Frequently Asked Questions
What are the long term goals of To Return?
Our goal is to provide 100 students with access to education by 2015 through scholarships that are given to Kilimanjaro porters, guides and their children. To achieve this goal, we’ll need your help! Make a donation today and you will directly impact the life of a student across the world. To Return’s second goal is to provide porters and guides on Kilimanjaro with proper clothing and equipment. We hope to double the amount of gear we donate each year. So far we have been able to meet this goal for 2007 and 2008!
How do you manage the gear distribution program to ensure that our donations are being used properly?
Ensuring that donations are properly used is paramount for To Return. We donate the equipment to porters who operate on the mountain in a full time, year round position and thus have their own personal motivation for keeping the gear in good condition. With the help of our local operator, Erick Joseph, we monitor the use of the equipment first hand. Our logo is added to each item and helps to ensure that the gear is used for the proper purpose. To Return does expect that some porters will experience hard times and may sell the gear to feed their family. While this is not the intended use and we do our best to prevent this from occurring, we also accept that due to extreme poverty some items will be converted into short term cash. We see the gear donation as a short term solution to broader problems that porters face. It’s our hope that the gear merely make the job easier and that education is the true ticket to long term personal success.
Are you a non profit organization with 501(C)3 status?
Yes, we are a 501 C 3. Our Federal ID # is 26-3570959.
Where will you expand next?
In the future we hope to expand our programs to other remote, undeserved mountain communities. Please email us at lindsay [at] toreturn [dot] org with any suggestions from your global travels.
How do you measure your success?
We measure our success one student and one glove donated at a time. Our main focus is education and we measure our success by the number and quality of our scholarships. It is our hope to send 100 students to school by 2015. All students are affiliated with Mt. Kilimanjaro and the tourism industry by either being porters and guides or their children. Secondly, we donate appropriate clothing and equipment to porters and guides to help improve the working conditions on the mountain. We measure our success based on the amount of gear we donate annually. With your help in 2008 we donated 20 waterproof jackets, 37 insulating jackets, 10 waterproof pants, 8 insulating pants, 40 hats, 15 pairs of gloves, 6 backpacks and a wide array of shoes, boots, socks, sleeping pads, sleeping bags and headlamps.
Do you have any paid employees?
No, currently all our employees are volunteers.
How are scholarship recipients selected?
There are three conditions for a student to be reliable for a scholarship.
a. Student is currently employed as a porter or guide on Kilimanjaro or the student’s parent(s) work on the mountain in such a capacity.
b. Past academic performance.
c. Financial need.
If these conditions are met, then the student is welcome to submit an application to To Return. The board of directors reviews the applications and selects the students. Our CEO and founder, Lindsay Reither is then responsible for all communications with the scholarship recipient and school in Tanzania.
How does To Return oversee the scholarships to ensure the funds are being used properly?
To Return maintains strict oversight of the distributions that are made to assure both our organization and our donors that the resources are used to further our tax exempt purpose of promoting education and providing access to it. We require the students (or their parents if they are young) to communicate directly with To Return through email or phone once every three months. We receive semester report cards from the schools regarding the performance of our scholarship recipients. Finally, one or more the board of directors performs an annual site visit to the schools and meets with the scholarship recipients first hand. Grants are paid directly to a school under an arrangement whereby the school will apply the grants funds only for the enrolled students specified who are in good standing.