Building Tomorrow Receives Major Gift at Clinton Global Initiative

Half-million dollar gift to further commitment to access and quality education.

NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President Bill Clinton announced Monday at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting a $500,000 gift to Indianapolis-based Building Tomorrow, a social-profit organization working with young people to provide access to education for children in sub-Saharan Africa.

The gift, the largest single contribution to Building Tomorrow, will be used to further the organization's 2011 CGI Commitment to Action, Reimagining Education in East Africa. By 2016, Building Tomorrow expects to enroll 15,000 rural, primary-level students annually at 60 Building Tomorrow academies, boost enrollment of girls and provide training for over 450 educators.

"We're both humbled and really excited by this gift," Founder and Chief Dreamer of Building Tomorrow, George Srour said. "This will enable a significant amount of progress to be made towards achieving our CGI commitment."

To date, Building Tomorrow has completed construction on 10 Building Tomorrow academies, with construction ongoing on an additional five sites. Approximately 1,500 students learn inside a Building Tomorrow classroom every school day.

"A gift such as this, made from the heart, will mean great things for the minds of so many of our youth," Country Director of Building Tomorrow Uganda, Joseph Kaliisa said. "We are already hard at work thinking through how this will allow us to scale our impact."

President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea visited the Building Tomorrow Academy of Gita in July 2012 as part of a five-country swing through southern Africa. A video featuring footage from President Clinton's visit to Gita can be found at buildingtomorrow.org/clinton and a photo from the ceremony can be found at flickr.com/photos/cgiphotos/8021184307/.

About Building Tomorrow
Building Tomorrow (BT) is an international social-profit organization encouraging philanthropy among young people by raising awareness and funds to build and support educational infrastructure projects for underserved children in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last five years, supporters of BT, including a college network of over 25 chapters nationwide, have raised over $1.5 million to seed 15 BT Academies, ten of which are currently operational. For more information, visit buildingtomorrow.org and follow us on Twitter @BldgTomorrow and Facebook at facebook.com/buildingtomorrow.

About the Clinton Global Initiative
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world's most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 150 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date CGI members have made more than 2,100 commitments, which are already improving the lives of nearly 400 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued at $69.2 billion. CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

SOURCE Building Tomorrow