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There is no formal or financial relationship between the Nicolas Fund for Education (NFE), Agros International or Fundación Agros in Guatemala.  We are appreciative to Agros for their important contributions early on to help organize communities, buy land to help facilitate land ownership for villagers, build homes and teach families how to farm sustainably.  Once a village reached a level of sustainability based on criteria established by Agros, their work in the village ended.

After developing long-term relationships with village families, the Journey with a Village (JWAV) team members felt that it was important to help break the cycle of poverty for the next generation by providing improved access to a high-quality Christian education for students beyond 6^th grade. In 2012, Nicolás Fund for Education (an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit) was formed by several individuals that felt God calling us to meet this need.  We started with 13 students from La Esperanza and La Bendición.  Thanks to God, NFE has flourished and we now have over 200 supporters helping us to provide secondary education for Ixil and Quiche indigenous Mayan students.

We have started our own Christian junior and senior high school in 2016 after determining that we could deliver a higher quality education to more students at the same price we were paying a local school.  In 2018, Nicolas Christian Junior and Senior High School will serve 78 students.  Our distance learning program through Nicolás Christian School serves 20 students in Villa Hortencia 1.  Nicolás Christian School in-village tutoring programs for 5^th and 6^th graders serves 27 students in four villages.

Starting in 2017, Nicolas Fund for Education began providing Scholarships for University programs.   The University scholarship program, named the Ten Talents Program (TTP), will be providing 17 university scholarships in 2018!

In 2018, NFE will be assisting a total of 142 students to be educated to the level of their God-given ability so that they can achieve their dreams!  All of this is only possible through God’s help and the willingness of donors like yourself to come alongside God’s work in the Ixil region.

While NFE has a very friendly and collegial relationship with Agros, our organizations are separate and each have entirely different objectives.

Nicolás Fund for Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to provide scholarship funds for Ixil and Quiche students coming from former Agros villages to obtain secondary education so that they can fulfill their dreams to the level of their God-given potential.  Nicolás Christian School is operated by a Guatemalan leadership team using funding provided by Nicolás Fund for Education. National Director Ivan España oversees the school and reports to the NFE Board.

Charity Navigator (and many other well-known charity vetting programs) requires that a non-profit organization exist for a minimum of 7 years to receive a Charity Navigator rating.  The charity must also have generated at least $1 million in revenue for two consecutive years. NFE began in 2012 and is not in the million-dollar revenue level. We are, however, listed with Guide Star and we are proud of our “Gold” rating with Guidestar. You can check out the NFE rating at guidestar.org.

Around 80 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to student programs and services. 8 cents goes to our in-country director for managing our NFE programs, 6 cents goes to fundraising and 5 cents goes to office supplies, insurance and a part-time virtual-assistant that assists our all-volunteer board.