Who we are

Coptic Orphans is an international Christian development organization headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.  The organization’s team of over 150 trained professionals works from there and from offices in Egypt, Australia, and Canada.

Coptic Orphans works to improve the lives of children in Egypt, relying on a network of over 925 Church-based volunteers on the ground as well as through partnerships with local organizations.

Since it was founded in 1988, Coptic Orphans has helped transform the lives of over 86,000 children in Egypt.

Our Mission

Coptic Orphans’ mission is to unlock the God-given potential of the most vulnerable children in Egypt through the power of education.

Our Vision

A peaceful, prosperous Egypt where children thrive and a vibrant, engaged Diaspora.

Coptic

Coptic Orphans works in 66 dioceses in Egypt, in close partnership with each local bishop, who also guides in areas of local need and nominates new volunteers.

Bishops from the Coptic Orthodox Church from all levels have expressed their support and encouragement for our work, including His Holiness, the late Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, who told us:

“As it says in the midnight prayers, you ‘remember those who have no one to remember them.”

The current pope, His Holiness Tawadros II, said in a meeting where he blessed the work of Coptic Orphans, “Coptic Orphans is a model that we hope all the Church services will follow.”

Outside Egypt, we have also spearheaded a groundbreaking study of the Coptic Diaspora and its engagement with Egypt.

Orphans

When most people think of “orphans,” they think of children in orphanages who have no family at all.

In fact, many orphanages in Egypt are filled with children who have families only because their widowed mothers cannot afford to feed them.

This is an injustice.

Coptic Orphans focuses on the children most likely to face the deadly combination of poverty and social injustice, but who have the greatest potential to change their lives and the lives of others.

Through child sponsors and a network of hundreds of village-based volunteers, churches, and organizations, our programs help children stay in school (and stay with their families) until we unlock their full potential.

We make a covenant with orphaned families in Egypt to stay with a child until the end of their highest education, as long as they also work hard to make full use of every possible educational opportunity they have.