The Delac Foundation
We fund schools that give children a free education, where it's needed most.
€1,000,000 across ten grants over the next ten years. We back the people running free schools where the work is hardest.
Applications open early 2027
Total grant
€1M
Grants
10
Per grant
€100,000
Countries
10
Our mission
Why the Delac Foundation funds schools.
Free education is the single most reliable way a child's future stops being decided by where they were born. The schools doing that work in the regions we fund are running on margins that won't hold — repairs unfinished, classrooms in tents, teachers paid late. The Foundation commits €1,000,000 over the next ten years to take the money problem off the table, long enough for the work to continue.
Why we exist
A school is the single biggest decider of what a child's adult life looks like.
Whether they can read, what work they can take, how much agency they have, whether their own children get the same chance — most of it traces back to a classroom. In wealthy countries this is taken for granted. In the regions we fund, it isn't.
Storms close schools in Leiria. A school in the High Atlas still runs in tents two years after the earthquake. Odesa classrooms move into basements during air-raid alerts. In Bobo-Dioulasso, fewer than half the adults can read.
We exist to back the local people already trying to fix this — by removing the money problem long enough that the work continues after we are gone.
Commitment
Ten grants. Ten years.
What we have committed to grant over the next decade — ten €100,000 grants, one million euros in total, deployed where small, well-targeted money can move the work forward.
€1,000,000
to grant over ten years
- Grants planned
- 10
- Per grant
- €100,000
- Time horizon
- 10 years
Where we work
Six countries. One focus.
Each project lives in a specific region where small, well-targeted grants can move the work forward — and where we can show up in person each year. Hover a marker to preview the region, click to read the full criteria.
Why these regions
Specific places. Specific gaps.
We do not fund countries — we fund regions inside them, chosen because a €100,000 grant can move the work forward there.
Portugal
Leiria
Coastal and inland schools still rebuilding after the 2026 winter storms, in a district with persistent rural drop-out.
- Pupils in storm-damaged schools
- 8,000+
Funding criteria for Portugal →
Morocco
High Atlas (Al Haouz)
Mountain villages rebuilding after the September 2023 Al Haouz earthquake. Many primary schools collapsed; classes still run in tents.
- Schools damaged or destroyed by the 2023 earthquake
- 530+
Funding criteria for Morocco →
Burkina Faso
Bobo-Dioulasso
One of the world's lowest literacy rates, compounded by school closures driven by regional insecurity.
- Adult literacy rate
- ≈41%
Funding criteria for Burkina Faso →
Estonia
Eastern Estonia · Narva
Russian-speaking minority communities along the eastern border, with the country's lowest secondary-completion rates.
- Secondary drop-out vs national average
- 2.4×
Funding criteria for Estonia →
Ukraine
Odesa Oblast
Coastal schools sheltering displaced families and operating from basements during air-raid alerts.
- Pupils relocated or displaced (national, est.)
- 37%
Funding criteria for Ukraine →
Thailand
Chiang Mai
Hill-tribe and rural communities where many children — especially girls — leave school before secondary level.
- Hill-tribe girls finishing upper secondary (est.)
- 1 in 5
Funding criteria for Thailand →
The lifecycle
From application to last tranche, in thirty weeks.
Six weeks of review, then a €100,000 grant disbursed in five tranches over twenty-four weeks. Each tranche after the first is released only after a satisfactory monthly progress report.
Application
Apply
Application submitted
Application
Decision
Written response within 6 weeks
Wk 0
Tranche 1
€25,000 · upfront
Wk 6
Tranche 2
€18,750 · after report 1
Wk 12
Tranche 3
€18,750 · after report 2
Wk 18
Tranche 4
€18,750 · after report 3
Wk 24
Tranche 5
€18,750 · after report 4
Apply
Could your school be a grantee?
Applications open early 2027We will accept applications from registered organizations running education projects in the six regions above. The form takes about an hour; you will hear back within six weeks. Read the criteria now so you are ready when applications open.
Eligibility
Before you start, please confirm:
- Legally registered as an NGO, school, or social enterprise
- Project operates in Portugal, Estonia, Thailand, Burkina Faso, Morocco, or Ukraine
- Education-focused work, broadly defined
- Able to submit monthly progress reports in English or French
What happens after you apply
01
Application
About an hour to complete. Submit anytime.
02
Receipt
We confirm we've received your application within five business days.
03
Conversation
A 30-minute call with our team.
04
Decision
Reviewed at the next quarterly board meeting.
05
Response
Written outcome — yes or no, with reasons — within six weeks.
Help us
We're looking for volunteers.
The Foundation is small on purpose, but the work depends on people on the ground letting us know what is happening — and quietly pointing serious organisations our way. If that is you, please apply.
Spread the word
Tell schools and NGOs in the six countries we fund that the round opens in 2027.
Scout new projects
Introduce us to organisations doing serious education work in your region.
Be a local presence
If you live in one of the six countries, meet a grantee or join a site visit.
Meet the founder
Matt Delac. Founder of She.inc.
Matt is the founder of She.inc, the women-first education ecosystem he started after seeing firsthand how few women were in the rooms he worked in. Ten years in edtech, 250,000+ students taught online and offline, most of them by Matt himself.
Originally from France. Y Combinator-backed company in Silicon Valley, Master's in computer engineering from Canada, full-stack engineering in Australia. The Foundation's focus regions are the places he has personally travelled to or has long-standing relationships with — which is how they were chosen.
The Delac Foundation is financed entirely by Matt — €1,000,000of his own capital over the next ten years, with the Foundation's operating costs covered personally so 100% of every €100,000 grant reaches the grantee.
Selected work
SheCodes · SheDreams Foundation · WeCode · SheDJs · SheInvests · SheCareers
“Without education, a person waits for the world to happen to them. With it, they get to take part in shaping it. Everything we fund is downstream of that.”