About the JAAS Foundation
A volunteer-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit built on one simple idea: make people a priority, and go where the need is greatest.
Our story
In 2016, Aleksey traveled to Ethiopia with Microsoft's My Skills For Africa initiative. He met bright, determined students with almost no path to the opportunities their talent deserved. He came home, told Jane, and together they started the JAAS Foundation.
Since then we've brought internet connectivity, donated computers, and English and digital literacy learning to schools and communities in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Venezuela, Colombia and Sri Lanka, always alongside local partners, and always careful to recognize and preserve the cultural identity of everyone we serve.
We stay volunteer-run with minimal overhead, so donations turn into laptops, meals, registration fees and cleats rather than administration.
What we stand for
We focus on the most important need at the moment, not the need that is easiest to fund. When COVID-19 hit, that meant redirecting our education budget into direct relief: cash mini-grants to Washington residents, and food and sanitization grants for a school community in Kampala. When the need moves, we move.
Programs are built around people, not paperwork. We ask families what they actually need, respect their cultural identity, and keep the process short enough that asking for help isn't its own burden.
Schools, clubs, coaches, relief organizations, businesses and municipalities. We work with anyone who shares the goal. Most of what we've accomplished came through a partner already trusted by their community.
Being where needed, in practice
Charitable giving fell just as demand rose. Rather than protect our existing programs, we redirected funds to food, bills and safety, the needs that came first that year.
COVID
From March to May 2020 we redirected foundation funds into cash mini-grants for Washington residents whose work disappeared overnight, used for rent, bills and groceries.
450
A grant to Shammah High School funded daily sanitization, hand-sanitizing stations, meals for 450 students and 39 educators, plus daily meals for 20 families in acute need.
ESL
We partnered with World Relief to host English learning sessions for refugees resettling in the Seattle area, and supported refugee families here in Washington.
“Meal programs and education truly go hand in hand in a poor area, as a hungry child cannot concentrate enough to learn.”
How we got here
2016
Aleksey Sinyagin travels to Ethiopia with Microsoft's My Skills For Africa initiative. He and Jane found the JAAS Foundation the same year.
2017–2019
Internet connectivity, donated computers, and English and digital literacy programs reach schools in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Venezuela, Colombia and Sri Lanka.
2020
COVID-19 relief becomes the priority: cash mini-grants in Washington, food and sanitization grants in Uganda, ESL support for refugees.
2022
Generators and first necessities for families affected by the war in Ukraine; education programs for indigenous and displaced children in Colombia.
2023
Close collaboration with UNICEF begins; Aleksey visits the UNICEF field office in India. $10,000 raised for UNICEF.
2024
$25,000 raised for UNICEF, focused on children globally.
2025
$39,000 raised for UNICEF, focused on children globally, and priorities begin shifting toward local Washington communities.
Today
The same values turn toward our own neighborhoods with the Play On youth soccer grant program for Washington families.
Our Play On grants cover registration, gear and travel for Washington families.
