Butterfly Dreamz FY21 Annual Report by Butterfly Dreamz

Annual Report

Our Mission

Butterfly Dreamz, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps girls develop into women who achieve their dreams and fill the roles of leadership in this nation and world. Through mentorship, scholarships, and youthled community action, we equip girls to be confident leaders who disrupt the status quo.

Our Values

Leadership: We see every girl as a leader, and we prove what's possible for girls by disrupting the status quo.

Community: We build a supportive and inspiring network of female leaders.

Youth Empowerment: We empower girls to see their greatness and create impact.

The Need

While pursuing their personal, professional, and educational goals, girls of color, particularly Black girls, in the United States are often faced with racism, stereotypes, and other inequities.

In order to challenge and change the systems that are working against them, girls need support—they need a strong and “safe” community that listens to and believes in their leadership, invests in their growth, supports their goals, and gives them an opportunity to show up authentically, while honing their skills. This need has been evidenced by the over 300% increase in our Cocoon Club membership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our Impact

The Cocoon Club

Watch the video above to hear some of our girls reflect on their Cocoon Club experience.

Being a member of the Cocoon Club has helped and inspired me to take certain risks to obtain things that I want to achieve and to not give up when things get hard.

—Zaharaou, 17 years old, Newark, NJ

It [The Cocoon Club] has given me more confidence to go for what I want and reach out to help and connect with others.

—Kayla, 14 years old, Gary, Indiana

Cocoon Club through an ad on Instagram, and I diately joined the community. I went through the munity app] feed, and it was so inspiring to see so any strong ladies supporting one another and providing different opportunities for all ages.

——Sandra J., 12 years old, Bronx, NY

Youth Internships

To power and help manage our growing Cocoon Club, we enhanced our Write to Lead internship and created two new internship programs, starting in FY22!

Write to Lead

Author our annual Leadership Journal and design weekly messages and helpful content to encourage and equip the hundreds of girls and women mentors in our Cocoon Club community.

Brand Builders

Design and implement marketing and social media campaigns that increase our brand awareness and build recruitment relationships with schools, grassroots organizations, and faith-based communities.

Community Ambassadors

Co-lead research projects to understand our community needs, facilitate youth-led community projects, and provide peer mentorship and support to girls in the Cocoon Club.

FY21 Highlights

In FY21, our Cocoon Club community grew from 50 members to nearly 450 members, supporting over 350 middle and high school girls, 25 alumni, and 50 women mentors.

of members were regularly engaged with our Mobilize community app— aging other members, participating in community discussions, loading resources, posting content, and reading community updates. dance at our weekly virtual programs ranged between 10 girls and 40 depending on the event. The average attendance at our Career Chats 5 girls and the average attendance at our book club discussions was 15 All weekly programs maintained an over 90% youth satisfaction rate. 25/26) of graduating high school seniors who received Leadership hing or Peer Mentoring support enrolled in post-secondary college and r programs and joined our College and Career Network to remain ected to the community.

s were matched with a professional woman Leadership Coach and ved monthly one-on-one mentorship 84% (16/19) of girls were satisfied their match and planned to stay connected with their coach after the hing program ended.

mployed 19 high school girls as paid interns and distributed over $18K in arships and youth leadership awards.

In my experience, the Cocoon Club is an inspiring and encouraging community. With that kind of environment, I often left the weekly meetings feeling like I could do anything. Being surrounded by girls who also have the same aspirations and goals as I do, made me excited to continue my own journey. There is power in seeing yourself in others who are like you, and I think the Cocoon Club does a great job at giving girls the representation they need to grow as leaders and achieve their dreams.

—Cristal, 12th Grade Student, Newark, NJ

In FY21, our Founder & CEO, Joy Lindsay, was recognized as an AMEX Founder of Change ($25K award) and a 2020 Echoing Green Finalist!

Financial Summary

Revenue Overview

We raised $200,964—approximately 56% of our $360K FY21 fundraising goal and a $109K increase from FY20.

Carolyn Jane Scott Charitable Trust contributed $20K for the 2nd year in a row.

Excluding Butterfly Dreamz staff and Board members, we had 78 individual donors.

Individual donor gifts ranged from $10 to $12,500.

The average individual donor gift size was $337 and the median gift size was $100.

Expenses Overview

Our expenses totaled $192,814 and we ended the year with a savings of $8,150.

We awarded over $10K in annual scholarships and over $24K in intern stipends and youth leadership awards. We contributed $9,500 in unrestricted grants to grassroots organizations with aligned missions.

We distributed over 200 free copies of our Leadership Journal and over 150 copies of BIPOC-authored young adult books to middle and high school girls from underserved communities.

What's next?

FY22 Goals

Leadership Growth

Connect at least 500 girls to our Cocoon Club community, maintaining an 80% (400/500) membership engagement rate, with 90% (90/100) of girls who are matched with a volunteer Leadership Coach or Peer Mentor experiencing growth in their leadership skills, as measured by the Roets Youth Leadership Scale.

Post-Secondary Success

90% (27/30) of high school seniors who are matched with a volunteer Leadership Coach or Peer Mentor receive acceptance into a college, university, or another post-secondary education/career program.

Improved Mental Health

90% (38/42) of girls who are matched with a volunteer Leadership Coach trained in therapeutic mentoring report lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress, as measured by the DASS-21 Scale.