Building Stronger Families, Creating Brighter Futures
Annual Report 2024
Hopeland’s Mission
There are various causes of family separation impacting children around the world. The five main causes are Poverty, Lack of Education, Abuse, Conflict, and Environmental Crisis - PEACE. Every program and campaign that Hopeland runs focuses on children and families impacted by at least one of these five factors.
“This last year has been a wonderful example of that innovation and impact and of taking the work further in new ways.”
Our work promises to impact the US foster care system in profound ways and we can't wait for you to learn more about it. Using bias detection and mitigation within foster care matching algorithms we see great potential for improving a system that has unfortunately often been regarded as failing the needs of the most vulnerable.
The Hopeland team has helped push forward the Safe Families Australia initiative. Australia’s foster care system has encountered major problems and the partnership between Hopeland and Safe Families aims to build a stronger system that stops children from needing to enter the foster care system at all. In addition to this important work, the Hopeland team has continued to work with Medair on creating shelters in South Sudan and Madagascar to help stop families being separated in conflict zones and by natural disasters. Hopeland worked with Medair to design a collaboration with Boston Consulting Group to carry out an Environmental Assessment of the initiative which will increase the impact of our work.
Thank you to all the wonderful people that have supported us in this audacious vision and helped us make it a reality. The way Hopeland’s Board Members, supporters and friends have championed this work is truly spectacular!
Nicholas and Deborra-lee
Hopeland’s Mission: PEACE
There are various causes of family separation impacting children around the world. The five main causes are Poverty, Lack of Education, Abuse, Conflict, and Environmental CrisisPEACE. Every program and campaign that Hopeland runs focuses on children and families impacted by at least one of these five factors.
Poverty 1.
▪ Leading cause of family separation
▪ Causes economic migration, causes abuse at home and many other issues
▪ 9x more expensive to raise a child in an institution than a family - fund families not orphanages
▪ Hopeland campaigns: Kenya direct cash transfers
Education 2.
▪ Even though education is free to access in most countries worldwide there can be associated costs e.g. transport that cause problems for families and leads to parent/child separation
▪ Lack of education also causes issues of family separation if the impact of sending a child to an institution is not fully understood
▪ Hopeland campaigns: TechLink
Abuse 3.
▪ Children are trafficked into and out of orphanages all over the world
▪ This is why Hopeland campaigns so strongly to end orphanage trafficking
▪ Hopeland campaigns: #EndOrphanageTrafficking, Ending child slavery
4.
▪ In a world that seems to be facing more conflict than ever before it is important to remember the impact this has on children who had nothing to do with the decisions that led to the war
▪ When armies or militias are fighting communities can be torn apart and this means children can be separated from their parents. In some parts of the world these conflicts even include child soldiers.
▪ Children often suffer the most from conflict
▪ Hopeland campaigns: Ukraine
▪ Hopeland campaigns: Shelter Kit Project Conflict
Environmental Crisis 5.
▪ The United Nations calls Climate Change the defining crisis of our time and our changing environment is causing record temperatures, increased climate related disasters, drought and flooding amongst other impacts.
▪ Again children and families bear the biggest negative impacts as climate change makes where they live uninhabitable - causing emergency family separation
Important Highlights
IMPORTANT HIGHLIGHTS
In 2024 Hopeland has launched a new partnership to shake up the foster care system in the U.S., supported an innovative roof shelter for families impacted by flooding in Madagascar, and helped create a new charity in Australia focused on keeping children with their parents. We’ve also continued to advocate for children worldwide especially the millions who are trafficked into and out of orphanages - read more in this year’s Annual Report.
HOPELAND’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Welcoming Rich Tucker!
Hopeland is delighted to announce that Rich Tucker has joined the Hopeland Board of Directors this year.
Rich is a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he serves as Global Head of Data Privacy & Cybersecurity in the Legal Division. Prior to joining Goldman, he spent three years as a Senior Vice President at the secure identity company, CLEAR, where he oversaw the company’s privacy, data security and data governance programs. Before that, he was an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, Criminal Division, from 2009 to 2021, where he was Chief of the National Security and Cybercrime Section, as well as senior litigation counsel for cyber investigations and prosecution. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Rich prosecuted numerous high-profile national security and cybercrime cases.
Rich is a frequent guest speaker and panelist at forums relating to national security, privacy and cybercrime, and is a two-time recipient of the Director’s Award for Superior Performance from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, as well as numerous other awards from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. government agencies and associations.
We are thrilled to have Rich on our team!
Dennis Stratton
Board Chair
President & Managing Partner at Stratton Consulting Group
Fiona Bassett
Board Treasurer
CEO at FTSE Russell
Thad Hartmann
Board Secretary
Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Nicholas Evans
Board Member
Co-founder & CEO of Hopeland
Peta-Gay Clarke
Board Member
Senior Program Manager at Google
Benjamin Rehberg
Board Member
Partner at Boston Consulting Group
Rich Tucker
Board Member
Director at Goldman Sachs
Global Head of Data Privacy & Cybersecurity
Growing our team and those who contribute to making Hopeland a thriving mission, driven by impact.
HOPELAND X THE STEREOTYPE PROJECT FOUNDATION
Breaking Bias
A Bold Partnership to Revolutionize Foster Care in the U.S.
Hopeland is thrilled to announce an exciting partnership with The Stereotype Project Foundation (TSPF) to revolutionize the U.S. foster care system. This collaboration aims to integrate TSPF's database into a leading technology partner's platform, focusing on improving bias detection and mitigation within foster care matching algorithms.
TSPF seeks to deconstruct how we learn about people and cultures, highlighting the gaps and illuminating the limited and biased representations of social groups. They are building a comprehensive platform cataloging stereotypes associated with various groups. This platform will explore the historical origins, contemporary interpretations, and societal implications of stereotypes, utilizing data from academic, institutional, and scientific research.
This collaboration will put this database in the field for the first time - delivering a solution that has never been used before.
Data-driven approaches and measurable impact are important to both organizations. To deliver this, key metrics will be established to evaluate the program's effectiveness in partnership with experts in the field. This initiative seeks to improve outcomes for children and families in the foster care system, making it a significant step towards creating a fairer and more supportive environment for all involved.
Beyond technological advancements, the partnership will develop and deliver specialized training modules for key stakeholders in the foster care process, including social workers, foster parents, and children. These modules will raise awareness about stereotypes and their impacts, fostering a deeper understanding of these critical issues.
During the planning stage we have heard from those with direct experience of the foster care system that have detailed the biases faced by children in the foster care system. Through this comprehensive strategy, we believe this intervention will establish a more equitable, efficient, and effective foster care system, setting a new standard for the care of vulnerable children and families.
We eagerly anticipate the positive impact of this partnership and look forward to making a meaningful difference together.
Representing our dedicated mission to fostering safe and loving placement for all famlies & children.
Orphanage Trafficking Update
Hopeland hosted an event in October at the Australian Consul General in NYC to celebrate our success in tackling orphanage trafficking through our petition campaign and passage of a resolution at the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Guests included the Deputy Consul General, and various leaders in business, fashion and philanthropy.
The evening’s entertainment was provided by Katini, a Japanese-African singer-songwriter and activist. Both Hopeland’s CEO, Nicholas Evans, and Campaign Director, Andrew Stone, addressed the guests to discuss what went into making such a successful campaign.
Turn the page to see details about a celebration video we published at the event and scan the QR code to watch it if you missed the event!
Orphanage Trafficking Video Map
Mick Sheldrick, Global Citizen - As Chief Policy, Impact and Government Relations Officer at Global Citizen Mick is a great partner in this important work. We are long time partners of Global Citizen and we were excited to partner again with them on our petition campaign. Thank you again to the 60,000 global citizens who stood with us to force change.
Dr. Krish Kandiah - Krish is a leader in childcare reform in the UK and has previously served as CEO of Home for Good and also in the UK government. With the added impact of Hopeland’s campaign Krish is working with the Paraguayan government to deliver child care reform in that country.
NERVO - Hopeland’s Ambassadors Liv and Mim NERVO bring their characteristic activism to the screen in our video. We are so proud to work with them and so excited to see their efforts make a difference. Watch the video by scanning the QR code below and see a cameo appearance from Ace Paloma, Liv’s daughter!
Senator Linda Reynolds (WA) - Senator Reynolds is a long time friend and partner of Hopeland. She has led the charge against orphanage trafficking in Australia both inside and outside of Government. In her video she thanked Hopeland for our hugely impactful petition campaign which helped her to deliver the Resolution through the IPU
Video Messages from our Partners
We were also delighted to highlight video messages from Caroline Boudreaux, Anne Basham, Robert Glover, and Pete Garratt - all special partners in our effort to ensure every child has a safe, loving family. Scan the code to watch the video!
Construction of the Abode of Peace Primary School.
Turning Advocacy Into Action
Advocacy campaigns like our hugely successful effort to tackle Orphanage Trafficking are vital to changing the outcomes for children around the world. Advocacy alone, however, isn’t enough. That is why Hopeland’s campaigns are focused on both action and advocacy.
At our event at the Australian Consulate General we heard from the Founder of Miracle Foundation in India about how children suffer in orphanages there and the importance of finding better solutions to ensure these children have a better life.
To support children in this awful position Hopeland has supported Abode of Peace Primary School, which serves the local community in Northern Karnataka, India, where part of the student body includes Devadasi children (children of former temple prostitutes) and other children suffering from poverty. This school provides shelter, food and education to those children who desperately need the support of a family.
We have provided funding for their third-floor expansion project which will allow the school to care for more children and allow for reduction in overcrowding. The project has met its fundraising goal thanks to our contribution and will now move ahead.
Education is vital to ensuring that children can have a safe, loving family. That is why we were happy to support this project. Watch out for updates as this work takes place during 2025!
Photo: Hopeland at Abode of Peace Primary School Northern Karnataka, India
Shifting support from residential models of care to strengthening families and supporting family-based models of care is a realistic solution. Family-centered support allows parents the opportunity to care well for their children, ensures better outcomes for their development, and avoids contributing to the problem of orphanage trafficking. Decades of research have found that, compared to children in residential facilities, children in families, even poor families, develop better. Children who spend time in orphanages don't develop the way their peers raised in families do, and they also often struggle later in life. Family provides the love, belonging and identity children need to thrive into adulthood.”
Nick Evans
CEO & Co-founder Hopeland
Lawmakers Guide to Stopping Orphanage Trafficking
In a follow up to our collaborative work on orphanage trafficking Hopeland was happy to contribute to the Lawmakers Guide to Stopping Orphanage Trafficking.
This publication was published in collaboration with the Inter-parliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking and has a goal of giving every lawmaker in the Inter-Parliamentary Union member parliaments the tools they need to tackle orphanage trafficking in their home countries and around the world.
As part of the collaboration, Hopeland CEO Nicholas Evans was asked to contribute a supportive message. In the guide, Evans said:
“Shifting support from residential models of care to strengthening families and supporting family-based models of care is a realistic solution. Family-centered support allows parents the opportunity to care well for their children, ensures better outcomes for their development, and avoids contributing to the problem of orphanage trafficking.Decades of research have found that, compared to children in residential facilities, children in families, even poor families, develop better. Children who spend time in orphanages don't develop the way their peers raised in families do, and they also often struggle later in life. Family provides the love, belonging and identity children need to thrive into adulthood.”
The lawmakers guide is also accompanied by a toolkit that was emailed to many of the 60,000 global citizens who signed our petition calling for an end to orphanage trafficking.
Hopeland will continue to partner with other like-minded organizations as we believe that when we work together we have the biggest impact.
Photo: A Lawmaker’s Guide to Stopping Orphanage Trafficking
Supporting UNGA
We were delighted to announce in last year’s Annual Report that Hopeland has become a member of the UBS Optimus Foundation’s Transform Collective - focusing the philanthropic efforts of their supporters towards children who need a family.
As part of this partnership we brought Hopeland Ambassadors NERVO to an event hosted by UBS in NYC to highlight the impact of our Orphanage Trafficking campaign. The event was a UNGA side event as part of Climate Week hosted by UBS where Hopeland’s CEO, Nicholas Evans, and the awesome twins Liv and Mim Nervo talked about how to build a successful grassroots campaign.
The room was filled with philanthropists, activists, and business leaders who are committed to improving the world for children and families.
Liv and Mim also shared their personal story of how they used to volunteer in orphanages when they toured the world with their DJ careers. Once they learned that orphanages are not the best place for children who have been separated from their families they turned to activism to change the world.
We are so proud to call them Hopeland Ambassadors! We are already working on the details of our next campaign with the awesome girls!
It was an incredible opportunity to highlight the impact of our campaign which has now collected over 60,000 signatures on our petition to the Inter-Parliamentary Union calling on them to tackle orphanage trafficking across their 180 member nations.
Hopeland’s CEO, Nicholas Evans, and the awesome twins Liv and Mim Nervo
Sharing Hopeland’s Mission
During the past year Hopeland have taken part in various media appearances where we have spread the message about how every child needs a safe, loving family.
Highlights have included Hopeland CEO Nicholas Evans writing an op-ed in The Imprint about the importance of our work.
He also appeared on The One Network Podcast to discuss his journey of founding and growing a non-profit and how to make sure it is impactful. This also involved teaching other non profit leaders how to grow their organizations.
Pictured above, Nicholas attended a meeting of the Greenwich Young Professionals networking group to discuss Hopeland’s mission.
Opportunities to talk about Hopeland’s mission to ensure every child has a safe, loving family are always important as we build a movement to support children worldwide.
HOPELAND X SAFE FAMILIES
Safe Families Australia
Hopeland is proud to have continued our collaboration with Safe Families for Children this year. They are an organization that has had a huge impact in Chicago, across the U.S., and now all over the world.
Safe Families for Children is a volunteer-based organization that provides support to families in crisis by offering a safe, temporary home for their children while parents address the issues that led them to seek help.
The one-of-a-kind program trains volunteer host families who take in children for a short time, and also be a family friend who mentors and supports the parents. Scientific studies have shown that Safe Families has a statistically significant impact on the families it supports: a child in Safe Families had a 89% chance of remaining in the care of their family versus 65% amongst families for whom the intervention was not offered.
Safe Families prevents child abuse and neglect by supporting families in need and targeting families facing personal or financial crises such as domestic violence, substance abuse, unemployment, or homelessness. Unlike many programs, Safe Families is designed to support families before their situation deteriorates to the point where they need foster care.
Hopeland partnered with Safe Families to bring their incredible program to Australia. They have already had huge success in the UK and we are pleased to help them launch in Australia - a country deeply important to our founders and many people connected to Hopeland.
Most importantly, we believe Safe Families can have a huge impact in Australia.
Out of home care in Australia is in crisis with more children entering the system than leaving, fewer foster carers than before, and too many children facing impermanence and instability.
The State of Victoria, where the pilot is planned, has significant issues in its child protection system as demonstrated by an independent report from the Children’s Commissioner which shows record numbers of vulnerable children dying in the care of the state and high rates of sexual abuse. This report also shows that Aboriginal children are overrepresented in the system and highlights a key failing which gained some notoriety.
There have been many exciting developments in our work with Safe Families during 2024 and we expect this project to go live in 2025watch this space for more details.
A child in Safe Families has a chance of remaining in the care of their family... amongst families for whom the intervention was not offered. 89% 65% vs.
HOPELAND X MEDAIR
Shelter Kits Madagascar
In 2024 we have continued our partnership with Medair, a Swiss Non-Governmental Organization to deliver shelter kits to families at risk of displacement due to environmental disaster.
The project is now focused on Madagascar, a country which suffers the impacts of flooding and cyclones every year and where commonly-used traditional huts cannot withstand high winds, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents homeless in the wake of storms. One quarter of Madagascar's population, some 7 million people, currently live in areas highly exposed to natural disasters.
The most common impact of cyclones on Madagascan families is the lifting of their roofs, making their homes uninhabitable. Currently these families react either by creating a “trano tomboka” where they take shelter under the remaining structure of their home as best they can, or by attempting to remove the roof of their home in preparation for a storm and moving somewhere they deem to be safer.
Last year, in partnership with École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the University of Juba, South Sudan, and now the University of Toamasina in Madagascar, Medair developed an innovative reusable emergency shelter kit made from local materials and capable of being built by those benefiting from the kit.
The kit is an innovative response to flooding and cyclones that hit Madagascar yearly that will both alleviate immediate suffering but also increase the resilience of families in the face of disaster caused by climate change.
The use of bamboo has a further environmental benefit as it renews itself faster than the hardwood generally used in housing construction in Madagascar. Following the move of the project to Madagascar from South Sudan, the design of the kit is being updated to allow resilience to cyclonic winds.
Hopeland is very pleased to have been able to bring in leading environmental life cycle analysts from a prestigious consultancy firm to create an environmental analysis of the impact of this project. This means the impact study will not only show the number of families supported but also any positive environmental impact which might contribute to the reduction of future environmental disaster. By bringing in experts from the corporate world we are confident that this project will have the critical rigor it needs to draw much needed attention to the plight of families in this region.
A WORD FROM HOPELAND’S BOARD CHAIR
Dear Hopeland Family,
There are many reasons why I was delighted to become Hopeland’s Board Chair a few years ago. I was inspired by the vision of a world where every child has a safe, loving family and excited by the way the Hopeland team aimed to go about it.
There are a lot of non-profit organizations doing important work in many different ways. It takes many different actors and many different strategies to make a better world. What sets Hopeland apart from others, however, is a desire to do things differently from anything that has come before. If our mission is a world where every child has a safe, loving family we have to first recognize how far the world is from achieving this.
That’s why I am proud of Hopeland’s commitment to try new ways of doing things. Hopeland’s collaboration with The Stereotype Project Foundation to test their groundbreaking database of stereotypes and reimagine the way that the foster care system treats children who come into their protection is one such example of this. We must continue to try things that have never been tried before, which by any standard are a risk, but the upside of success in these cases can be huge and have a massive impact on the lives of children worldwide.
To focus on the biggest causes of family separation we can see that there is much to do. Of the world’s roughly two billion children: 333 million children live in extreme poverty, more than one billion children live at risk of extreme climate or environmental disaster, and 250 million children aren’t in school.
Our mission is daunting and certainly audacious....and just like in business achieving this level of success requires all of us to think differently, to take risks and to creatively convene our partners around the world who are equally passionate about this issue. The non-profit world should not be taking risks with the lives of those we aim to impact - but we also shouldn’t be afraid to fail when trying something new.
It is vitally important that we continue to innovate and have impact. I have been pleased to see Hopeland expand the reach of its hugely impactful orphanage trafficking campaign this year as well as significant steps taken in our collaboration with Safe Families in Australia. Finally, connecting the non-profit and business worlds through the Shelter Kit project in Madagascar is another great example of the way that Hopeland’s focus on innovation will increase the impact of philanthropic work.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our successes this year and all who support our mission of ensuring every child has a safe, loving family.
Dennis Stratton
A Special Thank You!
NERVO
UBS Optimus Foundation
Mimeo
Australian Consulate
General of New York
Mick Sheldrick
Global Citizen
Shantel Klinger
Ruth Wacuka
Rebecca St James
Senator Linda Reynolds
Katini Yamaoka
Anne Basham
Pete Garratt
Krish Kandiah
Caroline Boudreaux
Robert Glover
John Bates
Mishay Petronelli
TrustLaw
Lawyers Alliance of NY
Boston Consulting Group
Safe Families for Children
Medair
Hopeland 2024
Hopeland 2024