NOTE: Please do NOT contact these organizations directly with your questions about the Benevon Model. They, just like all nonprofits, are busy fulfilling their missions, and have generously contributed their stories with the understanding that readers of our Web site will not contact them directly. Instead, please direct any questions about Benevon to info@benevon.com or (206) 709-9400. Thank you for your consideration.

After writing 20 grants in six months, Mary Taylor, Executive Director of St. Louis City CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), knew “this was not the way of our future.” So when the National CASA Association received a grant from a national foundation that made it possible for her brand-new organization to attend the Benevon 101 Workshop, Mary's team headed to Houston for training in the spring of 2000.

Although her official title is Executive Director, Mary considers her real title to be “child advocate.” St. Louis City CASA trains community child advocates to act as Guardians ad litem (“guardians for the case”) for abused and neglected children living in foster care. Mary notes that “we are an unusual nonprofit in that our volunteers are the actors fulfilling the mission and the staff merely acts as support.” Currently, St. Louis City CASA has 240 child advocates and represents 1,200 children. This work is driven by an intense passion and commitment to the mission of “speaking for the best interests of abused and neglected children and promoting quality volunteer representation for children so that they may have the safe, permanent, nurturing home all children need and deserve.” The Benevon Workshop helped Mary and her team to clearly define this mission, and to articulate their vision in which “every child lives in a safe, permanent, nurturing home where he or she will have the chance to reach his or her potential.” The workshop taught Mary's team how to tell their story, and it turned them into “true believers” who pursued the model relentlessly when faced with doubters in their organization.

Initially, says Mary, the biggest challenge was “selling our board on doing business differently. This is a very personal model and it's a great board-weeder. It does not allow you to remain arms-length from your mission and story. I had real obstacles in that two of my board officers and other board members were not sold on this and not willing to take a chance. It was a fight.” After winning support for the model, Mary's next challenge was in finding the time to implement the model correctly: “I wore the program and development hat and this made it very difficult. We can't just stop and raise money while children are being hurt and need legal representation. We have to attend to them.” Mary knew, however, that carrying out this model was worth the time and energy involved, and she now says that “I can't even say in this short space what this has meant to the children we serve.” The Benevon Model helped her organization to make its work more visible, and raising awareness naturally led to an increase in supporters.

According to Mary, “we have a sense of urgency that is exhausting to some, but because of a number of factors, Benevon being a crucial one, we believe we have grown more quickly than any other child advocate program in the country. The reason this is important is that the children we don't serve we'll never get back. We are going to another funeral this week of a three year old badly beaten, but 20 other children have come into the court system in just the last 10 days. They have been sexually abused (little ones), some beaten, resulting in 12+ broken bones; beaten and skull fractured because they had a potty training accident; beaten because they are acting like kids. Learning to say these things in a way that allows people to wrap their arms around our message and our kids has meant everything. Urgency, passion, but well thought out strategy and love for the children is now reflected in our story.”

Indeed, Mary's team has no trouble connecting people to the emotional side of their work; at a typical Point of Entry^® for St. Louis City CASA, “people cry, they stay and talk for ages, they give us a million ideas and then ask us to do a Point of Entry at their place of work, home, church.” Most of all, they say, “I had no idea—I have to do something!” In addition to these moving Point of Entry Events, St. Louis City CASA has now held three successful “Voices for Children” breakfasts which raised both money and awareness. “Our last Ask Event had the mayor (he came early and left late), judges, senators, representatives, heads of industry, several news anchors and reporters, and over half the tables were captained by our volunteer advocates. This event has become a destination in our community. The head of the school board and his table of men were crying during my speech and the video just finished them off. The real task is bottling it afterward into action.”

Because of the growth and awareness made possible through the Benevon Model, says Mary, “An invisible group of children now have names and faces, and people can't forget them. We have more volunteers than we can staff, foundations come to us and ask for a proposal, and we've been on 13 radio stations in the last six months. Donors now see us as both mainstream and cutting edge, and there is synergy among donors.”

To groups considering the Benevon Workshop, Mary advises, “Make the commitment and bring a whole team. Then follow up right away when you return. Create your own documents using the templates provided, and have a board retreat with a mini-session on the model immediately. It also helps to have someone who has implemented the model successfully meet with your board to bolster support.” Regarding the Ask Event^™, Mary encourages others to “stick to the model completely, but make it your own.” She also cites the importance of finding a way to tell the organization's story “with both head and heart.” Finally, she points out that “you have to start somewhere, and you can do it even if you are small. Point of Entry Events can take all kinds of forms.”