Give
We're not asking for money yet.
Love La Vida Foundation is being established. Until the entity exists and we can account for every dollar properly, we would rather tell you that plainly than take your gift and work out the details afterward.
Why not
A foundation that asks for your trust should start by earning it
We are in the process of forming a non-profit corporation and applying for tax-exempt status. Until that is done, we have no organizational bank account, no determination letter, and no way to give you a receipt that means anything.
Plenty of new organizations take money during this period anyway. We would rather not. The first thing we will ever ask you to believe is that we handle money carefully — and this is the cheapest possible opportunity to demonstrate it, because we have nothing yet to lose.
What happens next
Weeks, not months. Once the corporation is formed and the bank account is open, we will be able to accept gifts. We will say so here, and we will tell everyone on the list below first.
On deductibility. If our exemption application is approved, contributions are generally deductible back to the date the organization was formed. While the application is pending there is no advance assurance of that, and if exemption were denied, gifts would not be deductible. We will state that plainly at the moment we begin accepting donations, and we will never imply otherwise.
Founding Circle
Tell us you're in, and we'll come back to you
The Founding Circle is the group who decided to back this before there was anything to look at. No money changes hands today. We will write to you when we can receive it, and you can decide then.
You’re in the Founding Circle. No money changes hands today. We will write to you before we ask anyone for anything.
We write rarely, and only about the work. Your address is never shared or sold.
Where it goes
What your gift pays for
In 2027 our gifts add to what one partner home in Chiapas already has, starting with what the children eat.
- Better food for every child, every day
- A chicken coop and pig pens, so the home raises more of its own food
- A new teacher and a new social worker at the home
- Half of a new dorm for older boys
- Governance: legal, insurance, compliance, and audit
- Visits to the home, so we catch what is going wrong
Our full budget is available on request. Ask for the budget →
Everyone who comes on a service trip pays their own way, including us.
Two funds
Kept apart on purpose
Everything Love La Vida does is paid for from one of two funds. The operating fund runs Pathways week after week. The capital fund pays for one-time projects that last for years: a classroom, a safe entrance, a bakery oven. We keep them apart because they behave differently. A program needs money it can count on every month. A building project needs money that sits still until the whole project is paid for.
The operating fund
The day-to-day work: food, a new teacher, a new social worker, the running costs of the coop and pig pens, and governance.
Unrestricted gifts come here unless you tell us otherwise, and they are the most useful gift you can make. You can also designate a gift to one purpose, such as food or teaching. Small equipment under $2,500 — books, supplies, individual devices — is part of running the program, so it belongs here too.
The capital fund
One-time projects at a partner home. To count, a project must pass three tests: it costs $2,500 or more, it will last more than a year, and it is at a home where Pathways is already running.
The capital fund sits outside the operating budget. It is never used to cover operations, and the operating reserve is never used to cover a project.
What we build
01
Safety first
Lighting, secure entrances, and privacy in bathrooms and dormitories. A safety project goes to the front of the line.
02
Places to learn
Classrooms, an English and computer lab, quiet places to study.
03
A home worth living in
Dormitories, play areas, gardens.
04
Things that earn
Bakery and kitchen equipment, workshop tools. Anything that helps a home earn its own income gets priority, because capability matters more than dependency, and that is as true for a home as it is for a young person.
05
The basics that last
Water, sanitation, solar power.
What we won't build
- Land, or buildings Love La Vida would own. The home owns what we improve.
- Vehicles. The liability is too high for a foundation our size.
- More beds. Our first goal is to keep families together. A project that expands how many children a home can take in works against that, however well meant.
How a project gets approved
We don't arrive with a project in mind. Every project starts with a director's answer to one question: if you had twenty-five percent more resources tomorrow, what would you do first, and why?
- The need comes from the homeIt surfaces in our gap analysis, in the director's own words.
- It has to pass the gateThe home must already be a partner and must meet our child-safety standard. The project must connect to something Pathways is trying to change for the young people there. If the home fails the safety standard, no score can make up for it.
- We scope it with the directorThree local quotes for anything over $5,000. A plan the director signs alongside us. And a clear answer to the question most projects skip: who pays to keep it running once it's built?
- We score itOn five measures: safety impact, connection to the program, what the home or community contributes in money or labor, whether it will last, and cost per young person served.
- The right people approve itUnder $5,000: the Managing Director and the Treasurer. $5,000 to $25,000: a majority vote of the board. Over $25,000: a board vote, plus a site visit by a board member before any money moves. Anyone with a conflict of interest steps out of the decision.
- It's fully funded before work startsA project appears on this page only once it is approved. Work begins only when it is 100% funded. Money is released in stages as the work is done, and paid directly to the builders and suppliers wherever we can.
- We show you the finished workReceipts, photographs (never a child's face), and a short public report. If it came in over budget, the report says so and explains why.
Before you give to a project
Ten percent goes to making sure it gets built right. Every capital gift carries a 10% allocation. It pays for the site visits, the quote checking, the oversight of payments, and the report you'll receive. A project nobody checks on is how good intentions turn into a half-finished wall.
You give to the fund, not to the home. Your gift is designated for a Love La Vida project. It is not passed through to a particular home, and we don't publish the names of the homes. This protects the children. It is also what the law requires for a gift to a U.S. foundation working abroad to be tax-deductible: the foundation's board must keep the final decision over how funds are used.
If a project changes, your gift still builds something. If a project comes in under budget, or can't go ahead, the remaining funds go to the next approved capital project. They are never moved into general operations. We'll tell you where they went.
The operating fund keeps the program running. The capital fund builds what the program runs in. Both stay with the home after we leave.
No projects are listed yet, and like everything on this page, the capital fund takes no money until the foundation can receive it properly.
What a gift buys
In the plainest terms we can manage
A year of English for one young person.
Group classes, materials and the exam fee for an internationally recognized certificate.
A year of one thing they chose.
Coaching, equipment and fees in a pursuit the young person picked themselves — not one we picked for them.
A mentor, for a year.
Trained, paid, supervised, and committed for three years to the same six to eight young people.
These are honest averages. Gifts go to the program, not to a named child — because publishing a child's name beside a price is the opposite of how we intend to treat them. Want to cover one of these for a full year? Become a sponsor.
What we will tell you
Including the parts that don't work
Once a year we will publish what we measured: how many scheduled mentor visits actually happened, how far each young person moved in English, where the young people who left care are living and whether they are working or studying.
We will report the numbers that went the wrong way with the same prominence as the ones that went the right way. If that is not the kind of organization you want to fund, we would genuinely rather you knew now.