Global Generations Campaign
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
Mwebaza FoundationBy donating to our Endowment, your gift contributes to our longevity.
$0
raised by 0 people
$500,000 goal
Update #1
In 2019, we received a $1,000,000 gift to start an endowment fund. At the time of the gift, Mwebaza had one employee, Devaki Douillard, and a volunteer board that helped work school events, fundraisers, and the like. Mwebaza’s Founder and President, Dale Peterson, volunteered much of his time to general operations and project management.
With this initial gift, Mwebaza brought on two more employees, part-time, to tackle administrative tasks and run school programs. With the help of Ugandan and Coloradan community members, teachers, volunteers, and donors, this team of three managed to accomplish so much in the past four years, including:
-adding six partner schools in Colorado, making a total of 14 schools between the U.S. and Uganda
-kick-starting 12 social enterprise initiatives, 10 of which are in operation currently and turning a profit
-providing emergency food aid and paying teacher’s salaries at four Ugandan partner schools during the pandemic
-building two teacher’s homes and drilling one well
-hire a Ugandan project manager, Seera, to oversee social enterprise development and two part-time fundraising consultants in the U.S.
-a lot more stuff behind the scenes than we can reasonably fit here and someone would actually read
Help Us Earn the 3-to-1 Match!
We want to continue to hire more amazing employees in Colorado and Uganda to set forth models that achieve our mission. We want to build a system that will last long after any of us are here. We want more students and teachers to have access to our curriculums and more communities to have the investment support to start their own small businesses. We want all children to have access to culturally relevant, free education.
We’ve seen kids change their preconceived notions of one another and realize that they have the power to make positive impacts in their communities. We’ve seen Ugandan communities move out of experiences of severe poverty, build power and agency, and create systems that place people, not profits, at the center.
At present, our endowment has $1,445,000. Last year, we drew $101,223 (7%) from the endowment to pay one full-time and two part-time staff members. The ED position was still partially funded by a private grant.
According to NerdWallet, the average yearly stock-market return is 10%, not accounting for inflation (2-3%). If we continue to pull 7% off of the interest made from our endowment, that doesn’t leave us a ton of wiggle room to hire more employees, invest in social enterprises without fundraising, or add to Seera’s hours.
This 3-to-1 match is giving us the chance of a lifetime to expand our endowment, and our organization’s future. So, long story not so short, we’re going to give it all we’ve got and try to grow our endowment because we know what we are doing is valuable.
Simply put, an endowment is a donation in the form of money or property that can be used by a nonprofit organization for investment. The resulting interest can be used for various purposes.
The Mwebaza Foundation is special in many ways–from our approach to global citizenship education in the classroom to the ways in which we work alongside our partner communities overseas. We strive to be just in our approach, to inspire action in others, to allow others to flourish, and to build a legacy that impacts communities, spans oceans, and extends beyond our lifetimes.
Part of this vision is accomplished through our endowment. We have the privilege of stewarding a gift from people passionate about the work that the Mwebaza Foundation is doing. And we now have the great task ahead of us to continue growing that gift. Why?
We are not like many other organizations out there. 100% of the proceeds from our in-school fundraisers go directly to projects at our partner schools. But in order for us to continue expanding this vision, we need to grow our endowment.
Currently, staff salaries are funded by a combination of interest drawn from the endowment and grants. We envision expanding roles, hiring more staff, investing in more personal and professional learning opportunities, and partnering with new schools and communities. To grow as an organization, the endowment has to grow too.
Eventually, we hope that the endowment will grow enough to fund the day-to-day expenses of the organization, pay salaries, purchase materials for special projects, and hire contractors and advisors to help us achieve our goals.
A gift to our endowment is an investment in the long-term vision of Mwebaza. Will you be a part of accelerating our growth and promoting a more just, equitable world for generations to come?