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02 / Principles

Four rules. Every chapter.

Nothing about TFF is glamorous. The principles are short on purpose, so a fifteen-year-old chapter lead can keep them in their head.

01
Service is not the same as planning to serve.

Show up.

Service is not the same as planning to serve. The first principle is that someone — a real person — was on the schedule, and arrived.

Principle 1
02
We do not decide what a community needs.

Ask, then listen.

We don't decide what a community needs. We ask the people who live there, then we listen long enough that the answer changes our plan.

Principle 2
03
Hours. Sessions taught. Kids mentored.

Work the hours.

Not 'awareness.' Not 'a campaign.' Hours. Sessions taught, lessons learned, a kid who showed up and was met by someone who knew their name. The unit of impact is a job that someone needed done.

Principle 3
04
Every founder graduates. Someone else gets the keys.

Hand it forward.

Every chapter writes down what it learned, so the next chapter starts faster. The foundation is a youth-led organization because every founder graduates and someone else gets the keys.

Principle 4
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