About School Aid: our mission, history and governance.
School Aid MTÜ is an Estonian non-profit association supporting children’s learning and women’s practical education in communities facing continuing earthquake hardship in Morocco and food insecurity in the Philippines. The work began during David and Maribeth de Montaigne’s personal journey through Morocco in March–April 2024, when children asked them for pens. The association was registered on 14 October 2024. Return visits in November 2024 and January 2025 developed direct and community-led school-supply deliveries. Our current programmes start in Ijoukak, Morocco, and Cabalabaguan, Mina, Philippines. They combine digital learning for children with women’s literacy and livelihood education, delivered with local communities and trainers.
Help measured by need. Nothing else.
- Need alone decides. We help on the basis of need, without discrimination — with priority to the empowerment and protection of women and children.
- Non-political, non-sectarian. We never proselytise, and we take no political position anywhere we work.
- Culture first. No delivery or public content for a country until its Cultural & Context Protocol is adopted by our Board.
- Dignity in every image. We follow Dóchas-aligned storytelling standards: consent for every photograph, first names only, hope over pity.
- Proof over promises. Our dated field accounts are public. Itemised delivery budgets and expenditure reports are planned from the next funded programme onward.
A volunteer team with experience in education and delivery.
Four people and one four-legged ambassador. Each human CV is published in full.
The management board is recorded in the Estonian Business Register under code 80646408, which is public and free to check. The register currently shows one management board member: David de Montaigne, Founder and Chair. A resolution of 20 July 2026 appointed three further people to serve as members of the association, in the roles shown here.
Barclay de Montaigne
Chief Morale Officer — mascot and veteran of the missions in the High Atlas Mountains
How decisions are made.
School Aid MTÜ is an Estonian non-profit association (mittetulundusühing), register code 80646408, seated in Tallinn with a financial year from 1 October to 30 September. Material decisions are adopted by the Board through minuted resolutions.
The association is publicly and financially separate from any commercial ventures of its members: charitable funds serve charitable purposes only, related-party interests are disclosed, and any cross-border payments follow arm's-length rules with professional advice.
Country programmes are governed by Board-adopted Cultural & Context Protocols — covering local custom and religion, safeguarding, procurement thresholds, sanctions compliance and delivery standards — before any public content or delivery begins. Our global Operations & Implementation Manual aligns with CHS, Sphere and INEE standards.
Meet us on a mission — from wherever you are.
The best introduction to School Aid is watching a delivery land.