Over 25 years ago, a Foreign Service Officer died while serving in Taipei. In life, he taught English to the local staff. In death, his parents established the Kirby Simon Trust, to support other members of the foreign service in pursuing volunteer work in the countries where they serve.
No other organization provides this kind of direct support to the Foreign Service family. Since we began making grants in 1997, we have given about $2 million in small grants to more than 925 applicants. Even during the pandemic, with volunteering severely curtailed, we funded 20 or more projects per year. This year our grants are supporting expanded access to physical therapy in Belize, a youth soccer league in Burma, a library for a school in Nepal, and musical instruments for students in Panama, among other worthy causes.
Our goal of $75,000 per year would sustain us indefinitely. You can donate via PayPal here.
We hope you can join us in helping sustain the Trust for future Foreign Service members to make a difference.
The J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust is a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
EIN: 06-6414554
If you would like to donate by check or EFT, please contact us at kirbysimontrust@gmail.com to make arrangements.
We thank our donors for their support of the J. Kirby Simon Trust:
John and Claire Simon
Samuel and Anna Jacobs Foundation
Green Charitable Foundation
Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation
Carl Marks Foundation
Nancy and Edwin Marks Family Foundation
Ernest Rubenstein Fund
Yale University
Harvard University
And our many individual donors over the years.