About Us :

F.A.Q.s

What is the Mona Foundation?

Mission: Mona Foundation is a 501(c) (3) tax exempt public charity supporting grassroots educational initiatives and raising the status of women and girls in the US and abroad.

1. The Foundation extends its services to the world of humanity regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or economic status
2. The Foundation believes that universal education and gender equity are essential strategies across cultural and national boundaries to the eradication of poverty, disease, and conflict
3. The Foundation hence supports social and economic development projects which meet our project selection criteria, which are designed to raise capacity at the grassroots, and which aim at:
    
   1. Provide quality education to all children
   2. Raise the status of women and girls
   3. Build Community
4. The Foundation believes that these universally embracing principles elevate us all to recognize that we are members of one human family who inhabit the same earth, who share the same fundamental needs, and who can and will contribute to an ever-advancing civilization
5. The Foundation's purposes, therefore, serve this ultimate ideal: To bring people of all backgrounds together in service to each other across cultural, national, religious, racial, and economic divides to systematically contribute our human and material resources and help create a world devoid of poverty, war and disease where every member of our human family is an active participant in the process of our communities progress and development

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What are your core values?

Mona Foundation integrates the following values in all aspects of its operation:

Service to the World of Humanity

1. Regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and economic status
2. In form of developing human resources and supporting social and economic development initiatives focused on improving education and the status of women and girls

Fostering Unity in Diversity

1. Preserving the diverse cultural heritage of the people
2. Building connected communities
3. Building collaborative relationships
4. Supporting others to develop themselves

Volunteerism and Service Learning

1. Building a community of givers across borders
2. Enabling volunteers to acquire essential competencies for development work
3. Facilitating service opportunities for volunteers

Consultation as a Medium of Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

1. Respecting diversity of views
2. Seeking diversity of perspectives
3. Searching for truth
4. Arriving at, and rallying around the group decision

Integrity

1. Having conviction & courage
2. Embodying trustworthiness
3. Demonstrating confidence in our work and in people

Accountability

1. Planning, organizing, coordinating, and evaluating
2. Collaborating across organizations
3. Driving for results
4. Managing change and processes
5. Maintaining organizational agility
6. Evaluating and improving

Embracing Significant Challenges and Seeing Them Through

1. Being action oriented
2. Remaining creative
3. Thinking and leading strategically

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What are your Guiding Principles?

The underlying basis for all the activities of the Mona Foundation is the belief that the key to poverty reduction and the development of human resources lies in universal education and gender equality. We believe that successful programs are those that develop from grassroots educational initiatives and which seek to raise the social and economic status of the community as a whole, including those of women and girls.

Objectives:

Mona Foundation supports grassroots social and economic development projects aimed at:

Providing Quality Education to All Children

Human development is the core of any development process. Education - the empowerment of individuals through the provision of learning - is truly a human right and a social responsibility. Education unlocks creativity and intellect, whose expression underlies happiness and human dignity.*

Raising the Status of Women and Girls

The advancement of civilization now requires the full participation of everyone, including women. Any inequality between women and men is a result of educational differences; educated women develop the same capacities and abilities as men. Data documents the correlation between a variety of crucial development indicators and the education of girls and women. From infant mortality reductions, fertility, and the incidence of AIDS, to improvements in the environment, it is amply demonstrated that education of mothers makes the difference. The positive effects increase with every additional year a girl stays in school. When all the benefits are taken into account, educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment that can be made in the developing world.*

Community Building

The process of community building affirms that all people can find the direction and the capacity for development within themselves. It furthers empowerment, not dependency. It promotes tolerance and understanding. It helps people develop skills in consultation to resolve differences and develop peaceful, collaborative relationships. These processes foster both self-realization as well as the individual's productive involvement in society.*

   * From documents of the World Conference on Education for All

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What are your strategies?

Mona Foundation serves its mission through:

Operating with Excellence

1. Safeguarding with utmost integrity our position as the “trustees of the good will of others.”
2. Ensuring sustainability by identifying critical organizational offices and staff positions and securing and optimizing the services of both professionals and volunteers in meeting the essential organizational development needs of the Foundation
3. Developing and optimizing the organizational capacity by building the IT infrastructure that will enable efficient operation and adequately supports the growth of the Foundation on an ongoing basis
4. Formalizing processes and procedures that clarifies roles & responsibilities and accountabilities
5. Measuring and reporting
6. Maintaining a systematic approach to our operation and improve YOY through a process of consultation, action and reflection as modus operand
7. Maintain a learning culture

Supporting developing human resources at the grassroots

1. Building long term and deep partnership with the initiatives we support over several years
2. Establishing reciprocal relationship with the initiatives we support embedded in a culture of learning to experience and learn about sustainable social and economic development
3. Fostering integrated lines of action in collaboration with like-minded organizations to build community and increase our effectiveness

Supporting our adopted initiatives through financial grants and human & material resources

1. Providing financial support as requested by adopted initiatives towards their everyday operation or for their development plans, including providing scholarship for needy and deserving students.

Promoting service learning and volunteerism

1. Working with volunteer students and teachers within schools to implement community service initiatives, for instance book drives, both in the US and abroad.
2. Facilitating the placement of volunteers in development agencies we support as needed

Bridging the digital divide

1. Offering skill-based training to schools, for example, CTLC in Ngobe Bugle Area of Chiriqui Region, Panama
2. Providing technology labs to the underserved, for example, Badi School in Panama and Ruaha secondary school in Tanzania
3. Collaborating with other organizations to digitally bring K-12 online curriculum to the initiatives we support to augment their academic curriculum

Members of the board of directors of the Mona Foundation exemplify their commitments to these strategies by volunteering their time and resources, and by offering their professional services at no cost, or at substantially reduced rates, to educational institutions and/or the projects we support.

What is Mona’s Project Selection Criteria?

The role of the Mona Foundation is to find and support educational programs that meet the following criteria:

1. The program is founded and operated by local residents.
2. The program addresses a vital and significant deficit in the basic needs of children, needs which prevent the full development of their capacity as productive members of their society. These needs must include education, but also may include housing, food and a nurturing environment.
3. The program serves children of all backgrounds, regardless of age, sex, race or ethnicity, religion, or economic status.
4. The program seeks to develop human resources for the community.
5. The program has a historic rate of success, having been established and functioning for a significant period of time. The local administrators of the school have shown a long-term commitment to the development of the program, including not only ongoing maintenance but also capital development and expansion.
6. The program administrators are active participants in developing and implementing plans for the self-sustainability of their facility.
7. The program enjoys the support of the local community.

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What is a social and economic development project?

Social and economic development projects are designed to build capacity at the grassroots and help people help themselves. These may include schools, educational aspects of health care facilities and clinics, agricultural projects, and the like.

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What are some of the activities of Mona Foundation?

Presently we support the following projects: (please click on these links for more information on each of the projects.)

1. ADCAM, Amazonas, Brazil
2. Badi School & University, Panama
3. Barli Institute for Development of Rural Women, Indore, India
4. Books for Africa
5. CAFT Program, Haiti
6. CORDE Schools, Cambodia
7. Digital Study Hall, India
8. Full Circle Learning and Charter School, LA, USA
9. Mongolian Development Center, Mongolia
10. Ngobe-Bugle Schools, Panama
11. Ngabe-Bukle University, Panama
12. Soloy CTLC, Panama
13. Ruaha Secondary School, Tanzania
14. Setsembiso Sebuyne, Swaziland
15. Sunflower Mission, Vietnam
16. Anis Zunuzi School, Haiti
17. George Marcellus, Haiti
18. Zunuzi Annex for Street Children, Haiti
19. New Horizon, Haiti

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Who are members of your Board of Directors?

Our professionally and culturally diverse board of directors enjoys 40 years of cumulative experience in implementing sustainable social and economic development projects:

1. Mahnaz A. Javid, Ed.D. Vice President, Global Learning & Development, Avanade Corporations; President, Mona Foundation
2. Rita Egrari, Ph.D. Public Health, Treasurer, Mona Foundation
3. Sima Mobini, Secretary, Mona Foundation
4. Stephen Waite, International Development Consultant, Board member, Mona Foundation
5. Diane Marie Samandi, President, Jon Quil, Board member, Mona Foundation
6. Duy-Loan Le, Texas Instruments Senior Fellow, National Instruments Director
7. Gouya Zamani, President, Gouya Shoes, Inc., Board member, Mona Foundation

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Who is Mona?

Mona was a 16-year-old high school girl who was executed in 1983 because she was a Baha'i. Mona helped as a volunteer in an orphanage since she was thirteen, was committed to the education of children and said a prayer for the unity and prosperity of mankind before she was hung.

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Is Mona Foundation a religious organization?

No. We are a 501 (c) (3), tax exempt public organization supporting grassroots educational initiatives that build capacity at the grassroots so people lead themselves in social and economic development of their own communities.

While many of the Mona Foundation volunteers and supporters are Baha’is, many are not. Regardless, we are all inspired by the example of Mona and by the universal principles of service to humanity and the right of all to receive an education. Our support extends to all children without regard to religion, gender, nationality, race or economic status.

Ultimately, our purpose is to go beyond the barriers that so sadly divide our communities and prove that people of all backgrounds can work together in the service of our common good.

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Which firm advises you & is responsible for your financial & tax reporting?

Voldal Wartelle & Co PS

13343 Bel Red Rd
Bellevue, WA 98005
425-746-0352

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Do you have paid staff and what is your overhead?

Our work is carried out by a cadre of many volunteers, including members of the board of directors, from all walks of life who continually give of their time and resources to support the Foundation's aims and projects.

Mona foundation is committed to send 100% of all designated funds and 97% of all funds given to the General Fund directly to the projects it supports. A privately provided OPs Fund, set up by the members of Mona Foundation Board of Directors and Board of Advisors covers our minimum administrative expenses as it may be required to sustain our growth and development.

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How can people participate and help with the work of the Foundation?

Contact Us

Mona Foundation
218 Main Street, Suite 404
Kirkland, WA 98033
monafoundation@monafoundation.org.

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