You're pledging to donate if the project hits its minimum goal and gets approved. If not, your funds will be returned.
Our goal is to keep every child in our programs safe, healthy and in school, while also putting our organization on sustainable financial footing.
1) Stable care and education. We cover school fees, books, uniforms, transportation and exams for children in the home. We also pay for evening tutoring and weekend courses in computer, art, dance, and sports.
2) Health. Children receive annual check-ups, mental health counseling, and medical care as needed.
3) Support past age 18. We continue funding rent, tuition, and living costs for young adults as they finish degrees and training. In 2025, we supported 12 young Sam's House "graduates" in nursing, engineering, hospitality, business and technical trades.
4) Keep children with families where possible. Our scholarship program keeps children in school by covering those expenses and eliminating the need for those children to earn money for the family to cover such expenses. Also, we support safe reintegration with relatives when it becomes possible.
5) Financial sustainability. Support for our organization has flagged in recent years and our donor base is currently concentrated among a small number of major donors and a wide base of minor donors. We seek to close our annual operating gap to protect our reserves while also expanding the reach of what we do in an area where there is still great need.
This year we also responded to the tragic floods in Nepal (August 2026). We contributed 500,000 NPR (about USD 3,100) to the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. We also agreed to admit nine children who lost their families in the flood.
Funds go directly to program costs in Nepal: food, housing, school fees and supplies, tutoring, health care and counseling, and salaries for the staff who care for the children. Our staff of 17 includes house mothers, tutors, counselors, health workers and drivers. 95 cents of every dollar goes straight to caring for children, and no US trustee is paid.
Funding raised here will go toward our 2026/27 operating gap of approximately USD 65,000. This includes the added cost of the nine children admitted after the floods.
Christopher Butler and Jennifer Rothchild founded Sam's House. It is named for Jennifer's grandfather, Sam Rothchild. Sam lived in several children's homes in New York City as a young immigrant and credited his survival and education to those families.
- US Board: Aarya Banskota, Robert Bergman, Christopher Butler, Upendra Chalise, Lauren Morrison, Jennifer Rothchild and Jasmin Sainju. All volunteer.
- In Nepal: Kopila Bal Griha has its own board of nine persons from the business and non-profit sectors. Ramila Shrestha manages the home day to day.
Track record: We have operated continuously for nearly 20 years, and every 990 since 2006 is posted on our website. Recent results include:
- First national exam A+: In 2025, for the first time ever, a Sam's House student scored A+ on Nepal's national exam for 10th graders (the SEE examination).
- New admissions: We have integrated six new admissions in the past year, including four siblings. Two of them had been exposed to TB, were treated quickly, and returned to school healthy.
- Graduates: Young people who grew up at Sam's House are now pursuing careers in nursing, engineering, business, and other fields.
Most likely cause of failure would be a persistent funding gap. US fundraising has fallen short of our Nepal operating needs for several years and we have covered that difference from reserves. Our top ten donors provide approximately 70% of revenue, so the loss of one or two major donors would widen the gap quickly.
If the gap is not closed, the outcome would be gradual rather than sudden. We would first draw down reserves faster. Then we would have to make hard choices, such as reducing scholarships, limiting support for young adults after 18, or declining new admissions. Children already in the home would be the last to be affected.
Rising costs in Nepal are a second risk we face. Food, school fees and rent have all risen significant in the last three years.
We are mitigating these impacts by shifting donors toward recurring gifts and broadening our base, having added 49 new donors in 2024 against a prior average of under 14 per year.
From September 2025 to September 2026, we have raised USD 135,000. Nearly all our funding comes from individual donors in the US. Gifts arrive as checks, online donations, donor-advised funds, and a few small family foundations. We receive no government funding.
There are no bids on this project.