Where Does Your Donation Go? A Transparent Look at Una Luz

The Question Every Donor Should Ask

You should always ask where your money goes before giving to any organization. It is a completely fair question. Many places make it hard to answer with long reports and corporate words like "capacity building" that could mean almost anything.

We want to do this differently. Here is exactly how we use your donation in plain language, with real numbers and a whole lot of gratitude.

The Two Things We Do

Una Luz does two things. We run a school for our kids, and we run a community kitchen for our neighbors. That is all we do. We don't have a dozen different programs or a research division. We just do two things, and we do them with a lot of love every single day.

The School. 30 children attend every day. They receive an education, a hot meal, and a completely safe place to grow. Our teachers are local women from the neighborhood who have dedicated years to these specific kids. The school covers everything from basic reading to deep emotional support and daily prayers.

The Community Kitchen. We prepare and serve 100 hot meals every weekday. We feed elders, families walking through a tough crisis, and children who simply need food. The meals are cooked from scratch by a team of women who pour their hearts into this work every morning. Read about how our kitchen operates from sunrise to cleanup if you want the full picture.

Everything we spend falls into one of these two buckets.

Where Your Dollar Goes

For every dollar donated to Una Luz, here is the approximate breakdown.

Food and kitchen operations: 40 cents. This covers the fresh ingredients, the cooking supplies, and the containers we use to deliver plates to neighbors who cannot walk to us anymore. It is our largest expense because we serve 100 beautiful meals every weekday.

Teacher salaries and school supplies: 35 cents. Our teachers earn modest salaries, but they show up every morning because they believe God has called them to love these kids. This also covers the notebooks, the uniforms, and the pencils the children proudly use.

Facility costs: 15 cents. This pays for the rent, the utilities, and the basic maintenance. It keeps the lights on and the water running in our shared space.

Administration and operations: 10 cents. This covers the quiet essentials like banking, legal compliance, and keeping this website running so you can read our stories. We keep this number as low as humanly possible.

In total, 90 cents of every dollar goes directly to feeding families and educating children. The remaining 10 cents keeps our doors open so the work can continue.

How That Compares

You have probably heard about overhead ratios. Some large organizations spend a big portion of your gift on fundraising and executive salaries. We don't have executive salaries. We don't have a fundraising department. We don't rent an office space in the United States. Our team in Cartagena runs the daily programs, and our US team handles the administration as grateful volunteers.

That isn't a criticism of larger organizations, as they simply operate at a different scale. But it does mean that when you give to Una Luz, an unusually high percentage of your gift reaches the exact people it is meant for.

What Specific Amounts Buy

Sometimes percentages feel a bit abstract. Here is what your money actually looks like on the ground in Cartagena, where the cost of living is roughly four to five times lower than in the US.

$8 per month provides 15 hot meals for a community member. That is roughly two weeks of weekday lunches for someone who might not eat otherwise.

$16 per month covers a full month of daily meals for one person, every single weekday. This is one of the most powerful gifts you can give.

$50 per month sponsors a child's complete journey through our school. That covers their daily meals, school supplies, tutoring, and a safe place to learn and grow.

A $100 one-time gift covers the full daily operation of the kitchen, feeding all 100 people for a day. It can also cover a month of support for a teacher's salary.

These aren't estimates. They are based on our actual monthly expenses.

What We Don't Spend Money On

This might be just as important as what we do buy.

No US office space. Administration happens remotely.

No paid executive staff in the US. Leadership time is entirely volunteer-based.

No paid fundraising consultants. We grow through word of mouth and through faithful friends like you sharing our story.

No glossy print materials. Everything is digital. The money that would go to a fancy printed report goes to buying rice instead.

Ask Us Anything

We want to make you a promise. If you ever want to know something about how we spend your money, please ask. You can email us at admin@unaluz.org and we will give you a straight answer.

If you want to know how much we spent on food last month, we will send you the exact number. If you want to know what our teachers earn, we will be completely honest. If you want to visit and see the work for yourself, we would be honored to host you. Transparency isn't a marketing strategy for us. It is the only honest way to honor your trust and God's provision.

The Invitation

We are a small organization, and that is very much by design. Small means every dollar is visible. Small means you can call us and we will pick up the phone. Small means we know every child's name and exactly how the grandmothers in our kitchen like their coffee.

If that is the kind of family you want to support, we would be so grateful to have you. Your donation is fully tax-deductible (here's exactly how the tax deduction works), and every cent goes further than you might expect.