Chris Findelsberger (Founder) and Marco Müllner (Fundraising) | Interview given to Ms. Maria Louisa Vafiadaki
-Please talk to us about 264 Education and its mission. How was it founded and why did you decide to become involved in it?
C: I am the Founder of 264. I used to be a Management Consultant and now together with friends we are building a start-up for the tech world. During the weekends I wear my NGO cap and work for 264 Education, mainly focusing on the overall management and expansion.
The main mission of 264 Education is to provide every child with a fair chance in life, this is core to our beliefs. Everything that happens in this life is affected by where you were born. Born in Germany, I was lucky to have had shelter, food on my plate and free education. When I travelled to Nepal 3 years ago I lived in a small village for 4 months. I saw children working on the fields because there was no school, I saw girls getting married at the age of 14 due to arranged marriages and felt quite devastated. The idea of starting 264 was right there. A local “visionary” approached me and asked me whether we could build a school there.
264 Education does not present itself an as NGO, but as an impact organization, because we recognize the NGOs’ problems: firstly, they are not efficient (35%+ administrative costs), secondly, most of them operate with a Western mindset and don’t relate to the local communities & circumstances and thirdly, the long-term impact. I was personally and emotionally involved in the community and was interested in really transforming the community and not just building a school there.
M: During the week I work for a FinTech company in Berlin. Chris and myself both studied at the same university and we know each other via a common friend who was part of 264 already. My studies had a focus on educational science and when I found out that Chris was starting 264, I loved the idea and asked: How can I support? At 264, I raise funds through institutions like companies, charities etc.
Every child deserves a proper education. 264 works with local champions to build schools to do just that.
-Which sustainable schools have you established and in which countries are you operating? Are you planning to build schools in other countries as well ?
C: Currently, we are active in Uganda (1 school) and Nepal (2 schools). We understand sustainability in 3 parts. Firstly, we have a sustainable long-term impact: we don’t just want to build a school and leave, but really transform its students & community. We want to re-think the journey of the students and what happens to them after they finish school and enter the job market. Secondly, we want to have free education and use local resources to refinance. We don’t want to provide more waste to the community. Thirdly, we want to think of how the school can be self-sustained from an entrepreneurial point of view. For example, in Nepal, we use solar panels and teach students why the environment is important. There is a lot of waste everywhere. Students pick up waste on the weekends together with their parents. They also learn about farming and see it in practice.
We don’t define ourselves as an NGO, but as a foreign impact organization. Our aim is to maximize impact, while operating as a business. We operate on 2,4% administration cost ratio compared to NGOs which are 35+%. We consistently outperform other schools in the areas where we operate when it comes to education. We always try to have a scalable impact and increase it. For example, in Nepal there is a lot of corporal punishment in the schools. We have a strong non-hitting policy and our teachers go to other schools and train other teachers with alternative positive mechanisms. In Nepal, our 2 schools have become role model schools. We operate through our local visionaries and not as a Western organization.
M: We build schools where the need is the highest. That’s why we are focusing on Africa, South East Asia and South America. If you find a partner (local visionary) in a region, you have the starting point to use the network to build more schools more efficiently.
-Could you briefly present to us the biggest success story of your projects i.e. Great Hope School? Golden Hill Academy?
M: The school we are building at the moment, the Great Hope School is a big success for me, because this was the first time we calculated when a school can be completely independent, so at what point no external funds are needed anymore. We created a 10-year plan, which is exemplary for other schools as well. A combination of school fees and income from the school-community model-farm will make it possible. Besides the educational approach for the children, the farm will help community members who are in need of food and generate income from selling products on markets. We hope that this plan inspires the community, the teachers, the Director of the school and the parents of the kids. They don’t need us long-term to be successful – they have everything they need to make a change bottom-up.
Check out how the Great Hope Uganda school is being built
-What would you say are the biggest challenges on the road to build a sustainable school?
C: The local visionaries are definitely a challenge. Finding people who have a background in education, an entrepreneurial mindset and who are really connected to the local community. We want to empower these people so that they can help their own community. An additional challenge is gaining the support of the local community i.e. the eldest and religious leaders. In Uganda and Nepal these people are crucial if you want to be allowed to operate there.
Moreover, sending money to these countries can be an issue. We experiment a lot with different ways of sending money abroad and even examine crypto-currencies, because sending money is really expensive these days. Finally, Covid-19 has been a challenge as well, because one KPI is to visit our local visionaries often.
M: From a funding perspective, there is a lot of money around, but if you are new as an organization, the hard part is to gain awareness and become credible in the eyes of companies, charities and families.
-In what ways does “Education have the power to change the world”, as stated in 264 Education’s vision ?
C: The big task that we have set is to fight poverty and fighting poverty is the source of the problem. Seeing children working on the fields to support their parents, we’d rather have children in the schools so that they can earn a bigger income in the future and secure a better quality of life. Besides that, you have a lot of arranged marriages in these countries. However, when a girl is educated, she is less likely to have an arranged marriage at an early age. People who are educated in Uganda, are more aware about diseases, have a better understanding of HIV, so education is touching upon a lot of areas.
Happy future students!
-Why should readers be keen to donate some funds to your cause? What impact will they have on establishing a sustainable educational system?
M: As an investor you want to be sure that your money reaches the project you have invested in – 100 % of your donation reaches the project. At 264 we make sure that there is what we call “radical transparency”. We produce detailed reports pointing out exactly where the money goes, its flow and impact. We do personal updates with pictures, videos and on-field updates from our partners – we don’t just send letters. Moreover, investors have the possibility to visit the actual project.
-Can you talk to us about the “Great Hope” project? What are your next steps and what are you aiming to achieve in relation to that? Please mention some milestones.
M: Together, with our new partner Eddy Balina, we are building The Sustainable School from scratch for ~245 kids (9 classrooms, 15 teachers) in Uganda. The total cost is around € 60k and we funded nearly 50 %, so € ~30k is missing.
You can separate the project into 5 steps:
264 is missing around € 30,000 to finish building the Great Hope Uganda school. If you want to donate to 264 to help close that get that would be amazing.
-How does an investor and volunteer reach out to you?
M: Investors can reach out directly to me (marco@264.education), interested volunteers can reach via hi@264.education or through our active Instagram page. We always have volunteers on site, however with C-19 it’s quite difficult to achieve this. But there is always something for everyone.
-Lastly, can education be totally free in your view? How are private schools different from public schools?
C: Education needs to be free, otherwise children will end up working from a very young age. Parents often don’t see the benefits of paying for education and most importantly, they cannot afford it.
The difference between private and public schools is the quality of education. Governments such as Uganda and Nepal don’t necessarily have the funds to build and sustain schools and facilities. For instance, our schools have laptops, libraries where the students can borrow books on weekends as well. In public schools, children need to often share the books and there are no libraries or laptops, so this is not the best learning environment.
Thank you.