Dear Donors, Volunteers, and Friends of OCEF:

All great things must come to an end, as they say, usually in a sad tone. But today we cannot possibly quote this cliché with more gratitude, joy, and proud, when informing you that OCEF will end its operation at the end of 2024.

In 1992, a group of Chinese students and scholars in America started OCEF on UC Berkeley campus, and later incorporated it in Texas. China was still very poor then, and even basic elementary education was not accessible to many impoverished Chinese children, especially in remote areas. OCEF founders, however, were not rich, either. What they did possess, were and have always been their deep and unconditional love of their homeland and the people there, and their never-wavered belief in the power of education for making life better.

This OCEF philosophy has attracted generations of donors, volunteers, and friends who share the same love and vision. Together, in a short span of 32 years, we have worked to bring OCEF from its humble beginning to a well-recognized, well-trusted, and well-respected organization both in China and in America. 

We have achieved many, many things in China. We don't need to brag about the numbers today because we have updated you every year.

We have grown OCEF's annual fund-raising revenue from thousands to well over one million dollars. We have operated at an extremely low cost ratio with utmost accounting transparency -- we understood their importance for the long-term health and very survival of a Chinese-run nonprofit. We were able to deliver only because countless people sacrificed their time with neither complaints nor cries for spotlights. Those are the OCEF heros, including you and us.

China has made unprecedented strides in developing its economy for the last four decades. Today it has resources to educate its children, even those in the most remote, least developed areas. As such, now it is time for OCEF -- not without bittersweet pride and jubilation -- to bow out of its mission. We chose this job 32 years ago, and the job is complete. 

Well done, and thank you all so much for riding the journey with us.

Overseas China Education Foundation 

December 15, 2024