Mona Foundation
Educate. Empower. Transform.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
While in the past several decades we have made progress, poverty still impacts 80% of our world population. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world," and one of the most critical investments we can make. Education is the key to reducing poverty, eliminating gender inequality, and creating a sustainable planet. In 2021, 813 million people will live on less than $1.90/day, 1.8 billion on less than $3.20/day, and 3.3 billion on less than $5.50/day. Our mission is to change that. Mona Foundation is a global community of individuals & organizations who believe that the key to alleviating poverty & achieving sustained community transformation lies in universal education and gender equality. We partner with local organizations to address the root causes of poverty by focusing on education and gender equality and promoting character training and service as a way of life for the "betterment of the world."
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
In 2022, Mona supported 26 partners in 15 countries. Below are examples
BADI SCHOOL, PANAMA
See https://vimeo.com/375360483
Badi School started in 1993 as a kindergarten in the carport of a trailer home and has since grown into a K-12 school serving over 400 students, 57% of whom are girls. The school is widely acknowledged as one of the best in South and Central America and recognized for excellence in its academics, arts, music and technology programs. Its graduates receive full scholarships to the finest universities in Panama.
PROGRAMS:
K-12 Education, nationally and internationally recognized arts and technology programs.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- Scaling social impact: 3,400 schools will offer Badi School’s moral education curriculum as the evolution of their standard curriculum on "religious studies", impacting 950,000 students
- 400 students received quality education at Badi School
- 30 teachers trained
- 40 students awarded full or partial scholarships
- Badi students took 1st place in national public speaking, and regional math competitions.
Barli Institute for Development of Rural Women, Indore, India
Barli Impact Video: https://vimeo.com/376974381.
The Barli Development Institute in Indore, India has been educating and empowering rural and tribal young women since 1985. Offering a six-month residential training program with curricula on literacy, vocational skills, and community development, Barli aims to provide young women with the skills to start their own business and the confidence to become leaders in the transformation of their communities. To-date, Barli has trained over 9,800 women from 950 villages, impacting and improving the lives of thousands more by using a forward-thinking curriculum to address complex, in-grained norms and build a world where women and girls can thrive.
2022 ACCOMPLISHMENTS despite COVID19 back-to-new normal challenges
- 130 young women empowered from 90 villages
- 22 teachers trained
- 260 family members engaged
- 3,900 community members directly impacted by service projects
Study Hall Educational Foundation
See impact video: https://vimeo.com/390123692
Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF) supports an impressive portfolio of initiatives aimed at educating and empowering underprivileged girls in urban and rural India. Since 1994, SHEF has reached over 2,500,000 students through direct and indirect initiatives in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
2022 ACHIEVEMENTS
493,114 students were educated, and 6,735 teachers were trained and engaged 31,390 parents across all SHEF’s programs.
- SCALING SOCIAL IMPACT: In working with the Ministry of Education, scaled the Aarohini girl’s empowerment program to 746 residential public schools for girls, training 1,500 teachers, reaching 106,300 girls from disadvantage households.
- Engaged 40 NGOs to mobilize and educate men and boys on becoming advocates for gender justice as part of SHEF's India 's Daughters' Campaign.
- Increased DSH online subscribers to 121,348, with 381,560 unique users.
MAIA Impact School, Guatemala
2021 site visit - https://vimeo.com/700515353
MAIA unlocks and maximizes the potential of young Maya women to lead transformational change and create a more equitable society. Launched in 2017 and located near the city of Sololá, the MAIA Impact School is Central America’s first female, Indigenous-led secondary school specifically designed to connect the talents of rural Indigenous young women with the opportunities of the 21st century. The school serves about 300 girls from 40 remote villages.
2022 ACHIEVEMENTS:
- 257 Maya girls received high quality education. 97% finished with passing grades.
- Redesigned curriculum to overcome COVID-related learning loss, raising test scores an average of 76%.
- Piloted "Launch Year" program to prepare graduates for success.
- 10 Girl Pioneers awarded university scholarships.
- 1 Girl Pioneer became Central America’s first and only RISE global award recipient.
- 1 student is a 2022 SHE CAN scholarship recipient & will start Univ. studies in US.
Programme for Children, Sierra Leone
https://vimeo.com/389168748.
https://vimeo.com/712255426
Programme for Children (PFC) is a highly regarded NGO in Sierra Leone that works to support community development and improve access to education. Mona Foundation began working with Programme for Children in 2019. To date, we have funded the building 4 junior high schools, a four-classroom addition to the Muloma Vocational Technical Training Complex, a library, and one high school. Mona also provides for the furnishings, books, learning materials, & supplies, and supports teacher training and certification.
2022 ACHIEVEMENTS
- Completed construction of library in Koribondo community, including water well and bathrooms - impacting 1,550 members of the community
- 10 individuals trained as librarians
- Certification training completed by 19 teachers
- Muloma Vocational Training (funded by Mona 2021) center continues to educate 305 students in 14 life skills tracks
ADCAM (the Association for Cohesive Development of the Amazon)
https://vimeo.com/749706192: Rising to meet the COVID19 challenge while developing global citizens.
Nationally recognized for promoting the material and social well-being of its students, families, and community, the Association for the Cohesive Development of the Amazon (ADCAM) in Manaus, Brazil has two main initiatives: the School of the Future (Escola do Futuro), previously the Masrour School, which provides quality pre-K through high school education, and the Young Apprentice Program which promotes the successful entry of young people, ages 14-24, into the labor market.
2022 ACHIEVEMENTS
- Increased K-12 students from 303 students to 357 students
- 356 youth were trained in the Young Apprentice Program, an increase of 41 youth!
- Provided 64 scholarships to families in need of support
- 30 teachers received 32 sessions of training
- Held a project “Female Dignity – Intimate Health Care”, impacting 2,268 girls.
- Completed repairs and invested in furniture and equipment.
New Era Creative Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-FEffcBWDs: Inspiring Stronger Communities Through Creative Programs.
New Era Creative Space's (NECS) Girls EmpowerED program addresses the negative messaging that young women and girls face in our society at large. It helps girls build resilience and learn tools to help them live safe, thriving lives. The program meets weekly over the course of the school year.
NECS trains 3 - 5 mentors from Peekskill high school to be the facilitators of the middle school program. Training covers leadership and facilitation skills, rights of girls and women, culturally responsive teaching, and using virtues to guide throughout the sessions. The mentors then meet regularly with our adult supervisor to create and develop each lesson and reflect on how the sessions are going.
2022 ACHIEVEMENTS:
- Provided scholarship for 30 young women to attend EmpowerED Girls Leadership Program
- Train 5 teachers
Where we work
Awards
Jefferson Award 2005
Seattle Post Intelligencer- Dr. Mahnaz Javid
The Webby Award 2006
Intl Academy of Digital Art - Pepper Oldiezy
Best Favorite Local Charity of Western Washington 2010
KING5 Evening Magazine
Integral Fellows Award 2012
Microsoft Alumni Foundation - Dr. Mahnaz Javid
Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation 2009
Peter F. Drucker Institute
2019 Fellow 2019
Gratitude Network - Dr. Mahnaz Javid
"Accelerating Systems Change" finalist 2020
Catalyst2030
Woman of the Year 2022
University of WA Foster School of Business
Washington Most Powerful and Influential Woman 2014
National Diversity Council
Affiliations & memberships
BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Give.org Accredited Charity 2017
Brooking Institution CUE Leadership Council 2018
UN DPI Associate NGO 2019
Catalyst2030 2020
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students who demonstrate writing ability
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Multiracial people, People of African descent, People of Asian descent, People of Latin American descent
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
OVERALL, across all programs, we currently support the education & empowerment 1,661,548 students, both in-class and online, thru literacy, vocational & empowerment programs.
Average number of dollars per person served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Young adults, Adolescents, Children, Preteens, Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Cost shown as an average. We support the education of children in different programs. In some, it takes $50/mon to provide quality education / student. In others, it is less than $1/mon/student.
Number of clients who become literate because of literacy education programs by the nonprofit
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Ethnic and racial groups, Young adults, Adolescents, Preteens
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
in the past 23 years we have supported 51 programs in 25 countries, currently impacting 801,311 students annually. Because of COVID19, this number represents both online & in-class.
Number of groups/individuals benefiting from tools/resources/education materials provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Multiracial people, People of African descent, People of Asian descent, People of Latin American descent
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
this number shows the number of individuals benefiting from the Outreach Programs that our partner organizations offer including training of community members on literacy, health and gender equality.
% of girls and women served in the programs we support.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Multiracial people, People of African descent, People of Asian descent, People of Latin American descent
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Mona supports Universal Education with focus on girls because we believe it is a powerful way to reduce global poverty. Due to COVID19 we were not able to data on this metric. 90% reflects estimates.
Number of educators who have opportunities to attend programs offered by professional organizations
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, At-risk youth, Children and youth, Young adults, Ethnic and racial groups
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Teacher training is essential to quality of teaching and learning. Due to COVID19 and with transition to online platforms, we were able to scale and reach thousands more educators.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn 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?
The Mona Foundation primary goals are to support grassroots social-economic development initiatives that
1. Provide quality education to all children
2. Raise the status of women and girls
3. Foster community transformation towards self-sufficiency and service to others.
Our services are provided in three broad categories:
Provide Access to Education through building classrooms and scholarships, Teacher Training and Girls Empowerment programs.
WHY BUILD & GIVE SCHOLARSHIPS
57 million children around the world are out of school — and the majority of these are girls. We also know what every extra year of primary school, a girl's wages increase on average 10 – 20 percent. Additional classrooms increase the enrollment capacities of the schools we support so more children can attend school. Scholarships enables the children from marginalized families' access and receive quality education.
Since 1999 we have supported building 158 classrooms
2021 RESULTS: 801,311 students educated both in-class and online (unique users).
WHY SUPPORT TEACHERS?
Building human resources at the grassroots is essential to sustained quality of teaching and learning, and directly impacts the outcome of any educational investment.
While access to education has improved in the past several years, evidence shows that children from poor families, rural areas, marginalized groups, and girls still face significant barriers to getting a quality education and lack the basic skills they need to earn an income. Trained teachers ensure quality learning.
2021 RESULTS: TRAINED 138,427 TEACHERS
WHY EMPOWER WOMEN AND GIRLS?
The world economic prosperity is not achievable when 50% of the population either does not have the skills to earn a living, or are severely under-utilized. Girls education and empowerment have multiplier effects and benefits all. When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90% into their families.
2021 RESULTS: In the past few years our data has verified that 90% of students reached were girls. However, because of COVID19 pandemic, school closures and transition to online instruction, we are unable to verify this stat for 2021.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Mona Foundation is a development agency that supports communities to become the agents of change in their own social and economic development. By establishing long-term partnerships, we support organizations at the grassroots to manage and implement an increasing number of more complex development initiatives more effectively year-over-year. Five fundamental strategies and principles guide our work in the field of development
Organic Growth
We support only grassroots educational initiatives which are started by the members of the local community and in response to specific community needs.
Capacity Building
We support building capacity at the grassroots where the community members learn how to take initiative in a disciplined way, how to use consultation as a medium of decision making and how to develop the skills necessary to apply learnings to build more capacity for more complex actions.
Learning
We support learning at the grassroots through an ongoing process of consultation, action and reflection so to help communities help themselves.
Integration
We support cohesive and integrated efforts across various fields such as health, education, agriculture, and environmental preservation so to realize lasting development in a region.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Board of Directors of Mona Foundation, its staff and Board of Advisers bring to the table 150 years of cumulative experience in the field of development and people and organizational capability. Awards received include:
--2021 Finalist, Catalyst2030 Award
-- Microsoft Alumni Integral Fellow
--UN DPI Associate NGO
--Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation
--Gratitude Network Fellow
--Member Leadership Council, Brookings Institution Center for Universal Education
--Best of Western WA Nonprofits
--GuideStar Platinum Status
--BBB Wise Giving Alliance Accredited Charity
Our capabilities are characterized by:
-- Passion for the vision, mission and values that define the Foundation
-- Ability to help manage our foundation based on the sound and proven principles of social and economic development so that we can maximize the value of every dollar we spent.
-- Industry recognized expertise in variety of field including organizational development to ensure accountability and transparency to our donors.
-- Willingness to walk the talk everyday.
-- Fostering and cultivating a culture of learning so that we can improve YOY.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Mona Foundation was founded in 1999, and provided our first grant of $2,000 to a school in Haiti. Since then, we have awarded $16 Million to 51 projects in 25 countries, supporting the education AND empowerment of 801,311 in 2021.
Our specific 2021 - the year of COVID19 - results: (please note: The numbers provided show the impact of COVID19, school closures and transition to online education for most students.
# of Students Enrolled: educated: 801,311*
% of Girls Enrolled: Not known due to COVID19 disruption.
# of Teachers Trained: 138,427
# of Parents Trained: 60,003 - increase in number reflects outreach to prevent spread of COVID19.
# of Known Service Projects: 299 (less than 2020 due to COVID19)
# of Schools Served: 1,032
# of Known Communities Served: 227
# of additional People Directly served: 26,800
* Includes both in person and # of unique users tracked on partners’ online platforms. Digital platforms did not track unique users’ gender.
**Outreach programs included educational sessions on COVID 19 prevention, families of the unemployed of students in supported schools, and access to resources available to prevent violence against women and girls.
In support of long-term social change, Mona Foundation continues with a series of strategic growth plan to build our own capacity to sustain this ongoing growth, as well as increase the number of partner organizations and students we support as evidenced in our 2022-2024 strategic plan submitted with this application.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
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
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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.
Mona Foundation
Board of directorsas of 12/14/2023
Mrs. Duy-Loan Le
Mona Foundation
Term: 2020 -
Mahnaz A. Javid, Ed.D
Mona Foundation
Sima Mobini
Duy-Loan Le
Senior Fellow, TI
Diane Marie Samandi
President, Jonquil, Inc.
Michelle Whitten
Kim Clark
Attorney, Legal Voice
David Wood
CEO, Human Touch, LLC
Tammy Wood
CEO, INTERIOR ARCHAEOLOGY
Peter Neumann
Attorney at Law
Nooshin Darvish
Chief Medical Officer, Holistique Medical Center
David Khorram
Director, Global Ophthalmology, University of Virginia
Neda Moeini
Co-Founder, and EVP, GL - Group of GoldLine
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 ? Yes -
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? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 07/05/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.