buildOn Achieves 4 Stars from Charity Navigator for 8th Year

We are incredibly honored to be a part of the one percent of charities rated on Charity Navigator that have received a prestigious four star rating for the eighth year in a row. Our nonprofit received this high ranking from the industry’s authority in rating nonprofits’ financial health for “sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency,” according to a letter we received from Ken Berger, Charity Navigator’s President and Chief Executive Officer. In a nutshell, this rating indicates that we outperform most charities in the United States.

buildOn keeps administrative overhead low thanks to in-kind donations.

buildOn is able to keep administrative costs low due to donated goods and services. We budget for an extremely low administration rate; we try to keep overhead between three to five percent. That’s savvy considering several nonprofits run a eight to 17 percent overhead rate.  Last year we received 1.3 million dollars of in-kind support. That includes our legal counsel from law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, and donated tickets to Malawi from British Airways for our students who go on their on “trek” to build schools. All of our regions, excluding New York, are housed in GE facilities; so we have the advantage of saving on rent, printing, phones and IT support. Our New York staff works out of office space provided by the schools where they work.

Charity Navigator looks at many factors when it grade charities annually. The criteria they evaluate us on are based on our Internal Revenue Service 990 tax return; they evaluate if we’re fiscally responsible. We owe a lot of our transparency to the culture of our workforce, according to  Suzanne Forbes, buildOn’s Vice President of Finance. “I look, and Jim (Ziolkowski, buildOn’s President and CEO) looks, at every dollar that’s spent to see if it’s spent wisely,” Forbes said.

Rosann Jager, buildOn’s Director of Trek Programs, said her team in financially disciplined when taking students abroad to build schools. They look for the best rates for flights and budget wisely. “For an entire week we spent between $1000 to $1200 on food, transportation and lodging for a team of 18 people, and that’s including a few nice dinners.” What makes buildOn unique from other immersion trips offered to youth is the students stay with host families, not in hotels.

Forbes credits Ziolkowski’s financial acumen to his time working at GE Capital’s Financial Management Program before founding buildOn. Our financials are presented to our board every quarter.  In addition, Forbes, Ziolkowski and Marc Friedman, buildOn’s Chief Operating Officer, put together a financial dashboard with a revenue forecast and cash flow that gets reviewed by our board’s head of the finance committee every month. “There is tremendous transparency,” she said.

If you are a donor to buildOn and have worked with us, visit our profile on Charity Navigator and write a review about us today to inform other donors about how we do business.

A Mother’s Day Card That Funds Schools in Developing Countries

Sincerly Ink Partners With buildOn Making Cards With a Cause

Tell your mom you love her this Mother’s Day and help fund schools for children in need at the same time. A mobile app, Sincerely Ink, makes it possible. You can save your postage and send your mom a personalized card right from your smartphone.

Each Sincerely Ink card for buildOn is $10, and that money goes directly to school construction projects in Malawi, Mali, Haiti, Nepal and Nicaragua. The app is part of Sincerely’s philanthropic program, Sincerley Giving, which drives awareness to organizations such as buildOn through its exclusive digital card collection.

“Sincerely’s work with great organizations, like buildOn in the Sincerely Giving program, gets at the true core of giving,” said Matt Brezina, CEO of Sincerely. “It’s incredibly exciting to know that customers can send a card while supporting a favorite cause and changing lives, straight from a mobile phone.”

Other Sincerely Ink designs include High School Graduation and Inspirational cards. The purchase of these cards funds other buildOn programs, including afterschool service programs in struggling high schools across the U.S.

We’re proud to be working with such an innovative company. Remember your mom on Mother’s Day and send her a card using the Sincerely Ink app.

Tina Charles’ Slam Dunk: Building a School in Mali

Basketball player Tina Charles is many things: a member of the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, center for Connecticut Sun, 2010 WNBA Rookie of the Year. Now, thanks to her $32,0000 donation to construct a school in Mali with buildOn, she can add Sports Ambassador for OmniPeace, a humanitarian fashion brand that partners with us.

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

“At some point, I always wanted to give back,” Charles said in a press release. She became interested in partnering with OmniPeace while she was a sophomore at UConn. “Once I was financially stable when I got to the pros, I decided I wanted to link up with OmniPeace and Mary Fanaro, who is the founder of OmniPeace.To build a school in Africa costs thirty-two thousand dollars. I have it, and I was able to supply it to the kids in Africa, and just try to do my part to help end poverty and help them have a brighter future.”

Just yesterday, Charles shared this Instagram photo of students in Mali on her Twitter account with the caption, “the most amazing feeling I feel _ words can’t describe the feeling for real; my greatest creation was you.”

Charles’s school will accommodate up to 150 children in Ganale, a village in the Sikasso region of Mali. The land-locked country in Western Africa recently faced a military coup that attracted international attention, but buildOn’s staff reported there wasn’t violence or unrest in the Sikasso region, and the team only stopped construction on Charles’ school for two days. So far, buildOn has constructed 178 schools in Mali.

“We are honored to have Tina as a partner and are very inspired by her generosity and commitment to education,” said Jim Ziolkowski, Founder and CEO of buildOn. “Before Tina funded the school in the village of Ganale, students were learning in two temporary mud huts, with very little light and no ventilation. The new school is built to last 100 years which means it will provide education for generations of children, parents and grandparents.”

Watch Charles talk about her commitment to education on Connecticut Sun Media Day (at the 30 second mark) here.

buildOn Partners with Madonna to Construct
Ten Schools in Malawi!

We’re very excited to announce that buildOn is partnering with entertainment icon Madonna and her nonprofit Raising Malawi to construct ten new primary schools in the country of Malawi! Their contribution will allow us to expand on our success in that African nation’s remote villages, where we’ve already built over 50 schools that are helping individuals take the first steps out of extreme poverty every day.

Read more about this partnership in the official press release.

buildOn’s global school construction program is founded upon a core methodology produced from years of research. Our methodology’s true power resides in the fact that buildOn classrooms are constructed in partnership with the very people who will be benefiting from them. buildOn provides the funding, engineering, materials, skilled labor and supervision. The village provides a gender balanced leadership team, thousands of hours of unskilled volunteer labor and a promise that girls will attend the school in equal numbers with boys. After the school is completed, Malawi’s Ministry of Education will provide the teachers and run the curriculum in the classroom.

Read more about our methodology.

Madonna feels passionately about her vow to help Malawi’s neediest children receive an education. “This remains a very big priority in my life and I am excited that with the help of buildOn we can maintain our ongoing commitment to move forward efficiently. We now will be able to serve twice as many children as we would have served with our old approach,” said Madonna. “I have learned a great deal over the last few years and feel confident that we can reach our goals to educate children in Malawi, especially young girls, in a much more practical way. Constructing smaller schools in partnership with buildOn has restored my faith that we can accomplish what we promised we would,” concluded Madonna.

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Service Round-up: Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

Fun Day in Oakland with Refugee Children

In San Francisco and Oakland, students dismantled recycled computers. Others worked at Land’s End Park, gardening and landscaping. Students also put on a “fun day” for refugee youth at a local shelter. Still others joined the 14th annual MLK celebration in the East Bay and contributed to an “I Have A Dream…” mural!

In Chicago, students made a mosaic portrait of Dr. King out of dominoes. They also made “origami cranes for peace”. Still others beautified a YMCA on Chicago’s west side – where MLK once lived – with the help of Mayor Rahm Emanuel!

In Detroit, students joined thousands in celebration at Union Station before volunteering with seniors in honor of Dr. King’s memory. Others participated in a “poverty simulation” to raise awareness for those living below the poverty line!

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Stella and Dot Partners with buildOn to Spread Love to 10,000 Little Girls this Holiday Season!

Stella & Dot, a global fashion accessories brand and rapidly growing social selling company, has partnered with buildOn to donate 10,000 gifts to girls in need this holiday season. In order to reach this goal, Stella & Dot is launching the “Spread the Love: Buy One, Gift One” program that provides a gift from their girls’ line to underprivileged youth with the purchase of select jewelry styles. Gifts will be distributed to girls around the world through buildOn’s extensive volunteer network.

Stella & Dot previously has donated to buildOn through the sale of their 2011 Mother’s Day bracelets. A group of stylists from Stella & Dot traveled to Nicaragua to help construct a buildOn school later in the year.

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WeTopia Launches!: Support buildOn with a Facebook Game!

We’re proud to announce that buildOn has partnered with the new social gaming company SoJo Studios to bring you a Facebook app that lets you complete international outreach from your PC. WeTopia, as it’s called, elevates the fun of game play with friends and family into the joy of helping children around the world.

So how does it work? First, you sign up from Facebook here. Then each player gets to build their own WeTopia world, a children’s utopian village. This includes building houses, shops, and buildings, decorating with flowers, trees, fountains, and pets, and increasing population. By inviting Facebook friends to be “neighbors,” players can venture in to other players’ worlds.

Players reach new levels through different opportunities in the game where they accrue “Goodwill,” “Experience,” “Energy” or “Joy,” that unlock new goods, structures, and decorations that can be used in the game. A charitable aspect underlines the entire game; players have the opportunity to choose what projects Sojo and partners will support.

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buildOn Dinner in Seattle Raises Enough for Two Schools in Haiti!

Kathleen Atkins, buildOn’s Director of Events & External Affairs, reports from the Dinner Event in Seattle, WA!

On Wednesday, October 26, about 85 people gathered at the Palace Ballroom in Seattle for a night of dinner, drinks, a silent auction and an appeal. Auction highlights included David Letterman tickets, a San Diego Getaway, a 4-hour interior design consultation, British Airways Club Class Tickets, and selection of Haitian crafts.

The evening was organized by Seattle Chapter Director and buildOn board member Randi Hedin to raise funds for schools in Haiti. The guests were treated to a Haitian-inspired dinner, while Skyler Badenoch, Director of Development on the east coast, recounted his first-hand experiences of living through the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Skyler and the buildOn staff were among the first to respond in the aftermath. He shared some of his journal entries, which were paired photos he had taken there. He witnessed unimaginable suffering and hardship, but also first-hand experiences of Haitians who stepped up and inspired him with their heroism and courage. “More than anything,” he says, “I’ll remember the tireless effort of the buildOn Haiti staff to provide care to those who passed through our lives.”

Skyler went on to talk about how great the need for education in Haiti is, with 50% of the population illiterate. buildOn has taken strides and has completed 12 schools in Haiti since the earthquake and will complete another 4 by the end of the year. It is with groups like the Seattle chapter, that buildOn is able to continue the efforts in Haiti and build another 2 schools with nearly $73,000 the dinner raised!

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buildOn Students Sound Off at NBC’s Education Nation

On Tuesday, September 28th, buildOn students Ron Daldine and Rayia Gaddy participated in NBC’s Education Nation panel, “Voices of a Generation”. The panel was moderated by buildOn supporter and honorary board member Ann Curry. Click on the picture above to play a video of the discussion, which focused on the student experience in American high schools, and how certain persisting issues might be addressed.

The entire Education Nation summit was an amazing event where leaders from all over the country spoke about the dire issues facing education in America today, but as we all know, the most important voices in this conversation are those of students. We applaud NBC’s decision to let the students themselves speak about their relationships with teachers and their career aspirations, and we thank them for inviting buildOn to participate.

Also, read about Ron and Rayia’s experience at this year’s National Conference on Volunteering and Service.

buildOn Alum Gina Caputo Defends International Student Service in the Wall Street Journal

Responding to a savage attack on high schoolers who complete service abroad that was published in the Wall Street Journal, a former buildOn student from Connecticut defends her generation’s desire to give back. Read the entirety of Gina Caputo’s very moving letter to the editor below. We’re proud that Caputo’s experiences in Mali instilled within her the passion to articulate the worth of our programs so eloquently.

An Urban Student from the US Helps Builds a School in Mali

Caitlin Flanagan’s vicious generalization of students doing service and volunteer work overseas merely to bolster their résumés (“The Do-Good Zeal of the College Bound,” Review, July 16) is hurtful and misses the point.

Last summer, I worked with 14 students to build a school in a village in Mali called N’tiola—in-CHO-la, which is hardly “unpronounceable.” We went through the organization buildOn, which covered all expenses except clothing and vaccines. We were selected for our commitment to service; we earned our way through our participation in buildOn’s volunteer service projects. My group came from diverse socioeconomic strata, from the inner-city to more well-off areas. We worked alongside villagers for two weeks in the scorching sun.
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