In the summer before high school, my friends and I wondered if we could make a difference. Recalling a fourth grade presentation on the inadequate access to education in third world countries, we chose to build a school in Africa as our avenue to create change. We called our nonprofit [name] Foundation. There have been many lessons along the way, particularly in handling rejection, building credibility, and facing failure, that have shown me how to successfully transform an idea into something tangible and impactful.
I was eager to fundraise, but I naively thought it would be easy. While we started by going door-to-door enthusiastically, we quickly became discouraged after a majority of the folks we spoke to would not donate. We would spend several minutes describing our mission at each house only to be told “no” over and over again. Eventually, I realized that because we approached the fundraising process purely with the intention of raising money, we were unable to properly convey our passion and the importance of our mission to our donors. Seeing the opportunity to raise awareness through these conversations, we crafted a 30-second elevator pitch that enlightened our donors on the issues of education in Africa. Our more refined approach also proved to be more successful; we were able to convince 2,873 of the 3,451 houses we visited to donate, raising almost $6,000 in the process.
Wanting to expand our fundraising options, I realized we would first have to increase our credibility. In order to do this, we decided to complete the process of creating a state-sanctioned 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Being viewed as professionals, instead of as three kids, we were able to find fundraising opportunities in crowdfunding, working with Macy’s, and partnering with DOTA and Twitch to hold a charity stream that had over 18 million views. Having this status also gave us the necessary credentials to hold coin drive fundraisers at elementary schools and speak to the students about the work we were doing. I wanted to inspire other young students to work on their own initiatives to create change and also share my belief that education, by providing the tools for self-empowerment, is one of the most fundamental ways to make a lasting impact. Through the whole process, I learned that building a reputation and credibility are crucial for any venture that hopes to succeed in the real world.
Despite all our efforts, however, our collected funds were insufficient to build a school, and I learned the challenging lesson of accepting failure and adapting to circumstances. Although I was initially crushed, I decided to think about this as an opportunity instead of a personal shortcoming. I eventually realized that the amount we had raised, a total of $21,000, could be used to provide scholarships and build an annex to an existing school, [name] Girls High School, in Kenya. The school can now teach an additional 70 girls every year and the two students to whom we gave scholarships currently attend high school in [city], Kenya. These brilliant children, who once carried gallons of water under a torrid sun, now have the ability to pursue their dreams of becoming the future doctors, engineers, and lawyers of Kenya. Changing course was not easy, but the impact of our contribution went farther than I could have ever expected.
[Name] Foundation has given me an opportunity to expand my education beyond the classroom. Throughout the course of the project, I’ve learned crucial lessons in being resourceful and tenacious in an ever-changing world. No matter what I pursue next, I have developed trust in myself and in my commitment to persevere in the face of odds.