Thank you for being a guiding light during this most challenging year! You stepped up when we needed you to provide COVID-19 handwashing kits to Liberian Children and Youth. Again, you showed up to help 62 students receive their diplomas in August. Your continued commitment made all the difference with your students and graduates.
Income
You generously raised $22,904 for Liberian Children and Youth during a challenging year. This includes the $3,857 from the year-end campaign from November to December. Here is the breakdown:
68% from businesses and individuals
27% from employer matches and contributions from United Way campaigns. Fortunately, two companies increased their matches from 1:1 to 2:1 due to COVID.
5% from in-kind donations.
Expenses
Uniting Distant Stars allocated$19,642 to the following programs:
Both vocational and academy students (410 total) received COVID handwashing kits in May. You raised $3,072 (16%) to cover the costs of powdered handsoap and bleach.
62 graduates received their diplomas on August 1 with your help of $1000 (5%).
A graduate made about 500 masks to welcome students back from a $500 (3%) employer match donation.
Three people sponsored 11 vocational training students with half or full scholarships for $960 (5%).
Three sponsors supporting 14 academic students with full scholarships for the 2020-2021 school year at $3,905 (20%).
Two classes (2019-20 and 2021-21) received learning materials to apply their skills in their respective courses at $6,115 (31%). Due to COVID, we suspended classes from March to September.
One-year rent at $1,700 (9%)for our training center in Liberia. The five-year lease ended in May 2020.
Staff development valued at $1,120 with in-kind service (6%).
Adminstrative costs at $1,270 (7%).
Furthermore, current assets are $10,787.80 which 65% is allocated for 2020/2021 learning materials & supplies, 18% for next year’s rent and administrative needs, and 8% vocational student scholarship fund (one donor) for the 2021/2022 class. The remaining 9% is the reserve fund. If you like to compare with 2019, click on this link.
Our heartfelt gratitude for ensuring your students continue to receive the education they deserve!
Your generous giving helped Liberian Youth have a successful year!
On Saturday, December 8, Uniting Distant Stars held their annual board meeting to elect officers and start planning for 2019. First, we like to announce the re-appointment of our officers (Philip Kaleewoun II, Adam Pederson, and Diane Anastos) for another year. Congrats to our 2019 Board Officers!
Fundraising Team
Second, we like to share that three of our board members (Rita Apaloo, Adam Pederson, and Beyan Gonowolo) agreed to collaborate on our fundraising efforts for 2019. Specifically, this tremendous trio will be looking at various events, outreach to businesses and organizations, and other creative ways to fundraise. Thus, this supports Liberian Youth seeking to learn a skill and achieve self-reliance.
Strategic Plan
Third, we discussed the implementation of our strategic plan initiated in June 2018. With this intention, we plan to diversify our revenue streams to meet our main objective of financial stability. For example, the establishment of four social enterprises coupled with our courses as follows:
Tailoring Shop: sew custom uniforms & clothes or repair clothing.
Hair Salon: offer services for hair, face, and nails.
Auto Repair Shop: provide regular maintenance service and repairs.
Contracted Electrician and Plumbing Services: bid for contracts to build homes, schools, etc.
With this intention, a social enterprise or business allows us to reinvest the profits back into the program and beneficiaries. Also, we have envisioned a social business since we started working in Liberia. Because these small businesses provide the revenue stream to run the day-to-day operations and hire our graduates for permanent jobs.Consequently, Liberia’s economy continues to remain in a slump and this limits any job creation opportunities. Our Liberian Team established some small businesses since we opened our center. So as to generate funds to cover some of the needs. Including selling water and renting out our great hall for events or workshops. In order to expand into these other areas, a list of additional equipments and tools will be compiled by our team to determine the next steps. Ultimately, by transforming our facility into a multi-purpose center, we can achieve our strategic goal of financial stability.
We will keep you posted as we move forward with our plans for 2019. Thank you for your generous support in 2018!
