Case Study: Friends of the Children achieves 26.8x social ROI and real-time performance management with Bonterra Apricot

Friends of the Children - Customer Case Study

Friends of the Children (FOTC) is a long-term mentoring organization serving vulnerable youth in multiple U.S. cities with the goals of ensuring high school completion, avoiding juvenile justice involvement, and preventing early parenting. Faced with the need to track day-to-day mentor interactions, measure progress against developmental milestones, and demonstrate program impact to funders and policymakers, FOTC needed better data systems and rigorous evaluation to manage performance and prove its value.

FOTC implemented Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) software for real-time tracking and continued annual independent evaluations and longitudinal research (including Harvard Business School of Oregon ROI analyses and NIH-funded studies). The data-driven approach enabled an early-warning system, clearer performance management, and strong evidence of impact: 85% graduate with a diploma/GED, 97% avoid juvenile justice, 98% avoid early parenting, and studies estimate $7.20 returned to society per $1 invested, $3.4M social benefit per graduate, and a 26.8x social return on investment, leading to national recognition and replication.

Friends of the Children

Joe Berger

Program Director