Mission
One World Children’s Fund is a community of people committed to supporting children around the world who lack the most basic necessities.
We do this by empowering people who live in the US to champion grassroots organizations, here and abroad, that are building sustainable solutions to problems affecting local children and their caregivers.
Vision
We envision a world where all children have:
- Access to education and healthcare
- A safe environment with adequate food, shelter, clothing and opportunity
- Peace, prosperity and equality.
We envision a world where all people, as part of the global community, affect positive change, both locally and around the world.
Who We Are
One World believes that every individual living in the United States can make a difference to the well being of the world’s children through their actions—whether those children live around the corner or in a village across the globe.
Local communities are best suited to solve problems that affect children in their community. One World brings locals, grassroot groups, volunteers and donors together into a community that serves disadvantaged children and provide a structure for effective compassionate action.
In their travels, many American residents come across projects where local people or organizations have developed innovative ways to help children access the basic necessities in life. It could be a rural or slum school, a medical clinic serving the poor, an orphanage providing a home to street children, or a micro credit group of young mothers working to raise their families from poverty. These American travelers often have a burning desire to help these children but don't know how they could help the local organizations in terms of skills, training, information, or how to organize a large enough push to really make a difference.
That is where One World Children's Fund comes in.
What We Do
One World created the Champion Program to help American individuals serve vulnerable children by assisting any existing grassroot organizations for which the individual feels passionately. We help them fundraise, support and advocate for organizations located anywhere in the world.
By joining One World’s community of Champions they can learn skills and receive support that frees them from hundreds of hours of administrative detail. Each Champion can then support their project whole-heartedly, educating others about the needs of that project and raising the funds that are so needed to help it prosper and grow.
We do this by:
- Providing individuals the opportunity to become "Champions" or supporters of the project near and dear to their hearts after recommending that these organizations become a grantee of One World.
- Relieving the burden of creating a 501c3 or non-profit organization.
- Creating a vital community of support, education and best practices.
- Handling the administrative work, including due diligence, accounting and transferring of donations.
- Engaging in community development both in the United States and with the partners we support around the world.
How We Do It
Our Champion program is open to anyone located in the United States who has first-hand experience of a project affecting children, and who wants to provide support, but does not want to start their own 501c3 or non-profit organization.
We conduct extensive due diligence on the Champions behalf, requiring the organizations to have strong local leadership and direct involvement with the children and their caregivers who benefit from their work. They must also have the trust of the local community and demonstrate capable governing and management systems. Once a grassroots organization is accepted as a grantee by the Projects Committee and the Board of Directors of One World, the Champion acts as a volunteer of One World, fundraising and raising awareness for their project.
Champions are responsible for maintaining an on-going relationship with their project in a supportive role, as part of the due diligence required by One World. The personal connection between the Champion and the organization is one of mutual respect, with the knowledge that local people are most suited to solving their own problems when they have the appropriate resources.
Champion projects are targeted to be small, efficient and cost effective. Generally, they fall beneath the radar of the big philanthropic institutions. They have little or no bureaucracy, and the organization is composed of talented, dedicated people who have a proven track record of working in the communities they serve. One World partners with projects that are up and running, have transparent financials, and are concerned with a sustainable future.
Why Choose Us?
Our Champion program works. People who have never fundraised before, or never considered themselves philanthropists, have become Champions creating incredible results. As we speak, they are supplying resources to build schools, fund vaccination programs, feed, house and educate street kids, educate girls in rural villages, and to get at-risk teens into vocational training.
Our Champion program provides:
- Online community to share resources
- Training on fundraising, metrics, cultural sensitivity, and more
- One-on-one support
- Donor stewardship and communication
- Fiscal administrative support
- Awareness building and promotion
- Fundraising opportunities
- Best practice and resource sharing
- Name recognition and public accountability
- Consistent monitoring and evaluation of projects
- Goal setting and team building
We manage our costs:
- All the Champions and the Board of Directors are unpaid volunteers.
- All their expenses incurred in traveling to and from the projects are paid by the travelers themselves, not from One World funds.
- All fundraising and administrative expenses are paid by donations from the Board and a small group of donors who contribute specifically for that purpose.
- All funds raised by the Champions go to project expenses because there are no fees to be a part of the One World community.
- The economy of how we do business means that your donations are optimally used to support well run grassroots projects.
We get results:
- In 2006-7, we fed 1,200 orphans attending rural schools in South Africa for $18,000 for the whole year. That’s four cents per meal— often the only meal a child would get that day.
- Through People First Educational Charitable Trust in Bodh Gaya, India, One World supports three dalit (untouchable) village schools for $5,000 a year each. That comes to forty dollars per student for a full years education. Some of these kids have gone on to college, even graduate school. Some have returned to their villages and are teaching in the very school they once attended.
How You Can Help
As word spreads we intend to expand our capacity to meet the need we can effectively and responsibly accommodate. Contributions to help our organization grow are greatly appreciated.
