V3.1
The board members and volunteers of Deng Fei Foundation, Inc. focus on children-related issues. We deeply understand and believe that the outcomes and impacts of free lunch program on schools and eventually, on the children’s future. Our President, Deng Fei, along with his team has worked on Free Lunch for Children (FLC) in China for six years. FLC's pilot program has served six schools in Kenya for half a year. In China, Deng Fei’s team has raised 300 million CNY (46 million USD) since April 2011 and served 811 schools in total. In Kenya, FLC covered six schools with 1,400 students in total. We wish to share our solutions of free school lunch and on other children related issues with more countries and areas in the world. Deng Fei Foundation will continue providing starving children with meals in school. At the same time, we encourage the young generation to learn children hunger problem and other universal social problems related to children. Our volunteers will take actions in communities and participate international activities.
Deng Fei was an investigative journalist. In rural areas of China, Deng found that many children had no lunch or had to spend a long time on their way home during lunch break. Students could not concentrate on the class in the afternoon because they were constantly distracted, by their growling stomach. Deng and his friends launched Free Lunch for Children (FLC) program, which allows schools to prepare meals on site for students. Transparency and support from the public are FLC’s keys to success. Participating schools need to disclose the expense through social media weekly. Principals and teachers manage the implementation of free lunch on site. Staff, volunteers, and students’ parents visit the school periodically.
When Deng’s team members traveled to Africa, they recognized that children in Africa are also starving in schools. Deng Fei’s team could act on this because they already developed an innovative solution in China and it might work in Africa as well. We hope starving children could have lunch in school.
In the United States, government, nonprofits, and individuals work collaboratively on global issues. Many institutions are working on children’s nutrition and food security. Deng Fei Foundation hopes to be a part of the philanthropic sector and to help end hunger in schools. We believe we can change the world by soft methods, to respond and solve social problems peacefully. Children are the “common divisor” of our world because they can touch our softest part of our heart. We can unite as one to build a better world for our next generation.
Deng Fei Foundation, Inc. was incorporated in Massachusetts on August 1, 2017. It will be a public charity supported by donors in the United States. It was named foundation because we hope it could be a permanent public sphere of our stakeholders.
From 2017 to 2018. Our primary activities are to raise enough fund for free lunch programs in Africa and South East Asia. Our grantee’s program in Kenya started its operation on March 1, 2017. They provide free lunches in six schools for 1,400 students in Nairobi. According to current assessment report, we can duplicate free lunch solution in Africa. During the first six months, the average cost for one student for breakfast and lunch is 0.25 US dollar. Deng Fei Foundation needs more donations and partners to increase our global impact.
We intend to be a public charity and raise funds from the public. We make grants to qualified nonprofits in Kenya and other countries to implement free lunch in schools. Deng Fei Foundation is very clear about our partners and participating schools. All grantees need to prove that their governance, operation and disclosure meet the standards of the industry and 501(c)3.
Our partner nonprofits in Kenya and other countries will implement FLC program by providing monthly funding to school. Their local staff and volunteers will ensure that principals and teachers provide free lunches following our guideline and requirements. Deng Fei Foundation will collect data on performance and share with donors.
There are four steps for schools to apply for FLC program: (1) Inquiry and application. (2) Visit, evaluation, and discussion. The school needs to activate official social media accounts to publish required documents. Two staff members from FLC will visit the applicant to evaluate the local situation and discuss the detailed agreement. (3) Review, reach agreement and appropriation. Our local partners will send appropriate amount of free lunch fund for the testing phase. (4) Initiation, publication, and supervision. Schools start purchase materials after receiving the fund. School team needs to post expenditure of free lunch fund on social media on the daily basis for supervision and examination. Deng Fei Foundation and local partners will Implement FLC credit rating system and program monitoring together.
Deng Fei Foundation’s staff and volunteers will conduct solicitations nationally. Volunteers will follow each state's regulations and federal laws on operation and solicitation. Currently, 50 volunteers in Boston have committed to our early administrative activities. By the end of 2018, we will organize 30 to 50 fundraising volunteers. There will be approximately 500 to 1000 volunteers implement fundraising activities in local community and social media. Local fundraising teams are organized based on geographical region and university campus. Each team will design their own development plan under a multiple-center structure. In the beginning, volunteers are primarily college students. These young volunteers are energetic and have passions to build a better community. Our board’s influence and innovative program ensure that we can recruit enough volunteers. Each local fundraising team will have team leaders. Team leaders organize and implement fundraising and presentation activities based on local resources.
By the end of 2017, the fundraising goal is 100,000 USD. We will have five to ten volunteer teams. If we can meet this goal, these contributions will support six schools in Kenya to provide free lunches. We have contacts in Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. These six states will be our centers for fundraising. The volunteer can also conduct fundraising activities as an individual.
Specifically, we plan to participate in two large charitable marathons, to test sports fundraising. We encourage volunteers to provide services to local nonprofits to learn about school hunger. Staff and volunteer teams will hold booths in ten exhibitions, campus festivals, local festivals to introduce school hunger problem and explain our solution. Senior volunteers will present 10 to 20 times in public locations about the stories of free lunch in Africa and foundation's stories. These activities expect to attract 2000 to 5000 potential donors. Our email campaign will collect about 10,000 USD.
Version: V3.1
Contributors: Bin Wu, Le