ANNUAL REPORT
SEPTEMBER 1 , 2021 - AUGUST 31 , 2022
Dear SOS Family,
Together over the last year, we’ve doubled down on our commitment to expand opportunities and connections for more young people than ever before. Last season felt like a gradual return to normalcy, as we were able to safely get back to meaningful in-person engagement with our participants. As a result, we increased not only the breadth of our impact but the depth as well, positively transforming trajectories for over 2,800 young people across 9 states and 15 communities.
We fully believe in the impact of our intentional curriculum progression for 4th-12th grade integrating: the power of outdoor activities, support from adult mentors, character building, and leadership training. The intentional structure fosters engagement in the community, a sense of belonging, and self-determination.
This season, we were able to see increased engagement across our locations. We had over 700 young people dive into SOS’s long-term impact through engagement in the Mentor and Jr. Mentor program. We more than doubled the size of our Career Development Pipeline, with 16 participants and alumni engaging in life-changing internships with nine brand partners like Vail Resorts, evo, Christy Sports and more. We also re-engaged 12 alumni as mentors across locations and were honored to hire two alumni as paid SOS staff.
These milestones are significant, but we know there is still more work to be done. It’s our goal to engage more participants in more years of SOS Outreach, more consistently across our locations. We plan to create more opportunities for our alumni to re-engage with the program. And we will expand our Career Development Pipeline program.
Our work is critical, impactful, and significant. And we are dedicated to walking with our participants to ensure that they have the skills, tools, and resources to succeed no matter what obstacles they face.
We are leading in this work and we need you to continue to accelerate that work and increase our impact. This is about the future for young people across the country. This is about enhancing equity and unlimiting opportunity so all young people can thrive.
Thank you for making each smile, each goal achieved, and each dream turned into reality possible. The impact we create together is for a lifetime—and we simply couldn’t do it without you.
Sincerely,
Seth Ehrlich, Executive Director
Who We Serve
2,848 Kids and Teens Supported
Since 1993, SOS has been committed to providing equitable opportunities for young people across our communities. Our participants are optimistic, resilient, and ready to work hard. They simply do not have the same access to resources and opportunities as many of their peers, which limits their future potential.
TOP BARRIERS OUR YOUNG PEOPLE FACE
QUALIFIES FOR FREE/REDUCED LUNCH
NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER
CHALLENGES SETTING ACADEMIC GOALS
DIFFICULTY FOCUSING IN SCHOOL
VICTIMS OF BULLYING
MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES
DIFFICULTY WITH FRIENDSHIPS
DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE
56% MALE
48% HISPANIC/LATINO(A)
36% CAUCASIAN/WHITE
4% BLACK
43% FEMALE
4% MORE THAN ONE RACE
3% NOT IDENTIFIED/OTHER
2% ASIAN
1% GENDERQUEER/ NONBINARY
2% NATIVE AMERICAN
1% MIDDLE EASTERN
39% 39% Courage Discipline Integrity Wisdom Compassion Humility
Where
Serve SIX PRIMARY LOCATIONS NINE ENRICHMENT LOCATIONS rds, CO er, CO Frisco CO Park City, UT South Lake Tahoe CA North Lake Tahoe, CA/NV oit, MI Chicago/Kenosha, IL/WI Minneapolis, MN Steamboat Springs, CO Leadville CO Durango, CO Seattle, WA Yakima, WA Portland, OR 15 LOCATIONS IN NINE STATES NV UT MN MI IL OR CA
We
Highlights from the Around the Circle
The 21/22 season brought tremendous growth, new opportunities, and made our SOS community stronger than ever. We gained significant support for SOS youth through signature events like the MLK Powder Challenge and Park City Interconnect. We doubled down on our commitment to DEI by winning the US Ski & Snowboard Team’s “2022 DEI Champion Award”. And we continued to bridge more opportunities for more youth, giving every kid & teen a chance to thrive. Check out just a few of the many highlights from 2021/22:
JUNE 2022
TOP SOCIAL POSTS
LARGEST SIGNATURE EVENTS
Park City Interconnect Tour sponsored by Ski Utah MLK Powder Challenge in Silverton
SOS Outreach Named DEI Champion Award Recipient
Bridging Opportunity in the Outdoor Industry: Career Development Recap
For nearly 30 years, SOS Outreach has been committed to bridging opportunities for young people from underserved communities. In line with that commitment, SOS launched an extension of programming called the Career Development Pipeline. “The Career Development Pipeline is a unique opportunity for our high school-aged participants and alumni to further develop their skills, and connect with our outdoor brand partners through paid summer internships,” says executive director, Seth Ehrlich.
“Our goal through this program is to bridge continued opportunities to our young people and encourage companies to meaningfully invest in a more equitable and inclusive outdoor industry.”
The program was first launched last summer in Denver, Colorado with a handful of brand partners and five SOS participants. “After the completion of the pilot program, we recognized the tremendous impact that this program had on our participants and immediately knew that this was something worth expanding to other communities,” says Ehrlich. This year, SOS expanded the program to engage 16 participants across 9 brand partners in Denver and Eagle County, Colorado, and Park City, Utah. Through this experience, participants learned the ins and outs of the outdoor industry while working for companies including Vail Resorts, evo, Smartwool, Oberalp, Tecnica, Christy Sports, Elevate Outdoor Collective, Armada Skis, and the US Ski and Snowboard Team.
“Being able to work with the young adults at SOS was a breath of fresh air” says Vail Resorts Retail Manager, Amy Bamford. Bamford worked with three participants from Eagle County helping them learn the ins and outs of resort retail throughout the summer.
“Being able to provide this opportunity was really important to all of us at Vail” says Bamford, “and it was great to watch these young adults come into their own and gain confidence over the summer.”
Whether in Vail, Denver, or Park City, the Career Development program provided challenges and gave all participants space to grow. “This was a huge learning experience for me,” says Park City participant Avery Rognan, “I’d never been in a professional setting like this before, so that combined with learning so many new skills definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, but in a good way… I feel like my experiences in SOS helped prepare me for the challenges I faced.” Rognan interned with the US Ski and Snowboard Team this summer and was able to spend her time rotating across departments to better understand how the organization functioned. “I got to try everything from marketing to accounting. I learned I did not like accounting.” laughs Rognan. Still, Avery appreciated the opportunity to sample so many different careers within the organization. Upon completion of her internship, Avery was offered to stay on part-time. She accepted and will continue to intern for US Ski and Snowboard.
In addition to current SOS participants, this year two SOS program alumni were also connected to robust internships with industry partners, one from Seattle and the other from Eagle County, at Elevate Outdoors and Smartwool respectively. “Smartwool has been a long-standing partner of SOS, so to get the opportunity to work with their marketing team was really exciting,” says Cara Sherpa, “I was able to take all of the skills that I developed through SOS and apply them in a corporate setting with a critical partner.”
With the summer almost over and internships at a close, SOS is gearing up for another winter season of on-mountain programming during which 3,000 kids and teenagers will be supported across 9 states, 15 communities, and 24 mountain resorts. Despite the busy and exciting winter ahead, Ehrlich is already planning for the third year of SOS’ Career Development Pipeline.
“This summer reinforced that this program is creating the impactful opportunities that we planned for our participants. The young people that we have in SOS are hard-working, smart, and eager to stay connected to the organization for further skill development. With that in mind, we will continue expanding this impactful program so that participants across our communities continue to experience inclusivity and expanded opportunities within the outdoor industry.”
Financial Information
Every dollar donated to SOS Outreach is more than doubled by in-kind support of corporations that donate gear, outerwear, lift tickets, lessons and rental equipment to make both summer and winter programs possible. The organization’s IRS form 990 does not include in-kind contributions.
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
September 1, 2021 - August 31, 2022 (Audited)
Assets
Total Current Assets $1,592,842
Other Assets $1,358
TOTAL ASSETS $1,594,200
Liabilities and Net Assets
Total Current Liabilities $401,293
Total Net Assets $1,192,907
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $1,594,200
STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
September 1, 2021 - August 31, 2022 (Audited)
Revenue Contributions $870,503
Event Income $206,296
Grants $717,369
Donated Goods and Services $3,835,652
Program Fees $183,612
Interest Income $491
Other Income $8,826
TOTAL REVENUE $5,822,749
EXPENSES
Program Services $5,123,122
Management and General Expenses $272,682
Fundraising Expenses $225,910
TOTAL EXPENSES $5,621,714
CHANGE IN NET ASSETS $201,035
NET ASSETS - BEGINNING OF YEAR $991,872
NET ASSETS - END OF YEAR $1,192,907
*Financials reflect September 2021-August 2022
91% Total Expenses Total: Fundraising Programs Management & General $5,621,714 $225,910 4% $272,682 4.8% $5,123,122 91%
Partners in Our Vision
LEAD PARTNERS
MOUNTAIN PARTNERS
Arapahoe Basin Ski Resort
Copper Mountain
Crystal Mountain
Deer Valley
Diamond Peak Ski Resort
Loveland Ski Area
Mt. Hood Meadows
Palisades Tahoe
Purgatory Resort
Ski Cooper
Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp.
The Summit at Snoqualmie
White Pass Ski Area
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tod Francis, Chair, Shasta Ventures
Matthew Kaplan, Vail Resorts
Wendy Carey, Seirus Innovation
Jen McLaren, Smartwool
Phil Gosch, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck Law Firm
Jim Knutsen, evo
Mike Lewis, Park City Mountain, Vail Resorts
Andy Littman, Caplan & Earnest
Meg Pitman, Boys & Girls Club of America
K.C. Oakley, Goldman Sachs
Nathan Rafferty, Ski Utah
Michael Reger, MLR Holdings
Glenn Stahlman, Vail Resorts Retail
John Colonna, Elevate Outdoors Collective
Diego Zegarra, Park City Community Foundation
Alfredo Velasco, CivicEye
Photos courtesy of Jon Resnick
child
the opportunity to thrive. sosoutreach.org PO Box 2020, A von, CO 81620 | p: 970.926.9292
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