WHO WE ARE

OUR MISSION

World of Children unlocks the future for vulnerable children by funding, elevating and educating the most effective changemakers for children worldwide.

Since 1998, the organization has dedicated more than $15 million to high-impact programs for children, led by nearly 130 Honorees working in over 70 countries. World of Children has been recognized by the media as the “Nobel Prize for Child Advocates” and is the only global recognition and funding program that exclusively focuses on a broad range of children’s issues including health, education, safety and human rights.

World of Children is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization with tax ID: 31-1772381.

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Our Guarantee

In order to be eligible for funding, each organization is fully investigated by an independent, professional global security firm to ensure the work they submit on paper is the exactly the work being done in the field. We guarantee their work and we are the only nonprofit organization in the world to do this.

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Global Impact

Approximately 25% of our Honorees are based in the United States. The remainder work around the world in more than 70 different countries from Papua New Guinea to Palestinian Territories to South Africa and South America.

Meet Our Changemakers
Our 25-Year Historical Story

1998

First seven Honorees are recognized in Columbus, Ohio with the backing of a long-term commitment from the Kellogg Company.

News Anchor Leon Harris became our first Master of Ceremonies.

Muhammad Ali published a USA Today article about World of Children, putting our mission in front of a national audience.

2000

Muhammad Ali joins as Honorary Chair. In 2001; he was featured on a World of Children-inspired Kellogg’s box.

Mohammad Ali Corn Flakes Box

2001

Partnership with Cardinal Health was established to fund the Health Award.

2002

First Youth Award is presented to Craig Kielburger, co-founder of Free the Children (now called WE).

2003

Awards Ceremony moves to New York City.

Long-term partnership with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and The City University of New York begins.

2004

Youth Honoree Mackenzie Snyder is interviewed at the Macy’s Day Parade.

2005

Awards Ceremony was held at the Danny Kaye Centre thanks to our partnership with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

2006

World of Children became known as the “Nobel Prize for Child Advocates.”

2007

Global headquarters moved to California.

2008

News Anchor Alina Cho became our new Master of Ceremonies.

2009

First Advocacy Award presented to Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

2010

Actress and activist Stephanie March recognized as our first Celebrity Ambassador.

2011

Awards Ceremony moved to 583 Park Avenue.

2012

World of Children’s celebrates 15 years of awarding and funding changemakers for children.

2013

Lauren Bush Lauren, founder of FEED, recognized with our 2013 Advocacy Award.

Co-Founders featured in the Huffington Post as one of five power couples changing the world.

Lauren Bush

2014

100th first-time Honoree brought to the stage

$1 Million raised at the Awards Ceremony

Actress Marlo Thomas awarded our Lifetime Achievement Award

Co-Founders and Stephanie March traveled to India and Nepal to visit two past Honorees and meet children impacted by our work.

2015

Education Award launched.

Rang NASDAQ opening bell.

New Hero Awards in LA and Golf Tournament in NY.

2016

Protection Award launched.

Together with Youth Honoree Winnifred Selby, we established a joint project with P&G to bring supplies and health education to children in Ghana.

2017

Crisis Award launched in partnership with UNICEF

Lily Aldridge Followill recognized as new Celebrity Ambassador.

2018

World of Children funded...

2019

2019 was an epic year for the foundation, raising more than $2 million in support of our Changemakers.

2020

In March of 2020, World of Children made the choice to award all multi-year promises upfront in order to help the organizations support their programs during the Covid19 Pandemic. World of Children's then made the difficult choice to pause the daily operations of the organization in order to ride out the pandemic and reemerge stronger than before.

2021

World of Children paused during the Covid19 Global Pandemic to create a strategy for accomplishing our mission when the pandemic subsided, to emerge stronger than ever and be of greater service to the world's vulnerable children.

2022

World of Children turns 25 and has relaunched as a Global Community Foundation poised to serve vulnerable children another 25 years! World of Children Global Community Foundation has created a community of changemakers - by brining together those who are doing to the work on the ground and those who help support their work. Join us!

100%

Our generous Board of Governors covers operating costs so that 100% of your donation is used directly to fund high-impact programs around the world. Learn more about our financials.

OUR HISTORY

The story of World of Children began in 1996 when Co-Founder Harry Leibowitz had an epiphany while he was recovering from cancer surgery at age 55. As he was watching the Pulitzer Prize announcements on TV, he realized that while there was a Pulitzer Prize for art and literature, a Nobel Prize for sciences and peace, and an Oscar for film, there were no awards for those who were tirelessly and selflessly serving children in need around the world.

That realization was a catalyst for Leibowitz. He subsequently founded World of Children and held the first Awards Ceremony in 1998 in Columbus, honoring seven nonprofit leaders and pledging to dedicate the rest of his life to creating a prestigious awards program to support social change makers helping children in need around the world.

Harry met his now wife of 15 years, Kay Isaacson-Leibowitz just before the second annual Awards Ceremony. Kay attended the event as a guest and quickly fell in love with Harry and World of Children. They’ve been on this mission together ever since—galvanizing a robust community of people who have dedicated their lives to giving back.

Both high-level executives, Kay and Harry left the corporate world behind to pursue their philanthropy. Before World of Children, Kay was a senior retail executive for mega-chains including Victoria’s Secret and Banana Republic, and Harry served as an executive at companies like Procter & Gamble and Esmark.

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