomplishments mentioned in this short letter are to encourage your invaluable support for BEB. We are staying true to the goals that caught your heart initially and the team remains fully committed to doing our part to change the future for vulnerable kids. We can all imagine what their goals and dreams include, there is no better way to help them achieve all they are capable of than in loving and supportive families.

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” - Alexander the Great

Let’s keep trying together.

Mark Schwartz, BEB President

Uganda Spotlight

An Interview with Kenneth Ayebazibwe,

Africa Regional Director

How is CFS impacting the children of Uganda?

Improved access to services:

CFS is helping to ensure that children in alternative care have access to the services they need such as education, healthcare, and nutrition.

Increased safety and security:

CFS is helping to increase the safety and security of children in alternative care. This is because CFS helps track the movements of children between institutions and identify potential risks. This information is then used to take steps to protect children from harm.

Improved quality of care:

CFS is helping to improve the quality of care in alternative care settings. This is because CFS helps monitor the standards of care and provide feedback to providers. This information is then used to improve the way children are cared for.

Increased opportunities for reunification:

CFS is helping to increase the opportunities for children in alternative care to be reunited with their families. This is because CFS helps track the whereabouts of children’s families. This information is then used to support family reunification efforts.

How is the Ugandan Child Welfare system operating differently since using CFS?

The Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development (MGLSD) in Uganda collected data that indicates over 50,000 children aged 0-17 live in childcare institutions; meaning for every 100,000 children, 220 live in child care institutions in Uganda.

According to the data from CFS, it shows that the government, through the MGLSD, has been able to register and give licenses to 195 children’s homes. By December 31st, 2023, 13,694 children had been registered in these homes, 3,594 have been placed in a permanent family through CFS.

- CFS has helped to improve data management in the child welfare system. This has made it easier for MGLSD to track the status of children in alternative care, to identify areas where they need support, and to make better decisions about how to allocate resources.

- CFS has helped to improve statistics between child welfare organizations, government agencies, and donors. This has made it easier for these stakeholders to work together to improve the lives of children in need basing on facts provided by data.

“BEB was the first partner to align with the MGLSD to standardize data collection in children’s homes and the Government.”

- Commissioner of Children Affairs, MGLSD

Partnership Highlight

SHOW HOPE

Many prospective adoptive parents dream of a family but defer or even suppress these dreams because they can’t afford the costs of adoption. For 20 years, Show Hope has stepped into this void and provided financial support for over 8,000 adoptions.

Historically, the focus has been Americans adopting internationally. However, in 2023, working in concert with BEB, Show Hope’s generosity enabled Ugandan parents to adopt Ugandan children. Our organizations share beliefs that every child deserves to be raised in a safe, loving family and that financial constraints should not be a barrier for parents who have the heart to bring an adopted child into their home.

In 2023, ten Ugandan children were adopted domestically as a result of the collaboration between BEB and Show Hope, a program supported by the Ministry of Gender. This is a start that we hope to see become a wave as domestic adoption takes root in Uganda.

BEB takes this opportunity to thank Show Hope on behalf of Hannah, Namuli, Kate, Shakira, Jonathan, Blessing, Simon, Ian, Rashimah and Henry, ten children whose futures became much brighter in 2023.

Frank Garrott Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

PARTNERSHIP The Power of

We are grateful to these partners. Their support is multiplying the impact of our shared goal for every child to realize the dream of a safe and permanent family.

BEB DONOR SPOTLIGHT

Luci and Will Robinson

Luci and I live in Dallas, TX, and have three wonderful sons: Jack (5), Charlie (3), and Scottie (1). Being parents is one of the highest callings in our lives and we are thankful for the opportunity that God has given us to raise our boys.

Having young children makes us very aware of the benefits of a stable, loving family and community. As parents, it's difficult to realize that so many institutionalized children don’t have this privilege. When we first met BEB, we were excited to find an organization that not only believes in providing a home for every displaced child, but also is trying to solve the issue using technology.

As a software entrepreneur, I firmly believe technology can change the world for the better. It's encouraging to see BEB utilize software to solve complex problems on a scale that many traditional non-profit models simply cannot match.

Providentially, my company, Encapture, has also been able to partner with BEB to further this mission. Our software uses AI to recognize important data in documents and is mostly used by banks to process loans. However, our team was able to train our software to also handle incoming adoption applications and other identification documents commonly found at orphanages. By integrating CFS with Encapture, we can dramatically speed up the adoption process as well as make it much easier to create digital identities for children.

We’re hopeful this partnership will allow BEB to expand more quickly and reduce the barrier to adoption in new countries. It has been highly rewarding for our employees to use their professional expertise to help unite thousands of children with families. Furthermore, our family has greatly appreciated the opportunity to support BEB as it makes a positive difference in so many children’s lives.

THANK YOU

To Our Generous Donors

Global Impact Sponsor $250,000+

Lori and Luke Morrow

Kershaw's Challenge

Family Forever Sponsor $100,000+

Laura and Bob Hefner

Linda and Bruce Graham

The Marie M. and James H. Galloway Foundation

Kelli and Mark Schwartz

The Power of Hope Sponsor $50,000+

Gesner-Johnson Family Foundation

Nancy Rickman

Roxanne and Harry Oellrich

Susie and Eric Cullison

Children First Sponsor $25,000+

Lauren and Sherman Thompson Brown V

Jayme and Bret Dixon

Mary Jane Wahl Gearns Foundation

Sally Brown McInnes and John "Mac" McInnes Charitable Trust

Shackouls Family Foundation

The Tyler Foundation

Leadership Sponsor $10,000+

Aimee and Mark McClanahan

Courtney and Patrick Leach

Jane and Mark Gibson

Karen and Bryan Perry

Kate and Brack D. Bryant

Outsystems

Implementation Sponsor $5,000+

Lauren and Chris Zugaro

Luci and Will Robinson

Child Registration Sponsor $1,000+

Julie and Sulman Ahmed

Meredith and Kyle Bebee

Debbie and Brian Berry

Nancy and Philip Braner

Sarah and Bill Campbell

Ashley and Logan Collins

Samantha and Mark Crosby

Katie and Peter Crow

Grace and Zach Davis

Anita and Mike Douris

Jenny and Patrick Elverum

Alice and Brian Fant

Martha and Scott Farrell

Cindy and Charles Feld

Lynne and Frank Garrott

Don Giovanello, Jr.

Katie and John Golden

Kimberly and Aaron Graft

Katherine and John Hall

Jessica and JP Haskins

Mary and Dana Johnson

Kevin Jones

Laurie and Robert Kane

Allison and Rob Kingsbury

Wendy and Michael Koehler

Lauren and Rob Langley

Mary and John Peter Livingston

Kristi and John Lowe

Haley and Ramsey March

Karlie and Kevin Mark

Jessica and Jeremiah Marshall

Melissa and Brian Mason

Margaret Elizabeth and Michael McKissack

Vicki and Brian Miller

Kristin and Andy Mitchell

Sean Moore

Nic Query

Rachel and Bart Rankin

Charles Raymond

Abby and Paul Rogers

Ashleigh and William Rury

Bethany and Drew Silverthorn

Sarah and Russell Smith

Lydia and Brandon Webb

Jordan and Wilson White

BEB Leadership

BOARD

Craig Juntunen

Bruce Graham

Harrison Oellrich

Brack Bryant

STAFF

Eric Cullison

Dana Deree

Michael Douris

C.R. Bob Hefner, Jr.

Dana E. Johnson, M.D., Ph.D.

Marcia Johnson

Luke Morrow

Mark Schwartz, BEB President

Frank Garrott, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships

Margaret Elizabeth McKissack, Vice President of External Affairs

Will Sanchez, Vice President of Implementation

Steven Scally, Director of Software Development

Expenses & Revenue 2023

40% 23% 18% 10%

Implementation

9%

Software Development

External Affairs

Strategic Partners

Administration

Total Revenue: $2,604,405

Total Expenses: $2,964,975

CRAIG JUNTUNEN

LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER

We are grateful you have taken some time to review our most recent accomplishments.

We credit our successes to inclusion and collaboration, and we are inspired by your contributions to an expanding team effort. 2023 was our most productive year, and still guided by the same principals that started things in 2010.

Thirteen years ago we honored the abilities and potential in every child and initiated a new approach to child welfare. What made sense to us was we could go beyond helping a child survive by creating a new way to help children thrive. The science supporting our thinking in 2010 continues to tell us that growth, development, and achievements are best supported by a family.

As you consider our place in child welfare, and where we go from here, imagine a world where kids are encouraged to take risks to learn who they are and what they can become. Our message has been the same for the last thirteen years. Life should be more than survival. The child we help tomorrow will be allowed to dream, and will have family in their corner to help them chase that dream.

We hope you decide to stay connected to us because it matters to a kid who is stuck in an orphanage.

Thank you for your help.

Craig Juntunen, BEB Founder

Children First Software is the answer to our case-management system, this software has given us the road map to permanency for these children.

Sandra Chikan Vice President of ASOHON, Nigeria