Read the first blog post from PoP Fellow Hoolie Tejwani, as he joins our team on the ground in Laos:

“I’m in a rural village 9,000 miles from home, accessible only by muddy, unsealed roads. The electricity is sporadic and there is one phone for every hundred people. Yet, I feel connected…”

5 years ago I started backpacking across the globe, and the seeds for what would one day become Pencils of Promise were sown. They came in the form of questions, most specifically What do you want most?

(From Adam, currently in Nicaragua working on our next partnership)
PoP was founded in October of 2008, with the simple ambition of finding a way to build just a single school. That was it. I was about to turn 25 years old, so I put $25 into a new PoP bank account and we were off. The goal was to throw two small fundraisers with my closest friends in NYC, and turn that multitude of small donations into a school for a community of tremendous need. So one year later, where …

Universal education isn’t exactly universal. India, while enjoying one of the best performing economy in recent years, has extremely literacy rate. More than 35 per cent of Indians are illiterate, and more than 50 per cent of its female population cannot read. The problems begin in childhood. Half of Indian children do not go to school, and more than half of those who do drop out at the age of 11 or 12.
That’s why the new Indian parliament bill, which demands universal, free and compulsory education for all children aged …

Former President Clinton recently remarked that a greater focus needs to be put on philanthropy directed toward rural areas, describing the philanthropic activity in the rural parts of this country has been “woefully inadequate.”
One of the issues he addressed was that there is not enough option for philanthropists when considering charity for rural parts of the country. He wanted new ideas and innovative solutions – such as environmental initiatives that could help encourage job growth in rural states (think investment in solar power). Another key point Clinton stressed was the lack …

Anyone scouring the headlines these days has come to expect the usual messages of doom and gloom.  It’s particularly refreshing, therefore, to find some editorials articulating somewhat more hopeful messages, especially on the topic of education.
Editorials from newspapers on the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum sprang up last week, in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, both addressing the education crisis in our country with guarded optimism.  In one corner, The Gray Lady’s own David Brooks touts Obama’s stimulus spending on community colleges as an appropriate …

South Korea’s president, Lee Myung Bak, has pledged to donate $26 million of his personal fortune to a scholarship fund benefiting the poor. The president has lived the “rags to riches” dream, starting as a poor rural boy, rising to the top of the conglomerate world with Hyundai, and to becoming president of South Korea. The $26 million, which comprises of the majority of his wealth accumulated while at Hyundai, will go towards scholarships for needy children.

South Korea’s economy was blessed as it rose from being a destitute country to …

Echoing a 2006 article by Slate, the future of philanthropy is coming to pass as a form of “venture philanthropy”. We even have the same familiar faces that drive the business world appearing on the non profit scene. Consultants, marketing specialists, etc. abound in start up organizations like PoP and other likeminded nonprofits.
Just got back from Building A Movement in An Interconnected World featuring the global philanthropist Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty.
The talk …

Kobe Bryant won his fourth NBA title this year and silenced those who questioned his status of being the best player in the league. But a fourth championship doesn’t seem to be enough for this man as he sets his sights on something new – global education.
He recently established the Kobe Bryant China Fund, which partners with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation to support education and health programs in China. The Soong Ching Ling Foundation is a government-backed charity and is evidence of the Chinese government’s growing interest in developing …

It it always exciting and inspiring when public figures stand up for a cause they believe in, and make a meaningful contribution to charities supporting the cause. Earily this month, our beloved Stephen Colbert filmed four episodes of The Colbert Report from Baghdad in support of DonorsChoose.org, an internet community that connects individual donors nationwide to classrooms in need.
The website, founded by former social studies teacher Charles Best from the Bronx, supports education by giving individuals the option to fund educational projects that teachers across the country have posted online.
This …