No Longer Fatherless

nlf financial transparency

Unfortunately, a small percentage of non-profits take advantage of people, which causes widespread skepticism toward all non-profits. Nothing makes my skin crawl more than when the leader of an organization, making $500K+ per year, pleads with you to skip a cup of coffee and donate $5, promising you it will save the world.

Since the beginning, we have valued transparency, honesty, and responsible stewardship. We would not exist without you. We take your donations serious. Prior to making a purchase, I think to myself, “Would a donor be Ok with this?”

When I took over as the leader of No Longer Fatherless, I read several books to better equip me. One of those was “Thirst” by Scott Harrison. It tells the story of Charity Water, a non-profit committed to solving the global clean water crisis. I gained a lot of inspiration from their commitment to transparency. In fact, inspired by Charity Water, we created a ‘Salary Fundraiser’ when I was trying to make the leap as the full-time leader of No Longer Fatherless. I met with people who already supported NLF to ask if they would donate directly toward a salary for me to begin as the first full-time employee. We ended up raising about $23,000 for my first year’s salary as Executive Director. This began in the summer of 2019.

Throughout this page you will see our fundraising history, major expenses, employee salaries, ways we save money, and more. We want our donors to know we are being responsible with the funds you are entrusting us with. Here is a look into our history which shows our fundraising total from each year:

2017: $8,131 (Became 501(C)3, established systems, Board of Directors, etc.)

2018: $11,460 (First year with a group of mentors & boys)

2019: $29,970 (Became first employee summer of 2019)

2020: $46,954 (Covid made this year quite the rollercoaster)

2021: $108,951 (Hosted our 1st major fundraiser with the 1st NLF Gala)

2022: $118,585

2023: $147,431

This brings us to 2023, our breakthrough year I like to call it. We received our first major grant from DCF for mentoring at-risk youth, through the Fatherhood Initiative signed by Ron DeSantis. This is a 3+ year grant opportunity that should be renewed when the contract is up. This grant funded the full-time hire of Michael Moore as our Program Director. It also funds employee benefits, employment tax, and supplements some of our other expenses. The grant funding for 2024 is about $78,000.

Major NLF Expenses

  • Monthly Events: Venue rental, supplies, equipment, gifts, food, drinks, snacks, materials, etc.

  • Salaries, Employment tax

  • Liability insurance

  • Mentor training: venue rental, supplies, drinks, snacks

  • Mentor support

  • Advertising

  • Fundraising

  • Mentee family outreach & support

  • Online systems

NLF Employee Salaries

  • Executive Director - Skip Simmons - $54,000

  • Program Director - Michael Moore - $49,941 (Funded by MPARMS DCF Grant)

  • Support Specialist - Ernie Simmons - $18,720

People generally do not like contributing toward salaries, which is totally understandable. The feeling is a salary does not contribute to the impact of the organization. I believe that is a little different with NLF. Our organization requires a lot of manpower. Mentor recruiting, mentor training, monthly events, mentor support, performance measures/program results, and organization growth; all these areas contribute toward impacting more lives but also require many staff hours to be accomplished.

NLF Board Members

  • Seth Jones

  • Steve Sandoval

  • John MacKenzie

  • Dave Hunt

  • Matt Norris

Board member compensation: $0

2024 Fundraising

  • 2024 Quarter 1 Fundraising = $40,672.78

  • 2024 Quarter 1 Expenses = $37,688.86

  • 2024 Quarter 1 Surplus = $3,003.92

Ways NLF is conservative with spending

  • Overhead - We do not want to rent an office or building just to say we have a physical location. Our three employees work remotely, we sign up families in public places, our mentors & boys meet all over the community, and we use our partner’s facilities, parks, or community centers for certain monthly events or training classes.

    We have a dream to open an elaborate NLF facility one day complete with offices, library, computer lab, game room, conference room, basketball court, and more. A place where we can sign up families, train mentors, and our mentors & boys can meet at. This dream is not attainable anytime soon; maybe one day! Until then, we want to see how long we can operate independent of unwanted overhead costs.

  • Salaries - For example, the average salary for an Executive Director in Volusia County is $87,200 per year. The range being 51K - 147K. I watched a Volusia County Council meeting where about 6 non-profit leaders in Volusia had to disclose their salaries. The lowest was $80,000 and the highest $150,000.

  • Mentor Support - We do not want our mentors to have to spend a lot of money. We try to establish partnerships within the community to save NLF and our mentors from spending out of pocket to spend time with their mentee. Cracker Creek, Port Orange YMCA, and Elite Muay Thai offer free services to our mentors. We also receive free passes throughout the year for our mentors to use from places such as Chick-Fil-A Port Orange, SkyZone, Pirate’s Island Adventure Golf, Sonny’s BBQ, Cypress Head Golf Club, Alberto’s Pizza, Dunkin’, Manzano’s Beachside Deli, and more!

  • Monthly Events - We try to partner with other organizations, Churches, or individuals to create incredible experiences for our mentors and boys. Sometimes our partners allow us to use their property or venue; other times we rent a venue. Sometimes we are able to get food donated by places like Sonny’s BBQ; other times we have to purchase all the food. Sometimes we are able to get services donated. For example, the Daytona Board Store provided surf boards, trainers, and free surf lessons for our mentors and boys at our Surf Day last year. Other times we purchase materials and equipment for specific events.

2024 Events & Life Skill Classes

Completed so far: Kayak/fishing/bonfire at Cracker Creek, Young Eagle’s Day, ACHE Field Day, Kickball Day, Mother’s Day Banquet

Upcoming: Father’s Day Cookout, Surf Day, Handyman Class, Budget Cooking Class, Christmas Gift Giveaway, Financial Literacy, Edgewater Police Training, Jacksonville Jaguars Game.

2024 Fundraisers

Completed:

  • 2nd Annual NLF Golf Tournament

Upcoming:

  • Edgewater Rotary Bowling Tournament - June 29th

  • Inaugural Nicholas Anthony Castellano Memorial 5K - November 23rd

  • 4th Annual NLF Gala - Date TBD

My hope for this page is that you will continue to believe in and support No Longer Fatherless, knowing your contributions will be used responsibly. We are building something absolutely incredible; I am so honored to be a part of it. We want you to know we are so grateful anytime someone offers their hard-earned money for us to help these young men. We promise to respect our donors, steward our funds responsibly, and honor God with our choices. Thank you so much for your support!

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Skip Simmons

Executive Director