We are very grateful to everyone for their contributions, links, and advice. I'm elated that we surpassed our goal to support Leng Sopharath's second year at college.
I'm not ending the campaign. Why?
Meet Sin Vuthy, pictured above. He is one of ten students being sponsored for their freshman year through the Sharing Foundation's education programs. His college fees for this year have been partially sponsored, so we want to raise more money to support him and other young people like him who benefit from the Sharing Foundation's education programs.
Leng Sopharath and Sin Vuthy are only of two of more than 1,300 children that the Sharing Foundation educates. These two college students represent the top tier of the Sharing Foundation's educational programs. In order to get to the point of sponsoring young people for college, the Sharing Foundation begins at the pre-school level with a Cambodian version of a Montessoui Pre-School in Roteang Village. The foundation also sponsors a "head start" program for the children of the poorest villagers who work in the Foundation's farm program that provides the families with needed income. In the local Roteang village school, the Sharing Foundation runs an English Language program that is teaching over 500 children to speak English. The Foundation also provides capital improvements such as a new roof, a new library, and pays for school supplies.
The village school stops at the elementary level and if students want to continue in high school, they must pay for high school, a luxury these promising young peoples' families can't afford. The Sharing Foundation sponsors over 40 high school students - their tuition, transportation, uniforms, and supplies. Plus, our sponsors provide important emotional support via personal letters. Last year, our first "class" of high school students graduated and ten students passed the entrance exams for college, including Leng Sopharath. This year, another ten students are being sponsored for college, including Sin Vuthy. Read more here.
If you haven't yet made a contribution, I'm using the Network for Good Charity Badge for this round because Yahoo is providing some matching money! So, please make a donation and help support more than 1,300 poor children in Cambodia for their education.
More information at
http://www.sharingfoundation.org
Donors:
Richardo Carreon
Lisa Canter
Britt Bravo
Teresa Crawford
Kenneth Gierke
Michele Martin
Thomas Rogers
Michael Hoffman
Katya Andresen
CDJ Wilcox
Somongkol Teng
Stewart Robinson
Tim Rose
Ken Goldstein
Michael Hannum
The children at Ptea Ponleu Vichea, a youth center in Battambang
Caroline Meeks, Solution Grove
Stephen Sherlock
Paul Lamb
Jonathan Davis
Nancy White
Alexandra Samuel and Robb Cottingham
Erin Denny (Aka Agent Handy)
Evan Tate
Scott Lesniewski
Angela Klein
Usha Venkatachallam
Links/Posts
Pam Ashlund, Nonprofit Eye Blog (some advice about tax documentation)
Emily Weinberg from the Nonprofit Blog Exchange
Michelle Martin from the Bamboo Project
ChipIn News Blog
CrowdFunding (that is that awesome vlogger Sull)
First-of-its-Kind (Peter Dietz - excellent advice on how to go about these campaigns)
Michael Hoffman at See3
Second Life Blog
Britt Bravo on Blogher
Britt Bravo on her personal blog
smArts & Culture
FiSpace
Micropersuasion
E-politics
Ricardo Carreon
Solution Grove
Mongkol, a Cambodian college student who is studying in the US on a Fullbright Scholarship and knows the importance of a college education had this to say.
Keun Fast, another Cambodian blogger.
Tharum, who I had the pleasure of meeting via my work with Global Voices, has linked to the Campaign.
I also want to thank Ken Goldstein for sharing with his network on YouTube.
Carnet Williams at the ChipIn blog has kept a record of links and dollars here.
Katya Andresen at the Nonprofit Marketing Blog gave me a guest spot to write about the campaign and solicit advice from colleagues here.
Beth this is such a fun way to raise funds for the sharing foundation! I'm new to the blog world and I'm glad I found yours. I hope you don't mind if I play copy cat to raise funds for our school in Cambodia this way also. Our school sevres 485 kids in the Aural District of Kampong Speu province. Check it out at www.GradyGrossmanSchool.org
Posted by: Kari Grossman | December 13, 2006 at 09:43 PM