Families Empowered Selected by Stand Together Foundation to Become Catalyst Impact Partner

HOUSTON, TX -- Families Empowered is proud to announce it has been selected to participate in Stand Together Foundation’s new Catalyst Impact Grant Program, an initiative cultivating a group of the country’s most transformative nonprofits that demonstrate a better way to transform individual lives and create lasting change.

The Catalyst Impact Grant Program awards each incoming Impact Partner with Principle Based ManagementTM coaching and consulting, access to a new customer-first measurement approach created by Stand Together Foundation to understand and differentiate their impact, and grants up to $300,000 over three years. By 2025, Stand Together Foundation’s goal is to invest in up to 100 Catalyst partners who have successfully completed the Catalyst Program, committing up to $30 million to accelerate nonprofit impact and transform how society thinks about addressing poverty and social barriers.

Families Empowered is one of the first 25 Catalysts to have been selected to join the new Catalyst Impact Grant Program, which officially kicks off January, 2023. Nonprofits selected have the key ingredients to break the cycle of poverty. They put people at the forefront, see the unique potential in every individual, and are changing the way the country thinks about, talks about, and tackles poverty. The grant program is designed to provide resources for increased effectiveness, including management training and customer feedback tools to help nonprofits grow, scale, and replicate their success. Click here to view a full list of the first 25 Catalyst Impact Partners.

'Families Empowered is proud to be a Stand Together Foundation Catalyst Impact Partner. We put families at the center of our work and look forward to working with the other amazing organizations to learn how we can scale our impact.' - Colleen Dippel, Founder & CEO

Stand Together Foundation partners with the highest impact nonprofits around the nation, all committed to empowering the individuals they serve through a principled approach. This means that instead of treating people as problems to be managed with sweeping, top-down plans, these organizations help people realize their full potential through bottom-up empowerment and solutions that help individuals transform themselves and the world around them. Today, Stand Together Foundation partners with almost 300 nonprofits, across all 50 states.

For over 13 years, Families Empowered has served parents and guardians in Texas, helping them understand their school options and make the right choice for their children. Since 2001, over 100,000 families have leveraged Families Empowered’s free, personalized support in English and Spanish. Parents rank Families Empowered as their second most-trusted source of information on schools after friends and family. Based on a recent survey, one in five families report enrolling in a new school after Families Empowered services, and 93 percent report being more satisfied with their new school.

Families Empowered was selected through an extensive vetting process and accepted into the program after a rigorous evaluation focused on impact, customer surveying, reach, and principle alignment. Stand Together Foundation’s Catalyst Impact Partner Initiative represents an investment in the diversity of nonprofits, audiences, and solutions as the way to end poverty. The 25 Impact Partners have diverse program models across the nation and are uniquely suited for rapid iteration and experimentation based on data collection and customer feedback. Each of these organizations focus on relationships with their customers and prioritize individual transformation rather than transactional services.

“Our Catalyst partners take a unique approach to helping people overcome barriers that is anchored in a strong belief in people,” said Evan Feinberg, executive director at Stand Together Foundation. “This initiative is about deepening our partnership so that Catalysts can scale their reach, better understand their impact, and ultimately transform the way society thinks about addressing social barriers. If these organizations continue to grow in their effectiveness, and everyone in the country hears about what they are doing, we can transform the entire social sector in America.”

Catalyst Impact Partners will be expected to:

• Model a “customer-first” impact vision. Catalyst Impact Partners will participate in Stand Together Foundation’s pioneering measurement approach to understand impact through customer feedback.

• Advance a management culture that empowers employees. Catalyst Impact Partners will focus on leveraging Principle Based Management to empower their employees to empower the people they serve.

• Build the movement toward empowerment. Identify with and advocate for a culture of openness, dignity, mutual benefit, and empowerment among philanthropists, nonprofits, and the broader social sector.
Click here to learn more about Catalyst Impact Partners.