The Freedom Story
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
The Freedom Chapter
We believe that education is the key to preventing child exploitation.
Due to poverty and the existence of many ethnic minority groups,
Northern Thailand is known as a breeding ground for children who fall
into prostitution. Many children are not able to receive the education
needed to find sustainable work and are easily lured into the sex
industry. FREEDOM is an education-based program that helps put an end
to this cycle by providing scholarships to children who are at risk.
To sponsor a child, commitment begins at $15/month and increases as the child pursues higher education on a case to case basis. For more information, please visit: https://thefreedomstory.org/freedomchapter
Human Rights
Our Human Rights programs teach at-risk children and families their rights and raise awareness of the causes of trafficking. This includes helping hill tribe people who are eligible to gain citizenship, teaching about child protection, child abuse, Thai law, and Thai labor law. We train community members on how to report cases, how to advocate for their rights, and how to secure the benefits they are entitled to. Equipped with knowledge, they are better able to advocate for themselves and their peers.
Sustainable Livelihoods
The Freedom Story’s Sustainable Livelihoods Program partners with at-risk families to provide micro-business skills, knowledge of sustainable agricultural production, and methods of sustainably increasing household income. By providing sources of sustainable income, families are transformed, gaining the ability to keep their students in school, and decreasing the lure of traffickers. This has an inter-generational impact, providing freedom and choice for generations to come.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students who receive scholarship funds and/or tuition assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, At-risk youth, Young adults
Related Program
The Freedom Chapter
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Scholarships are reserved for the most at-risk students, from aged 10- university graduation. We maintain a 91% graduation rate across all programs.
Total number of counseling sessions performed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, Adults, Young adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This includes one-on-one counseling, family counseling and couples counseling.
Number of participants counseled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, Adults, Young adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This includes one-on-one counseling, family counseling and couples counseling.
Hours of mentoring
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
Related Program
The Freedom Chapter
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Mentorship includes home and school visits, encouraging students at graduations, and connecting with students online.
Hours of tutoring administered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adolescents, At-risk youth
Related Program
The Freedom Chapter
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
English and math classes and tutoring are offered formally multiple times a week, with higher hours offered during school breaks. Informal homework help is also offered
Number of individuals attending community events or trainings
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
At-risk youth, Low-income people, Adolescents, Young adults, Migrant workers
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Freedom Story works to prevent child trafficking and exploitation through our three primary programs; Education, Human Rights and Sustainable Livelihoods.
Our Education Program provides resources to keep children in school and mentorship which provides the psycho-social support to help them thrive. Our Sustainable Livelihoods Program works with individual households to develop plans for sustainable sources of income to alleviate poverty. Finally, our Human Rights programming raises awareness of trafficking, teaches about rights, and equips at-risk communities to advocate for their rights. The Freedom Story is the largest prevention based anti-trafficking program in Northern Thailand. With two resource centers, one in Chiang Rai and one in Nan Province.
Our holistic approach prevents child trafficking by combatting the three primary risk factors; Poverty, lack of education and social isolation. We have found that educational scholarships, helping to create a more sustainable household income and awareness of trafficking and their rights play a pivotal role in reversing the trend of these risk factors -- opening opportunities and ultimately empowering at-risk children and youth to escape exploitation and pursue greater dreams and goals.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our Education Program provides holistic support to keep at-risk children in school. This includes scholarships and resources, including an after-school program and resource center for tutoring, homework help, child development, and outreach. We also pair students with staff mentors to ensure they have stable, adult relationships that they can rely on in times of need.
The Freedom Story’s Sustainable Livelihoods Program partners with at-risk families to provide training on micro business skills, knowledge of sustainable agricultural production, and methods of sustainably increasing household income. By providing sources of sustainable income, families’ financial situations are transformed, gaining the ability to keep their students in school, and decreasing the lure of traffickers. This has inter-generational impact, providing freedom and choice for generations to come.
Our Human Rights programs teach at-risk children and families their rights and raise awareness of the causes of trafficking. This includes helping hill tribe people who are eligible to gain citizenship, teaching about child protection, child abuse, Thai law, and Thai labor law. We train community members on how to report cases, how to advocate for their rights, and how to secure the benefits they are entitled to. Equipped with knowledge, they are better able to advocate for themselves and their peers. One student in our youth leadership program recently intervened when a friend was being solicited online. Because of the support, knowledge, and confidence she had gained from The Freedom Story, she knew that situation was risky. She then advised her friend on the danger and brought them to The Freedom Story staff who were able to intervene before the exploitation took place.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have 20 staff in Thailand who are responsible to managing the day to day implementation of our programs. Each of them are qualified and receive continued training in order to best achieve their goals.
We have a strong network of over 20 organizations and 30 schools that we work together with in order to achieve these goals.
After 13 years, we have refined and developed our programming and have data to prove that our model works. Since 2008, we offered over 270 scholarships, maintaining an 89% graduation rate across all levels. Our Sustainable Livelihood training have been accessed more than 1,300 times, and our Human Rights trainings have taught more than 11,000 at-risk people their rights across Northern Thailand. We have seen lives changed, as children graduate from university and become teachers or lawyers and help their families overcome poverty.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
When we first started in 2008, we only had one scholarship student. We've now had over 270 scholarship students in our program. We have turned out resource center in Chiang Rai into a thriving community center that students use daily and the community as a whole benefits from. Last year, we opened our second resource center in Nan Province, where we offer our education, human rights and sustainable livelihoods programs.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The Freedom Story
Board of directorsas of 09/17/2023
Rachel Goble
Goble Properties
Rachel Goble
Goble Properties
Ken Wytsma
The Justice Conference
Jennifer Weaver
Year Up
Emily Nelson
Carter Quinley
Department of Labor
Nick Parisi
Goble Properties
Veerawit Tianchainan
Executive Director, Thailand
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/18/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.