Scholars Sponsorship Initiative
Every Dollar of Sponsorship Goes
Directly to Supporting a Student.
We sponsor Indigenous students into education programs their own communities built and run. We pay the costs that make attendance possible—and nothing else.
The funding is already in place. The Foundation accepts no donations.
- Funding
- Private, in full
- Model
- Direct student sponsorship
- Active
- Cambodia
- Exploratory
- Vietnam
I. The problem
The opportunity exists. The means to take it does not.
Young people from Indigenous communities earn admission to universities and vocational programs, but admission alone does not make attendance possible. Even when tuition is covered by a scholarship or other financial aid, families may still be unable to afford housing, food, transportation, study materials, and the other costs of living away from home.
The result is simple: a student can earn the opportunity and still be unable to take it.
- Admission is not attendance
- A place can be earned and still go unused when the cost of living away from home cannot be met.
- Tuition is only part of the cost
- Housing, meals, transport, and study materials fall outside most scholarships and outside what a family can carry.
- Withdrawal is rarely academic
- Students most often leave for financial reasons, not for want of ability or effort.
01 — Opportunity
University admission confirmed.
A place is earned on merit, through a program the community already runs.
02 — What remains unpaid
The costs a scholarship does not carry.
Housing
A bed within reach of the campus
Meals
Reliable food for the length of the course
Transportation
Getting to class, and home again
Study materials
Books, equipment, required materials
Other essential costs
Approved, student-specific, documented
Together
More than the household can meet.
03 — Without support
Admission does not become attendance.
04 — With sponsorship
The student enrolls, and continues.
II. The model in 30 seconds
The programs already exist. We fund the students.
Step 1 in detail
We do not build schools, run residences, or design curricula. Community-led organizations have done that work, and they remain the operator of record for everything that happens locally.
We do not accept donations. James and Ruth Brown fund every sponsorship personally. There are no fundraising costs, no campaigns, and no obligations to anyone except the students themselves.
Read our transparency commitmentsIII. Flagship program
It begins in Mondulkiri.
Our first scholars are Bunong, an Indigenous people of Cambodia's eastern highlands. Their ancestral forests and farmland have grown scarce within a generation, and their young people now carry their communities' hopes to universities in Phnom Penh. For more than a decade, an association founded and led by Bunong people has housed and guided those students. We fund the ones who qualify for that program but cannot afford to join it.
About the programIV. Voices
In their own words, when they choose to speak.
Scholars owe the Foundation no photograph, interview, testimonial, or expression of gratitude. Taking part in anything we publish is voluntary, and declining changes nothing about a scholar’s funding, standing, or continuation.
Where a scholar does choose to take part, their words, name, or image are published only with appropriate informed consent, and with regard for their privacy, safety, age, and community context. Accounts will appear here as scholars decide to share them, and not before.
- Can I donate?
- No. The Foundation solicits nothing and accepts nothing from outside the family.
- Who selects the scholars?
- The local program and its community. That decision is not ours to make.
- How long does a sponsorship last?
- To the completion of the course, confirmed by the registrar each semester.
- Does a scholar have to appear publicly?
- No. Publicity is never a condition of sponsorship, and anything published requires informed consent.
For education programs