The Launch of the School Fund

Matt Severson, founder of The School Fund and a Sparkseed innovator, recently returned from a trip to Tanzania.  Through a unique person-to-person funding website, The School Fund aims to connect individuals around the world to students in Tanzania in need of financial assistance, thereby allowing these students to continue going to school.

The trip set the stage for The School Fund to establish its presence in Tanzania and move forward towards launching its website.  Matt first traveled to Dar Es Salaam to meet with Jumanne Maghembe, the Minister of Education of the Tanzania, to open a dialogue about the current state of education in Tanzania and their plans for the future.  Soon after, they traveled to the Lugalo Secondary School, The School Fund’s first partner school.  Matt first met with Charles Thomas, the Headmaster, Bupe Mazengo, the school counselor, and school teachers Riaz Abeid and Sixtus Kanyama.  After going over the details of TSF and its website, they began the process to identify which students were in need of assistance in paying their school fees.

Matt and the school administrators decided to allow the students to decide.  Classes voted on who they thought needed the help the most.  The top 2-6 vote getters from each class were chosen as the first students to be sponsored by The School Fund.  Matt explained “it was really nice to see some students get 10 or 12 votes from their peers.”  It really showed that students understood and cared for other students.  Matt then sat down with the selected students to explain how TSF would work and to get to know them a little better.  Matt asked the students what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Many students responded saying they wanted education to help the blind, albino, and poor.  He showed them how to create an online profile and maintain an online journal to keep donors updated.  With this trip, Matt was able to establish the infrastructure needed to begin funding these students’ educations.

Now that the The School Fund's website has officially launched, users can go to the website and begin funding these students' education.  On each of the students' profiles. donors can see exactly where their donation is going towards.  As seen by the work Matt has done thus far, the School Fund is primed for success in helping students in Tanzania achieve their dreams of education.

The School Fund, one of Sparkseed’s 2009 ventures, provides the financial means for Tanzanian students to continue going to school through an innovative person-to-person funding website.  The idea came about when Matt Severson was on safari in Tanzania 2 summers ago.  He met a boy named John Medo who had just finished primary school.  John was supposed to continue on towards secondary school  but could not afford the school fees.  Matt began paying for John’s school fees and visited him the next summer while doing an internship for the United Nations in Tanzania.  You can learn more about the School Fund on its website.