GLOBAL FUND FOR CHILDREN

A Moment of Obligation That Launched a Global Nonprofit

While traveling on a Rotary International Graduate Fellowship in 1990, Maya stepped onto a train platform in Bhubaneswar, India, and encountered a remarkable scene. Amid the chaos of the train station, a group of children sat in a circle — listening and answering questions while a teacher led them through a simple learning exercise.

After the lesson, Maya learned that the children lived, played and begged on the train platforms. Wanting to provide them with a pathway out of poverty, two teachers offered the children free education, clothing and food. The small school operated on only $400 per year, serving 40 students who would otherwise have no opportunity to learn. Maya thought, “How do I help? And, how come I don’t see train platform schools everywhere?”

Inspired by this powerful model, Maya founded Global Fund for Children (GFC) in 1993 with the backing of an Echoing Green Fellowship. She believed that small amounts of capital, when given to innovative, community-based organizations, could make a lasting impact on the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children. At the core of Maya’s approach was a desire to foster global citizenship in children through the power of children’s books. Using proceeds from the sale of her first book, Children from Australia to Zimbabwe, GFC made its first community investments in 1997, including a grant to the train platform school that had inspired her to create the organization. 

After 18 years running the organization, Maya stepped down from her position as GFC president in 2011. She remained on the board of directors until 2013. Under Maya’s leadership, GFC grew from a seedling vision into one of the largest networks of community-based organizations working on behalf of vulnerable children and youth around the world. Since its inception, GFC has awarded over $51 million to more than 900 innovative grassroots organizations, touching the lives of over 11 million children worldwide.