About Us

WideAwake.org began when two of our founders spent a summer trekking through Africa. After weeks of sleeping in tents and touring about, they found themselves ragged and dusty camping on the shore of a lake in a remote region of the sub-Saharan. There they met a handful of children who led them to a nearby village and ultimately introduced them to the director of the community organization that supported it. In the next week, the two came to trust and fall in love with the director, volunteers, and efforts of the village organization. They were moved by the dedication and sacrifice of those working together in that community, and were astonished to discover how this organization was so effective in making what seemed like such little sums of money by U.S. standards go so far in helping those in need in their local village.

Upon return to the United States, the pair began to support this organization. Having been jaded in the past by fraudulent or poorly run international charities, it was refreshing for them to give to an organization they felt part of and could trust. Wide Awake.org was created to share this experience – to let donors feel like a part of the intimate community organization to which they are giving, with the knowledge that their gifts are used properly and effectively. WideAwake.org is founded on this premise, and it permeates all that we do to this day.