- 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?
- 4. Where do I mail donations?
- 5. Where is Smile Train located?
- 6. How do I make an online donation?
- 7. Is Smile Train a registered charity?
- 8. What percentage of my donation will go to overheads?
- 9. Will my donation qualify for Gift Aid?
- 10. Will I receive a receipt for my donation?
- 11. How do I donate stocks and shares to Smile Train?
- 12. What if I would like to include Smile Train in my Will?
- 13. How do I wire funds directly to Smile Train?
- 14. Can I become a monthly donor?
- 15. How do I apply for a Matching Gift Donation?
- 16. How do I make a donation in someone’s honour or memory?
- 17. How do I obtain a copy of your Annual Report or audited financials?
- 18. Can I restrict my gift to a certain country?
- 19. Can I restrict my gift to either a boy or a girl?
- 20. Can I receive a picture of the specific child I have helped?
- 21. Can I restrict my donation to help the specific child I saw in your advertisement or direct mail?
- 22. Can I get the contact information for a child I saw in one of your marketing materials?
- 23. Why doesn’t Smile Train show after surgery photos in ads?
- 24. Does Smile Train need volunteers?
- 25. Can I create a personal fundraising page through the Smile Train website?
- 26. Is Smile Train on Facebook or any other social networking sites?
- 27. What is the mission of Smile Train?
- 28. When was Smile Train started?
- 29. Is Smile Train different from other cleft organisations?
- 30. What is the difference between Smile Train and Operation Smile?
- 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?
- 32. What is Smile Train's name exchange policy?
- 33. What is a cleft?
- 34. Do only developing countries have a problem with cleft?
- 35. Why does Smile Train focus on clefts?
- 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
About fundraising and volunteering
About Smile Train
Programmes
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 The Smile Train UK.
4. Where do I mail 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. How do I make an online donation?
To donate in pounds, visit www.smiletrain.org.uk
7. Is Smile Train a registered charity?
Yes. Our registered charity number in the UK is 1114748.
8. What percentage of my donation will go to overheads?
As a first time donor, 80% of your donation will go toward programmes that directly benefit children with cleft and 20% to will go toward overheads costs. 100% of any future donation will go directly to help children with cleft and 0% will go to overheads.
9. Will my donation qualify for Gift Aid?
If you are a UK taxpayer and would like The 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 The Smile Train UK reclaims on your donation in the appropriate tax year. Currently 25p for every pound you give. You must indicate that you would like your donation to receive Gift Aid when making the donation. Simply visit www.smiletrain.org.uk to download, print out and mail in a Gift Aid form with your donation.
10. Will I receive a receipt for my donation?
As long as you provide an address with your donation, we'll send you a receipt.
11. How do I donate stocks and shares to Smile Train?
Your broker will need the following information:
Account Name: Smile Train, Inc.,
Our US 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: 1.212.493.8844, Fax: 1.212.493.7978
Email: leighton.waters@bbh.com
Please notify us when you plan to make a stock donation by contacting: ukinfo@smiletrain.org
or by calling 0870 127 6269.
12. What if I would like to include Smile Train in my Will?
Your solicitor will need the information below:
Official Organisation Name: The Smile Train UK
Address: PO Box 583, Northampton NN3 6UH
Phone: 0870 127 6269
Status: The Smile Train UK is a registered charity: 1114748
13. How do I wire funds directly to Smile Train?
Please call us at 0870 127 6269.
14. Can I become a monthly donor?
Just visit www.smiletrain.org.uk, click on "Donate" then "Monthly Donation" to download a direct debit form. You can also contact us by phone at: 0870 127 6269.
15. How do I apply for a Matching Gift Donation?
You can contact your own HR department to find the rules and related forms required to participate.
16. How do I make a donation in someone’s honour or memory?
You can make your donation online, on the phone or through the post. We will need the name and address of the person you are honouring, the type of card you would like us to send and who the card is from.
17. How do I obtain a copy of your Annual Report or audited financials?
It's easy. Just send us a request via email to ukinfo@smiletrain.org or write to us at The Smile Train UK, PO Box 583, Northampton NN3 6UH.
About the children
18. Can I restrict my gift to a certain country?
Sure. You can find a list of countries in which we work on our website. 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.
19. 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 gender. We are unable to restrict donations to a specific gender.
20. Can I receive a picture of the specific child I have helped?
A few months after your donation is received 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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
24. Does Smile Train need volunteers?
We would love to involve you as a volunteer so you can hold a special fundraiser 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 fundraiser, any and all help you can give us is greatly appreciated. To request a fundraising kit, email: ukinfo@smiletrain.org or call us at: 0870 127 6269.
25. Can I create a personal fundraising page through the Smile Train website?
Completely customizable fundraising pages are hosted on our website. You can upload pictures, descriptions of your fundraiser; see who donated to your fundraiser, post comments and updates, and set up a personalized URL to link to your blog or Social Networking web site. To create your customizable online fundraising page, visit our web site at www.smiletrain.org.uk and click on “Donate” then “Create a Page or Find a Fund” and you will be guided through the process.
26. Is Smile Train on Facebook or any other social networking sites?
Visit www.smiletrain.org.uk to link to our Social Networking sites.
About Smile Train
27. What is the mission of Smile Train?
Our mission is to help the millions of very poor children in developing countries who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. The only reason these children have NOT been helped is because they're poor. The problem of clefts in developing countries is an economic problem - not a medical one. The families of these children - often living on less than £1 a day - are too poor to ever afford to pay for surgery.
28. 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 for 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 programmes in over 75 of the world's poorest countries. Smile Train has its headquarters in New York City and offices in: China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, UK and Vietnam.
29. Is Smile Train different from other cleft organisations?
Instead of sending teams of doctors and nurses on medical missions like every other cleft charity, Smile Train empowers local doctors, nurses and hospitals to solve the problem themselves. This unique approach not only reduces the cost-per-surgery by 90+%, it is a far safer, faster, smarter and more productive way to help children in developing countries. Pound-for-pound we help ten times more children than mission groups and we do it every day of the year. By providing free equipment, free education and training and on-going financial support, Smile Train is helping very poor, but very proud communities become self-sufficient one smile at a time.
30. What is the difference between Smile Train and Operation Smile?
More than 11 years ago, Smile Train started out as a special project of Operation Smile. But soon it became apparent that the two organisations had very different strategies and philosophies. Operation Smile is a traditional mission group that sends doctors and nurses on 2 week missions. Smile Train was the very first cleft charity to realise local surgeons in developing countries could be empowered to deliver much safer, less expensive and higher quality surgery year round - and not just two weeks a year. This "teach-a-man-to-fish" strategy explains the rapid growth and very low cost per surgery of Smile Train. Smile Train separated from Operation Smile in 1999 and today is completely independent and the world's largest cleft charity.
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?
Please visit our website at www.smiletrain.org.uk to 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: The Smile Train UK, PO Box 583, Northampton, NN3 6UH 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.
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 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 and can take as little as 45 minutes.
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 programmes are in the poorest countries in the world. Of the 100 poorest countries, we currently have partners and programmes in over 75 and are adding new countries every day. A list of our partners and programmes can be found on our website at www.smiletrain.org.uk under the “Medical” tab and then “Worldwide Partners”.
37. How can I find help for a child born with a cleft in another country?
It's easy. Our Smile Train partners and programmes are listed on our website at www.smiletrain.org.uk under the “Medical” tab and then “Worldwide Partners”. You can find the partner nearest the child and contact them directly or you can contact our Programmes Department at ukinfo@smiletrain.org.
38. Does Smile Train help children with clefts in the UK?
Virtually all children in the UK are covered by the NHS. Your local accredited craniofacial/cleft team (we list them on our website: www.smiletrain.org.uk) can help you figure out not only what treatment is needed but also how to cover the cost of it.
39. How do I find help for a child born in the UK?
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 financial aid for poor children, 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.
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. Please visit www.smiletrain.org.uk
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 and taking as little as 45 minutes.
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 11 years 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 programmes.
I have more questions, what should I do?
Please contact us! We would be happy to answer your questions!
Smile Train
PO Box 583
Northampton, NN3 6UH
www.smiletrain.org.uk
Phone: 0870 127 6269
E-mail: ukinfo@smiletrain.org

