Fundraising Challenge: Help Cover Our Administrative Costs

 

One of the great things about sponsoring a child through Plant-a-Book International is that 100% of your donations (less PayPal/banking fees) go directly to support our Nairobi Kids.  Yet, while PAB is run wholly by volunteers on a very lean budget, the organization does incur administrative costs.  The biggest administrative cost incurred by the organization is the postage needed to mail sponsors letters from their sponsored children three times per year.  In addition, PAB is required by law to pay filing fees of approximately $70 per year and sustains various other administrative costs for things like operating the website, printer ink, paper, etc.  Some sponsors generously contribute to these costs by rounding up their orders in the Online Shop or otherwise specifically directing a donation to “Postage/Administrative Costs.”  The remainder has historically been covered by Brenda (the PAB director) from her own pocket.

We would love some extra help with getting these administrative costs covered!  There are several online services that allow supporters to raise money for charity at absolutely no cost to the supporter. Last year we raised about $35 from a combination of these services with only a small fraction of our sponsor community participating.  With your help we hope to see a big increase in that number for 2014!  We urge you to give the services below a try.  This is also an easy way for friends and family to support our Nairobi Kids at no cost to them.  Remember, for a small organization like Plant-a-Book International, every penny counts!

Goodsearch:  Use Goodsearch.com (powered by Yahoo!) as your search engine and they will donate a penny to PAB every time you do a search!  Simply type “Plant-a-Book” in the box labeled “Who do you search for?” and search away!  Making Goodsearch.com your homepage can make it easier to remember to use the site for your searches.

GoodDining:  Register your credit or debit cards with Gooddining and up to 6% of the cost of your meal will be donated to PAB when you dine at participating restaurants.  Visit Gooddining.com to register your cards and find participating restaurants in your area.

GoodSwipe:  Register your most frequently used credit or debit card and up to 2.4% of the cost of your total purchase at participating businesses will be automatically donated to Plant-a-Book.  Participating businesses include: Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, Quiznos, Red Robin, Dollar General, Foot Locker, and various movie theater chains.

Igive:  Help PAB every time you shop online by shopping through igive.com.  Simply register with igive and specify Plant-a-Book to receive the donations.  Click on the link for the store you wish to shop at and PAB will automatically receive a percentage of your purchase.  Participating stores include many popular online retailers, such as Amazon, Target, Kohls, GAP, Pottery Barn, Overstock, Orbitz, Expedia, Nordstrom, Drugstore.com, and many more.

AmazonSmile:  Amazon shoppers can earn a donation for PAB equal to 0.5% of their purchase by shopping through Smile.Amazon.com.  AmazonSmile delivers the same products and prices as the regular Amazon site.  Simply designate Plant-a-Book as your charity of choice.

Thank you for your support! 

~submitted by Brooke

Annual Ebay Fundraiser is coming soon!

On November 5th, NairobiKids will host it's annual Ebay fundraiser.  This is our largest fundraiser and all monies raised will go toward KCSE fees for our upcoming Form 4 students.

Imagine struggling to complete four years of high school and not getting your diploma because you don't have the money to take the final exam. That's the harsh reality for the majority of our kids. Many of the families we assist live on less than a dollar a day. The final exam (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education aka KCSE) costs approx $109 dollars per student. Failure to take the KCSE means that the chance to receive further education or qualify for other than menial jobs will be forever denied.

But we need your help to make this years auction a huge success.  We are in need for in kind donations to be sold in our auction.  If you have something you are willing to donate or know of a company we should contact please email us at info@nairobikids.org

If everyone gives what they can, we can assure that every child who is eligible gets the opportunity to take the very important KCSE and their 12 years of struggling to complete high school will not be in vain.

Run James Run

On May 22 2011, James will be running the Edinburgh Marathon to help raise money for new toilets at Galilee Primary and Waddington High School.

In order for the schools to remain open more toilets need to be built.  James knows how important the schools are to the children in the Kayole-Soweto slums.  Galilee Primary and Waddington High school are for some the only chance they have at an education and a chance to leave the slums for a better life.

Good luck James the students and supporters of Galilee Primary and Waddington High School are behind you all the way.

If you would like to donate go to James' Just Giving Page

Thank you!

You Don't Have To Climb Mt. Everest To Help!

But Mary did just that and more! 

When in December 2007 while post election violence was just beginning to escalate in Kenya, Mary Stravrakakis arrived in Kenya with a mission. Mary celebrated her 60th birthday by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness and funds for the Galilee children. By obtaining sponsors for her climb she was able to raise enough money to purchase the plot of land where the kitchen is located.

But she didn’t stop there! In October  2010 Mary flew to Nepal and completed a trek up to the Mt. Everest Base Camp!  Once again she collected donations to help with the kitchen project! Combined with the donations of other caring donors, we are within $1,051 of seeing Mary’s 3 year dream of a new kitchen come to fruition!!

That is where you come in.  You don’t have to climb a mountain to help us reach this very important goal.  All you have to do is hit the donate button on the right hand side of the page. 

Give a little, or give a lot every $1 gets us closer to finishing the kitchen for the 1700 students at Galilee and WHS.

A little back history about the kitchen….

Fortunately for Galilee school in 2008 Feed the Children agreed to provide food so that the Galilee Primary School children could be assured of a lunch at school each day. However, if they are to work with Galilee on a long term basis they have asked that kitchen improvements be made. The present kitchen facility which is made of tin, has only 3 stoves, serves over 1300 students and three children's home. The need to improve the kitchen is extremely urgent.

In addition, Nairobi Health officials recently inspected the school as part of their annual checks. Because of the growing number of health problems in the slums, in particular the rise of cholera, they have also asked for improvements to the set up of the kitchen so as to improve basic hygiene.

At the start of this project Galilee needed to raise $27,808.00 to purchase the kitchen land and construct a new kitchen. More than $26,500.00 has been raised or pledged so far. We need your help to raise the remaining approximate $1051!