Organization

The Trailblazer Foundation


The Trailblazer Foundation is a U.S. nonprofit, founded in 2004 by Chris and Scott Coats, that supports rural community development in Siem Reap province, Cambodia.[1][2] The co-founders chose the name because they were creating a new approach to rural development in Cambodia. From the start it focused on Siem Reap province, where many rural villagers lacked clean water, sanitation and basic infrastructure.[1] The foundation describes itself as the first non-governmental organization to work in the rural villages of Siem Reap province.[1]

History

Chris and Scott Coats first visited Cambodia in February 2002. They returned with their daughter in February 2003 and spent two months looking for ways to help. They found no established project in Siem Reap that they trusted, so they decided to start their own.[1][3][4] The foundation began as a Wyoming nonprofit and was registered as a 501(c)(3) public charity in April 2004.[5] In May 2004 Chris Coats and the founding board member Karin Ralph met local officials to commit to a first project.[1]

That project was a school in Sras village, in the Angkor Thom district of Siem Reap province. Local officials called Sras one of the poorest villages in the district and a hard place for organizations to work.[3] In January 2005 the Coatses moved to Siem Reap to begin the school, and Chris Coats lived in Cambodia for the foundation's first six years.[1][4] During 2005 the foundation set up agreements with the government, a bank account and local project management, and it hired a local Khmer worker to find a builder, manage the project and translate. Ground was broken in December 2005.[3]

While building the school, the foundation found that the lack of clean water was a larger problem for village families. It installed the village's first two wells at the school site, with support from the Rotary Club of Teton Valley, and went on to drill enough wells for all 207 families in Sras.[1][3][6] In February 2006 GlobalMedic introduced the foundation to bio-sand water filters and donated a mold for making them. CAWST also provided molds and training in the early years.[3][7] Water has been central to its work ever since.[1]

At the start of 2014 the foundation was entering its tenth year. By then it had drilled more than 500 wells and put in nearly 3,000 bio-sand filters, giving more than 100,000 people access to drinking water. In 2013 alone it installed 111 pull-pump wells and 425 filters, with a staff of eleven Khmer employees and one international project director.[5] It raised its budget by 40 percent in 2016 to meet growing demand.[1] In 2018 it combined its agricultural trainings into a single Homestead Garden training.[8] Since 2004, the foundation says, it has partnered with more than 300 villages, directly reached 101,410 people in 20,282 families, and extended protection to more than 145,000 people once neighboring households are counted.[1][9]

Programs

The foundation works in four program areas: health, food security, education and economic development.[1] Its projects are chosen through the District Integrated Workshop, a yearly local-government review held each November. Commune chiefs present the infrastructure needs of their villages, and the foundation then signs agreements with selected villages for work in the following year. It describes itself as one of only a handful of NGOs invited to the workshop.[1] In 2023 it was helping about 20 villages a year, each with about 700 to 1,500 residents.[4]

The Health Program provides wells, bio-sand filters and latrines, and it trains households to use and maintain them and to practice good hygiene. It follows the global WASH approach of water, sanitation and hygiene.[7] Its pull-pump wells are designed to be used by women and children. Each bio-sand filter makes about 80 liters (21 gallons) of drinking water a day, and the foundation says a filter can last up to 20 years. Recipients are trained in Khmer on use, care, hygiene and sanitation. The foundation records the GPS location of every well and filter and gives a one-year warranty.[5][1]

Well water also irrigates homestead gardens all year and supports livestock. The Food Security Program trains farmers in agriculture, helps form Farmer Community Groups and starts chicken farms, and the foundation credits these groups and farms with raising participants' market income.[8][10] The Homestead Garden training covers horticulture, soil care, composting, earthworms and organic fertilizers and pesticides, with a focus on growing food for the household.[8]

In education, the foundation gives bicycles to students in partner villages so they can reach district schools. School building is not its main focus, but it supports public primary school construction when villages ask and funding allows; the Cambodian government pays the teachers and sets the curriculum.[8] The foundation says that clean water close to home lets children, especially girls, go to school instead of walking for water.[9]

For economic development, villagers make a small payment for each product they receive. The money goes into a Village Fund, a local microloan program that lends for livestock, fertilizer, medical care, small businesses and transportation.[1][4] The foundation also advises villagers who want to start or grow small businesses.[8] One EXO Foundation grant paid for well-drilling equipment, ten pull-pump wells and ten bio-sand filters in Pouk district, south of Siem Reap.[8]

Organization and staff

The Trailblazer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 20-1063922) funded by donors.[11][12] Chris Coats, co-founder and executive director, lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, and travels from time to time to the Siem Reap office. The foundation's two U.S. staff work remotely in Colorado and Florida. Jeni, who joined in 2006, is executive assistant and supports U.S. operations from Central Florida. The board includes members from the United States, Cambodia and Canada.[2][13][1]

Most program work is carried out from the Siem Reap office by the Cambodian affiliate Trailblazer Angkor (TA), which the foundation helped launch. Its twelve staff are all local Cambodians. The foundation says hiring Khmer workers through TA keeps its costs low.[1][2] Cambodian staff work with government officials to carry out projects, while U.S. staff raise funds.[4] Volunteers in Cambodia help make, deliver and install filters, and by 2023 they had come from 32 countries.[4]

The foundation has worked with Rotary International since 2004. It has received nineteen grants from U.S. Rotary clubs and thirteen from Rotary clubs abroad. In 2026 Rotary gifts paid for latrines, wells, bio-sand filters and hygiene training, from the Rotary Club of Highland Ranch, the Fort Collins Breakfast Rotary Club and the Rotary Club Zurich-Flughafen.[6] Friendly Planet Travel has supported the foundation since 2007, and the company and its passengers have paid for more than 200 wells.[3][14]

Trailblazer Angkor staff (2026)

Staff listed by the foundation in 2026.[2]

  • Mr. Sor Ratanak, field director
  • Ms. Kong Sokun, account manager
  • Ms. Sou Sokcheat, store clerk and accounting assistant
  • Mr. Sok Samnang, health program manager
  • Mr. Horn Houn, economic development program and volunteer coordinator
  • Mr. Han Sen, agriculture specialist
  • Mr. Chea Thy, program assistant
  • Mr. Bou Bunma, program assistant
  • Mr. Se Den, program assistant
Board (2023)

Officers and directors listed in the federal filing for 2023, all unpaid.[11]

  • Nick Munro, president
  • Kevin Andrezejewski, vice president
  • Nicky Ulrich, treasurer
  • Courtney Ward, board member
  • Christy Baril, board member
  • Tatsuma Watson, board member

Finances

Federal filings report revenue of $296,785, expenses of $311,067 and total assets of $143,960 for 2023. Revenue was $261,670 and expenses $277,210 in 2022, and revenue was $331,323 and expenses $334,716 in 2021.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 The Trailblazer Foundation, About us
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Trailblazer Foundation, Our staff
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Friendly Planet Travel, philanthropy: Trailblazer Foundation
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Jetset Times, GivingTuesday: Trailblazer Foundation (2023)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 GlobalGiving, Trailblazer Foundation project document (2014)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Trailblazer Foundation, Our partners
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Trailblazer Foundation, Health program
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 EXO Foundation, The Trailblazer Foundation (2015)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Trailblazer Foundation, home page
  10. ↑ GlobalGiving, food security project
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, Trailblazer Foundation
  12. ↑ The Trailblazer Foundation, Donate
  13. ↑ The Trailblazer Foundation, Chris Coats
  14. ↑ Friendly Planet, Trailblazer Cambodia

Sources

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This page was last edited on 2 October 2026, at 01:35.