Overseas China Education Foundation (“OCEF”), formerly known as SOS China Education Foundation, was founded in California in 1992, and re-registered in Houston, Texas in 2001. OCEF is a 501 (c) (3) charity recognized by IRS (Federal tax ID: 76-0680540). All donations made to OCEF are tax-deductible in the U.S. to the extent allowed by law. OCEF is an independent, non-governmental, non-political and non-religious organization. The sole mission of OCEF is to help underprivileged children in impoverished rural areas of China receive education and improve the quality of education in rural China.
Operated primarily by unpaid volunteers, we work effectively to achieve outstanding results while keeping the administrative expense ratio at a minimal (<5%). To date, OCEF has helped approximately 900 rural schools establish their own libraries and donated more than half a million books in the process. In the meantime, OCEF has issued more than 50,000 financial aid packages to elementary and secondary school students. Among them, at least 700 have gone on to enroll in college.
OCEF has developed comprehensive operational procedures that ensure all OCEF funds are distributed diligently and transparently. OCEF operations in China are comprised of three main functions: (1) review of financial aid applications from students; (2) upon approval from the Executive Committee in the U.S. for funding, distribution of the approved funding; (3) follow-up inspections post distribution of funding. Inspectors conduct field trip regularly to visit beneficiaries and schools to monitor the fund distribution process.
The majority of the local funding programs are inspected every other year. In 2011, ten inspectors visited 102 local funding programs in 14 counties and 7 provinces. OCEF members and donors are encouraged to participate in the operations of the foundation, including inspection fieldwork.
Since the beginning of 2010, OCEF has initiated strategic restructure of the funding programs, moving from direct financial assistance to a more comprehensive support system that aims at improving the quality of education in rural China. In this new system, OCEF selects qualified schools to aid comprehensive series of programs including infrastructure improvements, teacher training, student financial aid, advanced reading programs and health programs. These programs are tailored towards the needs of the local school and will have more profound and positive impacts on both the accessibility and quality of local education in the long term.
By now, OCEF has already donated more than 60 thousand books as well as libraries to more than a thousand schools in rural area in China. According to incomplete statistics, among 50 thousand students who received the student aid from OCEF, thousands of them got into colleges to pursuit their further study. Only 2017 one year: 3682 students received student aids, 131 of them were college freshman; more than 20 thousand books were donated to 72 different schools; children in rural and mountain area received 482 letters which were sent from more than 100 volunteers from OCEF; 25 country school teachers received aid; 78 of our volunteers taught 83 classes every week in 7 elementary schools and 6 middle schools, 2350 students were benefited; our special aid program accomplished water system repairmen, school buildings meliorations , winter clothing donation and so on. At the same time, we held summer camps for children who are living in poverty in Huining, Gansu every year. OCEF volunteers also made the magazine Children In Countryside for students, which has been published more than 4000 volumes.
See Also:
• About Us
• FAQ
• Join Us
More About OCEF (some in Chinese only)
• News
• Letters
Registration Documents
• Certifying Letter 2004 from State of Texas
• Certificate of Incorporation of OCEF
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