Ambassadors of Compassion

Our vision is a generation of emotionally resilient, self-sufficient, and compassionate youth overcoming their negative experiences, taking responsibility for their own lives, and achieving their goals and dreams while serving the needs of their community, our nation, and the world.

Our Mission is to provide evidence-based programs that remove the emotional obstacles preventing students from reaching their full potential. By drawing on the experience and expertise of successful leaders, influencers, and educators, and by partnering with caring corporations, the entertainment industry, pro and college sports teams, and community-based groups, we deliver proven emotional resilience training and hands-on activation that promotes emotional, academic, social, and life success.

A Brief History

The expertise and content required to create the Ambassadors of Compassion program started in 2005 with a nonprofit called Lift Up America (LUA).

Lift Up America existed to honor, celebrate, and serve disadvantaged youth and their families across the country and around the world. This was primarily accomplished through stadium events and large movie premiers where thousands of students ran across the field as fans cheered, or walked the red carpet and were treated like celebrities.

In partnership with over 100 caring corporations and 57 college and pro sports teams, LUA distributed over $120 million of in-kind gifts such as glasses, hearing aids, and scholarship, while delivering over 10 million meals to families in need.

LUA began developing and testing the Ambassadors of Compassion emotional resiliency program in 2010. Building on the legacy and relationships created by Lift Up America, the Ambassadors of Compassion program was created to engage hearts and activate emotional resiliency, self-leadership, and life-skills in students, equipping them to achieve academically, socially and in life. Over the next seven years $15 million dollars were invested and nearly 60,000 students went through the program. LUA filed its final 990 in 2017 as the organization was shut down to focus on the Ambassadors of Compassion program and mission. Since LUA has not existed since then, there are no legal ties or obligations between the two organizations.

The Program

The Ambassadors of Compassion program is an innovative, coach-led resiliency building program that equips students with the skills needed to overcome life’s inevitable challenges. Our data-driven programs provide a safe space for students to address their real-life issues in a positive way. Fostering self-awareness, purpose, connection, and hope, and effectively minimizing the out-of-classroom distractions and emotional obstacles that prevent learning from occurring.

Using 10-sessions of relevant content, multi-media delivery, coach-facilitated peer-to-peer discussions, and guided journaling, this immersive program leads students through the process of releasing unresolved hurt and pain, learning to forgive themselves and others, and overcoming the obstacles and negative experiences that hold them back. These principles are put into action in a peer-to-peer intervention where students empathetically hold each other accountable for making positive life changes.

There are two programs, LIFE and RISE. The concepts in the LIFE program of setting goals and working to achieve them (Labor); understanding what influences us and learning from the positive while minimizing the negative (Influence); learning how to identify and release the unresolved hurt and pain in our lives (Forgiveness); and turning negative experiences into positive motivation while building on positive experiences (Experiences) are universal and timeless. The same goes for the principles of Responsibility, Initiative, Service, and Expectations in the RISE program.

We continually evaluate and update our videos, journals, and discussion questions to make sure we are presenting them in a relevant manner. The real magic in our program happens in the self-reflection of journaling, and the facilitated peer-to-peer interaction around the session topics.

2023 Accomplishments

2023 was a busy and successful year for Ambassadors of Compassion. Some of our major accomplishments include:

This year Ambassadors completed 29 programs, representing 133 organizations, in 29 states through the Ambassadors Funding Program, which helps schools raise money to bring in the Ambassadors program. 23 of the teams were college teams, a first for us, and 19 states were first-time states. A total of 19,539 people participated in supporting these teams.

Another 19 programs were delivered through the Ambassadors of Compassion direct channel. This represents an additional 2,000 students participating in the programs.

We participated in a summer school program in Southern California with Elite Academy where 1,561 student completed the Ambassadors program.

We also ramped up the fundraising effort this year. $447,800 was collected with another $262,000 pledged.

We had city-wide stadium events in LA (SoFi stadium – 1,200 participants) and Long Island (East Islip stadium – 2,300 participants) where students from different schools come together to kick off their Ambassadors of Compassion journey. They then go back into their own schools and clubs to finish the 10-week program.

Finally, we have school program and funding initiatives started in Los Angeles, Orange County, the Bay Area, Orlando, Phoenix, Long Island, Charleston, Houston, and Charlotte that are the model for both raising funds and delivering the program to schools.

We also added five new team members to the staff.

2024 Goals

In 2024, Ambassadors will continue the positive momentum of 2023 with city-wide stadium events in Phoenix, Charlotte, Vancouver, Orlando, CA Bay Area, and Southern California. With these events, we will launch over 10,000 students into the Ambassadors program back at their schools and clubs.

Another goal for 2024 is to launch our content direct to consumer in both written and virtual formats.

We will complete and begin delivering an adult version of our program for educators and businesses.

An executive committee of volunteer community leaders will be established in Orange County to help raise awareness, funding, and help establish contacts in schools.

Our final objective in 2024 is to continue raise funds ($3 million) to build the capacity to deliver our programs with excellence by adding tools, staff, and strategic partnerships.

Over 80,000 students have completed the Ambassadors programs. Our greatest need for 2024 is to scale the organization to reach more students while continuing to deliver with operational excellence. The staffing plan to do this will take a $3 million investment. With this funding and one year to ramp up, the organization could become completely self-funded within 36 months. At that point all donated monies would be used to scholarship new students through the programs. Without this funding, we will continue to serve between 5,000 - 10,000 students and educators per year. With this funding we will be able to serve almost 1 million students in the next five years.

To accomplish our vision for 2024 and beyond, Ambassadors needs to make 3-4 strategic hires in 2024. These hires require approximately $500,000 in funding.

Our third primary objective for 2024 is to recruit community leaders and influencers in our primary geographies to serve as volunteers in our local steering committees. We have solid committees in Orange County, the Bay Area, Phoenix, and Charlotte, but will continue to add the right people to those groups while continuing to develop our other cities.

Focused in Orange County, with initiatives in the Bay Area, LA, Charlotte, Phoenix, Houston, Charleston, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Vancouver.

Our sole focus is to share life-skills that build emotional resilience, promote connectedness and belonging, and prepare students to achieve academically, emotionally, and in life.

These skills include setting goals and taking responsibility for one’s actions, recognizing and removing negative influences, the power of forgiving self and others, and how to turn negative experiences into positive motivation. They are proven to reduce anxiety, depression, and self-harm, and improve attendance, grades, and engagement.

Our approach is research-based and independently tested. 87% of students who go through our program have a marked improvement in their emotional resilience (Resiliency Initiative Study).

This is our sole agenda. Ambassadors of Compassion is a non-political, non-religious organization. We do not champion any political or religious agendas.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most recent study, “Students are experiencing a mental health crisis. Almost all indicators of health and well-being have worsened significantly. This data makes it clear that young people in the US are collectively experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act.”

The survey also concludes that, “Emotional resilience and connectedness are protective factors for suicide prevention and the promotion of positive behaviors.” And encourages schools to deliver, “evidence-based health education with a focus on building skills for healthy decision-making and connecting students.”

That is exactly what Ambassadors of Compassion is doing. Over 80,000 students have completed our independently measured resilience-building programs. The programs are proven to reduce anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation while fostering self-awareness, purpose, connection, and hope; equipping students to succeed emotionally, academically, and in life.

Emotional resilience and positive connection are protective factors that promote health and well-being in students.

 Less likely to engage in risky behaviors (violence, sexual health, and substance use)
 More likely to engage in positive health behaviors (physical activity and healthy eating)
 More likely to have higher grades and test scores, have better school attendance, and graduate high school
 Less likely to have emotional distress and thoughts of suicide

Emotional resilience and connection during adolescence also has long-lasting protective effects across a range of adult health outcomes.

 Less emotional distress
 Less suicidal ideation
 Less physical violence victimization and perpetration
 Less multiple sex partners and STI diagnosis
 Less prescription drug misuse
 Less illicit drug use

All of which means healthier, more productive employees. Allows us to, “Bring Our Whole Self to Work”.