2025-11-11T20:44:25-07:00 2024-12-31 990 2024-01-01 276775063 GAMBIARISING GAMB 4159021195 1500 Park Ave Apt PH 1 Emeryville CA 94608 Michael McConnell Managing Trustee 4159021195 2025-11-14 1 2024 2025-03-06 01:10:19Z Michael A McConnell 1500 Park Ave Apt 503 Emeryville CA 94608 651544 0 X www.gambiarising.org X 2010 CA Working through the Gambian non-profit GambiaRising Gambia, GambiaRising Charitable Trust provides opportunities to impoverished Gambians to better themselves through their own work - primarily through financial assistance to students who otherwise might not be able to stay in or go to school. At the grade school level, our criteria are need: the amount of difference that our support will make in recipients' lives. We focus especially on keeping girls in school at the higher grades. After 12th grade, we support the very top students to attend college in The Gambia. We have also funded construction of several rural schools, and supported other Gambian schools through physical improvements, donation of learning materials and technology, and funding additional training for their teachers. We also provide fiscal sponsorship for three Gambian non-profits: Working Water Gambia, Forest Gardens Gambian, and West Africa Medicine and Educatio 12 10 0 12 -8053 0 605862 575346 0 0 13180 8166 0 0 619042 583512 606404 613941 0 0 0 0 0 0 3275 327 6479 606731 620420 12311 -36908 226692 219894 0 0 226692 219894 GambiaRising's primary program is to support the education of those who without help will not be able to attend school, with a special emphasis on girls. Where lack of schools or school infrastructure is the primary obstacle to students getting an education, we have occasionally supported campaigns to fund rural school construction, the building of teachers' housing, school toilets and/or school kitchens and gardens. We also provide fiscal sponsorship and advisory support to three Gambian non-profits, Working Water Gambia, Forest Gardens Gambia, and West Africa Medicine and Education. 0 0 490453 482580 0 GambiaRising's primary program is to support the education of those who without help will not be able to attend school, with a special emphasis on girls. In the school year beginning in September 2024, more than 6,100 students were in school with scholarship support consisting of whatever was needed to have them start, continue, or go back to school. This included school uniforms, books & supplies, tuition, study fees as needed and occasionally bicycles, car fare, lunch money, medicine, shoes, etc. as well. Some university and college students were also provided laptops and even plane tickets and visa fees for those able to win full scholarships to study in the U.S. for graduate degrees. Of all these students, 73% were girls. 25181 25000 0 In rural areas where the primary cause of the lack of qualified teachers is the absence of appropriate rental housing in rural villages, we supported the construction of teachers' housing in rural schools by funding materials and the necessary skilled labor to construct "hand-made" housing blocks near the schools, with bricks made by hand by the community. We have also supported repairs and improvements to rural schools, construction and repair of school kitchens and wells, and for tree planting and garden improvements in rural schools and training for rural school garden masters. 66879 66879 0 GambiaRising provided fiscal and administrative support to Working Water Gambia (with most funds provided by Water Charity but including other small donations) whose work included repairing or replacing wells and pumps in rural Gambian villages. In 2024, pumps and wells were repaired and rehabilitated in 26 Gambian villages and 3 major new solar powered water systems were installed. 31428 31023 0 Working through the Gambian non-profit Forest Gardens Gambia, with funding from Trees for the Future, GambiaRising supported the continuing work of training Central River Region farmers in sustainable agriculture programs, propogating and planting thorny "live fences" around their farms and propogating and incorporating trees of all kinds into their farms. At the end of 2024, 475 farmers in two districts of the Central River Region were actively participating in the program and during 2024, they planted 975,000 thorny bushes and trees - the thorny bushes for live fencing and the trees to incorporate fruit, nut, and timber trees into their farms. 31428 31023 0 613941 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 12 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 CA X Michael McConnell 4159021195 1500 Park Ave Apt PH 1 Emeryville CA 94608 Bjorn Betzler Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 Brian Carroll Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 Philipa von Kerckerinck Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 Marnie Kleinsmith-Florin Trustee 1 0 X 0 0 0 Joanna LaHaie Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 Sarah Lee Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 Emily Lundberg Trustee 1 0 X 0 0 0 Michael McConnell Managing Trustee 30 0 X X X 0 0 0 Erin Miller Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 Maggie Okponobi Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 Josh Shrager Trustee 1.00 0 X 0 0 0 Stephanie Stawicki Trustee 0.25 0 X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 575346 0 575346 0 16219 0 0 16219 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59979 0 68032 0 -8053 0 -8053 0 -8053 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 583512 0 -8053 16219 0 0 0 0 613941 613941 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 47 0 47 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 725 0 725 0 1817 0 1817 0 615 0 615 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3275 0 0 3275 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 620420 613941 3204 3275 0 0 44127 7543 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 182565 212351 0 0 0 0 226692 219894 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 226692 219894 0 0 0 0 226692 219894 226692 219894 -36908 30110 0 0 0 0 X 0 0 0 X 452884 672970 858731 595137 575346 3155068 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 452884 672970 858731 595137 575346 3155068 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3155068 4356 7583 8853 16721 16219 53732 0 0 0 0 0 4356 7583 8853 16721 16219 53732 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 457240 680553 867584 611858 591565 3208800 0.98325 0.98646 0.01675 0.01354 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 1 Sub-Saharan Africa 0 0 Grantmaking We helped the Gambians we have worked with for more than a decade to organize a Gambian not-for-profit compeny, Gambia Rising Gambia, and operate the program we developed together through grants to that organization. We still collaborate extensively in the creation and implementation of GRG's plans. Our scholarship and school support programs are implemented this way. We helped organize Working Water Gambia to implemement village water repair and replacement programs and we serve as fiscal sponsors for them and provide oversight to their program. In the same way, we helped organize the Gambian non-for-profit Forest Gardens Gambia, provide strategic consulting and oversight and provide fiscal sponsorship for their programs with Gambian farmers. 568363 Sub-Saharan Africa 0 0 Program Services Certain activities in support of Gambia Rising Gambia's and other programs were more effectively conducted directly, such as purchasing used laptops in the U.S. and shipping them to The Gambia, or supporting students from The Gambia who were studying in other countries (primarily the U.S.) The services were the same as were conducted by the grantees but the funds were spent directly rather than through grants. 45578 0 0 613941 Sub-Saharan Africa Provide $445,460 to Gambia Rising Gambia in direct support to young Gambians to stay in school through 12th grade and then to provide support for professional and technical training and development past 12th grade, primarily through providing scholarships to Gambia College, the University of The Gambia, and the University of Science, Engineering, and Technology in The Gambia, as well as support to Gambians having the opportunity to study abroad with full scholarships. Provided an additional $25,000 grant to Gambia Rising Gambia for construction and renovation of teachers housing at rural Gambian schools. 470460 wire transfer Sub-Saharan Africa To support Working Water Gambia's projects to replace and repair village wells in The Gambia 66879 wire transfer Sub-Saharan Africa To fund the Trees for the Future program for Gambian farmers through Forest Gardens Gambia. 31023 wire transfer 0 3 0 For Gambian students who found support to study abroad with scholarships, we provided assistance with visa fees, travel expenses, and transitional expenses. We also provided occasional limited start-up assistance to recent graduates setting up businesses. Gambia Rising also purchased laptops in the U.S. for the use of college students both in The Gambia and abroad. These were shipped to volunteer coordinators who gave them to the students. In addition, GambiaRising directly paid for one small school improvement project, and purchased seeds for Forest Gardens Gambia which were not available in The Gambia. (Each of these expenses were less than $500) Sub-Saharan Africa 27 45579 wire transfer to student, or direct payment to US State Dept or purchase of airplane ticket 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Schedule F, Part I, Line 2 We actively participate in the creation of the requests for funding, to ensure that we approve the criteria that go into its creation. We monitor the accounting for the use of funds, including reviewing annual accounting records. We approve any proposed change of plans (primarily accepting additional students). We visit and meet with the leaders of the organizations at least one time each year, in The Gambia, and actively participate in their annual planning meetings. Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 2 Emily Lundberg is the stepdaughter of Michael McConnell Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b The draft return is provided to all Board members by email, for their review 48 hours prior to filing, with time for additional review if requested. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c The Board is polled annually to verify the information is current. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 All are available upon request and no request has ever been denied.