Elias Fund

Last updated
Elias Fund
Founded2005
Type 501(c)(3)
Focus Scholarships and education, community development
Location
Area served
Zimbabwe
Website EliasFund.org

The Elias Fund is a nonprofit organization funding community development and education for Zimbabwean youth.

Contents

Overview

The Elias Fund began with a simple purpose - help one man raise his children. Today EF empowers Zimbabwean communities to build a promising future for their children through poverty alleviation. As a grassroots organization, the Elias Fund focuses on indigenous empowerment to alleviate poverty from the bottom-up.

Mission statement

The Elias Fund's mission statement is: "Spreading hope and opportunity in Zimbabwe through indigenous empowerment, and engaging the current youth culture of the United States by encouraging a positive identity centered on social justice." [1]

History

In 1994, Elias Sithole, a gardener in Zimbabwe, met American songwriter Chad Urmston. Elias shared his dream of one day helping his three sons with a university education. This dream was put to song and became a popular piece with Urmston's band Dispatch. After the band broke up in 2004, brothers Eric and Scott Byington were approached to fundraise for a small initiative to sponsor Elias’ sons’ education.

A successful fundraiser was hosted in the summer of 2005 with enough money being raised for all three of Elias’ sons. Eric and Scott, along with a team of four others, took off to Zimbabwe to go find Elias. While they were gone, over 1,200 young people signed-up to do something more for Zimbabwe even though nothing more had been planned or publicized. It became apparent to Eric and Scott that what had started as a single fundraiser for one man's family could be turned into a full-time organization for Zimbabwe's development.

And so with the fan-base of Dispatch in support, Eric and Scott turned their relationship with Elias into the organization the Elias Fund is today. EF is now operating in three specific communities providing support to indigenous organizations focused on education, food aid and micro-grants. From one man's dream has sprung a movement spreading hope and opportunity in Zimbabwe.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth empowerment</span> Process where young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives

Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes. Youth empowerment aims to improve quality of life. Youth empowerment is achieved through participation in youth empowerment programs. However scholars argue that children's rights implementation should go beyond learning about formal rights and procedures to give birth to a concrete experience of rights. There are numerous models that youth empowerment programs use that help youth achieve empowerment. A variety of youth empowerment initiatives are underway around the world. These programs can be through non-profit organizations, government organizations, schools or private organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dispatch (band)</span> American indie rock band

Dispatch is an American indie/roots band. The band consists of Brad Corrigan and Chad Urmston. The band's original bassist, Pete Francis Heimbold, left in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Relief Services</span> Humanitarian agency from the USA

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 countries and territories in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Moccasin Flats is a Canadian drama television series that ran for three full seasons. The show, which has aired on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and Showcase Television since 2004, is co-produced by Big Soul Productions Inc. (Toronto) and Stephen Onda Productions Inc. (Regina). It takes place in Moccasin Flats, Regina, Saskatchewan, an urban reserve where the inhabitants struggle to maintain their cultural identity while overcoming poverty, gangs, violence, and racism. The series features award-nominated actor Andrea Menard and original music by Donald Quan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chadwick Stokes Urmston</span> American musician (born 1976)

Chad (Chadwick) Stokes Urmston is an American musician and a human rights activist. He is the frontman for the Boston-area bands Dispatch and State Radio, and released solo music under the name Chadwick Stokes.

Elias is a given name and surname, the Greek and Latin form of Elijah.

Giving Children Hope (GCHope), founded in 1993 by John Ditty and Juliana Reasor, is a faith-based non-profit organization that works to alleviate poverty, both domestically and internationally, through disaster relief, health and community development, vocational training and advocacy. The organization is currently headed by Executive Director Sean Lawrence and the Chairman of the Board Bill Barta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AmeriCorps VISTA</span> National service program to alleviate poverty

AmeriCorps VISTA is a national service program designed to alleviate poverty. President John F. Kennedy originated the idea for VISTA, which was founded as Volunteers in Service to America in 1965, and incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of programs in 1993. VISTA is an acronym for Volunteers in Service to America.

Peter Keith Greer is an author, speaker, and president and CEO of HOPE International, a global Christ-centered economic development organization serving throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Peter and his wife, Laurel, have four children and live in Lancaster, PA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action for Boston Community Development</span>

Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) is an anti-poverty, community development and human services organization founded in 1961 as Boston Community Development Program (BCDP) in Boston, Massachusetts and incorporated as Action for Boston Community Development in 1962, serving as a prototype for urban “human renewal” agencies.

Tzedek is a UK-based registered charity organisation which aims to provide a Jewish response to the problem of extreme global poverty. Registered as a charity in 1993, Tzedek has a number of overseas development programmes, working closely with local NGOs to alleviate extreme poverty in Northern Ghana and Northeast & Southeast India. As well as supporting local NGOs within these regions, Tzedek aims to develop the leadership skills of young Jewish leaders within the community to provide a long-term, sustainable solution to global poverty.

"ASDAN"(Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network) is a British education charity and awarding organization, headquartered in Bristol. It began as a research project of the University of the West of England in the 1980s, and was formally established as an educational charity in 1991. It provides curriculum programs and qualifications to help young people develop knowledge and skills for learning, work and life. This aim is most directed to help children find jobs and careers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic Opportunity Act of 1964</span> Civil rights law of the United States

The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 authorized the formation of local Community Action Agencies as part of the War on Poverty. These agencies are directly regulated by the federal government. "It is the purpose of The Economic Opportunity Act to strengthen, supplement, and coordinate efforts in furtherance of that policy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mona Foundation</span> Non-profit organization focusing on the education of women and girls

Mona Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports grassroots initiatives focused on education and raising the status of women and girls in the US and abroad. They believe that universal education and gender equity are the cornerstones of the eradication of poverty, disease, and conflict.

Unbound, formerly the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, is a nonprofit sponsorship organization headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas. Unbound was founded by lay Catholic workers acting on the Gospel call to serve the poor. Its sponsorship program provides basic necessities such as food, education, clothing and access to medical care to children and elderly in some of the world's poorest communities. Unbound sponsors support more than 280,000 children, youth and aging persons in 19 countries.

The Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) is the largest non-governmental organization working to alleviate poverty in North West Pakistan. It was established in 1989 with the aim of reducing poverty and ensuring sustainable means of livelihood in what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. SRSP is part of the Rural Support Programmes (RSP's) initiated by United Nations Environment Programme Global 500 Award winner Shoaib Sultan Khan. It is now the largest regional RSP, with extensive outreach into communities. In recent years because of its vast outreach, SRSP has had to play a prominent role in disasters that have hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As a result, humanitarian work along with development has become a core competency of the organization.

Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) is a grassroots movement based in Nairobi, Kenya in urban slums providing services, community advocacy platforms, and education and leadership development for women and girls. SHOFCO serves more than 350,000 urban slum dwellers in 10 slums across three cities in Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Youth Cafe</span> African youth organization

The Youth Café is a not-for profit pan-African youth organization that was founded in 2012 and works with young people in Africa and around the world to foster community resilience, propose innovative solutions, drive social progress, enable youth empowerment and inspire political change. The Youth Café is headquartered at Kitisuru Gardens, in Nairobi, Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koyamada International Foundation</span>

Koyamada International Foundation, commonly referred to as KIF or KIF Global, is an international non-governmental organization, with its mission to improve quality of people's life by empowering global youth and women to reach their full potential and by providing humanitarian aid to promote global peace and sustainable development. It has affiliated national chapter members in seven countries.

Ingressive for Good also known as I4G is an African non-profit organization that focuses on poverty alleviation by providing educational and technological resources to young Africans.

References

  1. "About EF | Elias Fund". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-09-10.