The Liger Charitable Foundation
Creating a Brighter Future by Realizing the Potential of a Promising Child
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Cambodia is a developing country in Southeast Asia. From 1975 to 1979, the Cambodian genocide resulted in the elimination of most of the educated class in order to create an agrarian socialist society. As a result, the country has struggled economically without human resources.
The country's infrastructures face a variety of social, political and economic challenges including poverty, lack of education and low human development. With 65% of Cambodia's population under 30 years old, the future of the country rests with its youth.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Liger Leadership Academy
Liger Leadership Academy educates promising youth of today to develop socially conscious, entrepreneurial leaders of tomorrow. We provide a residential scholarship program for economically disadvantaged students that combines a comprehensive, internationally competitive education with an innovative STEM and entrepreneurship curriculum. Liger believes a meaningful investment in the right few will change the lives of many.
Liger Leadership Academy is more than a school. In addition to the essential curriculum, we educate students in project, opportunity, and experiential-based learning. Liger’s innovative model has enabled our young leaders to excel beyond traditional subjects. Our students have become internationally published authors, app and digital currency developers, regionally recognized robotics engineers, and national award-winning filmmakers - all by the age of 15.
Liger’s extensive, nationwide recruitment process screens over 15,000 children. We select between 50 and 60 students who we believe have the greatest potential to become future change agents and leaders of Cambodia. Liger provides a full scholarship to all students including tuition, room and board, clothing, vaccinations, medical and dental care, health insurance, school supplies, and transportation. Liger’s graduates will be prepared for international university and Cambodian university as well as have the skill set and knowledge to start, develop or join a business.
In a country where many people live only for the present, we believe it is imperative to cultivate this new generation with the capacity and desire to lead Cambodia’s future social and economic development. Our team is committed to nurturing highly-skilled entrepreneurial thinkers who are globally-minded, determined, ethical, passionate, and effective. Liger students aren’t waiting for tomorrow; they are changing their country now.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students who perform at average or above on standardized testing
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Related Program
Liger Leadership Academy
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Student growth in 2016 was the addition of a second cohort of students.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Liger is committed to developing the future leaders of Cambodia and is addressing the universal need for better leaders who are creative and critical thinkers. There is a big need for leadership development especially with the younger generations in developing countries.
In general, the world tends to concentrate on the short term. However, Liger takes a long-term view on solving global problems by making a long-term investment to develop the future leaders of Cambodia who are committed to creating change in their country.
By prioritizing the education of children and preparing them for the real world, Liger's goal is to assist in the development of Cambodia by amplifying the human potential of its youth - molding well-rounded, educated and empathetic graduates who have the ability and commitment to transform their country. Every student is expected to change Cambodia.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Liger's innovative project based learning model enables young leaders to excel beyond traditional subjects; provides them frequent opportunities to solve complex, real-world problems; and equips them with the capacity to lead Cambodia's future social and economic development. 80% of the project-based learning courses focus on issues in Cambodia with the end result of the course often being action to improve existing issues in Cambodian society.
Liger does not have a standardized curriculum. Although it provides students with a core curriculum, learning experiences are tailored to each individual student with a focus on STEM, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
While traditional teaching methods provide instruction through a teacher-defined set of criteria and a set curriculum with standardized testing and results, the Liger model is focused learning the essential core subjects while also gaining real-world skills, thereby giving the students a more authentic and meaningful learning experience that can be used on campus and beyond.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The staff at Liger Leadership Academy are global experts in their respective fields. Our Country Director has been working in a range of sectors in Cambodia since 2006. He comes to Liger Leadership Academy with a strong background in entrepreneurship and non-profit leadership having founded two successful business in London as well as serving as the co-founder and trustee of a noted Cambodian children's charity.
Our Director of Education is an innovative, creative educator with nearly 40 years of experience as a teacher, principal, technology director, school director and designer of pioneering learning models. The teaching staff is rounded out by industry experts who bring their own expertise in a diverse array of subject areas.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
As part of their education Liger Leadership Academy, our students have authored books, starred in videos, written (and were awarded) international grants, planned summits and more. Many of our student projects or experiences had a lasting impact on Cambodia. Some of these successes are listed below.
Technovation
Technovation is a global competition that offers girls around the world the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to become tech entrepreneurs and leaders. Girls ages 10 to 18 learn to identify a problem in their community and create a mobile app solution to address that problem, and then learn how to communicate these ideas and translate them into a fully launched business.
In our first year of entering the competition, one Liger team made it to the global semi-finals, representing the Asian region. In subsequent years, our teams continued to present strong placement in regional and global semifinals. In 2017, the Cambodia Identity Product team, qualified for and presented at the World Pitch Summit in San Francisco. They were awarded a scholarship which will enable them to advance their STEM skills and knowledge in the future.
Cambodia Economy Reference Book
While researching a separate project, Liger students realized that there was limited information about the Cambodian economy, in particular for students and laypeople. Having identified this need, students acted on their own incentive and undertook the daunting task of creating a reference book from scratch.
Over the course of a year, a group of ten Liger students (aged 12 and 13) collaborated to produce a professional, yet readable, volume outlining detailed information covering the six primary sectors of the Cambodian economy. The students researched the book independently and were responsible for all supporting information, photographs, and infographics. Working with local facilitators and global digital mentors, the students then wrote and published the book in side-by-side English and Khmer (Cambodian) language.
The book was very well received. Not only is it carried in top-tier commercial bookstores in Cambodia, but the Minister of Education was so impressed that he both wrote the book's introduction personally and directed it to be distributed to approximately 500 Cambodian schools nationwide. Based on this success, and the ongoing evolution of the Cambodian economy, another group of Liger students is planning a Volume 2 for the school year 2018/2019.
Other success stories can be found at: http://www.ligeracademy.org/impact/success-stories/
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The Liger Charitable Foundation
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
Mr. Trevor Gile
No Affiliation.
Term: 2009 -
Trevor Gile
Martin Timmins
Bambi Betts
Monte Snider
Agnieszka Tynkiewicz-Gile
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No