The Tibetan Children’s Project (TCP) is a not-for-profit organization. It is led by a dedicated executive team, all volunteers, based in Canada, US, India, Nepal & Europe. Since its humble beginning in 1999, it has come a long way in terms of its vision and services. With funds raised within Tibetan community as per our motto of “Tibetans helping Tibetans”, TCP aims to provide financial assistance to underprivileged Tibetan children living in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet to promote and provide access to education to empower children to positively shape themselves and their community.
TCP has so far provided educational funding to 120 children including the current 47 college/university students under its care. We also provide a yearly scholarship of CAD $1000 to Ngonga School of Tibetan Children with Special Needs. Presently, it has over 1000 members from Canada, US, Europe and India with numbers increasing every year. 
TCP has evolved into its existing name and operational status since its formation in 1999 by a group of twenty-two newly arrived Tibetan refugees to Toronto, Canada who were then living in ‘shelters’, a government funded temporary living arrangement. The similarities in their situation and challenges (language barrier, culture shock, unemployment and life away from family) bonded them together and in October 15, 1999 with the initial seed money of $15 as a membership fee, these founding members formed an association, Tibetan Culture Preservation Center to assist needy Tibetans in the community and to promote and preserve Tibetan culture and traditions. The association organized music and dance classes for Tibetan youths on every Saturday or Sunday and their performances were shown during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrations and other important Tibetan festivals and celebrations. During that time, through various fundraising endeavours, the association was able to buy traditional clothing of three main provinces of Tibet; Kham, Amdo and Utsang and costumes for unique dances of Tashi Sholpa, Relpa and Yak dance.
Inspired by H. H. the Dalai Lama’s speeches in the USA (Indiana and New York), particularly a statement about children that said, “there are still many Tibetan children in the world who are uneducated and have no access to safe drinking water”, TCP’s executive members decided to do something for underprivileged and needy Tibetan children in India, Nepal and Tibet. By then, Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario, CTAO with improved infrastructure and facilities was organizing regular Tibetan language and cultural classes for youth at its center. Hence, TCP members unanimously decided and donated traditional costumes worth Rs. 3 Lakhs to CTAO and as pledged, channeled their vision towards education of Tibetan children. In 2002, through immense hard work of its executive members and support from the Tibetan community in Toronto, the association was able to raise enough funds to provide financial assistance to 10 underprivileged children in Dhargayling Tibetan Settlement, Tezu, India. They pledged to provide scholarship to these students
for the entire duration of their study from primary school to the completion of their college. Although the objectives of association no longer remained same, the members still feel sheer joy and pride for pioneering and being able to promote and preserve Tibetan culture and tradition for almost 10 years in Toronto.
To obtain broader prospective, TCP consulted with the Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration, India in 2011. This led to the decision to support further 
education of Tibetan students entering college as this group of students faced the most financial challenges in pursuing their education. To that end, the association pledged to and provided financial assistance to minimum of two post-secondary (college or university) students every year for the entire duration of their post-secondary education. As it grew into an association primarily focused on the education of Tibetan students, the executive members changed the name of the association to Tibetan Children’s Project (TCP) and registered it as not-for-profit organization/corporation without share capital with Ministry of Consumer and Business Services on December 02, 2014.
With Toronto as TCP’s head quarter with the most executive members and members, TCP has now expanded to branches in New York, Calgary, and India with over 1000 members. TCP continuously strives to build on the member list, receive increased support from Tibetan community all over the world and provide financial assistance to as many needy and deserving Tibetan children pursuing higher education.
