Pencils of Promise

The name comes from an incident in India when Braun was visiting the country. He asked a poor street child what he wished to have most of all. The boy answered: "a pencil", so Braun gave him his pen, hence the name of the charity.[2] Realizing how important education was in many developing countries, Braun visited more than 50 countries distributing pencils to children wherever he went. In October 2008, he established the charity with the aim of providing quality education to children in some of the most underserved countries around the world.[3]

Pencils of Promise believes every child should have access to quality education. They create schools, programs, and global communities around the common goal of education for all.[4] Pencils of Promise focuses on building strong structures and sustainable education programs by forming long-lasting, collaborative relationships with communities. Sites are picked taking into account need, sustainability, cost efficiency, impact and commitment. The facilities are built with local labor and material. The charity also supports projects through ongoing teacher training, progression scholarships and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) programming.

The charity is supported by a number of celebrities and most prominently by Scooter Braun, a well-known entertainment manager, and elder brother of the founder. Also involved from the first days of the organization is one of Scooter Braun's biggest acts, Justin Bieber[5] who has lent his voice as an international celebrity spokesman for the organization[6] by running ads for the charity and its campaign Schools4All[7] and promising to visit schools that donate the most funds to the organization.[8] Bieber takes part in the charity's fund-raising galas and donates parts of proceeds of his concerts and line of fragrances "Someday"[9] and various merchandising to the charity.

DJ 3LAU is also a major supporter of the charity.[10] With the proceeds from his remix "Back to New", 3LAU raised $25,000 for the charity and helped to build Justo Rufino Primary School in Guatemala. For his most recent tour 3LAU raised over $10,000 towards building a second school for the charity.[11]

American podcaster Pat Flynn serves on the advisory board for Pencils of Promise.[12]

Pencils of Promise has a partnership with the bracelet company Lokai. On Giving Tuesday in 2014, Lokai donated funds for every tweet or Instagram post about Pencils of Promise shared, in total funding four schools that now educate over 400 Ghanaian students.[13]