Non-profit Both Ends Believing uses low code technology to develop digital records and methods to help vulnerable children and families connect.
Each new iteration of technology development creates renewed hope to be a vehicle for good and empower those in need. But it’s not the technology type that enables such work but its application. Dallas-based charity Both Ends Believing (BEB) is just such an example. Through the right intentions and business technology leadership, BEB has placed 7,565 orphans with families since it began in 2010.
BEB’s aim is to transform care for vulnerable children in regions with high orphan populations such as Africa and Latin America. The charity was founded by Craig Juntunen, a former quarterback in the Canadian Football League who turned tech entrepreneur after personally experiencing the challenges of adoption. BEB isn’t a traditional charity; it’s also a digital organization using technology to deal with the complexities and inefficiencies of adoption.
Today, the charity works in nations such as Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Paraguay. “We’re in 13 countries with 13 production environments,” says president Mark Schwartz. “Part of the problem is children in institutional care around the world have no records, or, if they do, they’re paper-based and located where the child is.” Research for a book and movie by Juntunen found that the average adoption time for children in these regions is 33 months, leading to costs of around $28,000. “We learned we had to digitize the records,” he adds. “Our partners in federal governments need to understand the educational and medical history before they can begin trying to get them to a family.”