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2020-03-02 Goodbye to TNKR's first office


Matching, Moving and Members in March


Seven years ago on this day, on March 3, 2013, TNKR began activities. Seven years later, many things have changed.


* Organization: We had our first Language Matching session in a room at a TOZ Business Center. Eunkoo and I split the cost of hosting 12 people at a TOZ room for two hours (probably 60,000 won, $50). We didn't have an office, organization, budget, phone, website, dreams or plans.

Fast-forward 7 years--or struggle along for 7 years--TNKR is now an official organization. People who see us now take it for granted, but relying on volunteers and fans meant we would take the long slow route.

--March 3, 2013, held our first Language Matching session.
--Late 2014 or early 2015, Became an association, the lowest possible status.
--July 8, 2016, moved into the current TNKR office.
--July 19, 2016, Recognized by Seoul City Hall as an official organization
--December 31, 2018, Approved by Ministry of Finance for higher tax deduction status, meaning individual (but not business) donors can receive tax deductions for donations to TNKR.
--May 2019, approved for 501(c)3 tax status by the US Internal Revenue Service
--February 29, 2020, TNKR held its 100th Language Matching session.


* Participation: We have had 444 North Korean refugees study with 1,011 tutors, coaches and mentors. On Saturday February 29, 2020, we had our 100th Matching session.
* Refugee achievements: Several North Korean refugees who have studied in TNKR have published books, given TED and TEDx speeches, become TV personalities, spoken around the world at events hosted by TNKR as well as partner organizations, and participated in TNKR's 10 English speech contests.

* Behind-the-scenes: Numerous other refugees avoiding public attention have gone on to graduate from college, get employed, win scholarships and fellowships.

* Budget: During 2013, Eunkoo and I spent out of pocket the first year. I would laugh out loud when people asked me about our budget. "WHAT BUDGET?" In late 2014, I loaned TNKR $4,000 so we could hold the speech contest and engage in other activities, and also loaned about another $4,000 for various things our first few years. In 2016, Eunkoo loaned TNKR $9,000 so we could put a deposit on our current office.

* Remaining learner-centered: We now have three different tracks, focusing on things North Korean refugees have discussed needing: English tutoring, Speech coaching, and mentoring for employment opportunities. Our reputation is strong among North Korean refugees, we don't have to recruit them, they show up early for our sessions, check in with us and give us updates even when we don't ask for them. Best of all, word has gotten around: "Don't join TNKR until you are serious."

* Public support: We have a number of monthly donors, including some who have donated enough money so we can secure the deposit and can return Eunkoo's $9,000 deposit on the office without destroying the organization. This will be the first time in TNKR history that the co-founders have not had a large sum of their own money mixed in with the organization's budget. For anyone concerned this means we don't care, we are still both monthly donors--I now donate 100,000 won ($90) a month and if we can't raise money for our move, Eunkoo has offered to pay the 900,000 won (about $800) fee.

* Internal capacity: At first, it was just Eunkoo and Casey working with volunteers and refugees in our spare time, but now we have an Academic Team (led by Academic Coordinator Janice Kim, Volunteer Adviser Dan Cashmar, Assistant Academic Coordinator India Meyers, NK refugee staff assistant Sharon Jang) that has taken on responsibilities allowing the co-founders to focus more on building the organization.

* Partnerships: Becoming a stronger organization has made TNKR less of a risk to deal with. When we looked like a fly-by-night organization, larger organizations had an excuse to ignore us. But now we have larger public, private and quasi-government agencies coming to us, seeking to partner with us, to refer refugees to them and to facilitate their programs. It is also more difficult for them to ignore us because we have a number of North Korean refugees talking about TNKR.


* Office: The first Matching session was at a TOZ Business Center. We now have our own office. Next week, we will be moving to a slightly larger office. This is our first move in four years, but not our first move!

* March-April 2013, TOZ business center for our first Matching session.
* May 2013-August 2015, Mulmangcho Human Rights Institute office to hold orientation and Matching sessions
* Dec 2013-May 2015, Freedom Factory office (orientation, Matching, tutoring, and Casey Lartigue's desk became TNKR's office)
* Sept 2015-February 2016, Bitcoin Center (held orientation, Matching and had 1:1 tutoring sessions there)
* Dec 2015, Gongduck Community Center (Matching session, our other options weren't available)
* Feb-May 2016, Online University (held orientation, Matching, 1:1 tutoring, TNKR's office)
* June 2016, Dangsan Business Center (short-term as we waited for new office to become available)
* July 2016, TNKR office established at Gwangheungchang station
* March 2020,
TNKR office moves to Sangsu Station (crowd-funding)



***

Back in March 2013, it would have seemed unbelievable that we would have gotten to this point without a major foundation or organization backing us. Yet almost seven years to the day, we signed a contract yesterday that commits us to moving to a different office one subway stop away. It has been more than a year since our landlord let us know that he had put this location on the real estate market. The first year, he wasn't in a hurry to find a buyer, but several months ago he let us know that it would be really really really great if we could find a new location.

It wasn't our choice to move, but like our entire history, we will make the best of our available options. After visiting probably more than 30 different locations in the last few weeks, and many more before that, we found a location that is just one subway stop away. Next week, we will be moving to a different office.

We also have a practical reason for doing so: We will be applying for the highest possible tax status, allowing even businesses to receive tax deductions when donating to TNKR. Hopefully from that point we won't have to rely on volunteers to help the organization survive.

For a few years now we have been leading up to our 100th Language Matching session, thinking about ways to make it special. We have been too busy with activities to stop for long to think about making it special. Which turned out to be a good thing.

Hello Coronavirus.

With fears over the virus, we didn't believe that anyone would show up for the orientation sessions scheduled for February 22 and 23. Much to our surprise, 21 applicants joined.

Because of concerns, we held an online Matching session for TNKR Members on February 29th. This is the first time in TNKR history that we have held an online session for Track 1 (we have held them for both Tracks 2 and 3).


We even had eight new members sign up to participate in the Language Matching session, in addition to returning TNKR Members who joined. Together, they raised more than 1 million won (about $900) for TNKR. Special thanks to new Member Sarah Kelton, who raised more than 300,000 won (about $200) by herself. Other TNKR members continue supporting us, such as Eben Appleton, who has now set up four different fundraisers supporting TNKR. Edward Mun who recently was shaking down his friends and family in Massachusetts to raise money for TNKR. And of course, the Hannong business and TNKR Global High School Union raised a major of the money we will use for the deposit.

That amount of money we just raised might not seem like a lot to people at big organizations, but Eunkoo and I can remember the day that we looked at the TNKR bank account a few years ago, and we only had about 37,000 won (about $30) in it.

Without fans, volunteers and fundraisers donating and raising money, we would have never gotten to this point. Thankfully many people have been willing to give "a dime" as well as their time into making TNKR a special organization for North Korean refugees. Seven years ago, we started activities without any long-term plans. We hope by the time we get to our eighth, nineth and 10th anniversaries that we will be able to talk about even more special things that have happened as we engage with North Korean refugees.


Regards,
International Director
Teach North Korean Refugees
http://l.ead.me/casey (follow me on Social Media)

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