The Cambodia Academy at Mongkol Borei

We are a a501c3 charity supported by Rotary clubs around the world and individual donors.

Our mission is to provide education and hope to Cambodia's poorest children.

We were founded in 2004 and are dependent on donations from individual supoporters and Rotary clubs to fund our operation.

We provide Khmer and English-based education for 300+ boys and girls in grades 1-9; uniforms, meals, bus service, an art program, senior field trips, plus vision and dental programs.

We are located in the rural community of Mongkol Borei, in northwestern Cambodia.

We support a total faculty and administration of 30, comprised of a principal, vice principal, bus driver, kitchen volunteers, and 22 faculty members.

Our board of directors is comprised of seven volunteers who support the school financially as well as by active involvement in fundraising, donor relations, administration, IT and web, campus operations, and other outreach activities

Based on our experience, we've seen a lot of NGOs build schools in Cambodia. However, once the build is complete, those schools sometimes close or have trouble operating since there was inadequate focus on what comes next: the funding of continued operations.

We strongly emphasize continuing operations. We have been functioning since 2004, staying tightly focused on our primary mission of providing a stable environment for a Khmer and English-based education in grades 1-9. Our approach of asking donors to fully fund a student's educational expenses--tuition, uniforms, food and transportation--removes the financial burden from the parents, who can often not afford even the nominal costs associated with sending their children to a public school, if one is even feasibly located within walking or bicycling distance to their farm or village.

The volunteer board is active in assisting the local Cambodian faculty with student/donor management, facilities issues, and general operational issues that need attention. This has resulted in a situation where our faculty is stable and motivated, and our students are happy and test highly on government exams. Moreover, with our nutrition program providing free breakfasts and lunches, our students are anecdotally known as the healthiest in the province. We are well-regarded by provincial authorities and we operate in a very stable environment.

The board meets monthly by phone and once per year in Cambodia for an annual board meeting that coincides with our school year kick off event. Additionally, board members are on campus several times throughout the year. Our donor outreach and fundraising focus on Rotary clubs and individual donors has delivered a strong financial foundation that we continue to strengthen.

While the need in our rural area far exceeds our capacity, we have no plans to expand beyond our capabilities until it is financially feasible to do so. We are at our limit of approximately 300 students. As incremental funds become available, we offer additional enrichment programs, including vision and dental events; an arts program; and study tours for the older students.

Our capabilities are in line with our current operational plan and funding levels.

Our seven-member volunteer board is divided into functional subcommittees that handle tasks such as finance/legal/insurance; database management; IT support; website and branding; student/donor interactions; campus maintenance; faculty liaison; and other functions.

Critical functions have a primary owner and a backup owner. The directors anticipate that a volunteer board will have a certain amount of turnover, and we have accommodated for that to minimize any disruptions. In addition, we have a number of supporters who assist the board with a variety of tasks including administrative issues and student roster management.

We are currently implementing a donor management system to automate some functions, and are creating formal processes to ensure that the school faculty is performing required reporting and other tasks. We have also instituted a direct deposit program for all teachers to that their salaries are automatically funded each month.

Whether through software or the adoption of formalized processes, we continue to explore ways to improve the management of student information, donor relationships, and administrative tasks.

Since 2004, we've provided, at the very core, the space for thousands of poor, rural Cambodian children to have a childhood. Along this journey, we've delivered a rigorous Khmer and English-based education and provided nutrition, vision and dental programs.

As our organization has developed, we are looking to the future and are exploring how we can increase our impact in a developing country where the need is still great. Of course, what's next is dependent on our ability to raise appropriate funding. We see five main areas of future expansion depending on our ability to maintain and expand our base of supporters and ongoing flow of donations.

1. Replicating the success of the Mongkol Borei campus by building and operating another campus for up to 300 children in grades 1-9 in another impoverished area of the country such as the area south of Siem Reap around Kampong Kdei.

2. Continuing to expand ancillary educational programs for our current students. Specific examples are computer literacy and information technology; arts, music and dance; and advanced English language instruction.

3. Formalization of student tracking and alumni management. This is likely the biggest challenge we are facing now and are looking at way to improve this in the near-term. We have a great deal of anecdotal information about our students' successes, but we want to formalize our systems and processes to ensure that we know what happens to our students once they leave campus. We envision a Cambodian educator/administrator working directly for the charity who could direct this critical program.

4. University scholarships. Related closely to #3, his program is currently in the development stage and is seeking endowments. We are designing a program to keep in touch with students as they attend grades 10-12 at local high schools and then providing university funding for those who want to attend.

5. Creating closer and more formal referral and operating relationships with other NGOs, governmental departments, and employers in and around northwest Cambodia. We are growing in our impact, but we believe that if we work with other organizations, these relationships can be a "force multiplier", giving us the ability to ensure student success once they've left campus. Again related to #3, we envision a program where an organizational administrator assists students with vocational placements and then tracks their success.

We are proud of what we have accomplished over the past 15 years, and we recognize that our vision for the future currently outpaces our available funding. That said, we are determined to seek additional financial backing that would make these additional programs possible.