The Jeel Fund is Impact Lebanon Charity’s first fundraising initiative to support education in Lebanon. Our fundraising efforts rely on two pillars:

Online donations: these donations are raised through our website, and can be either one-off donations, or recurring donations. We are targeting the Lebanese diaspora globally via social media, and we anticipate the average donation will range from £10 to £30 per month.

One-off donations: these donations will typically be larger amounts from individuals, corporations, or nonprofits. When the opportunity for a larger donation arises, we have direct discussions with the donor(s) in order to ensure our goals for the donation align.

Education is vital for nurturing critical thinking, increasing social mobility, and providing a sustainable source of income. It is also a key building block for a more-inclusive society.

Over the last few years, Lebanon has suffered not only from political unrest, but also the collapse of the financial and banking sectors. This has led to a rapid and sharp decrease in the quality of life for those inside Lebanon. Namely, a significant increases in unemployment (more than 40%), poverty rates in excess of 55%, inflation in excess of 280%, unsustainable increases in the cost of living, security issues, and ongoing supply chain disruptions for critical materials such as medical supplies.

The Beirut port explosion in August of 2020 exacerbated these issues and, as a result, the education sector continues to be significantly impacted. Many students are currently unable to pay their tuition fees, which has led to universities being under immense financial pressure. Jeel aims to alleviate some of these impacts on the educational sector by creating this fund.

We plan to follow a two-pronged approach to help us deliver impact in the short term, while also laying the groundwork for a long-term model that will continue to support education in Lebanon sustainably.

Each academic year, part of the funds raised (we are targeting around 50% over time) will go towards scholarships at our selected partner universities.

The balance of the donations will be used to build an endowment fund that will enable us to expand our funding options, allowing us to build a long-term solution for supporting education in Lebanon.

The money we place in our endowment will be invested in a mixture of asset classes by Impact Lebanon Charity, and managed by a team of volunteer financiers.

An endowment fund is an aggregation of the funds received through donations. The funds are invested over multiple generations and, unlike a donation that is spent upon receipt, an endowed donation keeps on giving over time. Endowed donations help ensure future generations of students will benefit from a higher quality of education.

Jeel will initially focus on scholarships for Lebanese Undergraduate students who are attending one of the top three universities in Lebanon: American University of Beirut (AUB), L’Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth (USJ), and Lebanese American University (LAU).

These institutions were chosen based on a pro-bono assessment we carried out with a leading global consultancy firm. This firm helped Impact Lebanon Charity assess the university landscape in Lebanon based on eight criteria that blended a mix of economic, social, educational, and operational aspects. As a result of this assessment, Impact Lebanon Charity decided to prioritize the three aforementioned universities in Lebanon.

You can view the table here that summarizes our findings.

Each of these universities have a long history, and have been accredited by international organizations. We intend to carry out regular follow-ups with these universities to ensure that the money donated is going solely to tuition fees.

All academic programs, and fields of study, are eligible for the scholarship.

Jeel will work directly with AUB, USJ, and LAU to select the candidates that fit our criteria for receiving a scholarship. This will ensure that fund recipients are students who are most in need of financial assistance.

The selection will rely on a mix of criteria with clearly allocated weights, and scoring metrics, which are outlined in the table you can view here.

This depends on the amount we raise each year. Our ambitions are high, however, and we hope that donors will be compelled to help us reach our 3-year objective, which is to support more than 150 university students every year. We will report on this number yearly in order to provide transparency.

At this stage, we will only support tuition fees through our partner universities. Moving forward, we hope to be able to expand this scope.

Impact Lebanon Charity will be disbursing the tuition fees directly to the three universities we’ve partnered with — AUB, LAU, and USJ — rather than to the student. We will also coordinate with the universities to monitor the academic performance of scholarship recipients.

The Jeel Fund is an initiative by Impact Lebanon Charity. As a UK charity we are governed by the reporting rules and regulations of the UK Charity Commission to ensure transparency and accountability. We have a full set of policies that our volunteers must abide by, and we will also be reporting publicly on a yearly basis through our social media accounts, our website, and via email to an opted-in donor or subscriber list.

Impact Lebanon Charity and Impact Lebanon LTD have a shared wider purpose to support impactful initiatives in Lebanon through the diaspora’s engagement. We are two separate legal entities, however, and each is fully independent with a clear separation in governance structure, financing, and leadership.