"If you really want to get involved in poverty reduction, don't go and do it from an office in New York or Geneva. Get out there, get your hands dirty and see what opportunities you can find.”

This is where it all started- this is what a Professor of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) told Clary Castrission  (aged 22) as a 3rd year student in 2005. A short time later, 40K was created by Clary and co-founder Karyn Avery (then aged 20). Both were interested in international development and over their summer break from university, they started to look in to how they could get involved with poverty alleviation projects overseas.

And so 40K was born. Travelling to India in the summer of 2004/2005, they were introduced to the Lovedale Foundation, a small NGO based in Bangalore doing amazing work taking in and supporting severely underprivileged children, but struggling financially. At the same time Clary and Karyn found out about the social problems in the quarries in the surrounding area and saw an opportunity to help both groups.

40K’s maiden project is the building of a bridging school in partnership with Lovedale, in order to provide a permanent building for their activities while also increasing the capacity to help the children of the local quarry workers by providing remedial education services. For more information click here.

At 40K we have had to learn everything from scratch. However we have been fortunate to have been provided with expert help and advice along the way. We could not have achieved what we have without the support of so many people, many giving their time and expertise for free. This means that while 40K may be run by young people, the quality of work and the accountability is exceptional.

40K’s fundraising activities started with a small fundraising event with friends and family raising just $5,000 run by a couple of students part-time. Now four years on, we now have permanent office space, an experienced board, and three full time staff along with a team of around 25 part time volunteers. The dream of the bridging school is near realisation with the building work due to be completed in late 2010. 40K is now looking forward to focusing on rolling out this project to leverage maximum benefit for the surrounding quarries. We have big plans for the future.

For further information please feel free to explore the website or get in contact with us using the tab above.