Who We Are

Family League of Baltimore (Family League) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has served as the designated Local Management Board for the City of Baltimore since 1991. Family League works collaboratively to support data-informed, community-driven solutions that align resources to dismantle the systemic barriers which limit the possibilities for children, families, and communities. Stewardship, performance, trust, respect, innovation, and equity are the core values that guide this work. Powered by and in partnership with community, we will address inequities in education, health, and economic opportunity through an anti-racist lens to ensure that positive outcomes can be a reality for all Baltimoreans. In Fiscal Year 2020, Family League invested more than $14.8 million in 77 funded partners, benefitting more than 25,000 children, youth, and adults in Baltimore.

As the local management board for the City of Baltimore, Family League’s charge is to bring the right partners to the table to make strategic, coordinated investments in the lives of Baltimore’s children and families.

Investments align with priorities

Collective impact strategies

Efficient stewardship of dollars

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Our Values

Stewardship

Working with integrity in our collaborations to maximize and deploy resources that bring positive solutions to children and families

Performance

Displaying a deep commitment to identifying and implementing solutions that meet the needs of those we champion, achieve measurable outcomes, and accomplish shared goals

Trust

Encouraging open conversations by establishing an environment where internal and external partners know their voices are heard and valued

Respect

Actively listening to the individual voices, perspectives and ideas of our community and celebrating their diversity while treating them with dignity

Innovation

Thinking creatively about best practices helps us identify new paths that lead to purposeful change

Equity

Applying a racial equity lens to our policies, practices, and organizational culture; evaluating and developing new practices; and rebuilding relationships that are based upon a commitment to justice and the dismantling of institutional racism.

In 2019, Family League set out to create a strategic plan to guide its work over the next several years. This journey started with the development of a Community Health Needs Assessment conducted by Morgan State University School of Community Health and Policy, under the leadership of Dean Kim Sydnor and through the support of the Bainum Family Foundation and the Goldseker Foundation. This assessment reflects on many decades of historical and intentionally created inequities along racial lines and examines the lingering impacts that show up as health, education, and economic differences between neighborhoods. Finally, it listens to community voices and shares recommended solutions heard in focus groups and one-on-one interviews.

Family League’s Board of Directors and staff have used the findings of the Community Health Needs Assessment and additional interviews with many of its partners and grantees to choose a set of Strategic Priorities upon which to build a successful plan of action. While Family League will continue to center its work across all eight (8) domains identified by the State of Maryland as Results of Child Well-Being, the organization will focus on bringing about change in the following three priority results areas through 2024: Children are Successful in School; Families are Economically Stable; and Communities are Safe for Children, Youth, and Families.

All of this is done in pursuit of The Bold Goal, the North Star of our work and what we ultimately hope to achieve as an organization. It states that, powered by and in partnership with community, we will address inequities in education, health, and economic opportunity through an anti-racist lens to ensure that positive outcomes can be a reality for all Baltimoreans.

Fiscal Responsibility

Family League leverages funding from a variety of private and public sources to invest in initiatives that can lead to positive outcomes for children and families in Baltimore. Through investments in healthy communities, education, and youth, we strive to improve institutions so that individuals can grow and learn and build a better community in a Baltimore where everyone thrives.

We place emphasis on stewardship as a core value, ensuring public dollars invested in programs and services align with community priorities. As such, we work to make sure that the bulk of the funds entrusted to us go to programming.

Family League has received the GuideStar Gold Seal, recognizing our commitment to transparency around finances, leadership, and governance. Furthermore, Maryland Nonprofits, the state’s leading authority on nonprofit compliance, has certified that Family League is in compliance with its Standards of Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. This reflects the fact that the organization has found our governance and management policies, practices, and procedures to meet the highest ethical standards for nonprofits in the state.