In 1983, Dr. Phil McGraw (yes, that Dr. Phil) started a workshop along with his father and a Texas business woman named Thelma Box. It was a workshop for single mothers called You Seminars.
You Seminars went through a number of name and format changes through the years. By the early 1990s, Dr. Phil had moved on to eventual fame and fortune, his father had died, and the workshop company was sold, though Thelma still conducted workshops up until shortly before her death in 2023 at the age of 88.
Thelma’s son Eldon wanted to present Thelma’s workshop under his own banner. So, with Thelma’s blessing, the company that was to become Foundations for Tomorrow, Inc. was born. The first workshop was conducted in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in 2002.
By 2004, Thelma had withdrawn her support, the company was in financial difficulty, and it was unable to continue under the current for-profit structure. Eldon left the company, and the company was restructured to be a not-for-profit organization.
Foundations workshops have been presented in several cities throughout North America, including Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Portland, Oregon; Redlands, California; Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; and Atlanta, Georgia. Thousands of individuals have participated in hundreds of workshops.
Foundations for Tomorrow, Inc. is an IRS accepted 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charity. It currently conducts workshops in Portland, Oregon and Redlands, California. It has no full time employees and only two part-time paid staffers to handle enrollment and administrative tasks. Nevertheless, it maintains a a minimum of 1:2 in room staff-to-participant ratio at its workshops, with several years’ experience per staffer on average.
The charity accomplishes this through an experienced network of long-serving volunteers who in aggregate have presented more than 1000 workshops–all with no compensation! Volunteers are former participants who wish to “pay forward” what they had been given. What they discover is that it is much more rewarding to give than it is to receive.
Practicing what it preaches, Foundations for Tomorrow is dedicated to continuous improvement. It has updated and modernized its workshops based on new concepts and understandings in fields such as cognitive-behavioral and positive psychology; addiction, trauma, and shame; and leadership development. Several participant-favorite exercises are based on these newer concepts. Some of our Board members are certified in these concepts and curricula.
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Where did Foundations for Tomorrow originate?
