The Smile Train: Frequently Asked Questions

About Donating

1. What does it cost to provide Smile Train surgery?
For just $250 you can provide free surgery that will change a child’s live forever.

2. Do I have to donate the entire $250?
We are grateful for all donations, no matter what amount and we promise to use them to help the world’s poorest children.

3. How do I make out my check?
Checks or money orders should be made out to Smile Train.

4. Where do I mail donations?
Smile Train, PO Box 96208, Washington, DC 20090-6208.

5. Where is Smile Train located?
Our World Headquarters is located at
41 Madison Avenue, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10010.

6. Why does Smile Train have multiple addresses in the U.S.?
Our physical office is in New York City, New York. We use a mail service in Washington, D.C. where the majority of our donations are received and processed.

7. How do I make an online donation?
To donate in US dollars, visit www.SmileTrain.org.
To donate in pounds, visit www.SmileTrain.org.uk.
To donate in Canadian dollars, visit www.CanadaHelps.org.

8. Is Smile Train a registered charity?
Smile Train is registered with the federal government and with every state in the U.S. where it is required. Smile Train is also registered in the UK and Canada.

9. What percentage of my donation will go to overhead?
As a first time donor, 80% of your donation will go toward programs that directly benefit children with cleft and 20% will go toward overhead costs. 100% of any future donation will go directly to help children with cleft and 0% will go to overhead.

10. Is a donation to Smile Train tax deductible?
We are a 501 (c) (3) charity and 100% of all donations to Smile Train are tax deductible in accordance with the IRS regulations.

11. What is Smile Train’s Federal Tax ID number?
US Tax ID #: 13-3661416
Canadian Charity BN/Registration #: 84906 6428 RR0001
UK registered charity #: 1114748.

12. Will I receive a tax receipt for my donation?
As long as you provide an address with your donation, we’ll send you a tax receipt.

13. Does Smile Train meet the Better Business Bureau Standards?
YES! We meet all of the Better Business Bureau criteria.

14. How do I donate stock to Smile Train?
Your broker will need the following information:
Account Name: Smile Train, Inc.
Our Tax ID Number: 13-3661416
Account Number: 4940037
Broker DTC Number: 0010
Investment Advisor: Brown Brothers Harriman
Attn: Leighton K. Waters, Jr.
140 Broadway, New York, NY 10005
Phone: 212.493.8844, Fax: 212.493.7978
Email: leighton.waters@bbh.com.

Please notify us when you plan to make a stock donation by contacting: info@SmileTrain.org or calling 800.932.9541.

15. What information do I need to include in my will, retirement plan or life insurance policy?
Your attorney or agent will need the following information:
Official Organization Name: Smile Train, Inc.
Address: 41 Madison Ave, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212.689.9199, Fax: 212.689.9299
Smile Train is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered with the Federal government and within each State and was incorporated in 1999.
Federal Tax ID #: 13-3661416.

16. How do I wire funds directly to Smile Train?
Please call us at 800.932.9541.

17. Can I become a monthly donor?
Just visit www.SmileTrain.org, click on “Donate” and select “Donate Monthly” or call 800.932.9541.

18. How do I apply for a Matching Gift donation?
Visit www.SmileTrain.org and click on “Donate” then “Matching Gifts.” You can use the search tool to find out if your employer participates in a Matching Program. You can also contact your own HR department to find the rules and related forms required to participate.

19. How do I make a donation in someone’s honor or memory?
You can make your donation online, on the phone or through the mail. We will need the name and address of the person you are honoring, the type of card you would like us to send and who the card is from.

20. Can I donate my car to Smile Train?
For vehicle donations to Smile Train, please look online or in the yellow pages for car donation programs near you. Most of them will accept donations to Smile Train.

21. How do I obtain a copy of your Annual Report or 990?
It’s easy. Just send us a request via e-mail to info@smiletrain.org or write to us at Smile Train, PO Box 96208, Washington, DC 20090-6208.

22. Can I visit your office?
We always welcome visitors to our New York office. If you will be in the NY area and would like to stop by, simply notify us in advance by calling 800.932.9541.

About the Children

23. Can I restrict my gift to a certain country?
Sure. You can find a list of countries in which we work on our website. Just include a note with your donation that says in what country or region you would like your donation to be used and we will be happy to accommodate you.

24. Can I restrict my gift to either a boy or a girl?
In order to provide as many surgeries as quickly as possible, Smile Train helps every child that comes to us, regardless of sex. We are unable to restrict donations to a specific gender.

25. Can I receive a picture of the specific child I have helped?
A few months after your donation we will send you a picture and a story of a child we were able to help following your donation. Hopefully you can put this up on your fridge as a happy reminder that there is a child smiling today thanks to you.

26. Can I restrict my donation to help the specific child I saw in your advertisement or direct mail?
All of the children you see in our advertisements have received the surgery they need. We will use your donation to help a child who is desperately poor and who would otherwise never be helped. Your support will have a very dramatic, immediate and permanent impact on a life.

27. Can I get the contact information for a child I saw in one of your marketing materials?
Smile Train does not release contact information for the children that we help to maintain their privacy and uphold their patient confidentiality.

28. Why doesn’t Smile Train show after surgery photos in ads?
We test the results of all our advertising and our research and analysis demonstrates that advertisements that include only before photos significantly increases the amount of money we raise to help these children.

About Fundraising and Volunteering

29. Does Smile Train need volunteers?
We would love to involve you as a volunteer so you can hold a special fundraiser for us. We will send you a fundraising kit and give you advice and tips along the way. Whether it is sending an email to all your friends, introducing us to your employer or clients, or hosting a fundraiser, any and all help you can give us is greatly appreciated. To request a fundraising kit, email info@smiletrain.org or call us at 800.932.9541.

30. Can I create a personal fundraising page through the Smile Train website?
Completely customizable fundraising pages are hosted on our website. You can upload pictures, descriptions of your fundraiser, see who donated to your fundraiser, post comments and updates, set up a personalized URL to link to your blog or Social Networking web site. To create your customizable online fundraising page, visit our web site at www.SmileTrain.org and click on “Donate” then “Create a Page or Find a Fund” and you will be guided through the process.

31. Is Smile Train on Facebook or any other social networking sites?
Visit www.SmileTrain.org to link to our social networking sites.

About Smile Train

32. What is the mission of Smile Train?
Our mission is to help the millions of very poor children in developing countries who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. The only reason these children have NOT been helped is because they’re poor. The problem of clefts in developing countries is an economic problem - not a medical one. The families of these children - often living on less than $1 a day - are too poor to ever afford to pay for surgery.

33. When was Smile Train started?
Smile Train was founded in 1999 by two friends and business associates, Charles B. Wang and Brian F. Mullaney. The idea came about after Mullaney and Wang were involved for years with a traditional mission group that turned away thousands of children every year for lack of funds.
Mullaney and Wang sought to develop a new approach to providing surgery for poor children in developing countries. Smile Train has grown into the world’s largest cleft charity, helping hundreds of thousands of desperately poor children with cleft, training tens of thousands of medical professionals and establishing hundreds of programs in over 75 of the world’s poorest countries. Smile Train has its headquarters in New York City and offices in: China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, UK and Vietnam.

34. Is Smile Train different from other cleft organizations?
Instead of sending teams of doctors and nurses on medical missions like every other American cleft charity, Smile Train empowers local doctors, nurses and hospitals to solve the problem themselves. This unique approach not only reduces the cost-per-surgery by 90+%, it is a far safer, faster, smarter and more productive way to help children in developing countries. Dollar-for-dollar we help ten times more children than mission groups and we do it every day of the year. By providing free equipment, free education and training and on-going financial support, Smile Train is helping very poor, but very proud communities become self-sufficient one smile at a time.

35. What is the difference between Smile Train and Operation Smile?
More than ten years ago, Smile Train started out as a special project of Operation Smile. But soon it became apparent that the two organizations had very different strategies and philosophies. Operation Smile is a traditional mission group that sends American doctors and nurses on 2 week missions. Smile Train was the very first cleft charity to realize local surgeons in developing countries could be empowered to deliver much safer, less expensive and higher quality surgery year round - and not just two weeks a year. This “teach-a-man-to-fish” strategy explains the rapid growth and very low cost per surgery of Smile Train. Smile Train separated from Operation Smile in 1999 and today is completely independent and the world’s largest cleft charity.

Here is a side by side comparison between Smile Train and Operation Smile.

	Operation Smile	Smile Train
# cleft surgeries per year:0	8,000	109,000
Who does the surgeries:	Americans	Local doctors
How is care delivered?	2 week missions	Every day, year round
# of countries:	26	76
# surgeons trained per year:	66	10,000+
Average cost per surgery:	$750	$250
% spent on programs:	<50%	>95%
# of employees:	200	43
Surgeries per employee:	40	2,535
Meets Better Business Bureau Charitable Standards:	No	Yes

36. How can I find out more information about the 2008 Academy Award® winning documentary short film, Smile Pinki, or about Smile Train’s work in India?
Please visit our website at info@smiletrain.org to request a free DVD of the film, a Press Kit, sign-up to receive e-mail updates, or learn more about the film. (Academy Award® is a trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.)

37. What is Smile Train’s name exchange policy?
From time to time, Smile Train exchanges donor names with other reputable charities. If you do not wish to receive these mailings, or if you would like to change the frequency or types of communications you receive from us, simply write to us at: Smile Train, PO Box 96208, Washington, DC 20090-6208 or email us at: info@smiletrain.org.

About Clefts

38. What is a cleft?
’s mouth and nose. A cleft palate is created when the roof of the mouth has a hole in it. Babies can be born with a cleft lip or palate or both.

39. D o only developing countries have a problem with cleft?
Babies are born with clefts everywhere in the world including the U.S., but you seldom see unrepaired clefts in the U.S. and Europe because they are repaired soon after birth. Clefts are usually NOT repaired in developing countries because most of the families are too poor to afford surgery and the government will not provide free surgery.

40. Why does Smile Train focus on clefts?
Instead of doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, like many charities, Smile Train decided to choose one specific problem that affects children and try to solve it.
We chose clefts because:

By focusing on clefts, we can be much more effective and productive - we know and work with every major cleft surgeon, hospital, charity, research program and educational institution in the world.
Clefts are a significant problem affecting the lives of more than 4 million very poor children.
The cure for clefts has already been found: a simple surgery that can cost as little as $250 and can take as little as 45 minutes.
The impact of cleft surgery is dramatic, immediate and permanent! This is one of the best low-cost, high impact interventions in the world - a true modern day medical miracle that changes a child’s life forever
We know where every child with an unrepaired cleft is living and how to help him or her.
Once you cure a cleft it never comes back!

Programs

41. Where does Smile Train work?
Smile Train programs are in the poorest countries in the world. Of the 100 poorest countries, we currently have partners and programs in 75 and are adding new countries every day. A list of our partners and programs can be found on our website at www.SmileTrain.org under the “Medical” tab and then “Worldwide Partners”.

42. How can I find help for a child born with a cleft in another country?
It’s easy. Our Smile Train partners and programs are listed on our website at www.SmileTrain.org under the “Medical” tab and then “Worldwide Partners”. You can find the partner nearest the child and contact them directly or you can contact our Programs Department at info@smiletrain.org.

43. Does Smile Train help children with clefts in America?
Of course! Every year, more than 5,000 babies are born in America with clefts and often the first place the parents turn to for help is Smile Train. We do more to help American children with clefts than any other organization in the world. This includes training and education for cleft surgeons, grants for hundreds of accredited cleft teams in every state in America, a public information program that reaches tens of millions of Americans as well as a broad range of support for patients and their families. Every single day it seems an American patient and or family contacts us asking us for help and we are always glad to be able to help.

44. How do I find help for a child born in the USA?
Virtually all children in the U.S. are covered by insurance and/or some form of government program like Medicaid. Your local, accredited craniofacial/cleft team (we list them on our website: www.SmileTrain.org) can help you figure out not only what treatment is needed but also how to cover the cost of it.

45. How can I find a qualified cleft surgeon in the U.S.?
Our website has the names and contact information for every accredited cleft team in America, PLUS we have thousands of pages of invaluable articles, medical information, resources and links for cleft patients and their families.

46. What is Smile Train doing to prevent clefts?
Many of the experts in the cleft world are actively investigating etiology and prevention of cleft. We support their work and hope one day they will find a solution. For now, we know that cleft lip and palate is primarily a genetic condition which is compounded by poor nutrition, lack of prenatal care and environmental factors. Smile Train promotes public awareness and advises all pregnant mothers to take folic acid to help prevent birth defects. The link to folic acid and cleft has not been directly established, but, we hope it will help in some cases. Currently, the best and only “cure for cleft” is simple surgery - costing as little as $250 and taking as little as 45 minutes.

47. How does Smile Train keep track of the surgeries that are performed?
’s on the Web. Our partners upload all of their patient records to us via the Web, which not only saves millions in shipping, handling and storage costs, but also allows us to review and monitor the quality of their work.

48. What follow-up services does Smile Train provide?
When Smile Train was founded over ten years ago, we were only able to offer the initial surgery, but as we have expanded and our resources have grown, we are very happy to be able to provide not only free follow-up surgeries, but also speech therapy at a number of our partner hospitals. As the children get older, they sometimes need follow-up surgery as their bodies and mouths develop and therefore we do provide free surgery for the children that have already been through our programs.

I have more questions, what should I do?

Please contact us!
We would be happy to answer your questions!
Smile Train
PO Box 96208
Washington, DC 20090-6208
www.SmileTrain.org
Phone: 800.932.9541
E-mail: info@smiletrain.org

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