Brighter Days Family Grief Center

What it reported doing in 2024

Brighter days family grief center is a nonprofit organization supporting Minnesota grieving children, adults, and entire families when the unthinkable happens. Recognized by the twin cities grief community as the premier non-profit family grief center since 2017, brighter days has been a resource to more than 13,000 children and adults as they face the challenges of a family members terminal diagnosis or death. Along with distributing more than 100,000 in financial aid, brighter days free education and support programs have helped families find hopeful ways to process their grief while honoring their loved one. By far, their most important accomplishment is sending a proclamation to our governor to have children's grief awareness day become an officially recognized date in Minnesota. Each third thursday of november, brighter days will lead the children's grief awareness day initiative by speaking to local schools and organizations about the importance of acknowledging children's grief. This day illuminates the need for education and awareness about a cause that is often overlooked and ignored, and the signed proclamation is displayed at the center. 2024 was another year of record growth for brighter days. A second location was opened in st. Paul, Minnesota and we acquired another youth camp located in brainerd, Minnesota. Approximately 1200 individuals participated in free programming, including counseling, support groups, wellness workshops, and camp erin twin cities, where they connected with other families, honored their loved ones, and processed their grief. Our master level grief counselors provided over 850 hours of free counseling sessions and support groups with continual positive feedback of the genuine compassion and care they felt working with them. Brighter days has many grief and caregiver-related partners in the state and has become an anchor in the Minnesota grief community. Aside from their renowned youth and young adult programs, a resounding difference in their model of care is the acknowledgement of adult grief. Brighter days provides dozens of support groups and wellness workshops for adult sibling loss and parent loss, recognizing that grief has no age limit. Brighter days also works tirelessly to address gaps in the grief community in relation to overlooked or underserved causes and communities. High on the list are deaths related to addiction and suicide as well as building greater support for lgbtq, bipoc, and rural communities. One of the larger needs is support for individuals experiencing anticipatory grief. As a partner to many hospices and hospitals, our volume of calls for this type of support has grown significantly. We have recently launched and implemented programming for both caregivers and patients that will now be an additional resource for our partners. This programming includes free support groups and wellness workshops for youth, young adults, and adults who are facing a terminal diagnosis of their own or someone they love.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 71.5%; rating input score 72
• Program expense ratio: 91.6%; rating input score 92
• Fundraising efficiency: $38.38 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Fail
  • CEO compensation review process: Fail
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Missing
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 22%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.67; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 11.7%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 34.3% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 23.6% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 16.6% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings