Inspired by the Founder, Dr. Zachee Tinhaga’s powerful personal story, Excellence Plus Foundation aims to ensure that each child, from whatever corner of the globe and regardless of their social circumstances, is able to complete, at the very least, an elementary school education. Zachee, a Doctor of Law and practicing attorney based in New York, created this 501(c)(3) non-profit with his wife Katie to help the children today that are in situations similar to his own childhood in Cameroon. Zachee was sent home from school many times because his parents could not pay required school fees. Yet, through a providential set of circumstances, including various scholarships, Zachee went on to achieve the highest levels of academic success. In 2010, he met his now wife Katie, a first-generation college graduate herself with a very strong passion for education. Together, they began to identify children living in extreme poverty and to offer them scholarships to attend school. They ultimately put together a dedicated group around Excellence Plus Foundation, working to ensure that, long term, no child is unable to complete an elementary education due to lack of resources.

Our mission unfolds on two fronts. On the one hand, we search and identify children born in extreme poverty and support them to pursue an education, something they would not be able to do otherwise. Most of our students are orphans and children in very difficult environments, and we provide them with material support and mentorship. On the other hand, we contract with teachers and send them to remote villages where the only way to offer education is to bring the teacher to the children because schools in those villages may 'exist' on paper but generally have no teachers. We truly believe education is the great equalizer, and by giving a chance to kids who may not go to school otherwise, we tap into tremendous potential, capable of lifting families and communities.

Excellence Plus is driven to find as many children as possible, born in socially disadvantageous situations, and to give them a chance at transforming themselves and their communities. We believe each child has extraordinary potential, and with help, can seize opportunities for great achievements. Guided by the strong impact we have seen thus far and rooted in our strong belief in the kids’ limitless abilities to achieve great things, we continue to look for people to join us in our mission. Together we can empower communities worldwide by bringing the life changing gift of education to as many children as possible who would not get that blessing otherwise!

In addition to continuing our always growing student scholarships and teacher and librarian sponsorships; we are looking to provide water wells for clean water, and solar panels for electricity to our students and their communities. We note that in these remote villages, there is no electricity or running water and we believe academic performance would increase in healthy bodies able to study at any given time of the day and night.

Looking ahead still, we hope to be able to support our students beyond primary school. This would require moving the children out of their villages because post elementary education is not ususally available there. To that end, we hope, one day, to build a middle and high school where students from our different villages could go after successful completion of primary education. Join us!