ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
While living in Nairobi, Florentine and Skief Houben felt overwhelmed by the poverty as well as the circumstances of children living in city slums. Florentine was working as a volunteer in the slums when she met a local teacher who explained the lack of and need for a school in her slum. We were inspired when she shared that her dream was to found a school and we decided to help her realize this dream. In 2012 we officially set up the Shining Star foundation and started with 25 children in a church building. Since then we have built our own school and have grown to support 250 children.
Shining Star is a foundation under Dutch law, registered at the Dutch chamber of commerce. The Dutch authorities have recognized Shining Star as a charitable organization with ANBI-status.
GENERAL
Name: Stichting Early Childhood Development Centre Shining Star Address: Crayenesterlaan 42 City: Haarlem Country: The Netherlands Phone: +31 6 12667390 Email address: info@shiningstar-africa.com RSIN number: 8514.48.240 Chamber of Commerce number: 54808560 IBAN: NL13ABNA0470050977 Website: http://www.shiningstar-africa.comSTRATEGY
Mission
Shining Star creates a good and safe educational environment for young children (toddlers between 1.5 and 9 years old) in order to give them a better start and future and to let them shine in life.
Objective
The foundation recruits sponsors to provide approximately 250 children with appropriate education.
Activities of the foundation
Every year an amount of money is raised to keep the school running. This amount is spent on the points below:
1. Retaining good teachers
2. Acquiring appropriate teaching materials
3. Expanding the food program
4. Providing clean drinking water
5. Maintaining and expanding the school building where necessary
6. Handing out uniforms
We ensure that there are Dutch coordinators on location to streamline all processes, and to determine the needs each quarter of a year.
Fundraising
1. Submitting applications to other Dutch foundations, for example the Anton Jurgens Fonds and Tuti Boni etc.
2. Involving commercial companies such as Donsje Amsterdam B.V.
Managing capital
We have a separate account for our foundation at ABN AMRO Bank. Sponsors will transfer the amount directly to that account. Each trimester, a contribution is transferred to the school in Africa. The school manager, Judy Nzomo, can use this money to fund the school's designated projects and daily needs. In addition, there is a Dutch volunteer, Bernadette de Kroes, who lives in Nairobi and helps Judy to draw up budgets, and checks her spending pattern if necessary.
Reward policymakers
100% of the contributions received for our foundation are used directly to realize our ambitions in Africa. We can substantiate all expenses. No one on our board will therefore receive a reward for their services. At most, expenses are reimbursed.
We keep our sponsors well informed and ensure that we are transparent so that everyone who supports us knows where the money is going and how each project develops.
Current activities
In 2020, the foundation is engaged in the following activities:
Current report of activities performed
The following projects were completed in 2019:
The balance sheet and statement of income and expenditure with explanatory notes
Financial data 2018
We are grateful to the sponsors who help Shining Star in providing children with a better start in life!
