The Koins Story

Bret Van Leeuwen is the founder of Koins for Kenya. His first trip to Kenya in 2001 opened his eyes to the impoverished conditions of most rural villagers in this country. He had a desire to help, and became involved with an organization already established in Kenya. Wanting to do more, and sharing his enthusiasm with friends and family, he began yearly expeditions, taking a few adventurous people along each time. Every expedition had specific goals for the village, encouraged personal projects and resulted in life changing experiences for each person in attendance. Through his family foundation, he helped fund many of these projects. It became apparent that Koins for Kenya needed to stand alone, separate from the other family foundation activities. Koins for Kenya became an official 501 (c) (3) organization in August of 2006. This gave it a tax exempt status, making contributions to Koins tax deductible for donors. Federal EIN #20-5053322

To date, Bret has made 17 trips to Kenya, with others planned for March and July 2010. Koins projects completed include several school buildings, including the Sean Michels’ School for Special Needs Children, 3 borehole wells, water retention cisterns, latrines, a chicken ranch, libraries and tree planting. In November 2006, a tractor was purchased and delivered for use in a farming co-op project. Several Eagle Scout projects have been completed in Mnyenzeni, including building desks, paving classroom floors, building water cisterns and providing school bags to students in the secondary school.

Koins for Kenya is proud to declare that 100% of all donated funds are used for our projects. We have no overhead, no paid staff, and no administrative costs that come from the foundation. Any donation made to Koins will be utilized solely for the improvement of the rural communities we serve in Kenya.

Through the grass roots efforts of Koins, utilizing volunteer help from the US and labor forces of the villages we serve, we are able to complete projects at a fraction of what it would cost to provide similar items in the U.S. Koins requires the local communities to be highly mobilized, providing at least 10% of all necessary project funds, and all of the unskilled labor through villager participation. By doing this we create a community invested in their future, working together for the betterment of all. We avoid creating dependency or the welfare mentality that a free handout instills.

The goal of Koins for Kenya is to develop programs which are self sustaining, lasting long after our departure for other villages.