Shining Light International

“FORM 990, PART III, LINE 4a. Education (Empowering Children)- Over 1,000 children from pre-school to Class 10 (High School) received top quality, English medium education through Shining Light Academy (SLA) located in Gilgit, Pakistan. Approximately 20% of the students were from Christian minority communities and attended SLA on a scholarship basis. Additional accomplishments include: a) Teachers - SLA was able to increase the teaching staff level to 84 with no layoffs or terminations in 2023. b) Scholarship Program - In 2023, SLI provided scholarships for pre-school, elementary, middle school, high school, college and university students. Since 2019, SLI has faced increasing challenges in raising funds for scholarships. There has been a trend among granting organizations away from supporting scholarships and SLI is working on re-branding the Scholarship Program to better reflect its scope which includes not only tuition, but also counseling, supplies and discipleship. Despite these challenges, $51K was allocated for the following scholarship programs (more than double the amount in 2022): c) Primary Education - Pre-school through high school level minority Christian students received $27K for tuition, books, uniforms and other educational expenses. Most of the recipients attend Shining Light Academy. d) Secondary Education - Twelve Christian students received $24K for college tuition, fees, books and personal expenses. These are the first Christian students to attend college in Gilgit, Pakistan and in the history of their families. Many are volunteering at SLA and eight are employed at the school as teachers and administrators. This has become the cornerstone of our Leadership Development Program which equips and mobilizes young people with a passion for providing high quality education and project development services to serve their local communities. Expenses for Education programs include donated services totaling $1,073. This includes professional services for database and survey development.”

“FORM 990, PART III, LINE 4b. Training (Empowering Leaders) - In 2023, SLI continued efforts to establish its capacity building program to provide skills training specifically for Shining Light Community Development Organization (SLCDO) staff as well as leaders of the FGA Gilgit Church. The intent is to build capacity among these individuals as leaders, teachers, business owners, students and professionals who will, in turn, have the ability to provide effective skills training to the people of northern Pakistan. Developing servant leaders that serve the community with integrity and compassion combined with effective capacity building skills is the primary focus of all SLI-developed training programs. A key milestone was the Urdu translation of modules 1 through 8 of our Elemental Business Development training course. In 2024, we expect to complete Urdu translaction of the final modules, conduct trainers training and final turnover for implementation throughout Pakistan. The Urdu translation and training will be done in collaboration with The Islamabad Leadership Training Instute. This course will also be incorporated into our womens sewing program and possibly our Shining Light Academy upper classes as part of our vision to enhance our Leadership Development program in 2024. This Capacity Building and Empowerment Program will have a profound impact on the people of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and beyond. a) Womens Empowerment Program - By the end of 2023, approximately 1,000 women had received sewing, cutting, knitting, embroidery and wool weaving skills through our Womens Vocational Training Center (WVTC) in Gilgit, Pakistan and numerous other sewing centers established throughout the region. In 2023, SLI raised $32K to fund three, fully equipped, womens sewing centers in rural villages in two districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. This funding was also used to train women at the main WVTC in Gilgit, plus provide advanced sewing skills for woment who will become Master Trainers upon graduation. The WVTC is a key component of SLIs Womens Empowerment Program that provides job/life skills training, Urdu literacy, business entrepreneurship training and gender equality awareness for mostly low-income women from local village communities. SLI plans to raise $40K in 2024 to continue expansion of its Womens Empowerment Program into new regions. b)Elemental Business Entrepreneur Training Course - To date, SLI has invested over $55K to develop and deploy the Business Entrepreneur Training Course that is contextualized for an Islamic society and can be deployed throughout Central Asia. SLI invested $6K in 2023 to complete Urdu translation of modules 1-8 and provide online training for trainers (see above). c) Church Leadership Development - In 2022, Pastor Sajjad Masih (Pastor of FGA Gilgit Church and Executive Director of SLCDO) became ill during the year due to stress, exhaustion and major fatigue. SLI responded immediately by raising prayer support, awareness and funding ($23K) to provide Pastor Sajjad and his family with a one-month sabbatical and all-expense paid trip to Chaing Mai, Thailand. In 2023, SLI followed up by providing $2.5K for Pastor Sajjad and his family to have a time of rest and relaxation in Pakistan. This is a trend that SLI plans to continue to ensure the health of Pastor Sajjad and his family while working in Pakistan. Expenses for Training programs include donated services totaling $1,004. This includes professional services for database and survey development.”

“FORM 990, PART III, LINE 4c. Development (Empowering Communities) - The Rural Village Development Program (RVDP) was established to support provision of quality education among remote, isolated communities in northern Pakistan. One of the most marginalized people groups in the region are the semi-nomadic Gujjar people. They live in the high mountain valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan and for generations have faced extremely high rates of poverty and illiteracy. Because of religious extremism, very few girls among the Gujjar people in Gilgit-Baltistan were able to attend school. Since 2007, in Gujjar communities where government support for education was limited or unavailable, Shining Light has been providing school equipment and supplies, supporting local teachers and paying for student school fees, books and uniforms. In addition, due to the lack of literacy in many communities throughout Gilgit-Baltistan, SLI has placed a high priority on implementing Adult Urdu Literacy classes. Most of the participants have been women. In 2023, SLI raised $107K for our Rural Village Primary Education, Kunis Water Project, Homes of Hope Reconstruction and Adult Urdu Literacy programs as outlined below: a) Rural Village Primary Education Program - In 2023, Shining Light raised $28K to equip five village schools, hire local teachers/staff and enable children to attend school (of which about one quarter were girls). RVDP School enrollment has stayed relatively strong at 490 students attending regularly which is a slight increase from 2022. This increase is encouraging despite the challenges of recovering from the flood. Of the 490 regular school attendees, about 25% are girls. b) Adult Urdu Literacy Project - Since 2018, SLI has successfully deployed our Adult Urdu Literacy program in 15 villages and have graduated 150 adults (mostly women) making this one of the most successful and impactful of SLIs programs. Due to the floods, only one Adult Literacy Center was completed in 2023. It is anticipated that two new adult literacy centers in two new villages will start in 2024. c) Homes for Hope Flood Reconstruction - As mentioned previously, twenty-three homes were constructed in 3 villages due to the floods in 2022. SLI raised $63K in 2023 to complete this project. The total project cost to construct the 23 homes was $122K. SLI is now well positioned to expand our influence in these 3 villages and will follow up with various development projects over the next several years as needs are identified. d) Kunis Water Project - Kunis is a village in eastern Gilgit-Baltistan that was severely affected by the floods. As a result, 40 families were relocated to a nearby area that was lacking water. The village elders approached SLI after completion of the 3 Homes for Hope and stated that water for these families was the most pressing need. SLI promptly raised $15K to construct a water tank and install water piping from the water source (mountain spring) to each of the re-located homes. That project is 75% complete with some additional tie-ins left to be done. Final completion will be in the summer of 2024. e) New School and Training Center - In August of 2023, FGA Gilgit Church purchased approximately 1.5 acres of partially developed land in order to build a new school and training center. This was a major event and nothing short of a miracle that had been prayed for over sixteen years. The new school will replace the current Shining Light Academy and will accommodate over 1,500 students from Pre-School through class 12 (College) when completed. SLI quickly contacted EMI-an engineering firm-to provide a master plan and drawings in order to launch a fundraising campaign that began in November 2023. SLI was able to raise $50K for the Master Plan and future design and engineering efforts that will commence in 2024 in hopes of breaking ground in 2025. Completion of the new school and training center will significantly improve the ability of Shining Light Pakistan t”

“The ceo is an ex-officio member with no voting rights.”

“Mike gordon, ceo, is the father of tyler gordon. This relationship has been disclosed in the conflict of interest policy.”

“All board members are given a copy of the 990 before it is filed and are encouraged to review the return and make inquiries as needed.”

“The board annually reviews the conflict of interest policy and completes conflict of interest statements. The policy is made available upon request.”

“Shining light international compensated the executive director and one other board member on a contract basis, which the board reviewed and agreed upon. Compensation is based on comparable compensation data for similar positions. All decisions related to compensation are included in board meeting minutes and contract rates are reviewed annually.”

“Shining light international board includes one key employee as a strategic manager. The compensation for this position is reviewed by the board annually and adjusted as needed.”

“Shining light internationals 990, governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available upon request.”