Founded in 2007, Educate Girls is a nonprofit organization that aims to expand education for girls living in villages in rural India through community outreach and public-private partnerships. ¹

History

Educate Girls was founded in 2007 by Safeena Husain, a London School of Economics graduate. ² Husain cited her difficult childhood in New Delhi and first-hand experience of growing up in poverty as her motivating factors to start the organization. ³

Programs

Educate Girls operates across a number of Indian states in more than 18,000 villages, organizing through community efforts and partnerships with the Indian government. ⁴ While the organization primarily focuses on expanding access to education for girls, both boys and girls in target villages are included in the organization’s programming. ⁵

Educate Girls operates by going door-to-door in target villages and identifying girls who are not in school. Once identified, Educate Girls deploys local personnel to mobilize community members, leverage local relationships, and address cultural barriers to encourage giving girls access to an education. The organization continues supporting girls once they are in school by encouraging education in literacy and mathematics, working to improve school infrastructure to boost student retention, and supporting courses in life skills for adolescent girls. ⁶

Finance

The organization is funded through international and domestic grants from individual donors, foundations, and corporations. ⁷ Educate Girls has a number of high-profile partners, including Adobe, Bloom & Give, Fossil Foundation, and UNICEF. ⁸

In 2015, Educate Girls received the Skoll Foundation’s Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, which awarded the organization with a $1.25 million grant to be divided over three years. In 2017, Goldman Sachs also awarded a grant to Educate Girls for its second-place finish in the Goldman Sachs Gives Global Analyst Impact Fund competition. ⁹

Educate Girls, in partnership with UBS Optimus Foundation (UBSOF), launched Development Impact Bonds (DIB) in the education sector. ¹⁰ Modeled after Social Impact Bonds, DIB acts as a results-based financing method, with Educate Girls acting as a service provider and UBSOF acting as the investor. ¹¹ A three-year project with a $270,000 budget from 2015-2018 set out to prove the efficacy of DIBs. By the end of the project, Educate Girls surpassed its target learning levels for students involved and surpassed its target enrollment numbers. ¹² Educate Girls was able to reach more than 7,000 children across 140 villages over those three years. ¹³

In 2019, the organization reported receiving more than $2.2 million in total revenue, compared to only $1.6 million in the previous year, while incurring more than $1.4 million in total expenses. ¹⁴

In 2020, left-of-center donor and former wife of Jeff Bezos MacKenzie Scott listed Educate Girls as one of more than 100 organizations driving change throughout the globe and personally contributed to the organization. ¹⁵

Leadership

Safeena Husain is the founder and executive director of Educate Girls. Husain founded the organization in 2007. Educated at the London School of Economics, Husain’s previous experience includes working at a start-up in Silicon Valley in the 1990s. ¹⁶

1. “About Us.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/Who-We-Are.aspx.
2. “About Us.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/Who-We-Are.aspx.
3. Milner, Andrew. “Interview: Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls.” Alliance Magazine, August 27, 2019. https://www.alliancemagazine.org/interview/interview-safeena-husain-founder-of-educate-girls/.
4. “About Us.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/Who-We-Are.aspx.
5. Milner, Andrew. “Interview: Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls.” Alliance Magazine, August 27, 2019. https://www.alliancemagazine.org/interview/interview-safeena-husain-founder-of-educate-girls/.
6. Milner, Andrew. “Interview: Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls.” Alliance Magazine, August 27, 2019. https://www.alliancemagazine.org/interview/interview-safeena-husain-founder-of-educate-girls/
7. Milner, Andrew. “Interview: Safeena Husain, Founder of Educate Girls.” Alliance Magazine, August 27, 2019. https://www.alliancemagazine.org/interview/interview-safeena-husain-founder-of-educate-girls/
8. “About Us.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/Who-We-Are.aspx.
9. “About Us.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/Who-We-Are.aspx.
10. “About Us.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/Who-We-Are.aspx.
11. World’s First Development Impact Bond (DIB) In Education.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/dib.aspx.
12. World’s First Development Impact Bond (DIB) In Education.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/dib.aspx.
13. World’s First Development Impact Bond (DIB) In Education.” Educate Girls. Accessed November 6, 2020. https://www.educategirls.ngo/dib.aspx.
14. Educate Girls, Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), 2019, Part I
15. Scott, MacKenzie. “116 Organizations Driving Change.” Medium. Medium, July 28, 2020. https://medium.com/@mackenzie_scott/116-organizations-driving-change-67354c6d733d.
16. Silver, Marc. “She Got 80,000 Girls To Attend School And Won A $1.25 Million Prize.” NPR. April 23, 2015. Accessed November 06, 2020. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/04/23/401466774/aha-aha-aha-how-3-insightful-moments-changed-safeena-husains-life.