Friendship

What Friendship does

Friendship Incorporated is a non-profit community organization founded in 1974 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by twelve recovering alcoholics who sought to address the absence of sobriety clubs accessible to low-income minorities. Operating as the first African American-operated sobriety club in Milwaukee under Wisconsin Statutes, the organization provides a safe, healthy educational, social, and recreational environment for individuals and families recovering from alcoholism and other drug addictions, positioning itself as a non-traditional aftercare model for the recovering community. Governance is provided by an 8-member Board of Directors comprising a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and four Board Members, with the entity owned by its membership rather than any external parent organization.

The organization operates from a single physical facility at 2245 West Fond Du Lac Avenue, Milwaukee, delivering services exclusively in-person through community events, structured activities, and a sober social setting. It has no technology platform, mobile application, or API; outreach is conducted through a basic GoDaddy-hosted website (friendshipinc1974.org) and community word-of-mouth rather than formal commercial marketing. The revenue model is membership-based with no disclosed pricing, supplemented by modest philanthropic support — the only disclosed grant is a $20,000 contribution from the Zilber Family Foundation in 2022. Headcount falls in the 11-50 employee range, consistent with a small community-based non-profit, and the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024.

Name

Friendship

Legal name

Friendship Incorporated

Website

https://friendshipinc1974.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Friendship Inc. is a Milwaukee-based non-profit founded in 1974, operating the city's first African American sobriety club to provide a sober social, educational, and recreational environment for recovering individuals and their families.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Milwaukee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership-based support: Friendship Inc. operates as a non-profit organization under Wisconsin Statutes, owned by its membership. The organization provides social, recreational, and educational activities to recovering individuals and their families at the Friendship Club.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Friendship Inc. operates the Friendship Club, a physical community center in Milwaukee that delivers a non-traditional aftercare model for individuals and families recovering from alcoholism and other drug addictions. The organization provides a safe, healthy, alcohol- and drug-free environment offering social, recreational, and educational activities, and is owned by its membership under Wisconsin Statutes as a non-profit organization.

Product overview

Friendship Inc. is a non-profit recovery organization offering a single unified service model. The organization provides a safe, healthy educational, social, and recreational environment for individuals and families recovering from alcoholism and other drug addictions. It operates as a non-traditional aftercare model offering social, recreational, and educational activities to the recovering community and their families. The organization was founded in 1974 and is the first African American-operated sobriety club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Friendship Club (sober social, educational, and recreational aftercare) A non-traditional aftercare program operated from Friendship Inc.'s physical club location in Milwaukee, providing a safe, alcohol- and drug-free educational, social, and recreational environment for individuals and families recovering from alcoholism and other drug addictions. The offering is membership-based and designed to serve low-income minorities in Milwaukee's inner city with family-inclusive programming.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Direct peers

• Alcoholics Anonymous World Services: The largest mutual-aid recovery organization in the world, operating on a similar grassroots model of peer-led support groups for individuals recovering from alcoholism. Comparable mission focus and member-driven structure, though at vastly greater scale.
• Narcotics Anonymous World Services: Global mutual-aid fellowship for individuals recovering from drug addiction, organized around grassroots groups that meet in person. Closely analogous to Friendship's peer-support model, though not culturally or geographically targeted.
• SMART Recovery: Non-profit mutual-aid recovery organization offering in-person and online meetings. Comparable grassroots recovery support mission, though more secular/science-based in orientation and operating at national scale with digital delivery.
• Oxford House: Network of self-run, self-supported recovery houses across the United States for individuals recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction. Closely parallels Friendship's peer-led, member-governed model, but operates sober living facilities rather than social/recreational clubs.
• Delancey Street Foundation: Non-profit residential self-help organization for people re-entering society from homelessness, addiction, and other challenges. Peer-led and peer-governed model parallels Friendship's member-owned structure, though operates residential training facilities.

Broad incumbents

• Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation: Large, established non-profit addiction treatment provider offering clinical care, education, and recovery support across multiple sites nationally. Operates in the same recovery space as Friendship Inc. but as a much larger, professionally staffed treatment enterprise.
• The Salvation Army: Large non-profit providing social services including adult rehabilitation programs for substance abuse. Comparable as a community-rooted social services provider for vulnerable populations, but operates a much broader portfolio of services beyond recovery.
• Cenikor Foundation: Non-profit providing substance use disorder treatment and recovery support across multiple states. Comparable mission of supporting individuals and families affected by addiction, but operates clinical treatment programs rather than community clubs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/friends2245

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Friendship