Recommended Programs
Over the years, we have tried to help as many organizations and people as possible. In some instances, we have worked with given organizations for years, while, in other cases, maybe just made a one-time grant. In all cases, however, our goal was to help exceptional programs and people who work tirelessly to help others lift themselves out of poverty. Nevertheless, there have been instances and programs that, due to our limited resources, we were not able to help which either came before us for the first time or sought additional funding. We have decided, however, to pass these groups along to all who visit our website in the hopes that some individuals or like-minded foundations may decide to reach out to help them or ask us to facilitate your efforts to learn more about their work. Please take a look at the organizations we recommend helping. Thank you for caring!
Source: Landmine Relief Fund
Landmine Relief Fund (Cambodia)
The Landmine Relief Fund was started in 2003 to support the efforts of a Cambodian man who had taken it upon himself to rid Siem Reap’s countryside of decades-old active landmines. To this day, these active landmines still cause death and injury. After clearing a field of all unexploded landmines, their Rural School Village Program built schoolhouses to give the next generation room to grow and thrive without fear.
Source: People Improvement Organization
People Improvement Organization (Cambodia)
The People Improvement Organization (PIO) focuses on educating girls, orphans, and those children who often survive by scavenging off dump sites. Mrs. Phymean Noun, the founder and director of PIO, was honored in 2015 with the World’s Children’s Prize, and was named Child Rights Hero of the year in recognition of her work to improve the lives of Phnom Penh’s most impoverished young people since 2002.
Source: Kaziba Orphanage
Kaziba Orphanage (DRC)
Kaziba houses around 50 children under eight years of age who come from families affected by war and poverty in the DRC, and provides them with food, medical care, and a safe place to live until they can either be adopted into new families or by an existing family member who may be able to give them a more secure home. TFI is helping these vulnerable children to thrive as they wait for their families.
Source: Khalsa Public School
Khalsa Public School (India)
The Khalsa School was discovered by TFI on our very first official visit to India. We were impressed that the majority of the students were girls, and this school provided educational opportunities for children from the lowest caste in the Punjab region of India, where there is a noticeable drop in attendance and enrollment for girls as they grow older. The longer girls stay in school, the less likely that they will marry early and have children before they are ready, and thus be more likely to provide for their families later on in life without necessarily being economically dependent on a man.
Source: Sanskar Kendra
Sanskar Kendra (India)
Sanskar Kendra School prioritizes education for girls. The organization was founded as a small initiative to educate the children of laborers and rickshaw pullers living in the slums outside New Delhi. What started off as a basic education center for around 35 kids soon became a formal school system, which now educates 1,000 children at three locations. In 2016, impressed by their mission and growing success, TFI partnered with Sanskar Kendra School to help these children.
Source: Sirjana Institute
Sirjana Institute (India)
This Institute works to improve some of the long-impoverished communities of Varanasi. Young girls in these areas have very few options. In fact, for most the only option is to marry young and have children, thus not allowing room for economic development.
Under those circumstances, Sirjana offers vocational training to women and academic scholarships for their children, Sirjana offers hope for the future in the communities they serve. Graduates are given assistance to find jobs in their learned trades, which include sewing, beauty salon services, and jewelry making.
Source: Swati Kanak Durga Center
Swati Kanak Durga Center (India)
The Swati Kanak Durga Center originally was primarily a day school for young, impoverished children. At the same time, Swati offered the older kids and young adults computer and English language classes.
In 2009, TFI donated shoes, clothes, toys, and medical and educational supplies to the Swati Center. Funds have also been provided to enhance their services. Recently, access to primary education in India has improved and the perceived value of education has grown in remote communities.
At the start of 2015, more young children enrolled in government schools than ever before, especially girls. Nevertheless, to keep up with the evolving needs of their community, Swati is changing their focus from traditional academics to after-school supplemental programs. TFI will follow their progress during this transition.
Source: Tibetan Children’s Village
Tibetan Children's Village (India)
The Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) was created over 50 years ago. TCV’s objective was to meet the needs of incoming refugee children escaping China/Tibet who come to Dharamshala, India, where His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama still lives in exile.
The number of children coming to India has declined in recent years, perhaps due in part to fewer Tibetan families in China having the money to pay the guides that send their children over the Himalayas. Those who have grown up under the care of TCV receive a sound education and are able to aid in preserving the history, language, and cultural identity of the Tibetan people.
Source: Tibetan Delek Hospital
Tibetan Delek Hospital (India)
The Tibetan Delek Hospital started as a small pharmacy over 40 years ago. Today, it is a 45-bed hospital with multiple departments serving the needs of the local Tibetans and Indians, along with the occasional Western tourist. In 2007, TFI began supporting Delek hospital when we started sending volunteers to this part of India through our Fellowship Program.
Presently, the hospital offers a variety of low-cost services and, in cases of extreme hardship, treats patients regardless of their ability to pay. This hospital offers preventative healthcare for HIV/AIDS, produces anti-smoking campaigns, and provides immunizations, as well as meeting the specific needs of Tibetan refugees. These refugees are susceptible to certain infectious diseases which do not exist in their native highlands of Tibet but are more common in the lower altitudes of India.
Source: Tong-Len Charitable Trust
Tong-Len Charitable Trust (India)
In 1999, on a trip to India, Tom Nazario discovered the Charan Khad slum. At the time, the Tong-Len Charitable Trust had set up a nursery school there. This school was giving children nutritious meals, a mobile health unit, solar-powered showers, and public health education for families.
Sadly, in the Summer of 2016, the local government bulldozed the slum and evicted the entire community without plans for their relocation. Regardless, Tong-Len continued its work, offering dormitory housing and educational sponsorship for the students attending the local schools at a new location. Yet, there is concern over how to help the parents, most of whom are beggars. Nevertheless, the hope is that the children can at least look forward to a better life.
Source: Youthnet
Youthnet (India)
Founded by a group of young professionals in 2006, YouthNet, located in a remote area in the Northeast, was one of TFI’s first projects after we decided to support grassroots programs in India. YouthNet’s mission is to offer young people education and information that will instill courage. Likewise, this grassroots organization encourages young people to feel more confident with becoming socially and politically active. As a result, this will assist them in gaining leadership roles in their community.
TFI has sponsored students in their rural schools for some time and, in 2012, we donated shoes, clothes, and school supplies to their program. Later, TFI supported their educational programs by providing funding to their two primary schools: Mount View and Agape.
Source: One Heart Worldwide
One Heart Worldwide (Nepal)
In 2014, TFI learned of One Heart Worldwide’s (OHW) incredible work. OHW is a program that builds and provides birthing centers that serve pregnant women in the most remote villages of Nepal. Before the earthquake, OHW had an over 90% success rate in reducing infant and maternal mortality. These rural areas previously reported maternal and infant deaths at a rate of 10 to 20 times the global average. Since the earthquake, OHW has been working to rebuild its damaged birthing centers and continues to provide birth attendant and midwife training. In short, they not only save lives but also bring new ones into the world.
Source: Water in Nepal
Water in Nepal (Nepal)
Nepal’s isolated rural areas are in the most need since they have much higher rates of extreme poverty than more urban or well-connected communities. Since the devastating earthquake in 2015, much of the country’s infrastructure has crumbled, dramatically increasing their need for aid.
Water in Nepal (WIN) was founded by Zachary Wong while he was still in high school, WIN invests in water filtration and infrastructure projects to bring easier access to clean water to Nepalese government schools, rural villages, and local institutions. They have funded 20 projects and impacted over 8,000 Nepalese. After Zach began attending University, he passed management of the organization over to local groups.
Source: Project PEARLS
Project PEARLS (Philippines)
Project PEARLS was established in 2010 by Melissa Villa to give the extreme poor a better life. By providing the children with PEARLS – Peace, Education, Aspiration, Respect, Love and Smiles – through education, empowerment, nutrition, and healthcare, Melissa has been able to work on improving life in the Tondo slum of Manila, as well as in surrounding areas. Anyone who visits these children and sees the way they live cannot walk away without wanting to help, hence we could not turn our backs on them and still believe we are fulfilling our mission.
Source: REACH for Uganda
REACH for Uganda (Uganda)
REACH for Uganda (formally known as Arlington Academy of Hope) partners with communities in rural Uganda to improve the quality of their daily lives and realize their future potential through improved education, healthcare, and community development. REACH offers quality primary education through a successful village school they established, scholarships to secondary school, and university education through sponsorships. Many of these graduates return to serve at their primary school and the health clinic they established in 2008. Good health is central to a child’s long-term success, and children in remote, impoverished regions often have long absences from school due to illness, and some never return.
Source: Friends of Orphans
Friends of Orphans (Uganda)
Friends of Orphans was founded in 1999 and is administered by former child soldiers, orphans, and abductees who were and continue to be affected by the war in northern Uganda. Their experiences as former abductees and orphans—many of whom lost immediate and extended family members, friends, and neighbors and suffered displacement—led them to commit to the ongoing and unmet needs of their communities displaced in resettlement camps. The mission of Friends of Orphans is to contribute to the empowerment, rehabilitation, and reintegration of this vulnerable community and to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Source: Adopt a Family of Marin
Adopt a Family of Marin (USA)
Adopt a Family of Marin helps families in the California Bay Area overcome temporary financial challenges. They provide services such as utility payments, car repairs, rental deposits, and food assistance to families in need.
Through these services, Adopt a Family of Marin aims to prevent families from falling into homelessness and ensure their clients have a chance to live in security with greater hope for an economically stable future.
Source: Consider the Homeless!
Consider the Homeless! (USA)
Consider the Homeless! is a small organization in Berkeley, California that aims to provide aid to those living in homelessness throughout the city. They provide hot, home-cooked meals every week to over 100 recipients, as well as collect and distribute donated supplies such as clean clothing to those in need. For organizations such as ours not to consider our own homeless would be a betrayal of our mission. So, at least to a certain extent, we try to do so and hope to continue in this endeavor in the future.
Source: HomeFirst
HomeFirst (USA)
HomeFirst is a leading provider of services, shelter, and housing opportunities to the homeless and those at risk of homelessness in Northern California’s Santa Clara County. They serve more than 5,000 adults, veterans, families, and youth each year at nine different locations. HomeFirst seeks to empower low-income, underserved, and at-risk populations that are experiencing language, economic, and other barriers to opportunity. They strive for lasting change in the communities they serve and envision a community where everyone has a home.
Source: Marin Independent Journal
Ritter Center (USA)
The Ritter Center, located in San Rafael, California, provides aid to individuals and families in order to prevent homelessness and ensure the health and quality of life of those they help within their community. They do so through programs in healthcare and social services. In our efforts to help the homeless in our community, it is best, of course, to prevent homelessness. That is what the Ritter Center attempts to do and why we support their work.
Source: Renee Byer, Starfish Video Project
Starfish Video Project (USA)
The StarFish Video Project was founded by George Rosenfeld, a videographer with a long history with TFI. On his journey through India in 2010, he encountered a mother and her two children living on the sidewalk in Old Delhi. Touched by the family’s story, he decided to use what power he had to help. With the assistance of a friend from home and a social worker in India, he was able to purchase a merchant cart so that the mother could start a business, register the kids in school, and rent a room for the family with water and electricity for six months. Today this is just one of the numerous success stories from the StarFish Project. The project encourages middle-class Americans to reach out and offer a helping hand to families in need through small donations. A small amount of money can lift many families in the developing world out of extreme poverty.
Source: TANC
Tibetan Association of Northern California (USA)
The mission of the Tibetan Association of Northern California is to pursue with dedication the common goal of the Tibetan people, including activities to promote the Tibetan language and culture under the guidance and leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to recognize and respect the Central Tibetan Administration as the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people. Through cultural education programs, they successfully transfer language and performing arts traditions to the next generation, who will have the responsibility of preserving and keeping the rich traditions of Tibet alive.
Source: TCNYNJ
Tibetan Community of New York and New Jersey (USA)
The Tibetan Community of New York & New Jersey (TCNYNJ) focuses on supporting the survival of Tibetan culture and identity and enhancing the quality of life for all Tibetans living in the local community and worldwide. They offer support for Tibetan-based educational, cultural, and religious programs, while also reaching out to community members in need. They are committed to building strong relationships within the Tibetan community through organizing events that allow members to connect and reach out to one another and the outside community.
Source: Getty Images
The Bridge Fund
(USA)
Even before the pandemic, nearly half of all Americans would have a great deal of difficulty overcoming an unexpected expense of as little as $400. During the COVID lockdown, this reality was exacerbated and shown to be even more devastating as America’s poor were the first to lose their jobs, and the first to experience grave economic hardships as they faced homelessness. TFI set aside some funding to help local families who were experiencing an unexpected, temporary financial emergency which could be extinguished or substantially mitigated with a small grant that would serve as a “bridge” to a more promising future. These grants would help the recipient overcome a minor financial obstacle that, if not extinguished, could lead the recipient to spiraling debt or the loss of either their income or an opportunity that, if they were able to pursue, would strengthen their financial stability. We stopped offering this emergency assistance in early 2024.