Bir Silgi Bir Kalem

Bir Silgi Bir Kalem (One Eraser One Pencil) is a Turkish children's charity.

History

Bir Silgi Bir Kalem was founded in 2012 by Onur Aydin, a Harvard Business School MBA. He and his colleagues envisioned a two-sided platform for individuals to connect directly with classrooms in need, providing materials requested by teachers. With the support and funding from Turkish Philanthropy Funds, he had the first version of the site built in 2012 and started to spread the word. Throughout 2012–2013, BirSilgiBirKalem was featured in several national newspapers of Turkey (including Milliyet, Radikal and Hurriyet) and several TV shows and news programs. The press coverage helped BirSilgiBirKalem get traction steadily. The organization continued to receive attention in social media. As the number of schools and donors grew, the organization was recognized and awarded for its original solution to a major problem by Ashoka, Sabancı Foundation and several other organizations. In 2015, Google for Non-Profits selected Bir Silgi Bir Kalem as one of the non-profits it would support in Turkey. As a result of this free advertising support, BirSilgiBirKalem took off. The donations in 2015 alone were bigger than the sum of all donation of the previous three years. As of January 2017, Bir Silgi Bir Kalem had gained over 1.5 million, and has helped more than 100,000 students across Turkey.

Donation process

Schools

Verified teachers create a profile for their institution, providing visuals and brief information about their schools and requests. Each school must register using verified credentials provided by the Turkish Ministry of Education to make donation in-kind requests.

Upon completion of a donation, once the school receives the donated goods, the teacher must provide evidence that the donations are used for educational purposes. This involves taking pictures of the students with the products and submitting a letter addressing the donor, preferably written by students.

Donors

Donors have the option to purchase the goods they wish to donate offline or online. After the donation, donors can monitor the progress of their donation through the website. Upon the donation reaching the school and the students, every donor receives a letter from the relevant institution.

Collaboration

BirSilgiBirKalem is funded by Turkish Philanthropy Funds^[1] and is also supported by Google for Non-Profits and receives US$10K awards credits every month to fuel its growth.

Yurtici Kargo, Turkey's largest courier company, is also a supporter and provides discounted prices to BirSilgiBirKalem donors.

Other well known past and present supporters include Vitamin Egitim, Ashoka, Bilgi University, and Sabancı Foundation.

Statistics

As of January 2017, donors had contributed over 1.5 million (of which close to 1M came in 2015) to help more than 100.000 students across Turkey.

Awards

• Google for Non-Profits Grant 2016
• Sabancı Foundation Change Makers Award 2014
• Bilgi University Social Entrepreneurship Award 2013
• Ashoka Fellowship Award 2013

References

• Firat Demirel (24 April 2012). "Webrazzi (Turkey's TechCrunch) coverage". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
• "Eksisozluk (Turkey's Twitter) entries". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
• Ipek Izci (10 January 2012). "Radikal newspaper". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
• "Sabancı Foundation Change Makers Award". Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
• "Bilgi University Social Entrepreneur Awards" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 August 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2016.