Since we launched Friends of Ngong Road in 2007 many friends and supporters have asked how we will create a financially sustainable organization so we can achieve our mission well into the future.   This is a very important question that our board of directors has begun to take tangible actions to address.

As part of our 2013 – 2015 strategic plan, the board authorized the creation of a business based in Kenya to create a stream of income to support our educational mission and also provide jobs for our graduates.  Our aspiration is that within five years, one or more businesses will generate at least 25% of our annual budget.

Tom Gleason has decided to leave the Friends of Ngong Road Board effective June 1.  Tom joined the board in 2008 and has been an incredibly valuable member of the board. He was responsible for setting up our operations and securing a grant from Salesforce.com to house all of our data in both the U.S. and Kenya.  This included training the board and the Kenyan staff on how to use this new tool.

Dear Friends, 2015 year has been a very exciting year for Friends of Ngong Road.  Our board of directors has engaged in a nine-month strategic review, believing we are at a critical stage in our development.  We have learned much through the work we’ve done and will complete our next strategic plan this fall. 

When we launched Friends of Ngong Road in 2006, we said our mission is “to provide education and support to Nairobi children living in poverty whose families have been affected so they can transform their lives”.  The board has had long discussions about the ways lives have been transformed in the intervening nine years, but we all agree that ultimately our graduates must secure jobs in the formal Kenyan economy.  By climbing the economic ladder, they will lift themselves out of poverty and their families out of the slums.  The cycle will have been broken.

This is now beginning to happen. It is very exciting to witness.