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Mission and Programs

Mission

The mission of Save the Children is to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need. Save the Children works to achieve this mission through community-based programs designed to ensure sustained improvements and benefits for children, families and communities. Save the Children works in more than 40 countries around the world, including the United States. Development programs focus on improving basic conditions and potential futures for children through basic education for girls and boys, maternal and child health services and income generating opportunities. In countries experiencing emergencies, political upheaval, war, or violence, Save the Children helps provide protection and long-term recovery. In nearly 200 sites throughout the United States, Save the Children focuses on improving literacy, nutrition and physical activity, during and after school, for children and youth of rural poverty.

Programs

Save the Children works to eliminate abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation of vulnerable children in both emergency and non-emergency environments.  During fiscal year 2008, Save the Children responded to emergencies in 26 countries that affected 2.5 million people.  We assisted children in both international and domestic emergencies including Bangladesh, West Darfur, and the United States.  Save the Children worked with communities to create protective environments so that their children felt, and were, safer.

Program / Activities (NTEE Code)

International Development, Relief Services
Disaster Preparedness and Relief Services
International Relief

Accomplishments for Fiscal Year Ending 09/30/2007

1. Survive to 5
   Despite improvements in health care for children in developing countries over the last few decades, 9.5 million children under the age of 5 die each year from causes that could easily be treated or prevented. To save lives of children whose families have little or no access to care, Save the Children has launched Survive to 5, a campaign that will invest in bringing critically needed services closer to remote communities, where most of these deaths occur. Working with local partners and government agencies, we support programs to train local volunteers in health care, educate families about nutrition and how to keep their children healthy and how to respond appropriately and quickly to illness. We also ensure the tools and know-how to vaccinate children and to treat diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and other life-threatening conditions. With the leadership of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, of Tennessee, Survive to 5 will also work to mobilize Americans to increase U.S. leadership and funding for child survival.
2. Preparing for Disasters
   Hurricane Katrina taught us that even in the United States, communities are not prepared to respond to the needs of children when a disaster strikes. Save the Children is making children a top priority in emergency planning, beginning with preparedness training for children at schools in high-risk areas such as New Orleans and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
   
   In 2007, Save the Children's "Safe Spaces" program, developed to provide children in emergency conditions with safe and supervised places to play and learn, has become a key component in addressing the needs of children following disasters. Providing safe play activities has been highly effective in helping children recover from Hurricane Katrina and Save the Children's disaster assistance overseas. In partnership with the American Red Cross and the Church of the Brethren, Save the Children is introducing "Safe Spaces? kits to emergency evacuation shelters in high-risk areas of the United States.

1. Increase the impact of other programs with great potential
   Several other new initiatives have been launched recently that have shown great promise in FY2007 and will be expanded in-country or to new countries in FY2008.
   
   o First, a new program in early childhood development was pilot tested at 10 sites in the United States as well as in the Philippines and El Salvador. Because many children enter primary school emotionally or intellectually unprepared for school, they fail to learn and drop-out rates are extremely high. Early Steps to Success is Save the Children's initiative to prepare children for learning and ensure that they succeed in school.
   
   o Save the Children also launched a program to combat obesity among rural children in the United States. With childhood obesity rates on the rise, Save the Children?s after-school physical activity and nutrition program has helped more than 4,800 poor, rural children develop healthy habits for a lifetime. Through our new partnership with Tufts University, Save the Children is exploring further ways for schools, communities and parents to help prevent childhood obesity in rural America.

As Save the Children's 75th anniversary year draws to a close, we have developed a new strategic direction for 2008-12: Save the Children's goal is to reach at least 74 million children worldwide over the next five years -- double the number we reached in 2006. We will measure our performance in achieving this goal globally, based on careful tracking of our progress in each country. Key indicators for monitoring our the impact of our work include ensuring that children are safe, educated, healthy and better able to attain their rights. We also aim to engage our global workforce, mobilize resources, build our brand and strengthen our agency systems so we can maintain our responsiveness as an organization and our ability to reach our goals for children in need.

This year, Save the Children received the 2005 Better Business Bureau Wise Giving seal and for the fourth consecutive year, Charity Navigator's highest 4-star rating. Currently, 90 percent of total Save the Children expenses were spent on program services.

Chief Executive Profile

Dr. Charles F. MacCormack became President, Chief Executive Officer and Trustee of Save the Children in 1993. He has presided over a comprehensive strategic restructuring and rebuilding of the agency's global and national child-focused programs into a $240 million organization, with the goal of diversifying and expanding the funding sources necessary to support programs and to strengthen capacity to meet the challenges of working with underprivileged children into the 21st century. He has previously served with World Learning in Brattleboro, Vermont, the School for International Living, The Brookings Institution and the International Fellows Program at Columbia University. He also serves on a number of boards, including the American Forum for Global Education and Landmark College.

Additional Comments

Save the Children has consistently received high scores from leading charity rating services, and continues to be awarded major private grants from leading philanthropies such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Save the Children continues to be a leading agency responding to many of the world's most critical humanitarian disasters, such as those in Indonesia, Iraq, Sudan, Ethiopia and Afghanistan.
Ninety percent of Save the Children's expenditures go to program services for children, one of the highest ratios among NGOs.

Financial Data
From the organization's FORM 990

Revenue and Expenses: Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2008

Revenue			Expenses
Contributions $323,620,401 Government Grants $131,494,719 Program Services $4,169,948 Investments $8,432,855 Special Events $51,368 Sales $88,331 Other $589,123			Program Services $424,168,650 Administration $17,206,833 Other $21,159,373 Total Expenditures $462,534,856
Total Revenue	$468,446,745		NET GAIN/LOSS	$5,911,889

Balance Sheet: Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2008

Notes
The balance sheet gives a snapshot of the financial health of an organization at a particular point in time. An organization's total assets should generally exceed its total liabilities, or it cannot long survive, but the types of assets and liabilities also must be considered. For instance, an organization's current assets (cash, receivables, securities, etc.) should be sufficient to cover its current liabilities (payables, deferred revenue, current year loan and note payments). Otherwise, the organization may face solvency problems. On the other hand, an organization whose cash and equivalents greatly exceed its current liabilities might not be putting its money to best use.

Assets	Oct 1, 2007	Sep 30, 2008	Change
Cash & Equivalent	$63,728,397	$31,421,839	$(32,306,558)
Accounts Receivable	$0	$0	$0
Pledges & Grants Receivable	$37,083,770	$37,626,187	$542,417
Receivables/Other	$0	$0	$0
Inventories for Sale or Use	$8,364,571	$17,590,670	$9,226,099
Investments/Securities	$49,070,403	$36,443,127	$(12,627,276)
Investments/Other	$85,203,968	$123,652,853	$38,448,885
Fixed Assets	$17,683,651	$17,302,053	$(381,598)
Other	$17,958,498	$17,871,911	$(86,587)
Total Assets	$279,093,258	$281,908,640	$2,815,382
Liabilities	Oct 1, 2007	Sep 30, 2008	Change
Accounts Payable	$19,075,131	$22,184,911	$3,109,780
Grants Payable	$55,004,566	$63,577,784	$8,573,218
Deferred Revenue	$703,487	$553,109	$(150,378)
Loans and Notes	$0	$0	$0
Tax-Exempt Bond Liabilities	$0	$0	$0
Other	$12,270,340	$12,611,354	$341,014
Total Liabilities	$87,053,524	$98,927,158	$11,873,634
FUND BALANCE	$192,039,734	$182,981,482	$(9,058,252)

Comments from the organization
HOW EXPENSES WERE ALLOCATED in FY 2007
Program Services 90%
Fund-raising 6%
Management & General 4%

Operating revenues for fiscal year 2006 exceeded $332 million, a decrease of 16 percent over the previous fiscal year (though more than twice that in fiscal year 2005). Save the Children is committed to raising funds and operating the organization as efficiently as possible in order to provide the maximum amount of resources to quality programs for children. In 2006, the percent of expenditures directed to program services was 90 percent.

The full financial statements, audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, are available upon request by calling 1-800-728-3843 and at www.savethechildren.org.

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