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Hi letdogsvote, not obnoxious at all and is a fair question.

83.8 % of our donations go to our programs. Only 1.7% goes to overhead, which is a necessary allotment in order for our operations to run smoothly and that children with clefts get optimal care. In order to help facilitate in-country sustainability for our partners and properly run our expanding operations, we need to have the best and brightest people working for us full time. (We do spend 14.5 % on fundraising, as we have found that investing in fundraising helps raise more money, which can be spent on aiding more children with clefts around the world.)

We aim to be as transparent as possible and include our financials on our website: smiletrain.org/about/financials.html. Our executive salaries are comparable to our peer international health charities of similar size.

Thanks for your kind words, frozzymm!

Smile Train has a unique, sustainable model for surgery that differentiates us from other global health organizations.

Unique from other cleft charities, Smile Train doesn’t focus on flying in US doctors, but instead builds the capacity of local doctors using the "teach a man to fish" approach – allowing the organization to reach children more safely, more quickly and more efficiently.

Cleft is so much more than a cosmetic issue – it’s also a health and survival issue. Cleft affects eating, breathing and speaking, and brings risk of severe malnutrition and even death, especially for children born in the developing world. ​Cleft treatment improves the life of the patient as well as the lives of their families, communities and regions at large. Our cleft patients go on to participate in their societies and economies in ways they otherwise couldn’t, such as attending school, getting a job, volunteering in their community and having a family.

Hi Frajer, thanks for your question as I am often asked this.

Most experts agree that many factors play a role in cleft, and there is ongoing research to better understand them. Causes may include a genetic predisposition, as well as environmental factors such as drug and alcohol use, smoking, maternal illness, infections, or lack of Vitamin B folic acid. The good news is that cleft is 100% correctable – costing as little as $250 and lasting as short as 45 minutes – and we’re committed to providing cures for the millions who suffer.

I love this question almost as much as I love vanilla ice cream!

Our opt-out campaign, which was highlighted by the authors of Freakonomics, was a strategic marketing initiative aimed to motivate prospective donors to make a gift to our cause. As part of the campaign, Smile Train would not ask for additional monetary gifts from the donor after a donation was made by mail. We were able to help many children throughout the length of the campaign, but the inability to communicate patient updates and success stories with the donors acquired became too challenging. As a result, in July 2013 we ended the campaign. We’re marking our 15th anniversary and one millionth surgery by undergoing an exciting evolution in our approach to engagement and fundraising. This includes tapping into the vast reach of online and social channels and exploring some new, out-of-the-box outreach tactics, with the goal of reaching audiences more quickly and effectively. Our new approach allows supporters to keep steadily informed of our successes and see how their contributions are changing the lives of real patients and communities everyday.