10 years of the Gandys Foundation
We help educate children around the world.
After losing their parents in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, Gandys founders Rob and Paul Forkan were deeply moved by the support of the local community in Sri Lanka and went on to build a brand with purpose.
Through the Gandys Foundation, we aim to provide children in some of the world’s poorest regions with the educational support they need to get a better start in life.
10% of every sale funds our projects around the world, partnering with local charities in each region to help empower children to find a way out of poverty through education.
“Access to education is a small step that has the capacity to create immense global change. Education breaks generational cycles of poverty by creating choices and opportunities. It allows children to gain skills and knowledge for better jobs and future careers. It gives them access to better healthcare and nutrition for a longer life. It can give them a voice in society which has the power to impact future generations. Ultimately, education gives children a better chance at life”
- Paul and Rob Forkan
10% of every sale funds our projects around the world, partnering with local charities in each region to help empower children to find a way out of poverty through education.
Making a world of difference
Since we opened our first project in 2014, we’ve raised over £600,000 and each year we help more than 5,000 children around the world.
10 years of the Gandys Foundation.
We help educated children around the world.
After losing their parents in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, Gandys founders Rob and Paul Forkan were deeply moved by the support of the local community in Sri Lanka and went on to build a brand with purpose.
Through the Gandys Foundation, we aim to provide children in some of the world’s poorest regions with the educational support they need to get a better start in life.
“Access to education is a small step that has the capacity to create immense global change.
Education breaks generational cycles of poverty by creating choices and opportunities. It allows children to gain skills and knowledge for better jobs and future careers. It gives them access to better healthcare and nutrition for a longer life. It can give them a voice in society which has the power to impact future generations. Ultimately, education gives children a better chance at life”
- Paul and Rob Forkan
10% of every sale funds our projects around the world, partnering with local charities in each region to help empower children to find a way out of poverty through education.
A decade of empowering through education
£600,000+
Donated
10
Projects
5,000+
Children supported annually
Discover the campuses
- Sri Lanka
- Malawi
- Nepal
- Rio, Brazil
- Mongolia
- Bahia, Brazil
- Guatemala
- Bali
- Ghana
2014 & 2024
Sri Lanka
2014
Our first project was built where our story began. We collaborated with Freedom for Children Sri Lanka to build a school and computer lab, providing schooling and extracurricular activities to children living in poverty in the Gonapola area. Today, 180 children attend the school.
2024
Palle Kanugala Vidyalaya is a government school located in the Sabaragamuwa district of Sri Lanka. Due to lack of space, the school hall was being used as a makeshift classroom, despite being in a seriously dilapidated state with a leaking roof.
In partnership with Freedom for Children, our latest project includes a new classroom building & refurbishment of the school hall, seeking to provide safe and secure facilities for the local children to gain their education
2017
Malawi
In Malawi, education can be a luxury. School attendance for primary and secondary aged children is at 40% and 25% respectively. The pupil teacher ratio is 62:1. Our Malawi project opened in partnership with African Vision Malawi, and provides the community with care, education and nutrition, with 1400 meals a month in Malawi.
2019
Nepal
Godawari is a remote area of Nepal badly affected by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake and where child trafficking is a huge problem. Gandys teamed up with Chora Chori Nepal to restore a severely damaged high school. The foundation provides financial support to rescue trafficked children as young as 9 to provide accommodation, therapy and repatriation.
2020
Rio, Brazil
The Gandys project in Rio included building a school to support children in vulnerable situations and to help to break the cycle of involvement in drugs and gangs. Our Foundation donates to Project Favela, to provide children with the skills and support they need to build a better future.
2021
Mongolia
In the Ulaanchuluut landfills area, families scavenge rubbish for money to buy food. We work with the Veloo Foundation – a charity helping orphans and disadvantaged children – and provide funds for their community library. As well as a place to learn, the library provides shelter from the -50 degree winter temperatures. Up to 50 children/day come to the library and over 4500 children directly benefited from the library in 2023
2023
Bahia, Brazil
Gandys teamed up with Casa Amarela SCC to fund the running of their new school. Based near Porto Seguro, many of the children attending the school are from communities that suffer from serious drug-related violence and crime, as well as extreme poverty. The school gives the children a safe space to spend their days learning the skills to build a better future. A community garden and has welcomed more than 50 families, and more than 100 children.
2024
Guatemala
Gandys in Guatemala gives children from deprived rural areas the chance to further their education. Casa Guatemala provides pre-school to primary education for around 200 children in a remote jungle area. Gandys has also funded the building of an additional dormitory for children facing poverty, abandonment or abuse.
2024
Bali
In Bali, there is little government funding available for free, high-quality kindergartens and conditions can be poor with leaking roofs, mouldy walls and woodworm-infested furniture. Working with Bali Children's Project, we renovated three buildings at a school for early stage learning in Nyalian, a small village 20km from Ubud, providing a safe space and new equipment to improve the quality of learning. Around 80 children a year now attend the school.
2024
Ghana
Future Stars School in Buduburam is a refugee camp, home to thousands of people who fled Liberia during the civil wars. Many of the children are orphaned and live in extreme poverty, a devastating obstacle to learning. Funding from our Foundation provides a feeding programme for 150 students aged 4-14, giving them the essential nutrients needed to support their learning, development and growth.