Ndifo community mural
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Annual Report 2025-2026

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Add your annual report highlights here: completed improvements, school support, food and health initiatives, technology progress, and the next phase of work.

Chairman’s Letter

A year of progress, made possible by neighbors helping neighbors

This year, Ndifo Community Development Foundation continued to grow through the generosity of supporters who believe that education, health, and environment are deeply connected. At Likamba Primary School, improvements to classrooms, sanitation, food support, and future technology access are helping create a stronger foundation for children and families.

Looking ahead, we are focused on expanding girls’ health initiatives that help keep students in school, supporting teachers with stronger English instruction, and bringing reliable electricity and internet access through solar power and donated computers. Together, these investments will help connect Likamba Primary School to the world.

Asante Sana for walking with us. Because of you, this work continues.

Steven Ngowi
Chairman, Ndifo Community Development Foundation
Asante Sana
Steven Ngowi, Chairman

 

Year in Review

2025 Highlights

 

This year, together with our community partners and donors, we made meaningful progress at the Likamba Primary School and the Lovilokoi Water Project.

🏫

Safer Classrooms

Rehabilitated 11 learning spaces — fresh walls, safe floors, new desks — for a better and brighter future for 700+ children.

🚽

Completed Toilets

Built clean, safe sanitation facilities including girls’ changing rooms — protecting children’s health and keeping girls in school.

🎨

Educational Murals

East African artist Samuel Kinyua painted a gorgeous mural and taught children their first art classes.

🍲

Food Support

Provided meals and nutrition support via our new kitchen — serving 680 children every single day.

💧

Lovilokoi Water

500+ community members now have water near their homes. Some have electricity for the first time.

📚

Building a Library

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Transparency

Financial Snapshot

 

From the 2025 Form 990 — calendar year ended December 31, 2025

Total Revenue
$0
Form 990 Part I, Line 12
Total Expenses
$0
Form 990 Part I, Line 18
Program Expenses
$0
87.4% of total expenses
Net Surplus
$0
Revenue less expenses
Cash & Equivalents
$0
End of year balance
Net Assets
$0
End of year
87%

Program Expense Ratio

87% of all spending goes directly to mission programs. Best-practice benchmark is 65–75%. We exceed it significantly.

Where the Money Went

Sanitation facilities (toilets & changing rooms) $64,920
 
Classroom construction & outfitting $19,932
 
Water wells (Lovilokoi) $17,727
 
Special needs classroom $4,238
 
Teacher office & library $3,709
 
Food program $9,442
 
School supplies $552
 
Administrative expenses $17,345
 
Deferred funds of $36,793 from 2025 donor contributions are held for 2026 programs. Total funds received from donors during 2025 amounted to $174,659.
What We Do

Our Programs

 
🏫
Education

Likamba Primary School

Transforming a dilapidated school near Arusha into a clean, safe, dignified learning space for 680 children who have the very least.

  • 11 fully refurbished classrooms
  • New efficient kitchen — best in region
  • Security fencing around the school
  • 16 modern toilets & girls’ changing rooms
  • Daily food / porridge program
  • Art program & educational murals
  • Internet connection for Zoom lessons
💧
Water & Health

Lovilokoi Water Project

Bringing fresh water to a rural community of 500+ residents just outside Arusha — ending exhausting daily water treks for mothers and children.

  • Water piped from source miles away
  • Community collection point near homes
  • Solar panels providing first-ever electricity
  • Children no longer miss school to fetch water
2025–2026

Looking Ahead

 

Our $140,000 program budget for the coming year will complete the school transformation and expand our reach.

01

Food Security Program

The Porridge Program ensures no child leaves school hungry. 9 months × $2,500/month.

$22,500
02

Solar + Internet

Solar panels for electricity and internet connection. Computers donated by business technology recycling programs.

$12,000
03

Hen House & Milk Cow

Egg & milk supply for the school. Introduces animal husbandry to children of a nomadic community.

$10,000
04

Teacher Training

Teaching skills, school operations & hygiene — provided by partner organizations and government institutions.

$1,500
05

Assembly Hall

A covered dining pavilion where children can eat in all weather and gather as a community.

$50,000*
06

Teacher’s Office Renovation

Upgrading teacher workspace to support better instruction and school administration.

$5,000

*Assembly Hall contingent on donor pledge

From Our Chairman

A Message from Steven

 
Steven Ngowi, Chairman

Dear Friends, Partners, & Supporters,

It is my honor to share with you the Ndifo Community Development Foundation’s Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2025. Within these pages, you will see the story of how compassion, partnership, and perseverance are reshaping lives in Tanzania.

My own journey with this work began not as a chairman, but as a safari guide in the fields near Arusha. In 2022, while birdwatching, I came upon Likamba Primary School. What I found there was heartbreaking: children packed five to a desk built for two, classrooms with crumbling floors, leaking roofs, and broken windows. Yet even in those conditions, the children’s faces shone with determination to learn. I could not look away.

Thanks to your generosity, Likamba Primary School is no longer the forgotten place I first stumbled upon. Today, over 680 children benefit from refurbished classrooms, a secure schoolyard, and — perhaps most importantly — a working kitchen that serves meals each day. Education, health, and community dignity are now taking root where despair once lived.

I want to thank each of you — our donors, volunteers, partners, and friends. You are part of this story. Your gifts are not only repairing buildings, they are restoring dignity. Together, we have already climbed great mountains. And together, we will climb the ones still ahead.

With sincere thanks & warm regards, asante sana,

Steven Ngowi
Chairman of the Board & Founding Board Member
Asante Sana

Thank You

 

Members of the Board

  • Steve Ngowi — Chairman (TZ)
  • Jimmie Akin-Sherman — Secretary (USA)
  • F. Kenneth Vudmaska — Treasurer (USA)
  • Elizabeth “Betsy” Moyer (USA)
  • Christopher Burke (USA)

Special Thanks

The Roaringlion Fund — $10,000 donation completing the school kitchen.

Hen House Donors — Audrey Yang (who matched all initial donations), Barbara VanEvery, Joanne Wong, Gordon McKemie, Jan Paul Roodbol, Austin Jasienski.

J|Connelly & Hunt & Fish Club NYC — venue for our fundraising gala.

Founding Donors

Tracey & Jerry Vainisi  ·  Allyson Pfeifer  ·  Morris Chen  ·  Katherine & Britt Joyce  ·  Brigid Flanagan  ·  Rudolph Garza  ·  Steven Hopchick  ·  Rick Lugash  ·  Shilpa Akella  ·  Hunter Downs  ·  Cris Santa Ana  ·  Nick Dalgety  ·  Jack O’Brien  ·  Rob Stanbrook  ·  Scott Thomson  ·  Tenny Grigorian  ·  Youse Gula

Get Involved

Just as we guide visitors through Tanzania’s wildlife, we now guide communities — and donors like you — toward hope, dignity, and lasting change.

💳 Donate Online

Visit ndifo.org to give directly or purchase a wildlife print by Chairman Steven Ngowi. All proceeds go to NCDF.

🙋 Volunteer

Marketing, social media, legal, accounting, teaching, or providing books & goods for the school.

📷 Buy a Print

Purchase stunning wildlife photography by Steven Ngowi at ndifo.org/shop. 100% of proceeds fund our work.

🏦 Give Through Your Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)

Contact your financial advisor or log in to Fidelity Charitable, Schwab Charitable, BNY Mellon, or your DAF provider.

Recommend a grant to: Ndifo Community Development Foundation
EIN: 99-2860543  |  27 West Anapamu St. Suite 394, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Donate at ndifo.org
 

Ndifo Community Development Foundation  ·  EIN: 99-2860543  ·  U.S. 501(c)(3)  ·  Tanzania TIN: 177-633-577
27 West Anapamu St. Suite 394, Santa Barbara, CA 93101  ·  1029 Arusha, Tanzania