Philanthropy Roundtable’s Free to Give campaign elevates the voices of everyday Americans who have dedicated their careers to supporting those in need. Their work is made possible by the freedom of all Americans to give to the causes and communities they care about most.
Amber, a young mother who had just given birth to twin girls, began experiencing gallbladder issues postpartum. When the pain became too much to bear, she went to the ER with her two babies in tow. She needed surgery, and was told if she waited 48 hours more, she might not make it.
While she was still in the ER, someone connected her with Better Together, a nonprofit focused on supporting families and preventing the need for foster care.
“In that moment, I felt really helpless. I felt like I couldn’t have the surgery because I didn’t have anyone to watch my girls,” she told Better Together.
In a few hours, a host family came to pick up her babies and reassured her everything was going to be okay. They sent her constant pictures, updates and encouragement as she recovered.
Amber said, “I feel like I’ve gained not only another support system, but a family. [The host family is] very much still connected with my girls outside of Better Together. … It takes a village to raise a kid. Better Together is that village for me.”
Megan Rose, Better Together’s founder and CEO, recently shared Amber’s story with Philanthropy Roundtable. She also discussed how Better Together connects parents facing crises with host families who temporarily care for children, providing a safe, nurturing environment until parents are ready to reunite. The organization’s holistic approach aims to strengthen families and communities, fostering resilience and long-term well-being.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: How was Better Together founded and what is your mission?
Rose: In 2015, we set out to create a nonprofit that would harness the power of local volunteers and churches to tackle our country’s most challenging social issues from the ground up, including foster care, dependency and unemployment. When we first shared our vision with potential donors, many doubted it could be done. We are forever grateful for the individuals and foundations who believed in us from the beginning.
Since then, our volunteers have cared for more than 10,000 of Florida’s most vulnerable children while helping their parents find jobs, secure housing, access treatment and more. Through our workforce program, which has expanded to over 14 states, we’ve served over 40,000 people.
Our mission is to keep families together by helping parents restore hope, find employment and build loving, safe and supportive homes for their children. Florida ranks third in the nation for the number of children in foster care, primarily due to social isolation and unemployment. When life becomes overwhelming, many people turn to family, friends or churches for help.
But for those without such support, struggles often escalate until authorities intervene. We work to reach these families before they reach a crisis, providing pathways to employment and a local support network. When families find themselves on the brink of foster care involvement, child services agents refer them to us.
Q: Since 2015, what type of impact has Better Together’s work had on the public? What programs have the most success?
Rose: The biggest impact we have on the public is making sure children have safe places to sleep, food to eat and making sure their parents always have someone local to call when life gets hard. We are making families stronger, and strong families make strong communities.
We have two flagship programs: Better Families and Better Jobs. Our Better Families program allows parents who have fallen on hard times to voluntarily place their children with a loving (and unpaid) host family while working with our mentors to make a plan to restore stability in the home. The average stay is 41 days; most are under 90 days.
Of the families we have served, 98% have been able to stay intact, requiring no further involvement from child services. This is double the reunification rate of foster care. A 2022 study found that the need for foster care in Florida actually dropped in the counties in which we operate, while neighboring areas suffered an increase in foster care enrollment during that same time period.
Our employment program, Better Jobs, is another easy “yes” for churches nationwide. One in four people get job offers on-the-spot, and 70% find work within six weeks. We’ve connected more than 40,000 people with job openings, and our volunteers are relentless – they will not rest until someone finds work. This is especially valuable for people like Joanne, who lives in Tampa and lost her job due to Hurricane Helene. Within days of the storm, she was able to find several opportunities at one of our hiring events, and as a result was able to pay her family household bills uninterrupted.
Q: How does working with churches around the country help connect people with jobs?
Rose: Work is the glue that keeps families together and children safe. Unemployment is linked to neglect, substance abuse, depression, divorce and domestic violence, and we’ve seen these firsthand in our own programs. For 80% of the families we serve, a job loss is the tipping point into catastrophe. That’s where life starts to unravel.
We began training local churches to host hiring events offering a compassionate alternative to online applications that too often leave people behind who aren’t the “perfect” candidates on paper. We are much more holistic than your typical job fair. Volunteers go door-to-door in communities of high need to encourage people to show up. We arrange transportation for people to get there, if needed. The employers who participate in our events are carefully chosen and educated on our mission and the significance of the jobs they represent.
They take their time in conversations, keep an open mind, and become invested in the success of every person who has the courage to walk through the door. Every job fair offers free job coaching and many provide free haircuts, interview clothing, hygiene items, legal services and more. This culture of dignity and respect drives our results.
Q: Can you share a success story of a family who has benefited from your work?
Rose: One story that comes to mind is Gabron, who had moved to Florida with his 15-year-old, BeBe. He found work but struggled to find housing they could afford. They stayed in hotels until their money ran out. Shelter space for a single father with a teen was nonexistent, so they lived out of Gabron’s truck until they couldn’t take the excruciating heat anymore.
One of our host families, with two boys similar in age, offered Bebe a place to live and enrolled him in school. He thrived in the family’s routine: up early for school, sports practice, homework, dinner, playing with the neighborhood kids until bedtime. Knowing BeBe was safe, Gabron worked more shifts, saved money, and 60 days later, they were reunited in their own apartment. The boys keep in touch, talking, texting and hanging out and playing video games all the time. They will attend the same high school.
My family recently hosted a little boy named Kayden while his mom, who had just delivered his baby brother, was feeling alone and overwhelmed. While Kayden happily played in my backyard with my four children, our volunteers helped her prepare for Hurricane Milton. His mom shared that having 48 hours of care for her son was exactly what she needed. The combination of the hurricane and a newborn had really pushed her to the edge. She was grateful for the rest and support, and together we are now creating a long-term plan that includes mentorship, better employment and building a stronger, healthier support system for her young family.
Q: How is Better Together filling the gap caused by government failure in the child welfare system? How has philanthropy stepped in to help American communities keep families intact?
Rose: Government typically intervenes after families have already fallen into a crisis, but by then, it’s too late. We fill a critical gap in support for the families who might not have hit rock bottom yet, but they’re hurting. We have a short window to reach these families and keep them intact, and it requires a speed and a depth of service that the government cannot provide.
We’ve had host families welcome a child into their home on Thanksgiving morning. We’ve had volunteers out tarping the roofs of mobile homes and passing out mosquito nets post-hurricane while they still had clean-up to do back at their own homes. All of that is outside the scope of work for the average, overwhelmed case worker.
Fortunately, the state recognizes this reality, and considers us as a valued partner in their efforts to keep children safe, and now more than 60% of our referrals come directly from the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) and first responders. With our support and preventative services, DCF is free to concentrate on the things it does best, like responding to substantiated claims of child abuse and protecting children in danger of harm.
Q: Why does philanthropic freedom, donor privacy and the freedom to give matter to Better Together?
Rose: Philanthropic freedom is mission-critical for Better Together. Just like the families we serve, we like to meet donors where they are, and engage with them on their own terms. People have their personal reasons for wanting to keep their contributions private, and it’s their right to do so. I think sometimes well-meaning policymakers try to control the way people interact with private charities from a 300,000-foot level without considering how those policies might impact things on the ground from a practical standpoint.
In reality, the beauty of philanthropy is that nobody forces you to do it, it comes from your heart. The tragedy is that if we create policies that make people feel uncomfortable about giving to charity, they simply aren’t going to do it. And who gets hurt in the end? In the case of our organization, the people who will ultimately suffer are the families and children we serve.
Q: Does Better Together accept gifts from donor-advised funds (DAFs) and if so, can you touch on why DAFs are important giving vehicles?
Rose: Yes, Better Together does accept gifts from Donor-Advised Funds, and we greatly value this type of giving. DAFs are essential giving vehicles because they offer donors flexibility and tax efficiency, allowing for impactful, strategic charitable giving. Contributions made through a DAF are typically invested, enabling the fund to grow tax-free and increasing the potential for more generous future donations. This giving option aligns well with our mission at Better Together, as it helps us plan for sustained impact, empowering us to serve even more families in need over the long term.
Q: How do Better Together’s donors help build trust for families and children across the country?
Rose: For the families we serve, it makes a big difference knowing that we are 100% privately funded. Parents are terrified of losing their children to the system. In our first conversation with families, we explain to parents that our programs are privately funded and voluntary, and that when they accept our help, parents stay in the driver’s seat. They never lose legal custody of their children and they can stop working with us at any time. Being privately funded is ultimately what convinces them to take a leap of faith and accept our help, and we could not make that promise without our donors. In this way, our donors are a very critical part of our frontline response.
Additionally, our donors give us the flexibility to structure our programs on our own terms and come up with individualized solutions for even the most difficult of families. When families see that we are coming up with solutions tailored to their practical needs, and we return the next day and keep our promises, that builds trust over time.
