Coptic Orphans

Coptic Orphans is a development charity, registered in the United States as the Coptic Orphans Support Association, that works with fatherless children and young women in Egypt through the dioceses of the Coptic Orthodox Church. It was founded in 1988 by Nermien Riad, its founder and executive director, and is based in Fairfax, Virginia, with its postal address in Merrifield.

History and registration

The organisation's leadership page says Nermien Riad, who had worked in the Middle East as an engineer with the US Foreign Service, founded it in 1988 and worked for it on a voluntary basis for 12 years before becoming executive director in 2000. Its website gives its registration as a tax-exempt nonprofit by the Commonwealth of Virginia from June 1992; the IRS record on ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer dates its 501(c)(3) status from April 1993, under the employer identification number 54-1637257.

The organisation describes itself as a registered nonprofit in the United States, Canada, Australia, Egypt and the United Kingdom. Its contact page lists offices or postal addresses in Merrifield, Virginia; Mississauga, Ontario; Liverpool, New South Wales; Billingshurst, West Sussex; and Cairo, and its leadership page names directors for Canada and Australia.

How it works

The organisation says it works in 69 dioceses in Egypt in partnership with each local bishop, who guides it on local need and nominates volunteers. Its About page counts a network of more than 1,031 church-based volunteers and a staff of more than 173 trained professionals; its Not Alone page puts its reach at 900 villages across Egypt. It describes its mission as unlocking the potential of the most vulnerable children in Egypt through education.

Programmes

• Not Alone is its child sponsorship programme. Church-based volunteers visit fatherless children at home, see to their schooling and mentor them, and the organisation pairs each child with a sponsor. It reports 345 students with scholarships.
• The Valuable Girl Project pairs university women with primary-school girls as mentors, in Christian and Muslim communities alike, and runs through partner community development associations. The organisation reports 23 years of operation, 19,600 participants and 214 sites.
• Serve to Learn brings volunteers aged 18 and over to Egypt for a service trip of about two weeks, hosted by the local bishop. The organisation counts 24 years of service trips, 918 participants and 21,607 children reached.
• B'edaya is a microfinance initiative for widowed mothers of children in its programmes. Its third round, launched in March 2016, gave interest-free loans to 42 mothers in Maadi, Bani Mazar and Luxor, totalling LE 243,500 by the organisation's account.

Finances and recognition

The organisation's Form 990 for fiscal year 2025, as summarised by ProPublica, reports total revenue of USD 25.9 million, expenses of USD 22.8 million and assets of USD 77.2 million. It publishes audited financial statements and annual reports back to 2002 on its website, and states that it has held a four-star Charity Navigator rating for 15 consecutive years.

By its own account, the United Nations Economic and Social Council granted it consultative status in 2020, Pope Tawadros II sent a letter of commendation for its work with fatherless children in 2017, and in 2022 its founder was one of four civil society representatives chosen to speak at a General Assembly high-level meeting on minority rights.

1. 1988

   Nermien Riad founds the organisation.

2. June 1992

   Registered as a tax-exempt nonprofit in Virginia, by its own account.

3. 2000

   Riad becomes executive director.

4. March 2016

   Third round of the B'edaya microfinance initiative launched.

5. 2020

   Consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, by its own account.