11. May 2018

Education to children in Cambodia

With support from the Kavli Trust, Tiny Toones will transform its work bringing education to Cambodia’s most disadvantaged children.

By Jaime Gill/Tiny Toones
Photo credits: Ken Opprann

The year-long grant will be invested in Tiny Toones’ vital infrastructure, namely its education center and its transport services, enabling the organization to provide a safe and supportive environment for children to learn, and the means by which to transport them from some of the most deprived slum areas of Phnom Penh.

“We’re always amazed when people or organisations from so far away see our work, value it, and want to support us,” said Tuy “Kay Kay” Sobil, Tiny Toones founder.

“What makes this grant so important for us is that it makes the foundations of Tiny Toones stronger. Without our centre or our transport, we can’t do anything. With them in place, we can do so much. Now the small team here can focus our energy on improving the kids’ education, giving them a better chance at escaping the poverty they and their families are trapped in.”

Indeed, the grant comes in the year when Tiny Toones marks its tenth anniversary of running a center where kids from disadvantaged backgrounds can come to be safe, be creative and be educated.

Having a centre has been crucial to Tiny Toones’ successes, but is difficult to fundraise for through traditional means – infrastructure is not typically exciting for individual donors, even though it is crucial to NGOs.

“That challenge is why Kavli’s support will have such an impact, freeing Tiny Toones from a funding stress that has taken huge amounts of valuable management time away from core creative and educational work,” says Sobil.


Tuy “Kay Kay” Sobil, Tiny Toones founder. Learn about his story here

A small portion of the grant will also be invested into Tiny Toones’ fundraising capacity, providing a path towards greater future financial sustainability. All of this means that the organisation will now be able to focus on its development into a new era of excellence, sustainability and forward-thinking.

“We are a very small NGO with a very small budget compared to others, but there is
nothing small about our results,” added Sobil.

“That means that Kavli’s investment will have a transformative impact on us as an organization, on our staff and most of all on our entire community of children.”


“Love, Respect, Learn and Teach one another” is the first of six Tiny Toones values stated on the wall.