“I volunteered in a rural secondary school in Ghana in the early 2000s. One of my students secured a place at a further education college but couldn’t afford to go. He was only one of a handful of students ever to have successfully done so. I was pleased to be able to sponsor him and saw first hand the transformational impact his further education had on his whole family, until that point surviving through subsistence farming. That success was also remarkably cheap compared to my own university fees and following his graduation I wanted to assist other Ghanaian students in the same way. I was delighted therefore to find TEST for Africa. All of my donation goes to the students fees. I have the pride of knowing I’ve helped now 3 further students through their tertiary education, who are in turn helping now their families and communities. I expect through doing this I’ve had a far bigger impact in Ghana than I did through my teaching!”  K.F. London

 

"A wonderfully well run charity that enables students to be further educated and encourages them to give back to their local communities in return. A brilliant concept and deserving of all our support and donations.   W.G.  London

 

Since many years I have supported the TEST foundation as I am absolutely amazed to see the massive improvements in the local African communities being driven by former TEST scholars and outstanding individuals who could empower themselves through education. I can highly recommend joining our initiative as every single coin you donate will make a dramatic difference in the workaday life of many underprivileged Africans. The diligent work of many volunteers is making it possible to fully convey all donations without any overhead deductions whatsoever."  Chris S.  Germany. May 2020

 

"Why we support Test for Africa.  It would be difficult to imagine a charitable organization as successful as Test for Africa.

Supporting tertiary education for more than 1000 qualified students in Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania who could otherwise not attend college has not only made a very real difference in their personal lives, but has resulted in major contributions to their local communities and institutions.

The governing philosophy and efficient financial management of these charities are exemplary and provide an outstanding return on investment." 

Carol & Dick  New York City

 

"I was looking for a charity to support where I could be confident that there is a big return on investment in terms of donations made.  I feel that tertiary education, which benefits the individual, their family and their community for the whole of their career, is a really effective use of charitable funds.   This is particularly the case where university fees in Africa may only be around £500 a year.   I also wanted to find a charity where I could be confident my donation would be used in its entirety for scholarships rather than a proportion going on fundraising and admin.

After some research I was delighted to find the Tertiary Education Scholarship Trust, which fitted what I was looking for and seemed to operate very effectively in  a number of countries.  As I had no previous connection with them, I did appropriate due diligence looking at the accounts and so on and was lucky enough to meet one of the founders and also met the chairman of the Trustees.

Following a period as an arms length donor, I was impressed enough to offer to update and relaunch the testforafrica.org website (apologies it isn’t a state of the art digital presence, just the output of an enthusiastic if rather amateur website builder!). 

Working on the website involved me getting a more detailed understanding of the operation of each country's charity, plus doing an in depth review of case studies of the scholars for publication online based on letters and other materials from the scholars.   This has only reinforced my confidence that donations are managed very effectively and are targeted at talented individuals who would otherwise miss out on a tertiary education.  The case studies speak to some great outcomes for individual scholars.  I get great satisfaction from knowing a gift makes a real difference."  John M - London