edSeed is an education community, centered around a crowdfunding platform, to fund the higher and continued education of youth impacted by conflict. The web-based crowdfunding platform is fiscally sponsored by the VIP fund and connects donors, students, and educational organizations. Currently, edSeed is working with students from Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, while donors come from all around the world. 100% of the donations received goes to each student’s educational institution. Donors decide whether or not they wish to cover an 8% processing fee that edSees charges - and almost 70% of donors agree to do so. edSeed also provides access to grants provided by partners and solicits corporations to sponsor students and to spark additional donations through matching campaigns. edSeed relies heavily on volunteers who help with operations and mentor students along their journey. Many of the volunteers are successful beneficiaries of edSeed.

Theory of Change

Providing refugees with access to higher education funds breaks the poverty cycle and facilitates their inclusion in society.

Activities

Students on edSeed create a public profile that is verified by universities through the application. Using familiar social media skills, students keep donors aware of their progress and obtain endorsements from their  community on other social networks.   edSeed provides training and mentorship on social media and crowdsourcing skills, as well as soft skills relevant to applying to universities, continued education and jobs.

Results

edSeed has created campaigns for 55 students across Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan. They have two special purpose funds, the Ammar Al-Shami Fund, which finances 9 students and the Estebar and Wajih Barazi Fund, which supports Syrian students with disabilities. edSeed also partnered with Project Turquoise, who fully fund 4 students from the Zaatari Camp, Jordan. They hosted 50 onboarding training sessions and had 73 student participants who logged around 1,000 volunteer hours. In total, edSeed volunteers contributed 15,000 hours to mentor, train, and support young refugees to pursue higher education.