Organization

Sustainable Cambodia


Sustainable Cambodia is a Rotarian-led nonprofit that works with families in rural Cambodian villages on clean water, farming, income and schooling.[1] Village families build schools, install wells, learn alternative agriculture and manage their own community projects.[1] Each village then passes on what it has learned by helping a neighboring village.[1][2] The organization calls itself an empowerment organization rather than an aid organization.[2]

History

Sustainable Cambodia began its work in 2004 and received U.S. tax-exempt status that January.[2][3] Its model is meant to develop the human resources Cambodia needs to rebuild its future after the Khmer Rouge genocide.[1] The organization says its model has since helped tens of thousands of Cambodian men, women and children rebuild their lives.[2]

How the work is done

The organization's Cambodian staff help each village form a Village Development Committee. Its volunteer members organize the village families, who choose their own projects and do the work to carry them out.[4] Sustainable Cambodia usually provides the training and nearly all of the early funding, then reduces its help after three years as the village becomes more self-reliant; the whole process takes four to five years.[4] It draws on proven models, among them the Grameen Bank microloan program and Heifer International's pass-on animal program, and it shares its Program Guide and Handbook free with other nonprofits.[4]

Programs

Village programs begin with leadership and project management training.[1] Water and sanitation projects include drinking-water wells, biosand filters, rainwater harvesting, community ponds, and vegetable gardens with irrigation.[1][4] For income and food, families take part in alternative agriculture, family gardens, crop microloans, small business training, microbusinesses, rice banks, beekeeping and a pass-on farm animal program.[1][4]

In education, the organization runs grades 1 to 12 enrichment schools, community schools and village preschools, along with adult literacy classes, mobile libraries, vocational training and health and sanitation education. The Sylvia Lasky Memorial School serves more than 300 grade-school students, and the Kravanh Bright Futures School more than 240.[1][4] Grade-school graduates can receive university scholarships covering tuition, housing, study materials and technology, and a child sponsorship program provides school supplies and uniforms for students from low-income families.[4][5] The organization also supports village health care.[4]

Community

Only Cambodians are employed as paid staff. Its international officers, directors and consultants are unpaid volunteers, and a majority of the board are Rotarians.[2][5] The organization says its overhead and fundraising costs stay below 3 percent and are covered by its Rotarian founders, so that all contributions go to projects in rural Cambodia.[2] It works mainly in Buddhist communities and also serves Christian and Muslim families.[5]

On-site volunteers, from their late teens to their seventies, have taught and worked alongside local staff from a home base in Pursat. Placements usually last at least three months.[5] Schools, companies and foundations can sponsor classrooms, students, teachers or projects.[6]

Sustainable Cambodia, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation incorporated in Florida, with its legal address in Gainesville, and it follows Rotary's principles and its Four-Way Test in its decisions.[7] In 2024 it reported revenue of $495,649, almost all from contributions.[3]

Board of directors (2024)

Volunteer directors listed in the organization's federal tax filing for 2024.[3]

  • Gabor Karsai, President
  • Jennifer Scott, Vice President
  • Emily Margulis, Secretary
  • Susan J. Mastin, Treasurer
  • Elena Fraser
  • Richard R. Allen
  • Bruce A. Lasky
  • Paul B. Stringham
  • Julie Johnson
  • Ian Scott
  • Vicki Greenberg
  • Wendy Morrish
  • Dennise Herrick
  • Michael Orbin
  • Ryan Kern

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Sustainable Cambodia, home page
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Sustainable Cambodia, Who we are
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Sustainable Cambodia Inc
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Sustainable Cambodia, Programs (2025)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Sustainable Cambodia, Volunteer on site
  6. ↑ Sustainable Cambodia, Organization sponsorship
  7. ↑ Sustainable Cambodia, Governance (2023)
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This page was last edited on 27 September 2026, at 00:42.