October 2018: Working on my fourth school now!
Three schools have been built in Laos to date!
Deborah Kay's Impact in Som Sanouk, Laos
Deborah Kay's Impact in Mak Phuok, Laos
Deborah Kay's Impact in Houay Yen, Laos
Fourth campaign underway! See my new fundraiser page here.
Deborah Kay's Impact in Som Sanouk, Laos
Deborah Kay's Impact in Mak Phuok, Laos
Deborah Kay's Impact in Houay Yen, Laos
Fourth campaign underway! See my new fundraiser page here.
October 2017: Inspiring others to launch their campaigns! Meet Zac! Zac is 10 years old
10 year old Zachary Tan decided to give up his birthday presents to raise money for Pencils of Promise. Check out the fundraising website he made (Zac's Lab) and his fundraising page. As of October 2018, Zac has raised US$7,668. Well done Zac!
August 2016: DONE!!! $75,000 raised!
After a weekend of non-stop hassling, blackmailing, guilt-tripping all everyone I know on Facebook and Twitter, we finally did it!!!!! US$75,000 raised!!
BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED!!!
P.S. this campaign is over, but if you want to start your own campaign and have questions, feel free to reach out! You know where to find me!
BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED!!!
P.S. this campaign is over, but if you want to start your own campaign and have questions, feel free to reach out! You know where to find me!
Apr 2016: Almost there! $73,162 raised since October 2015
Over Christmas, the kids' campaign raised $4,462 which went way beyond my wildest expectations given that I only had 6 kids sign up for it (I was projecting at least $25,000 from a class of students, However, despite multiple offers to various schools, no one would take up my offer. Most parents I asked refused to let their kids participate, saying it was too cruel to ask their kids to give up Christmas.)
Thankfully, I had a couple of rockstar kids on my team who made kick-ass videos which we posted on Facebook. What I learnt: Facebook can be an incredibly powerful tool. All I did was to tag their parents and post it on their walls, and we raised $4,500 because some good hearted friend would invariably see it and donate.
The videos we made cost $0 to produce and received between 1-2,000 views EACH. I also spent about slightly over US$9 boosting these videos on Facebook. (And another $90 on other ads. Guess I owe you guys a breakdown of my Xmas Facebook Video strategy)
The result: Cost per video viewed $0.02. That's an ROI of over 2000%!).
Thankfully, I had a couple of rockstar kids on my team who made kick-ass videos which we posted on Facebook. What I learnt: Facebook can be an incredibly powerful tool. All I did was to tag their parents and post it on their walls, and we raised $4,500 because some good hearted friend would invariably see it and donate.
The videos we made cost $0 to produce and received between 1-2,000 views EACH. I also spent about slightly over US$9 boosting these videos on Facebook. (And another $90 on other ads. Guess I owe you guys a breakdown of my Xmas Facebook Video strategy)
The result: Cost per video viewed $0.02. That's an ROI of over 2000%!).
Windows donation matching allowed us to 2X our donation impact!
I would never have come close to meeting my target of US$75,000 if not for Window's extremely generous offer to match donations dollar for dollar on 31 Dec - 1 Jan.
About this Campaign
On 8 October 2015, in view of my birthday on 14 Oct, I decided that I would raise funds to build a school with Pencils of Promise.
I set myself 12 months to raise US$25,000. But I did it in 46 days with the help of 80 donors: the wonderful, generous friends and family and a surprisingly large number of strangers donating large amounts.
A large proportion of my network untapped and a lot of committed donations that have yet to be donated.
So I've decided that I will raise my target by another US$50,000 to build another 2 schools before the end of the year.
I set myself 12 months to raise US$25,000. But I did it in 46 days with the help of 80 donors: the wonderful, generous friends and family and a surprisingly large number of strangers donating large amounts.
A large proportion of my network untapped and a lot of committed donations that have yet to be donated.
So I've decided that I will raise my target by another US$50,000 to build another 2 schools before the end of the year.
Initial Campaign Target: US$25,000 by Dec 2016
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New Campaign Target:
$75,000 By Dec 2015
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JOIN ME : GIVE THE GIFT OF EDUCATION FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON
- Pencils of Promise have also invited me to take part in their Season of Promise campaign to build 30 schools over the holiday period and so I have committed to raising another $25,000 by the end of the year and another $25,000 next year.
- If you're a family that wants to learn how to make a website like this and learn graphic design and social media marketing, how to write donation letters, how to write thank you letters, I'll come to your house to teach you and your kids. FREE. (Website is free too!)
- If you're a school teacher that wants to learn and teach your students how to make a website like this and learn graphic design and social media marketing, how to write donation letters, how to write thank you letters, I'll come to your school to teach you and your students. FREE. (Website is free too!)
- Valid in Singapore only (no I'm not going to China to teach your 1 year old son Desiree!)
TEACH EMPATHY THIS CHRISTMAS
- If you're a parent who wants to teach their kids about the less fortunate, join my GiveWHATforXmas campaign and ask your kids if they will give up their Christmas presents - it's a fantastic opportunity to teach empathy and social responsibility and you can email whoever you want to ask them to make a SGD 35 (USD 25) donation instead of a Christmas present so that a less fortunate child can go to school for one year.
- Visit my Facebook page to see inspiring videos of Lucy (5 years old), Anya (11 years) and Asher (13 years) who have agreed o give up their presents so that a less fortunate child can go to school!
- If you are one of the 5.000+ people who've shared my Facebook Album on parenting advice by Peng Liyuan, make it into a photobook with pictures of your kids and give it away for Xmas - and donate $35. After all 善有善报 (Kindness Begets Kindness) and teach your kids the 贵族”精神"Spirit of Nobility"
PENCILS OF PROMISE DOES NOT DO CHARITY WORK.THEY MAKE LONG TERM INVESTMENTS
- They take a collaborative approach and work alongside each community to train and empower locals to increase access to education and to create self-sustaining schools and projects
- They believe in helping others help themselves, rather than building a school and then leaving communities to their own devices
- They pick countries that are politically stable so that your donation dollars are not wasted
- They pick communities invested in the success of the project so the community must contribute 20% of costs in terms of labour and materials and local teachers are found and trained by PoP's tested and established method
- They are data driven, ROI driven, so 100% of your donation goes to building a school as their admin and marketing costs are funded by private donors. They track results of local kids which perform 3X higher than national average and they're probably the only education non-profit that can claim 100% of their schools built are still operational
- Even TED prize winner, Sugata Mitra, who believes that schools are obsolete, is collaborating with Pencils of Promise to test his Self Organised Learning Environments in PoP schools in Ghana
"75M of children in the world do not have access to education.
250M of children in the world cannot read."
250 million illiterate children is equivalent to:
- 4X the entire population of the United Kingdom
- 8X the entire population of Malaysia
- 50X the entire population of Singapore
- If those children were a country, it would be the 3rd largest country in the world, tied with Indonesia with only China, India & USA larger than it
Pencils of Promise
Like Adam Braun, Pencil of Promise’s founder, I believe that every child deserves an education. Building a school is something that I have always wanted to do, and it feels like the right time to do it.
Pencils of Promise (PoP) was set up by Adam Braun, an ex-Bainee, who has built an extremely impressive organisation which builds schools in four countries: Laos, Nicaragua, Ghana and Guatemala. I got to know about PoP because Bain offered to send all alums a copy of Adam’s best-selling book: “The Promise of a Pencil” in one of their alumni letters.
I remember exactly which day I received my copy of the book because I tweeted about it !
I remember exactly which day I received my copy of the book because I tweeted about it !
Got my @PencilsOfPromis book by @AdamBraun thanks to @Onebain! Once a Bainee Always a Bainee! pic.twitter.com/c2PVfVKqpn
— Deborah Kay (@debbiediscovers) June 13, 2015Why Pencils of Promise
POWER OF COLLECTIVE SMALL ACTS
They believe in the power of collective, small acts of many. PoP was founded on the belief that even a small gesture, like handing a pencil to a child, is an important act and that every individual has something meaningful to contribute to the greater good.
100% FOR-PURPOSE
PoP is guided by the revolutionary “for-purpose” approach. Blending the head of a for-profit business with the heart of a humanitarian nonprofit, PoP rigorously measures the return on investment of every donor dollar spent. In typical Bain fashion, long-term sustainable results are what they're all about.
100% DIRECT GIVING
Donors rarely know where their money goes, so PoP set out to change this. By covering our operational costs through private donors, events and companies, 100% of every dollar donated online goes directly into our programs to educate more children.
100% LOCAL LEADERSHIP
All of their Country Directors are from the country they lead. 20% of costs are contributed by the local community in terms of building materials and transportation.
100% SUCCESS RATE
Every school opened to date is fully operational and educating students daily. To date, over 200 teachers have been trained, 2,000 scholarships given out, over 300 schools built with over 33,000 students educated. All in all, communities of over 300,000 people positively impacted.
They believe in the power of collective, small acts of many. PoP was founded on the belief that even a small gesture, like handing a pencil to a child, is an important act and that every individual has something meaningful to contribute to the greater good.
100% FOR-PURPOSE
PoP is guided by the revolutionary “for-purpose” approach. Blending the head of a for-profit business with the heart of a humanitarian nonprofit, PoP rigorously measures the return on investment of every donor dollar spent. In typical Bain fashion, long-term sustainable results are what they're all about.
100% DIRECT GIVING
Donors rarely know where their money goes, so PoP set out to change this. By covering our operational costs through private donors, events and companies, 100% of every dollar donated online goes directly into our programs to educate more children.
100% LOCAL LEADERSHIP
All of their Country Directors are from the country they lead. 20% of costs are contributed by the local community in terms of building materials and transportation.
100% SUCCESS RATE
Every school opened to date is fully operational and educating students daily. To date, over 200 teachers have been trained, 2,000 scholarships given out, over 300 schools built with over 33,000 students educated. All in all, communities of over 300,000 people positively impacted.
How can you help?
You can donate any amount but here are some examples of how you can help:
$0 - You can donate your voice and share this campaign with your friends and ask them to support a good cause.
USD $25 will provide a child access to education for one year. (USD 25, SGD 35)
USD $100 will sponsor a water and health programme. This includes building bathrooms and sanitary stations and educating children about proper hygiene.
USD $250 will sponsor a secondary school scholarship. Using historical data, high risks schools where students are most likely to drop out arae identified. Pencils of Promise offers scholarships which cover tuition, books, lodging and transportation. Students’ performance is also tracked, and a 75% attendance record must be maintained in order to continue receiving the scholarship.
USD $250 will sponsor a mobile learning kit contains books, phonic games and creative educational tools for teachers or one e-reader provides a student with 100 books in both English and the local language (PoP is revolutionalizing technology in the classroom for developing countries. More information can be found here)
USD $500 will provide teaching support. PoP teachers that creates the educational materials required, identify and train the teachers, and track the educational progress of the student to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.
USD $25,000 will build an entire school. One thing I love about Pencils of Promise is that they are results driven. And not just short-term results, achieving sustainable change is very important. As a result, PoP chooses identifies communities that are deeply invested in their children’s education.
$0 - You can donate your voice and share this campaign with your friends and ask them to support a good cause.
USD $25 will provide a child access to education for one year. (USD 25, SGD 35)
USD $100 will sponsor a water and health programme. This includes building bathrooms and sanitary stations and educating children about proper hygiene.
USD $250 will sponsor a secondary school scholarship. Using historical data, high risks schools where students are most likely to drop out arae identified. Pencils of Promise offers scholarships which cover tuition, books, lodging and transportation. Students’ performance is also tracked, and a 75% attendance record must be maintained in order to continue receiving the scholarship.
USD $250 will sponsor a mobile learning kit contains books, phonic games and creative educational tools for teachers or one e-reader provides a student with 100 books in both English and the local language (PoP is revolutionalizing technology in the classroom for developing countries. More information can be found here)
USD $500 will provide teaching support. PoP teachers that creates the educational materials required, identify and train the teachers, and track the educational progress of the student to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.
USD $25,000 will build an entire school. One thing I love about Pencils of Promise is that they are results driven. And not just short-term results, achieving sustainable change is very important. As a result, PoP chooses identifies communities that are deeply invested in their children’s education.
Join my Team
You can join me in this campaign and we can form a team (Join on the Donate page) - more supporters = more friends to harassed = more funds raised.
My Campaign Video
About Me
I'm nobody. :) Just someone who believes in education because I've been lucky with mine.
Find out more about me here.
Find out more about me here.
