Charitable Giving: The effects of recent changes to tax law on support for charities.

Credibility International finishes the year with a bang and a $10,650 donation

for.everychild@yahoo.com (Julie Petrovic) — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 18:37:27 GMT

Credibility International is one of professional golfer Tim Petrovic's sponsors on the PGA Champions TOUR. The forensic accounting firm is also a big supporter of charity. Through their Birdies for Charity program, they donated $10,650 to the 'Hope Totes' program .

"We couldn't be more pleased to see Tim's partnership with one of his sponsors on the course positively impact our children's charity in such a big way," said For Every Child, Inc. president Julie Petrovic.

This donation is enough to provide totes to over 1,000 kids.

Credibility International is located in Washington, DC and works globally in financial disputes, forensic investigations and forensic accounting.

Vizcaya Homeowners and Taylor Morrison Team Members to The Rescue

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 05:11:13 GMT

Please watch the video below:

Two lovely ladies showed up in two large vehicles packed, and I do mean packed, with donations. This unexpected kindness could not have come at a better time, as the Austin foster care system is overcapacity with no signs of slowing down.

Thank you so much to the Taylor Morrison team members and the homeowners of Heritage at Vizcaya and Tradition at Vizcaya for your generosity.

We received bags full of clothes in all sizes, burp clothes and bibs, pacifiers, bottles, blankets, jackets, socks, underwear and pajamas.

Those of us at HopeTotes / For Every Child thank you deeply on behalf of all the children entering foster care and domestic violence and abuse shelters who are in desperate need.

If you can help our local children entering the foster care system, please take action today .

Cable Com donates $11,000

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 03:29:00 GMT

Pictured above is the very first Cable Com golf tournament.

We were very fortunate to be the recipients of this year's Cable Com golf tournament and received $11,000. Held at Twin Creeks Golf Club in Cedar Park, Texas, the tournament included fun events like closest to the pin prizes, a hole in one opportunity and specialty auction items such as a Texas wild hog hunt and a round golf with a touring golf pro.

Cable Com president Paul Davis describes how the tournament started and evolved into a major supporter for local charities.

"Cable Com has been holding an annual golf tournament for the past 30 years. Our 1 ^st tournament was the summer of 1991 with employees and a few of our friends. It was held at Bar K, a nine-hole course out by Lake Travis. We have had the tournament every year except for 2020 which was cancelled due to COVID.

After a few years, we asked vendors to sponsor the tournament so we could invite some of our customers and we began donating money to Coats for Kids, a local Austin charity.

I met Tim and Julie in 2006. We became pretty good friends. In 2011, I asked Tim if he would show up for our tournament and hit balls with some of our customers. He agreed to do so and we started supporting For Every Child. The rest is history."

How Defining Basic Necessities has Changed

for.everychild@yahoo.com (Julie Petrovic) — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 02:32:06 GMT

Asking questions about what is really needed has changed our totes

When we started this charity in 2008, we knew exactly what we wanted to provide for the children entering into shelters. After all, we had seen some of these children while volunteering ourselves. We saw what they came with, and more importantly, what they didn't come with.

More often than not, they arrived at the shelter with only what they were wearing.

For Every Child, Inc. was started to provide for necessities and offer hope in the form of a 'Hope Tote.' Those necessities included hygiene products, socks, underwear, pajamas and some new clothing. We provided totes filled with clothing in sizes 2T - 16 to several local shelters.

No one was providing this service and for a few years we packed as many totes as we could and delivered them to each shelter in a rotation. Then we started getting requests for totes for babies. Thus began the questions (and answers) that altered today's tote to more fully provide for a child in crisis.

Now 'Hope Totes' are available for sizes beginning with babies born prematurely. Once we began to ask ourselves questions like, "Is it enough to provide toiletries or do new also need to provide washcloths and hooded towels for babies?" and "is a pacifier considered a basic necessity?" we realized that items like slow flow bottles for preemies and swaddling blankets and yes, pacifiers, needed to be included.

While we don't spend donor money on comfort items like stuffed animals or toys, our volunteer base decided those comfort items were also a necessity and began to knit, crochet or sew little animals, puppets and soft pillowcases for each child to be included in our totes.

A few volunteers questioned whether a drawing or personal note on the back of our standard insert cards might not be comforting for the child receiving that tote.

A group of regular student volunteers at a local university asked if the toiletry bags would be even better with a little note or joke in the bag along with the hygiene products.

The impact of these questions, in addition to the changing and growing volunteer base, has resulted in the ability to better serve a greater population of children.

Charitable Giving - The effect of changes in tax law upon nonprofits

gswassum@akzis.com (Gerald Wassum) — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 17:33:30 GMT

Charitable giving has become a big business in America!

Large organizations developed to support specific charities have generated large staffs to support the fundraising function and the marketing programs to attract contributions from the public. Federal and state tax law has been written to encourage contributions by offering deductions for charitable gifts from both personal and business income tax.

The Rise of For-Profit Fundraisers

This has encouraged the growth of large organizations that do nothing except raise funds for charities and which take significant portions of the money raised for management salaries and marketing expenses that amount in some instances to as much as 50% of the donated funds!

Recent changes to Federal Tax Law have reduced the attractiveness of the tax benefit of charitable giving, which has resulted in reductions in the amount of money given to charities. As a result, it has placed some strain on the budgets of some larger fundraising businesses.

The result is that charities are more dependent on gifts from persons and entities, less for the tax benefit and more because they just want to DO GOOD!

For Every Child which operates the Hope Totes program is committed to using all donated funds responsibly. The charity does not have paid positions, marketing budgets or use for-profit fundraisers. When you give $50 to For Every Child, 100% of that donation goes directly to helping the children in need.

Central Texas in a 'child placement crisis' as over 200 kids must sleep in CPS offices

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 05:34:06 GMT

Children are crying, refusing to leave their parents as they experience a myriad of adult-sized emotions including fear, confusion and grief over a loss they cannot understand yet. It's a heartbreaking scene to take in as child protective services enter the children's home and remove them from their families.

The CPS agents usher the crying and scared children into vehicles with only a few of their belongings and taken to a place they have never seen before, full of strangers. The kids don't know when or if they will ever see their families again.

This is the traumatic reality of 55 to 60 children each day throughout Central Texas as they are removed from abuse and neglect. While it is normal to assume these children would welcome the removal from abusive homes, these are the only homes and families they have ever known. Now they enter a system that is wholly overwhelmed with nothing but a small trash bag and rarely a change of clothing.

Not enough homes or supplies
Right now, there are 1,200 children currently in the Central Texas foster care system, with over 160 kids without placement. There simply aren't enough foster homes or supplies.

Kids sleeping in CPS offices
Without available trained and licensed foster care homes and families, over 200 children have nowhere to go. Presently, they are sleeping on cots in Child Protective Services’ offices. Most of them are teenagers who were removed from significant abuse and neglect and now carry the emotional and mental scars of a childhood of trauma.

With just the clothes on their back and little else
At a current rate of 55 to 60 children each month entering our regional foster care system, these kids carry only the clothes on their back and hardly much else. They have nothing to their names.

Hope Totes delivers a little comfort
While we cannot take in and care for these children, we can assemble a loving tote, duffle, or backpack comprised of four days worth of brand-new clothes, a pair of shoes, hygiene necessities and, for the youngest among them, a handmade blanket.

Reasons children enter foster care are not always what you think

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 05:34:05 GMT

Central Texas, including Travis County, currently has over 1,200 children in the foster care system. While abuse and neglect are often the most common reasons for a child's removal from his or her home, they aren't the only ones.

There are multiple grounds for children to be removed from their family homes and placed in foster care. Each case is unique and includes many factors for the court or social services representatives assigned to each family to consider. Decisions are made based on what is in the best interest of the child or children involved.

Some of the most common reasons for a child to enter the foster care system include one or more of the following:

Abandonment

Children may also enter foster care due to abandonment, which occurs when their parents have dropped them off somewhere, such as at school or with a babysitter , and don't return, or children are left home without supervision for extended periods of time.

Death

While family members usually step forward to care for a child after the death of their parent , there have been cases when children need to enter foster care after the death of a parent because a suitable family member is not available.

Incarceration

A child may be placed into foster care when there are no family or friends available to care for the child during a parent's incarceration in prison or jail.

Juvenile offenses

A child that has been adjudicated a juvenile offender by the court system may be placed into foster care, particularly if the home environment is deemed to be a part of an ongoing problem with breaking the law. This is especially likely if the parents are unable to properly manage the child's behavior.

Medical neglect

Sometimes a birth parent's decision to not seek medical attention for a child can put a child's health in danger. These cases may be considered medical neglect and grounds to place a child in foster care. Parents with religious objections to certain medical care may be given exemptions to these rules.

Neglect

Neglect encompasses several areas, including not fulfilling a child's needs for food, a clean living environment, or emotional well-being. It is extremely difficult to prove emotional abuse , but it often plays a part in physical and sexual abuse.

Physical abuse

Physical abuse can include a wide range of physical harm. Child abuse is typically discovered and/or documented due to bruising or other visible signs of injury on a child. Numerous attempts are usually made to help a family learn alternative means of discipline before a child is removed. Each state or country determines how physical abuse is defined and what standard is used for when to remove a child from their home. Physical abuse can also include restraining a child or placing them in a locked closet or other space.

Runaways

Some children engage in dangerous runaway behavior that parents find difficult to control. Running away may also be in response to unsafe circumstances in the home. In these cases, children may be placed in foster care.

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse can mean many things. Sexual abuse is often viewed as a continuum of acts with the viewing of pornographic material or sex acts on one end of the continuum to fondling, penetration, or other sexual acts on the other.

Truancy

Truancy (absence from school without a good reason) is another cause for removing a child from their home. Parents are responsible for making sure their children attend school regularly. Some children also regularly skip school or refuse to attend school .

Voluntary placement

In rare circumstances, usually due to a child or parent's mental health issues and/or health conditions, some parents have requested to have their children placed into foster care.

Debunking the biggest myths about foster care

Thu, 29 Jul 2021 05:34:05 GMT

For those readers who don’t have a working definition, foster kids are children who, for reasons ranging from the death of one or both parents to abuse and neglect, enter the state’s foster care system. To learn more about the many reasons a child may enter the foster care system, please my article on Reasons children enter foster are not always what you think .

Because of a shortage of licensed foster homes, foster children in Travis County also move more often than those in other states. A state report shows that Texas' foster kids have an average of 5.6 placements in their first year of care versus the national average of 4.

Of course this inconsistency of rotating through placements slows foster kids’ academic progress to the tune of one year of lost academic progress for every four moves, according to one study .

Foster parent retention is a struggle, too. One study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that about half of new foster parents quit within their first year. Foster parent licenses must be renewed every three years; those who let their license lapse must completely restart the process (which can take the better part of a year), says Thompson.

So where does this leave the over 1,200 children currently in the Travis County foster system? With a great deal of confusion, fear and worry towards their future.

Myth #1: The State pays for clothes, books, shoes, etc.
Unfortunately, this is not true, although it would be wonderful. Foster homes are paid on average of $500 to $700 per child to cover all costs associated with providing for that child. This payment must cover all related expenses including clothing, food, school supplies, etc. Thankfully, foster homes can turn to organizations including For Every Child and our Hope Totes program to pick up the slack and provide the children with necessities including pajamas and a new pair of shoes.

Myth #2: Foster kids are problematic and that's why they have many placements on their record
It's frequently assumed that a foster kid was a problem-child because he or she hadn’t found a permanent placement. The truth is a sad reality for all kids living in the foster care system. Frequent moves are common since there are fewer permanent homes than there are kids who need them, to the tune of 5 moves in their first year alone.

Myth #3: Teens in foster care are highly problematic
Oftentimes, if you mention that you're planning to foster teens, your friends and family members will give you a side eye look. Are you nuts? And according to the numbers, your friends and family aren't alone. Teenagers are adopted at a considerably lower rate than other children from foster care. In truth, nearly 25% of foster children awaiting adoption are teens, yet they only represent about 7% who enter the system. The truth is that these teenagers who have lived through far more than most adults do have emotional scars and face tribulations as any adolescent, but are often desperately hoping to find a permanent home.

What's inside a Hope Tote? Deconstructing the immediate needs of an abused child

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:36:56 GMT

Abused and neglected children arrive to a stranger's house with only a trash bag and the clothes on their back. That's not good enough.

Giving a child hope doesn't come cheap, but to that one child it's absolutely priceless.

The cost of one packaged Hope Tote averages $75 in the warmer months and $100 in cooler weather. Each tote includes four full days of brand-new necessities, along with a handmade blanket for children under 6 years of age.

We assemble each tote to meet the specific needs of the child. In this example, the tote must meet the needs of Landon, an 11-year-old boy removed from his family home due to overwhelming physical and emotional abuse. Landon is currently entering the system with nothing but a small trash bag of a few items a social worker was able to grab on their way out of the door.

But Landon doesn't have clothes of his own or basic hygiene necessities, and is presently wearing the only pair of shoes he owns that are one-size too small.

It is our job to infuse a little hope into the darkest few days of Landon's life as he is feeling confused and alone and unloved.

So, in Landon's customized Hope Tote, I've packed the following:

Four days of fresh clean new clothes
Package of underwear
Tote to replace that demeaning and humiliating trash bag
Brand-new pair of sneakers
Pack of socks
Jacket
Hygiene kit specifically assembled for Landon's needs
Pajamas
Hair care basics

Texas domestic and family violence statistics

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 04:09:00 GMT

The data below comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety as of 2020. The data was assembled in 2019, but reflects data from 2018. It is the most current data for family violence in Texas available as of June 2021. We'll update this page whenever new statistics are released by the State of Texas and Travis County.

There were 212,885 victims of family violence in 2018.
71.6% of family violence were female.
28.4% of family violence victims were male.

Offenders of Family Violence in Texas Statistics

Injuries from Family Violence in Texas Statistics

Credibility International sponsors birdies for charity

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 19:03:47 GMT

Credibility Internationa l, a forensic accounting firm headquartered in Washington D.C. just donated money to For Every Child for every birdie Champions Tour Player Tim Petrovic made in 2018. Tim made 290 birdies during the season, resulting in an $11,700 donation.

With this generous $11,700 we will be able to provide 156 Hope Totes for abused and neglected children entering the system.

“In addition to being very generous to our charity, Credibility International also sponsors me on the golf tour. I’m honored to work with Credibility to give back,” said Vice President Tim Petrovic.

This is the second year that For Every Child has received money from Credibility International’s generous community giving.

Credibility In The Community Sponsors Pro Golfer For Charity

Credibility has a strong commitment to giving back to the community through generous financial support and donated time by supportive employees.

Credibility sponsors four professional golfers for the purpose of raising money for charity, including For Every Child co-founder Tim Petrovic on the PGA Champions Tour.

Learn more about Credibility International's generosity by visiting Credibility in the Community .

About For Every Child

Tim Petrovic and his wife Julie began For Every Child in 2008 with a deep commitment to provide children with much-needed necessities. The mission is to provide needy and neglected children with the necessities of food and clothing. No child should wonder where their next meal is coming from or suffer from a lack of season appropriate, size appropriate clothing. Two For Every Child programs address these needs, Hope Totes and Feed the Children. Hope Totes provides children in emergency shelters, safe houses and in the foster care system with a tote full of new clothing, socks, underwear, pajamas and a toiletry bag. Children aged six and under also receive a hand-made blanket. The tote is re-usable as a school bag or bag to store their belongings. Feed the Children provides financial assistance to established children’s programs at local food banks and is mainly administered at schools.