February 2024

Kenyan girls with their new 'Shoes that Grow" from TGUP

The shoes expand through five successive sizes

In this issue, we explain the strategy behind what we do. First, however, we look at the fact that it’s working as well as it is. And then, why it’s working.

Here is a short summary of last year’s (2023) results:

• Donations were 203% of what they were in 2022, at $534,000. 

• We completed 93 projects, or one every four days, somewhere in the world.

• We spent $365,000 on those Projects, or exactly $1,000 for every day of the year. It would have been more, but much of the windfall came in in Q4, too late for us to responsibly dispatch in 2023. 

• That brought to 376 the total number of projects we had completed. They will help 2.3 million of the poorest people in the world have just a slightly better chance in life.

• 100% of every dollar an individual donated went into their intended project. We can do that because foundations cover all of our operating costs, or what people call overhead.

Cameroon girls receiving TGUP’s Save a Girl ™ kits

We will soon renovate this decrepit classroom behind them, too

So, clearly, this is working. But, what is the thought behind what we’re doing? Why is it working? The answer is embodied in this visual, where everything is localized around education:

Why education? Because, as Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” That’s where we work. But how so?

Every high school biology student learns that it takes 8 amino acids for a protein to form. It’s the same with education. A classroom, alone, doesn’t begin to equal education. 

You need teachers, books, desks, blackboards... The school itself needs classrooms, water, electricity, latrines… It needs an administration, a school board, curriculum, pathways... The students need to be healthy, clothed, fed, safe… You get the idea.

We generalize the core elements of this idea as “EDUCATION PROPER” and the ancillary elements as “Pre-cursors” and “Post-cursors.” Pre-cursors are necessary for life. Post-cursors improve life.

Nepal students use TGUP’s Science Lab in a Box™

In 2023, the distribution of our projects, framed by the Educational Diamond, was:

Why think of it in this way? Because, if we can find situations where most of the seven elements are already in place, we can then provide those one or two elements that are missing. This releases the energy of the entire system, getting a QUANTUM improvement in productivity and outcomes at a fraction of the cost of simply throwing money at a dysfunctional system but still not fixing it. 

So, now you know the thinking behind what we do. And now you know why it works. 

So far, in 2024, we have already completed another 16 projects, and right now, 14 more are underway, working down that Q4 surplus. They include everything from a Math Lab in Nepal and a Kitchen in Guatemala, to a Garden project in Tanzania, a Playground in Kenya, and a new set of Latrines in India. Every one of those projects will improve the life chances of the children at the schools where they are built. 

Next month we will begin a project to build two classrooms for the Kangulumira School in Uganda. This is the existing school: 

And this is one of the existing papyrus reed classrooms. 

Here’s another.

These will be the first classrooms built in TGUP’s new “Classroom Club” program. The Classroom Club is for donors who want to contribute on a sustaining basis to classrooms as the center of their support for the educational enterprise. We probably do more classrooms than any other type of project, so we thought we would formalize it. 

Here's the logo for the Classroom Club:

Well, we hope this was interesting, and not too daunting. We expect to complete 120 projects this year, or one every three days, somewhere in the world. There are only three of us here at TGUP, doing all of this, a dreamer and two operating geniuses. We could not do this without our amazing partners and generous donors. We're thankful for their support that makes all of this possible.

If you liked this newsletter, or, if you didn’t like it, please let us know. Send any message at all to info@tgup.org.

Yours in a Better World,

TGUP

The Global Uplift Project

tgup.org

100% of all donations are tax deductible