Affiliations, Accreditations & Honors
Accreditations
Council on Accreditation (COA)
The Council on Accreditation (COA) is an international, independent, not-for-profit, child- and family-service and behavioral healthcare accrediting organization. COA partners with human service organizations worldwide to improve service delivery outcomes by developing, applying, and promoting accreditation standards.
COA currently accredits over 45 different service areas, including foster care, and inter-country adoption.
The value and credibility of COA accreditation are formally recognized in over one hundred distinct instances in forty-four different states, the District of Columbia, as well as British Columbia, Canada. Additionally, the U.S. Department of State has designated COA as the sole national independent accreditor for organizations providing inter-country adoption services in the United States that work with sending countries that have ratified the Hague Treaty.
Honors
The Independent Charities Seal of Excellence is awarded to the members of Independent Charities of America and Local Independent Charities of America that have, upon rigorous independent review, been able to certify, document, and demonstrate on an annual basis that they meet the highest standards of public accountability, program effectiveness, and cost effectiveness.
These standards include those required by the US Government for inclusion in the Combined Federal Campaign, probably the most exclusive fund drive in the world. Of the 1,000,000 charities operating in the United States today, it is estimated that fewer than 50,000, or 5 percent, meet or exceed these standards, and, of those, fewer than 2,000 have been awarded this Seal.
The Barker Foundation in Bethesda, Maryland has been selected to be featured in the 2009/10 Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington.
This is the Catalogue's seventh year in the Washington, DC region. Supported by individuals, foundations (Harman, Meyer, Cafritz, Marriott, Graham, Fowler), and corporations (CGI, Booz Allen Hamilton, TTR Sotheby's International Realty) as a service to the community, the Catalogue profiles environmental, cultural, educational, human services, and international organizations with budgets below $3 million.
Sixty-eight exceptional nonprofits were chosen this year from a field of over 250 applicants. A committee of ninety professionals from area foundations, corporate giving programs, family foundations, nonprofit organizations, and the DC government participated in the review process -- leveraging the region's knowledge about philanthropy for the benefit of the entire community.
Memberships/Affiliations
Joint Council on International Children's Services
Joint Council on International Children's Services is one of the oldest and largest affiliations of licensed, non-profit international adoption organizations in the world. Membership includes adoption agencies, child welfare organizations, parent support groups and medical specialists with an interest in intercountry adoption.
Joint Council works to ensure that orphaned and vulnerable children can live, grow, and flourish in a family. Advocating for high standards, ethical practices, and child-centric policies, Joint Council educates governments, professionals and families all with a goal of finding a safe, permanent, and loving family for every child.
Joint Council Member agencies subscribe to following established Standards of Practice, designed to protect the rights of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents, and other membership policies.
Local Independent Charities of America
Local Independent Charities of America Is an IRS-recognized tax-exempt federated group representing charitable organizations that specialize in areas such as feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, protecting children, healing the sick, and defending animals, as well as helping to inform, educate, and empower people across the nation.
The Center for Non-Profit Advancement
The mission of the Center for Nonprofit Advancement is to strengthen, promote and represent nonprofit organizations in metropolitan Washington in order to help them better meet the diverse needs of their communities. The Center provides the region's nonprofit community with the information, tools and resources it needs to succeed, including education and training, networking, advocacy and group buying programs.
Maryland Nonprofits' mission is to strengthen and support nonprofits’ ability to serve the public, while promoting the highest standards of ethics and accountability in nonprofit governance and management. Maryland Nonprofits strives to increase recognition of, trust in and support for the nonprofit sector and to expand the influence of the nonprofit sector on issues that impact the people and communities it serves.
North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)
The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NCAC) promotes and supports permanent families for children and youth in the U.S. and Canada who have been in care—especially those in foster care and those with special needs.
