Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where exactly is Happy Kids located?

   Happy Kids is located in Wegbe, which is a sub-village of larger Hohoe. This is in the Volta Region of Ghana, which is one of Ghana's poorest and most rural regions in the country.

2. So who is dealing with my money?

   Your donations go immediately into Happy Kid's own separate bank account. American volunteer Kelsey Finnegan is chiefly in charge of project planning and facilitation, and insures that every estimate and budget is thorough, correct and necessary. 100% of your donation goes directly to the orphanage - nobody else has access to this money nor will it ever be used towards anything other than the projects and welfare of the children at Happy Kids. The volunteers working through the happy kids organization recognize the necessity of every dollar and make sure that every donation is used effectively, immediately and efficiently. We are not a large organization with administrative fees, but rather a small group of individuals working to create desperately needed change for a small group of children.

3. Why is my donation not tax-deductible?

   In order for an organizations to offer tax-deductible donations, they need to be designated 501©3. Becoming 501©3 is actually a very lengthy and expensive process. It typically takes 1-2 years to get clearance. Interestingly enough, allocating a large percentage of your donation is NOT required for 501©3 clearance. Most larger organizations that have 501©3 status usually have larger percentages of administrative fees. 100% of happy kids are used directly on the ground in Ghana for projects and things like food, pencils and notebooks for the kids.

   We are currently working on tax-deduction and are also looking into fiscal sponsorship, so it is more than likely you will eventually be given a tax-deductible number to file with your taxes, however at this immediate time we cannot provide it and hope that will not deter you from supporting this extremely important grassroots initiative.

4. Where are the children's parents?

   Every individual child has a different story. However, many of the children at Happy Kids are not actually orphans. Many of them have existing relatives and parents that simply cannot provide for them. This does not, however, mean that the children communicate with their parents. Happy Kids is by no means an environment where you or I would ever leave our children. The kids are extremely self-sufficient and consider the orphanage to be their home and their friends to be brothers and sisters. Some of them do not have parents or living relatives and were abandoned at the orphanage. Regardless, for most of them it is the only home and family they have ever known.