You are entrusting us with your hard-earned time and money, and we think that is a pretty big deal.  Since there are over 1,500,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States helping millions of kids all over the world, we can’t help but be a tiny bit thrilled that you chose to love on these ones, whom you have never met, in a small city of a country you have probably never been to.  We are going to smother this tiny corner of the world with as much love and opportunity as it can handle.  Although it might be hard to really internalize it from 1963 miles away, you are truly making a difference in these kids lives.  Muchas gracias.

So since these are your resources, we want to be crystal clear about how they will be used.  The jist of it is below, and as always, please contact us with further questions or concerns.

 

Donations

You never have to wonder how much of your donations are actually going to benefit these kids, because it all does.  Every dime.  Think of us as a marathoner - we like to stay lean so we can get to where we want to go the fastest.  Please reference the chart below for further information (Figure 1).    

Figure 1. Donation Destinations

We want you to know that your donations are being invested with maximal impact, so all management and overhead costs are paid by the board members of the organization.  In the future, we would love to grow to the point that we would have to change this policy, but that is something we would discuss with our partners (ie. you) at that time.

So what do we actually spend money on?  Our initial goals are to keep El Buen Samaritano open 5 days a week and to meet the basic needs of the kids.  The center’s needs range from food, to teaching/learning supplies, to utility bills.  We would like to supply the kids with everything they need to attend school and as well as daily meals.  We have future dreams of funding college education and creating sustainable employment opportunities, but these ideas are still being developed and fund-raised.   

 We are also leaving a legacy to the next generation and preparing for future projects by investing 5% of all sustaining monthly donations in the Palms and Souls endowment fund (see “Endowment” under the Finances tab).  This allocation is our standard procedure, but we will happily increase or decrease that amount for your donation if requested.  If you would like your gift restricted for another purpose, please contact us so we can discuss how to make that happen.

 

Receipts

We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.  We send out receipts soon after the end of the year, but would be happy to provide you with one sooner if requested.