About the Lauder Family Foundation
We are a registered charity dedicated to elevating young women in Sub-Saharan Africa out of poverty through education.
Our mission
At the Lauder Family Foundation, our mission is to empower young women through education to achieve their full potential. We are committed to providing scholarships, mentorship, and resources that break down the barriers to education, enabling girls in sub-Saharan Africa to pursue their academic and personal goals. By focusing on girls in grades 10 to 12, we aim to create a ripple effect that positively impacts families, communities and society.
Our vision
We envision a future where girls lead, innovate, and drive positive change in their communities, regionally and nationally.
We believe that every girl has the potential to embrace who they are, define their future, and change the world. By investing in girls' education, we are not only transforming individual lives but also contributing to the development of their communities and the world at large.
Our story
Co-founders Craig and Jane Lauder have long believed in the value of educating girls and young women, empowering them to be the best versions of themselves and in that way, contributing to a more prosperous community and a higher functioning civil society. Our foundation was born from this simple, powerful conviction.
Having been brought up in South Africa, we are acutely aware of the issues of girl education on the sub-continent. Poverty leads to few financial resources for children’s schooling. The resources that are available are used to educate the boys in the family. This despite there being so much evidence demonstrating the greater value derived from educating girls.
It often starts with a simple conversation. For us, it was a serendipitous meeting on a short flight from Johannesburg to Lusaka in 2022. A shared belief in the power of education, a passion for empowering young women, and a connection to Africa ignited a series of actions leading initially to the opportunity, in our personal capacity, to sponsor a number of girls attending high school outside Lusaka.
With the registration of the Lauder Family Foundation as a legal charity in Canada, we have translated our interest in educating girls in sub-Saharan Africa into a focused and clear strategy: to sponsor girls through high school in Zambia, helping them achieve the highest possible academic success. We don’t just want to see them graduate; we want to provide them with choices, open doors to scholarships, and empower them to build the future they choose for themselves.