Frequently Asked Questions
About Donating
1. What does it cost to provide Smile Train surgery?
2. Do I have to donate the entire £150?
3. How do I make out my cheque?
5. Where is Smile Train located?
6. Is Smile Train a registered charity?
7. Will 100% of my donation be used for programmes?
8. Will my donation qualify for Gift Aid?
9. Will I receive a receipt for my donation?
10. Is Smile Train a member of the Fundraising Standards Board?
11. How do I donate shares to Smile Train?
12. Do you accept donations via PayPal?
13. What information do I need to include in my Will or life insurance policy?
14. How do I wire funds directly to Smile Train?
15. Can I become a monthly donor?
16. How do I apply for a Matching Gift donation?
17. How do I make a donation in someone’s honour or memory?
18. How do I obtain a copy of your Annual Report or Audited Financials?
About the Children
19. Can I restrict my gift to a certain country?
20. Can I restrict my gift to either a boy or a girl?
21. Can I receive a picture of the specific child I have helped?
23. Can I get the contact information for a child I saw in one of your marketing materials?
24. Why doesn’t Smile Train show after surgery photos in ads?
About Fundraising and Volunteering
25. Does Smile Train need volunteers?
26. Can I create a personal fundraising page through the Smile Train website?
27. Is Smile Train on Facebook or any other social networking sites?
About Smile Train
28. What is the mission of Smile Train?
29. When was Smile Train started?
30. Why does Smile Train have such a large cash reserve?
32. What is Smile Train’s name exchange policy?
About Clefts
34. Do only developing countries have a problem with cleft?
35. Why does Smile Train focus on clefts?
Programmes
36. Where does Smile Train work?
37. How can I find help for a child born with a cleft in another country?
38. Does Smile Train help children with clefts in the UK?
39. How do I find help for a child born in the UK?
40. How can I find a qualified cleft surgeon in the UK?
41. What is Smile Train doing to prevent clefts?
42. How does Smile Train keep track of the surgeries that are performed?
43. What follow-up services does Smile Train provide?
About Donating
1. What does it cost to provide Smile Train surgery?
For just £150 you can provide free surgery that will change a child’s life forever.
2. Do I have to donate the entire £150?
We are grateful for all donations, no matter what amount and we promise to use them to help the world’s poorest children.
3. How do I make out my cheque?
Cheques or money orders should be made out to Smile Train UK.
4. Where do I post donations?
Donations from the UK: Smile Train UK, PO Box 583, Northampton NN3 6UH.
Donations from Ireland: Smile Train, PO Box 11273, Dublin 6.
5. Where is Smile Train located?
Smile Train UK: PO Box 583, Northampton NN3 6UH.
Our World Headquarters are located at: 41 Madison Avenue, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10010.
6. Is Smile Train a registered charity?
Yes. Our registered charity number in the UK is 1114748.
7. Will 100% of my donation be used for programmes?
When Smile Train was founded, our directors set up a grant to cover all of our overhead so that 100% of all donations went directly to our programs. This generous start up grant lasted Smile Train for 11 years and, unfortunately, it has run out. Based on our latest fiscal year financials, 82.2% of our total expenses went to Cleft Program Services, 16.9% of expenses went towards fundraising and 0.9% of expenses went towards management and general overhead. We’re continuing to further reduce our overhead costs where we can, so that more of each donation can go directly to our programs.
Smile Train is a member in good standing of the Fundraising Standards Board. Smile Train also receives high marks from a variety of charity ratings.
8. Will my donation qualify for Gift Aid?
If you are a UK taxpayer and would like Smile Train UK to reclaim
tax on all donations you make, you must pay an amount of Income Tax
and/or Capital Gains Tax at least equal to the tax that Smile Train
UK reclaims on your donation in the appropriate tax year. Currently 25p
for every pound you give. You must indicate on the donation form that you would like your
donation to receive Gift Aid when making the donation.
9. Will I receive a receipt for my donation?
As long as you provide an address with your donation, we’ll send you a receipt.
10. Is Smile Train a member of the Fundraising Standards Board?
YES! Smile Train is a member in good standing of the Fundraising Standards Board and meet all of the FRSB criteria.
11. How do I donate shares to Smile Train?
Your broker will need the following information:
Account Name: Smile Train, Inc.
Our Tax ID Number: 13-3661416
Account Number: 4940037
Broker DTC Number: 0010
Investment Advisor: Brown Brothers Harriman
Attn: Leighton K. Waters, Jr.
140 Broadway, New York, NY 10005
Phone: 212.493.8844, Fax: 212.493.7978
Email: leighton.waters@bbh.com.
Please notify us when you plan to make a stock donation by contacting: ukinfo@SmileTrain.org.
12. Do you accept donations via PayPal?
YES! If you'd like to make a donation using PayPal, you may do so here:
13. What information do I need to include in my will or life insurance policy?
Your solicitor will need the information below:
Official Organisation Name: Smile Train UK
Address: PO Box 583, Northampton NN3 6UH
Phone: 0870 127 6269
Registered Charity No. 1114748
Registered Company No. 05738962
To receive a brochure about leaving a Legacy Gift to Smile Train, please contact us at ukinfo@smiletrain.org or call 0870 127 6269.
14. How do I wire funds directly to Smile Train?
Please call us at 0870 127 6269.
15. Can I become a monthly donor?
For more information about Smile Train’s Smile of the Month Club, please call 0870 127 6269 or email: ukinfo@smiletrain.org
Please click the following link to sign up via post:
16. How do I apply for a Matching Gift donation?
You can contact your HR department to find the rules and related forms required to participate.
17. How do I make a donation in someone’s honour or memory?
Visit our "Tributes and Memorials" page, here.
18. How do I obtain a copy of your Annual Report or Audited Financials?
Our latest Annual Reports and Financial information is available on our Financials page.
About the Children
19. Can I restrict my gift to a certain country?
Sure. View a list of our worldwide medical partners and programs. Just include a note with your donation that says in what country or region you would like your donation to be used and we will be happy to accommodate you.
20. Can I restrict my gift to either a boy or a girl?
In order to provide as many surgeries as quickly as possible, Smile Train helps every child that comes to us, regardless of sex. We are unable to restrict donations to a specific gender.
21. Can I receive a picture of the specific child I have helped?
A few months after your donation we will send you a picture and a story of a child we were able to help following your donation. Hopefully you can put this up on your fridge as a happy reminder that there is a child smiling today thanks to you.
22. Can I restrict my donation to help the specific child I saw in your advertisement or direct mail?
All of the children you see in our advertisements have received the surgery they need. We will use your donation to help a child who is desperately poor and who would otherwise never be helped. Your support will have a very dramatic, immediate and permanent impact on a life.
23. Can I get the contact information for a child I saw in one of your marketing materials?
Smile Train does not release contact information for the children that we help to maintain their privacy and uphold their patient confidentiality.
24. Why doesn’t Smile Train show after surgery photos in ads?
We test the results of all our advertising and our research and analysis demonstrates that advertisements that include only before photos significantly increases the amount of money we raise to help these children.
About Fundraising and Volunteering
25. Does Smile Train need volunteers?
We would love to involve you as a volunteer so you can hold a special fundraising event for us. We will send you a fundraising kit and give you advice and tips along the way. Whether it is sending an email to all your friends, introducing us to your employer or clients, or hosting a fundraising event, any and all help you can give us is greatly appreciated. To request a fundraising kit, email ukinfo@smiletrain.org.
26. Can I create a personal fundraising page through the Smile Train website?
Completely customisable fundraising pages are hosted on our website. You can upload pictures, descriptions of your fundraising event, see who donated to your event, post comments and updates, set up a personalized URL to link to your blog or Social Networking web site. To create your customisable online fundraising page, visit our "Personal Fundraising" page here, and you will be guided through the process.
27. Is Smile Train on Facebook or any other social networking sites?
Yes! We're on most popular social networking sites, such as:
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Please "Like" us on Facebook, and you can mention us in tweets by typing "@SmileTrain".
About Smile Train
28. What is the mission of Smile Train?
You can read Smile Train's mission, here.
29. When was Smile Train started?
Smile Train was founded in 1999 by two friends and business associates, Charles B. Wang and Brian F. Mullaney. The idea came about after Mullaney and Wang were involved for years with a traditional mission group that turned away thousands of children every year due to lack of funds.
Mullaney and Wang sought to develop a new approach to providing surgery for poor children in developing countries. Smile Train has grown into the world’s largest cleft charity, helping hundreds of thousands of desperately poor children with cleft, training tens of thousands of medical professionals and establishing hundreds of programs in over 78 of the world’s poorest countries. Smile Train has its headquarters in New York City and offices in: China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, UK and Vietnam.
30. Why does Smile Train have a cash reserve?
The reserve is in place so that if we are unable to maintain our fundraising efforts at present levels, we would still be able to fund our programs for one year. When our partners in the field sign-up each year they assume funding for the entire year and plan accordingly. In essence, the Smile Train model is dependent on the steady flow of funds to our 1,100 partners.
In order to ensure
consistent and continued funding, we keep a cash reserve.
We run Smile Train like a business and, like any business, it is recommended that you have a “reserve” for when times get tough. Our board closely monitors our cash reserve and we make certain to never “stock pile” your generous donations. As a matter of fact, in order to qualify for the BBB Wise Giving Alliance a charity may NOT have more than three years of operating expenses in reserve. Smile Train has enough in reserve to keep our programs running for one year and meets all 20 Standards for Charity Accountability which assesses our organization’s finances, governance and oversight.
31. How can I find out more information about the 2008 Academy Award® winning documentary short film, Smile Pinki, or about Smile Train’s work in India?
You can request a free DVD of the film, a Press Kit, sign-up to receive e-mail updates, or learn more about the film. (Academy Award® is a trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.)
32. What is Smile Train’s name exchange policy?
From time to time, Smile Train exchanges donor names with other reputable charities. If you do not wish to receive these mailings, or if you would like to change the frequency or types of communications you receive from us, simply write to us at: Smile Train UK, PO Box 583, Northampton, NN3 6UH, call us at: 0870 127 6269 or email us at: ukinfo@smiletrain.org.
About Clefts
33. What is a cleft?
A cleft is a birth defect and often the #1 birth defect in most developing countries. A cleft lip is an opening in the upper lip between a newborn's mouth and nose. A cleft palate is created when the roof of the mouth has a hole in it. Babies can be born with a cleft lip or palate or both. Babies are born with clefts everywhere in the world including the UK. But you seldom see clefts in the UK and the West because they are repaired automatically soon after birth. Clefts are usually NOT repaired in developing countries because most of the families are too poor to afford surgery and the government will not provide free surgery.
34. Do only developing countries have a problem with cleft?
Babies are born with clefts everywhere in the world including the UK, but you seldom see unrepaired clefts in the UK and the West because they are repaired soon after birth. Clefts are usually NOT repaired in developing countries because most of the families are too poor to afford surgery and the government will not provide free surgery.
35. Why does Smile Train focus on clefts?
Instead of doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, like many charities, Smile Train decided to choose one specific problem that affects children and try to solve it.
We chose clefts because:
- By focusing on clefts, we can be much more effective and productive - we know and work with every major cleft surgeon, hospital, charity, research program and educational institution in the world.
- Clefts are a significant problem affecting the lives of more than 4 million very poor children.
- The cure for clefts has already been found: a simple surgery that can cost as little as £150.
- The impact of cleft surgery is dramatic, immediate and permanent! This is one of the best low-cost, high impact interventions in the world - a true modern day medical miracle that changes a child’s life forever
- We know where every child with an unrepaired cleft is living and how to help him or her.
- Once you cure a cleft it never comes back!
Programmes
36. Where does Smile Train work?
Smile Train works in the poorest countries in the world. View a list of our worldwide medical partners and programs.
37. How can I find help for a child born with a cleft in another country?
It’s easy. Our Smile Train partners and programs are listed here. You can find the partner nearest the child and contact them directly or you can contact our Programs Department at info@smiletrain.org.
38. Does Smile Train help children with clefts in the UK?
Of course! Every year, more than 800 babies are born in the UK with clefts and
often the first place the parents turn to for help is Smile Train. We do
more to help British children with clefts than any other organisation
in the world. This includes, training
and education for cleft surgeons, grants for accredited cleft teams in
the UK, a public information programme that reaches millions of the
general public as well as a broad range of support for patients and
their families
39. How do I find help for a child born in the UK?
Virtually all children in the UK are covered by the NHS. Your local accredited craniofacial/cleft team can help you figure out not only what treatment is needed.
40. How can I find a qualified cleft surgeon in the UK?
Our website has the names and contact information for accredited cleft teams in the UK, PLUS we have thousands of pages of invaluable articles,
medical information, resources and links for cleft patients and their
families.
41. What is Smile Train doing to prevent clefts?
Many of the experts in the cleft world are actively investigating etiology and prevention of cleft. We support their work and hope one day they will find a solution. For now, we know that cleft lip and palate is primarily a genetic condition which is compounded by poor nutrition, lack of prenatal care and environmental factors. Smile Train promotes public awareness and advises all pregnant mothers to take folic acid to help prevent birth defects. The link to folic acid and cleft has not been directly established, but, we hope it will help in some cases. Currently, the best and only “cure for cleft” is simple surgery - costing as little as £150.
42. How does Smile Train keep track of the surgeries that are performed?
We use all kinds of proprietary technology to save money and do things faster, cheaper and smarter. Instead of mailing patient charts all over the world we built a digital patient database called Smile Train Express that's on the Web. Our partners upload all of their patient records to us via the Web, which not only saves millions in shipping, handling and storage costs, but also allows us to review and monitor the quality of their work.
43. What follow-up services does Smile Train provide?
When Smile Train was founded over a decade ago, we were only able to offer the initial surgery, but as we have expanded and our resources have grown, we are very happy to be able to provide not only free follow-up surgeries, but also speech therapy at a number of our partner hospitals. As the children get older, they sometimes need follow-up surgery as their bodies and mouths develop and therefore we do provide free surgery for the children that have already been through our programs.
I have more questions, what should I do?
Please contact us!
We would be happy to answer your questions!
Smile Train UK
PO Box 583
Northampton, NN3 6UH
Phone: 0870 127 6269
E-mail: ukinfo@smiletrain.org
