27 Oct Wedu is now a charity!! N. 1149494

We are excited to announce to you all that Wedu has achieved charitable status and has been entered onto the Register of Charities of the United Kingdom with the Registered Charity Number 1149494. This step represents a major milestone in the development of Wedu.

First and foremost we need to thank our Long Zhao for this result. He has been on the ball, preparing documents and answering questions from the Charity Commission of the UK while involved in an intense  full time Masters degree at Cambridge. THANK YOU!!

This result is very important for us for several reasons. It is an official recognition of the merit of Wedu as an organization contributing to public good. We will catalyze women change-makers,  providing services valuable for the underprivileged students with strong leadership potential, but no access to tertiary education. We are at the service of individuals with moral imagination and a strong empathy toward the needs of those at the bottom of the pyramid. we had no doubt about the worthiness of the cause.

The charity status is a key step toward fulfilling the requirements necessary to attracting capital from individuals and institutions sharing the vision of women leadership and education. From now onward any of you living in the UK will have the right to do good via Wedu and enjoy tax benefits, which makes it double good.

Today is the right day to clarify once more what is Wedu: we are a social enterprise which exists to maximize social impact. We promote women’s leadership by providing inspiring mentorship to catalyse personal development and access to financing options to complete university. Our model is designed to achieve long term financial sustainability. We have already started working toward revenue streams that we expect will greatly enhance our self-sufficiency and make the internal engine of growth a major driver of success in the long run.

Nonetheless, we want to highlight that grants and donations will always play an important role in Wedu’s model. We want to do the tough work, the one that requires going in to areas where is clearly anti-economic to go for everybody else. This means supporting people who can have massive social impact, but will not represent a source of revenues for anybody. We are always going to maintain a scholarship component in our model and we want to support the crazy adventurers, those to whom many others said “no”, because “there is nothing in it for them.” While we will be seeking investment capital in the future, we will always be looking for partners sharing the vision of “social impact first.” Investors expecting to make “double-digit” returns on their portfolios will find in Wedu a strong ally to increase their average “social return” while maintaining a healthy financial balance. But, we do not aim to be a “cash cow”, and we will always prioritize student leadership development.

Thank you all in advance for taking us this far, thank you for all the support you have given and will give, thank you for believing in Wedu: you are not alone.