The Mwebaza Foundation began in 2008 after Dale Peterson, a first-grade teacher at Niwot Elementary, signed up through an international organization People to People to connect with an African elementary school. The two schools began their relationship by exchanging letters among the students.
Peterson planned to expand his students’ education on Africa's history, culture and people. Through their correspondence, the students and Peterson learned that there were major disparities in the school their Mwebaza pen pals attended. These realizations inspired the first-grade class to raise funds to send to their Ugandan friends.
Shortly after, Peterson realized that the effort needed to become a nonprofit that set its mission on helping the people of the Mwebaza school become self-sufficient instead of dependent on the funds of a foreign entity while also fostering the exchange of education between the two people.
Over the years, the nonprofit organization helped the Mwebaza school create gardens, install solar panels and other sustainable development projects.
“We realized that we weren’t addressing the root causes of these communities' inability to meet their needs,” Devaki Douillard, executive director of The Mwebaza Foundation.
The nonprofit organization began to explore ways to create long-term sustainability among the people they were helping, Douillard said.
“We really wanted to create a legacy that lasts well beyond our reach and can grow without our hands being directly involved,” Douillard said.
The organization began to invest in social enterprises in Uganda that are cooperatively run small businesses that share the profits between the schools in Uganda and community partners. The funds The Mwebaza Foundation raises are now invested as start-up funding for these businesses.
The Mwebaza Foundation received a $1.5 million endowment gift from an anonymous donor. The dollars have been framed as a match up to $500,000, Douilard said.
The nonprofit just launched its Global Generations Campaign to generate the $500,000 to unlock the $1.5 million endowment dollars. Fundraising will continue through the end of 2024.
Douillard said the endowment dollars will allow the nonprofit to expand its staff — which consists of one full-time and two part-time staff. The organization would like to add an assistant and expand the hours of its Ugandan project manager position.
“This gift would be used to continue to grow our team of staff to help further our mission,” Douillard said.
Donations can be made through the nonprofit’s website or by contacting Douillard at [email protected]
