PLAN International describes itself as a "private, voluntary child-sponsorship organization that serves children in ... developing countries." Through its various programs, PLAN provides direct benefits to more than 650,000 children, their families and their communities.
PLAN was founded in 1937 in England as the Foster Parents Scheme for Children in Spain by English journalist John Langdon-Davies. He and Eric Muggeridge, an English social worker, conceived the idea of providing financial support and hostels for children orphaned or made refugees by the Spanish Civil War.
The organization changed its name to Foster Parents Plan for Spanish Children in the summer of 1939 and was chartered as a New York corporation to avail itself of fundraising opportunities in the United States. The organization continued to evacuate Spanish orphaned and refugee children from Spain, first to France and later to England. The organization again changed its name in the fall of 1935, this time to Foster Parents Plan for War Children, Inc., and continued its work of providing aid and assistance to children whose lives were disrupted by the Spanish Civil War and World War II.
When World War II ended in 1945, the organization extended already existing programs in France, England, and Italy and expanded into the war-ravaged countries of Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, China, Greece, the Netherlands, and West Germany. In addition to enrolling children orphaned or made refugees by the war, PLAN began to enroll an increasing number of children who lived with their families with the goal of keeping those families together.
As European economies began to recover in the post-war years and individual countries became able to assume responsibility for their own needy children, PLAN began to phase out its European operations and looked to lend assistance to undeveloped countries where the needs of children were the result of causes other than war. To reflect this change in focus, the organization changed its name once again from Foster Parents Plan for War Children, Inc. to Foster Parents Plan International, Inc. and began to establish field offices and programs in Latin America, South America, Africa, and Asia.
The first South American field office was established in Bogota, Colombia in 1962. The Bogota program was rapidly followed by programs throughout South America and Latin America in the 1960s. Programs in Africa and Asia followed in the 1970s and 1980s. Some programs were also terminated during this period, either due to improving economic conditions as in Hong Kong or deteriorating political conditions as in Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Liberia, and Vietnam.
As PLAN expanded it also changed its focus from a child welfare organization to a community development organization. Though PLAN continued to emphasize the welfare of individual children, it did so in the context of a community development approach that seeks to strengthen families and communities in order that they may better support their children's needs.
With the change in emphasis came a change in organizational structure. By the early 1970s, it had become apparent that PLAN's relatively informal administrative structure was no longer adequate to meet the needs of a rapidly growing organization. This realization resulted in the establishment of PLAN International in 1973 as the administrative arm of Foster Parents Plan International, Inc. with its headquarters in Warwick, Rhode Island. The International Executive Director, responsible to the International Board of Directors, was to manage the operations of PLAN with the assistance and support of a senior management group. The national organizations in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States enjoyed relative autonomy in raising funds from individual foster parents and corporations. These funds were then funneled through International Headquarters to the various field offices.
PLAN continued to grow throughout the 1970s and 1980s and its organizational structure continued to evolve as well. In response to complaints from field directors that PLAN management had become too centralized and unresponsive to the needs of the field offices, International Headquarters began to decentralize its management structure. Beginning in 1987, PLAN established a series of regional offices in order to move the operational decision making process as close as possible to the programs and field offices. By 1992, the process was completed and six regional offices oversaw the management of program activities in the field offices responsible to them.
The evolution of PLAN's administrative structure continued into the 1990s. After twenty years in Rhode Island, the International Executive Board, at the recommendation of new International Executive Director Max van der Schalk, agreed to move its International Headquarters to England. The move, approved in 1993, was completed in late 1994.
The return to England in a sense brought PLAN full circle. It was two Englishmen, John Langdon-Davies and Eric Muggeridge, who began the effort to assist children displaced by the Spanish Civil War. Though Langdon-Davies and Muggeridge might not recognize an organization that raises funds in eight industrialized nations to support programs in thirty underdeveloped countries in Latin America, South America, Asia, and Africa, they would still recognize its driving force: assisting children to make a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Any qualified person doing scholarly research is permitted to use material housed in the Special Collections Unit.
Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Records of Foster Parents Plan International, Volume 1, Mss. Gr. 117.1, University of Rhode Island.
The records of PLAN International (Foster Parents Plan International, Inc.) were removed from the organization's then International Headquarters in East Greenwich, Rhode Island and deposited in the Special Collections Department of the University of Rhode Island Library in 1994. The bulk of the records span the years 1980 to 1992 and document the activities of the organization throughout the world. Records of PLAN International, the bulk of which date from 1937 to 1978, were deposited in the Special Collections Department in 1986 and are described in a separate finding aid appended as Volume II of this document. These earlier records were originally organized by PLAN employee Henry Molumphy preparatory to his writing a history of the organization entitled For Common Decency: The History of Foster Parents Plan, 1937-1983. (See Series XX, PLAN History Research Files, for records used by Molumphy in writing his history of PLAN). The earlier records were reorganized to make them more accessible to researchers.
The records in this record group consist of documents generated by or sent to PLAN's International Headquarters by field offices, national organizations, consultants, and firms with which PLAN did business. The records are in a variety of formats including paper, photographic prints and negatives, microfilm, and electronic (both 3.5 inch and 5.25 inch floppy disks) . Most of the records are in good to excellent condition, though some of the early enrollment case files are in only fair condition. In addition, there are 863 reels of microfilm, many of which duplicate the paper records in the collection, organized as Series XLVIII. The organization of the microfilm is described along with other non-paper items in Non-Paper Formats. The condition of most of the 855 floppy disks is unknown since the software necessary to read them is either unknown or unavailable in the Special Collections Department.
The scope of the records is comprehensive in that the records represent and document a broad range of the activities of PLAN, from fund raising to budgeting to administration to programs and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the programs. PLAN is a worldwide organization operating programs in thirty underdeveloped nations and soliciting donations from foster parents and corporations in eight industrialized nations. The records reflect the global nature of these activities. They also reflect the evolution and development of PLAN from a relatively small child welfare agency to a multi-million dollar community development agency whose central focus remains the welfare of the child.
The records of PLAN International have been organized into nine sub-groups and 48 series. The sub-groups reflect the organizational structure of PLAN and correspond to its departments.
PLAN has made their records for historical research. Certain restrictions may apply on the use of some of the records, specifically the Human Resources Department Series and other records which may contain personal or sensitive information. These records may be made available at the discretion of the Archivist in consultation with PLAN.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
Series I, International Executive Director Correspondence Series II, International Board of Directors Series III, Senior Management Group Correspondence Series IV, Policy Manuals Series V, Publications
HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
Series VI, Human Resource Administrative Files Series VII, Terminations and Transfers Series VIII, Employee Council Series IX, Assistant Director Training Program Series X, Sandra Benjamin Case
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Series XI, Designated Contributions Series XII, Grant Funding Unit Series XIII, Enrollment Unit Series XIV, Monthly Enrollment Reports Series XV, National Director Memos Series XVI, Informal Reports Series XVII, Field Office Photographs Series XVIII, International Communications Coordination Unit Series XIX, Income Generating Projects Series XX, Plan History Research Files
PROGRAM/FIELD OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT
Series XXI, Program Administrative Files Series XXII, Field Office Program Budgets Series XXIII, Field Office Country Contracts/Agreements Series XXIV, Field Program Outline Reports Series XXV, Field Office Program Reports Series XXVI, Country Reports/Studies Series XXVII, Program Coordinator/Area Manager Briefings Series XXVIII, Child Survival Program Series XXIX, Health Management Grant Program Series XXX, Micro-Enterprise Development Program Series XXXI, Technical Leadership Program Series XXXII, Impact Evaluation System Series XXXIII, Field Office Evaluation System Series XXXIV, Field Office Target Impact Evaluation System Series XXXV, Institutional Learning System
REGIONALIZATION
In the late 1980's PLAN began to decentralize the administration of field operations, moving the management of program activities from International Headquarters to six regional offices located in or closer to program countries. Each regional office is managed by a regional director who has responsibility for the overall administration of programs in the field offices of the region. The six series listed below contain records relating to the establishment of the respective regional office and to the interaction between the regional office and the staff of International Headquarters.
Series XXXVI, Region of Eastern and Southern Africa (RESA) Series XXXVII, Region of the Caribbean and Central America (ROCCA) Series XXXVIII, Region of South Asia (ROSA) Series XXXIX, South American Regional Office (SARO) Series XL, Southeast Asia Regional Office (SEARO) Series XLI, West African Regional Office (WARO)
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT
Series XLII, Finance Administrative Files Series XLIII, Ledgers Series XLIV, Year End Financial Reports
AUDIT DEPARTMENT
Series XLV, Audit Administrative Files Series XLVI, Audit Reports
TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Series XLVII, Technical Services Administrative Files
MICROFILM
Series XLVIII, Microfilm Box List
A NOTE ON CORPORATE NAMES:
The official corporate name of the organization (International Headquarters and field organizations) is Foster Parents Plan International, Inc. Under the laws and regulations of the State of New York, where the organization is incorporated, it is possible to register an assumed name which can then be used for business/operating purposes. PLAN (all caps) International is the business name under which Foster Parents Plan International, Inc. operates throughout the world and by which it is popularly known.
ACRONYM LIST:
Below is a listing of many of the acronyms used in the daily operations by Foster Parents Plan International that will found throughout the records and their definitions.
The collection is arranged in nine sub-groups, and forty eight series as follows:
The records of PLAN International (Foster Parents Plan International, Inc.) were removed from the organization's then International Headquarters in East Greenwich, Rhode Island and deposited in the Special Collections Department of the University of Rhode Island Library in 1994.
This series contains the correspondence of three of PLAN's International Executive Directors: Gloria Matthews, 1951-1975; George Ross, 1976-1986; and Alberto Neri, 1986-1991. The correspondence has been organized into two sub-series, one arranged alphabetically by subject or name of correspondent, the other chronologically by date.
The former sub-series contains the correspondence of Matthews and Ross and relates to such topics as financial irregularities in the Brazilian field office in the mid-1970's, general legal issues facing PLAN, and PLAN policies and procedures. The latter sub-series contain the chronologically arranged correspondence of Alberto Neri.
The records in this series document the activities of the International Board of Directors, the policy-making body of PLAN. The International Board of Directors consists of representatives of the eight national organizations. Topics include long range planning, the morale of PLAN staff, programs, fund raising, the design of PLAN's corporate logo, and the by-laws of the Board. The types of records include agenda and minutes of meetings, reports, project proposals, circular letters from International Headquarters, copies of the by-laws, copies of the corporate logo, correspondence, and memos.
The records are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.
The Senior Management Group consists of the International Executive Director and the organization's department heads meeting in committee. The group met on a regular basis to discuss PLAN policies and programs and to attempt to solve interdepartmental problems.
The records in this series consist of correspondence of the senior managers to one another and to the staff under their supervision. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by the names of the senior manager and chronologically within folders.
This series contains documents relating to the policies and procedures governing the operation of PLAN and its employees throughout the world. Included are policy manuals which detail the policies, procedures, rules, and regulations which PLAN and its employees are to follow in establishing offices and developing programs in the various countries in which PLAN operates. The types of manuals include the Corporate Design Manual, the Field Office Electronic Data Processing Manual, the Field Office Operations Manual, the International Headquarters Personnel Policy Manual, the Program Manual, and the Sponsorship Communications Manual. Also included is extensive correspondence concerning revisions to the Program Manual.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by the title of the manual.
This series contains a variety of PLAN publications. Included are annual reports, a history of PLAN entitled For Common Decency, newsletters entitled International News and Notes and News and Notes, and a number of publications describing specific PLAN programs and initiatives.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by the title of the publication.
This series contains records documenting the administrative activities of the Human Resources (Personnel) Department of PLAN. Topics include employee benefits and compensation, employee conduct, the power of attorney granted to field directors, and employee training programs. The types of records include correspondence, memos, consultant contracts, personnel policy manuals, compensation and benefits surveys, employee codes of conduct, payroll records, workers' compensation files, salary and benefits proposals, field directors' power of attorney statements, and retirement plans.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.
This series contains materials relating to the termination and/or transfer of PLAN employees. Included are correspondence, memos, reports, evaluation forms, transfer requests, termination notices and handwritten notes.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by the name of the employee and chronologically within folders.
The Employee Council was an organization created by PLAN employees at International Headquarters to represent the interests of those employees to PLAN's management. The Employee Council was not in any sense a labor union, but its leaders worked with the senior management of PLAN to address common problems and employee concerns and to develop and implement new policies, practices, and procedures. The types of records included are correspondence, memos, agenda, minutes of meetings, by-laws of the Employee Council, surveys, and questionnaires.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.
The records in this series document the effort by PLAN to train administrators for its field offices. Each PLAN field office is administered by a field director. In order to maintain a supply of well-qualified field directors, PLAN recruited for the assistant director position. Assistant directors were actually field directors in training. After a brief orientation at International Headquarters, assistant directors were assigned to field offices where, under the supervision of the resident field director, they learned the skills necessary to run a field office in a third world country. The training was designed to last for six months, but could be extended at the discretion of International Headquarters. At the end of their training period, assistant directors could then apply for the position of field director as openings occurred.
The types of records include correspondence, memos, resumes, evaluation forms, biweekly reports, and monthly reports.
The records are arranged alphabetically by the name of the assistant director and chronologically within folders.
This series contains documents relating to a sex discrimination in employment suit filed by Sandra Benjamin. Benjamin was offered employment by PLAN in the Philippines, an offer that was accepted by Benjamin but subsequently withdrawn by PLAN. A dispute arose over the alleged reasons for the withdrawal of the offer. Benjamin filed suit in U.S. District Court in 1977, charging PLAN with sex discrimination. The case lingered for six years before the Court ruled in PLAN's favor in 1983.
Included are correspondence, memos, reports, depositions, exhibits, interrogatories, and other legal documents.
The records in this series are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders.
This series contains materials relating to the receipt and disbursement of so-called designated contributions. These designated contributions are funds raised by the national organizations (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and marked or "designated" to fund specific projects in one of PLAN's field offices. Projects would include such activities as home construction, latrine construction, school construction, well drilling, and the provision of basic health and sanitary needs.
The receipt and disbursement of designated contributions was recorded on a computer printout generated monthly for each of the eight national organizations. The printouts are arranged alphabetically by the name of the host country of the national organization and chronologically within each country.
The Grant Funding Unit was concerned with outside funding, that is, funding not from national organizations or individual child sponsorship donations. The principal sources of such funding are government agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development and its counterparts in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Other sources include individual corporations and foundations.
The records in this series document the activities of the Grant Funding Unit and include correspondence, memos, manuals, telexes, evaluation forms, project proposals, reports, workshop agenda and brochures, and photographs.
The records are arranged alphabetically by the name of the country, the subject, or the type of record and chronologically within folders.
The task of the Enrollment Unit was to match children from program countries with foster parents from donor countries. To this end, the Enrollment Unit created a case history for each child and initiated correspondence between the foster child and the foster parent. The Enrollment Unit also tracked the status of foster children, compiling lists of active and cancelled foster children by field Office and donor country. These lists were compiled at the end of each year in what was known as the childbook.
The records in this series are divided into two sub-series, country and subject files. The country sub-series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the program country and alphabetically thereunder by the name of the field office and contains case histories, correspondence, maps, photographs, reports and a listing of the status of the foster children by field office and/or donor country. The quota reports, summaries, and field office manuals are listed beginning with folder number 460 in alphabetical order by type of material.
The subject files contain the administrative records of the Enrollment Unit and include correspondence, memos, reports, and computer printouts.
Most of the records contained in this series are also available on microfilm at the end of the collection. There are 366 reels of microfilm containing Enrollment Unit files dating from 1976 to 1992.
They are arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record.
This series contains records relating to the changing status of foster children enrolled in PLAN. The Enrollment Unit was responsible for tracking the status of the thousands of foster children enrolled in PLAN, adding or subtracting names from the lists for each field office and/or donor country as it received updates from the field offices.
Included are monthly enrollment reports and such supporting documentation as computer printouts, field office worksheets, and notebooks.
Monthly enrollment reports from 1976 on are also available on Microfilm.
The reports are arranged chronologically by month. Note that there is a three year gap between 1985 and 1989.
This series includes informational memos from Timothy Allen, Director of the International Relations Department, and his staff to the directors of PLAN's national organizations in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The memos provided information and updates on PLAN programs, policies, events, and crises in program countries, announced upcoming events, and served as a source of general information on PLAN activities for the national organizations.
The National Director's Memos are arranged numerically by the "IRD" (International Relations Department) number assigned to them. A "memo log" listing the memo number, the date, the subject, and the author is housed at the beginning of this series.
The records in this series document and explain the program activities of the field offices to foster parents. The field directors or assistant directors reported on the projects and activities that were ongoing in the particular community where the field office was located. In addition to the one or two page informal report, this series contains such supporting documentation as report schedules, photographs, photographic negatives, and correspondence. The informal reports were discontinued in June of 1992.
The records are arranged alphabetically by the name of the program country and alphabetically thereunder by the location of the field office with the exception of folders 117- 120. Folders 117-120 are not country specific and are organized alphabetically by subject. Of interest is folder 117. It contains information on the planning of multifaceted educational projects in the Netherlands commemorating the 500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the Americas. PLAN asked for informal reports of South American field offices for the "Columbus Year" project. This drew the reminder that, from an Ecuadorian point of view, the arrival of Europeans was not a cause of celebration but "marks instead the start of 500 years of repression for their people."
The records in this series document in photographic images the activities of PLAN throughout the world. Field office staff took photographs of special events and activities, as well as photographs to be included with the various reports submitted by field offices to International Headquarters. Included are photographic prints, slides, negatives, cover-letters accompanying the photographs, photo captions, and lists of photographs.
The photographs are arranged alphabetically by the name of the program country from which they came and alphabetically thereunder by the name of the field office or the type of report (e.g. annual report) which they document.
The International Communications Coordination Unit (ICC), now known as Sponsorship Communications, acted as a liaison between the staffs of the national organizations of the donor countries and the staffs of the field offices of the program countries. The ICC staff coordinated communications between national organizations and field offices, matched national organization grants with suitable projects in the field, expedited the production and distribution of reports from the field offices to national organizations, and kept both field offices and national organizations apprised of changes in PLAN policies and procedures that would affect the relationship between them.
The records in this series document the above functions and include correspondence between ICC and national organization staff, correspondence between ICC and field office staff, photographs, reports, and project proposals.
The records are arranged alphabetically by the name of the program or donor country and chronologically within folders.
One of the stated goals of PLAN is to assist the families of foster children to become more self-sufficient. To this end, the Income Generating Project was initiated to encourage foster families to develop small businesses and crafts, which would allow them to become self-sufficient and end their dependence on PLAN and similar charitable agencies. The families were provided with short-term loans to purchase needed tools and/or raw materials and given training in the particular business or craft which they chose. The program was funded by grants from development agencies in the donor countries belonging to PLAN. The records in this series document the Income Generating Project and include correspondence, memos, annual reports, project reports, project proposals, financial spreadsheets, surveys, and questionnaires.
The series is arranged alphabetically by subject or type of record and chronologically within folders. (See also Series XXX, Micro-enterprise Development Program, for a related but larger scale project.)