Michael G. Nicholas Foundation

The Orthodox Christian

Children’s Fund

Background History

• 1997 short-term mission to Uganda

• Library with no books

• Classes with one book per class

• Old broken chalk board and no chalk

• Students cannot pay even $25 tuition

• Families of orphans, many with HIV

• $10,000 donation to Met. JONAH

Background History

• 1999 short-term mission to Kenya

• Good public schools

• Many students cannot afford $300 tuition

• Education is way out of agrarian lifestyle

• Sponsor 15 students

• Form Private Foundation in 2000

• Sponsoring more students each year

Background History

• 1998, 2000, 2001 trips to Project Mexico

• St. Innocent orphanage for teen boys

• Boys would be selling drugs at border

• or worse

• Very well run organization

• Provide one full tuition in 2003 - $2000

Background History

• 2001 short-term mission to Cameroon

• Children selling peanuts, bananas, grubs

• Student digs/sells sand from back yard

• $2/day for hard work making concrete

• Sponsor 9 students in 2003

IOCC

• Large - $15 million

• Humanitarian – able to get USAID

• War relief

• Tsunami relief

• Cottage industries

• Micro-loans

OCMC

• Missionary

• Does not receive matching USAID

• Long-term missions, short-term missions

• Catechism

• Building Churches, Schools, Clinics

• Support A Mission Priest

• Agape Canister Program

Project Mexico

• Small well-run organization

• Home Building

• Orphanage

• Huge network of donors from work teams

• Focused only in Tijuana

Children’s Organizations

• Save the Children– Large, International– Child Sponsorships $28 / month

• Compassion International– Smaller, more Spiritual– Child Sponsorships $32 / month

• Holy Land Ecumenical Fund– Relief for Holy Land– Child Sponsorships in Palestine, $350 / year

The Need

• IOCC does humanitarian relief

• OCMC does missions

• Project Mexico focused on Tijuana

• Need a US Orthodox Child Sponsorship Program

Michael G. Nicholas Foundation

• Created in 2000

• Sponsoring 50 students in Kenya

• Sponsoring 9 students in Cameroon

• Has sponsored 1 student in Mexico

• 2nd zero-interest loan for Kenyan student to attend university in the US

• Still small, the need is much larger

Solution

• Expand Foundation to be public charity

• Create board of directors

• Solicit funds from Orthodox in Chicago

• Later expand across US

Sponsorship options

• $350 for full year sponsor in Africa

• $175 sponsor day scholar in Kenya

• $2000 Project Mexico Partner

• $7000 Lifetime endowed sponsorship

Thank You

• Michael G. Nicholas Foundation is already operating as a Private Foundation!

• Donations are tax-deductible to the extent of the law!