Search Results for: saturday program

• Is sponsorship tax deductible?
  • Yes, your sponsorship is a donation and is tax deductible, same as all other donations you choose to make. Friends of Ngong Road is a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code.

• Will I receive a bill or reminder?
  • Most sponsorships are set up on an automatic plan (monthly or annually). If you prefer to pay annually through a Donor Advised Fund, Required Minimum Distribution, check, or another method please contact staff@ngongroad.org and we will set up an annual reminder through email.  

• Could I get a team of people to do a fundraiser and know where the funds are going? For example, new equipment, or books for the library?
  • Yes! If you would like to help raise money for Friends of Ngong Road, contact staff@ngongroad.org to help get you started.

• Can I use my Donor Advised Fund to pay for my sponsorship?
  • You can recommend a grant from your Donor-Advised Fund. More information at https://ngongroad.org/give-through-stock-daf-ira-or-rmd/

• My company offers a match for donations, where can I get the information I need to initiate a match?
  • You can find the information at https://ngongroad.org/give-through-stock-daf-ira-or-rmd/

• How does Friends of Ngong Road use my personal and financial information?
  • Friends of Ngong Road maintains the confidentiality of our donors. We do not share or sell information about our donors. We do not publish your name without your consent. We sometimes feature sponsor stories in our newsletter with your consent.

• How are funds distributed – who spends the money?
  • All our financial information is publicly available. Please feel free to review our annual 990, Annual Report, and audited financial statements – all available here. 

• Do funds go to the student’s families?
  • No. We pay for education and programs but do not provide funds directly to the student or family. We do, however, provide emergency food aid, emergency medical care, and holiday care packages for families.

• How much money goes to the cause vs. fixed expenses, and how does this compare to the average non-profit?
  • You can view our financial statements, audited financials, and annual reports here, and you can view our profiles on sites like Guidestar and Charity Navigator to see how we compare to others. 

• Are there other ways to help besides sponsorship?
  Absolutely!
  • If 10-12 years of sponsorship isn’t the right fit for your life, but you want a monthly donation to go directly to students’ education, you can still make a smaller monthly donation or one-time gift to our Scholarship Fund which allows you to have a direct impact on students by paying for the education fees of those who don’t have sponsors. 
    Sponsorship contributions cover almost 40% of our annual operating costs. Additional funds are needed to help cover student support costs:
  • Safety and Wellness programs    
  • Elimu Hub Computer Lab & Library
  • Saturday Programs
  • Case Management

You can donate to support these programs through our general fund at https://ngongroad.org/donate/

School

Term	Description
Primary	Elementary school grade levels 1-6
Primary Boarding	Live-in elementary school grade levels 1-6
Junior Secondary	Middle school grade levels 7-9
Senior Secondary	High school grade levels 10-12 at boarding school
Secondary	High school grade levels 9-12 at boarding school
Post-Secondary (PS)	Schooling after Secondary; anything from a trade college to a university
School Marks	Grade scores
Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC)	The name of the changes to schooling in Kenya from a test/memory-based curriculum to more analytical, critical thinking, as well as practical skills
KCPE or KCSE	Kenya Certificate for Primary Education or Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education this is the final exam for 8th graders and 12th graders which determines which high schools and post-secondary schools they will be allowed to join. Similar to the ACT, SAT, and MAP tests in the US.
KPSEA	Kenya Primary School Educational Assessment for grade 6 which assesses students’ ability at the primary level
Form 1, 2, 3, 4	Form 1 (Freshman year), Form 2 (Sophomore year), Form 3 (Junior year), Form 4 (Senior year) of high school
Attachment	The equivalent of a work-study program in the US that is required for a students diploma in certain programs
Internship	The equivalent of a college/university internship in the USA that is required for a students diploma in certain programs

Kenya/Swahili

Term	Description
Dagoretti	The slum where most of our students live. There are districts or neighborhoods within the slum that have additional names which the students and case managers use to give more accurate directions. The population of the entire Dagoretti slum is about 240,000.
Slum	A squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people. A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. Often those living in the slums do not have access to running water, clean water, electricity, consistent food, or medical care
Ngong Road	One of the major roads in Nairobi which links the city and a neighboring county (Kajiado-Maasai land) and has a number of slums adjacent to it including Kibera and Dagoretti. All of our students live off Ngong road where NRCF is located. It is named after the Ngong Hills which are located behind the road. Ngong means “knuckles” in Swahili and the Ngong Hills look like knuckles
Ugali	A cornmeal and water mixture that Kenyans use as their primary staple food. They take a chunk of it with their hands and mix it with the other items on their plates. Similar to the role of bread in the US, pasta in Italy, and rice in Asia
Shilling	Currency of Kenya
Wet season/dry season	Since Kenya is close to the equator, they only have two seasons. The ‘long rains’ season is March to May, the ‘short rains’ season is October to December, and the rest of the year is dry and sunny
Maasai	The Maasai are an ethnic group and tribe in Kenya. They are among the best-known local populations internationally due to their residence near the many game parks such as the Masai Mara National Park in Kenya
Upcountry	Regions outside the City of Nairobi and away from the Coast. mostly considered rural areas where economic activities are mainly farming and there are few towns and people
Karibu	Means ‘welcome’ in Swahili
Jambo	Means ‘hello’ in Swahili
Asante Sana	Means ‘thank you’ in Swahili

Ngong Road

Term	Description
FONR	Friends of Ngong Road is our organization based in the USA, we raise money for the students enrolled in our program in Kenya
NRCF	Ngong Road Children Foundation is the name of our program in Kenya
KLL	Karibu Loo Limited is a portable toilet business started in Kenya that hires out portable toilets and the profits from the business go back into paying for programming. It also hires our students to give them employment experience
Elimu Hub	“Elimu” means “education” in Swahili, and “Hub” is the center of learning activities and resources on our NRCF campus. Elimu Hub houses our computer lab and library.
Saturday Program	A weekly child development program held in a field near our campus where our students participate in fun activities, including sports, games, and clubs such as taekwondo and music. Our students eat lunch and have access to a nurse at the program as well
Camp	Is a chance for our students to spend time out of the slums in a healthy, stimulating environment focused on learning and fun. Camp is described as the students’ favorite activity. Camp is used as a reward for students and they need to meet specific requirements in order to go camping. There are different types of camps for different ages of students ranging from little kids camp for grades 2-4, Grammar Camp for grades 5-8, Senior camp for grades 9-12, Career Camp for post-secondary students, and Alumni camp for graduates.

Sponsorship

Term	Description
Portal	The online platform that sponsors and students use to write and send videos to each other

• Why should I sponsor a child in Kenya when so many children in the US could use support?
  Poverty is a global issue and sponsoring a child in need from any country is a worthy cause and personal decision. 
  Here are some things about FoNR to consider:
  
  • When you sponsor a child in Africa, you help an entire family out of poverty. With financial support and personal encouragement, students have the opportunity to transform not only their life but the lives of an entire family. 
  • FoNR focuses on children living in the slums of Nairobi – we are providing what may be the only opportunity for these children to pull themselves and potentially their families out of poverty, and find a job in the formal economy. 
  • FoNR is tightly run. We have a minimal staff in the US and a volunteer Board of Directors, which keeps overhead costs to a minimum, so your gift goes a long way in Kenya.
  • Friends of Ngong Road’s all-in cost to support each child for one year is about $200/month while the sponsorship is only $100/month. Our additional fundraising efforts throughout the year help us raise the additional $100/month per student required for holistic support. 

• What are the results of your program on the students’ lives?
  At FoNR there are tangible results that make our organization stand out amongst other non-profit organizations:
  • 93% of our students complete primary school compared to the Kenya average of 77%
  • 86% complete secondary school compared to 42% in Kenya (83% in the US)
  • 84% of students who start a post-secondary program graduate
  • 96% Of our students who completed a post-secondary program are either employed or in internship that we believed will lead to employment. This compares 62.6% employment in Kenya and an estimated only 13.35% employment for young people in Kenya.
    
• What makes FoNR different from other nonprofits?
  FoNR is different from other charitable organizations because you get to connect one-on-one with your student and know specifically who your donation is helping. You get to be a part of your student’s life and educational journey as well as have the opportunity to meet them in Kenya if you wish.

• What are the primary reasons you have such great results? 
  • We partnered with experts such as Dr. Isabela Stefla from Tulane University to understand the answer to this question more deeply. She conducted interviews with approximately 50 students and members of staff in Kenya. She identified some of the key aspects of our success:
    • This program surrounds students with a community that both keeps them accountable and provides the necessary support.
    • This program provides support above and beyond school fees. For example, when children are hungry, they don’t do well in school, so we feed them. They are also enrolled in numerous age-appropriate social and personal development programs. You can read more here: https://ngongroad.org/program/
    •  We teach them life skills to develop self-awareness, an understanding of the careers available, and solid interviewing skills. 

• How are children chosen to be in the program?
  • The students in our program need to meet certain requirements. They are chosen through a selection process, including test scores, recommendations, and in-home visits. More information at https://ngongroad.org/program/admission-criteria/

• Will I be this child’s only sponsor?
  • Yes. A student you sponsor will only be matched with you (and your family). Once you are matched with a student, their profile will no longer be visible on the website.
    
• How will I know if I’m helping this child?
  • One of our highest priorities is to facilitate a relationship between sponsor and student. Through our Sponsor/Student portal, you will receive assessments from our local case managers, school grades, and letters from your student. You can send quick notes back to the student and even record and receive brief videos. Communicating with each other is a wonderful way to get to know your student, hear how they are doing, and provide ongoing encouragement.  
     
• How long does my sponsorship last?
  • We recruit students to the program at about age 10, and they are in school for 10-12 years. We ask that, if you are able, you continue with them through the entire process. That said, we understand circumstances can change, and if you need to stop your sponsorship, we will do our best to identify a new sponsor for them. 
  • The child stays in the program regardless of their sponsorship status. Fortunately, most sponsors choose to remain in the program with their students until graduation; the length of that time depends on the student’s grade when the sponsorship relationship begins. When a student is finished with the program, we encourage sponsors to help transform another student’s life. 
  • If you feel 10-12 years of sponsorship is not something you can commit to, you can still make a monthly donation to our Scholarship Fund which allows donors to have a direct impact on students by paying for the education fees of students who don’t have sponsors. 
    
• How can I involve my family in sponsorship?
  • We encourage the whole family to be involved in the student’s progress. Each member of the family is encouraged to write (or send a video) to the student. Note, we do not split sponsorship fees, or have multiple logins to the portal, so family members will need to share portal access.
  • Sponsorship is also a great way to give the gift of education to a younger family member. Often parents or grandparents will pay for the sponsorship of a student and have their child correspond with the sponsored student. This is an excellent way to engage the next generation of givers and form an understanding of the global community. 
    
• Does FoNR own or manage the schools?
  • FoNR does not own or manage the school; we partner with schools that have a demonstrated track record of academic success. In high school, students are assigned to specific single-gender boarding schools by the government based on their performance in exams. Read more here: https://ngongroad.org/program/education/ 

• Are there other ways to help besides sponsorship?
  Absolutely!
  • If 10-12 years of sponsorship isn’t the right fit for your life, but you want a monthly donation to go directly to students’ education, you can still make a smaller monthly donation or one-time gift to our Scholarship Fund which allows you to have a direct impact on students by paying for the education fees of those who don’t have sponsors. 
  • Sponsorship contributions cover almost 40% of our annual operating costs but additional funds are needed to help cover student support costs:
  • Safety and Wellness programs    
  • Elimu Hub Computer Lab & Library
  • Saturday Programs
  • Case Management