501(C)(3) NONPROFIT · EST. 2016 · NEW YORK
TENGRI
No borders. No bystanders.
Empowering youth from underrepresented communities through education, environmental stewardship, and humanitarian action.
WHO WE ARE
Mission & Vision
We exist at the intersection of urgency and hope — responding to today's crises while building tomorrow's foundation.
Tengri empowers children from underrepresented communities in the United States and Kazakhstan through education, environmental stewardship, and humanitarian action — ensuring that every child, regardless of background or circumstance, has the opportunity to thrive.
OUR MISSION
OUR VISION
A world where every child — in New York or Kazakhstan, in crisis or in calm — has clean air, equal opportunity, and a community that refuses to leave them behind.
i.
Tengri
The sky has no borders. We believe in universal human dignity across cultures and continents.
ii.
Collective Action
No hero in a cape. Just people showing up for each other, consistently and without fanfare.
iii.
Radical Pragmatism
We work with what we have, where we are, right now. Imperfect action beats perfect inaction.
iv.
Intergenerational Responsibility
What we build today is a gift to children we may never meet.
WHAT WE’VE DONE
Impact Across Borders
From New York to Central Asia, we've responded where we were needed — with whatever we had.
🇺🇸
COVID-19 Community Response
Coordinated volunteers to deliver groceries to seniors across New York during the height of the pandemic, keeping vulnerable community members safe and connected.
2020 - 2021
🇹🇷
Turkey Earthquake Relief
Organized community donations of pillows, mattresses, and blankets for survivors of the devastating earthquake, coordinating cross-border humanitarian logistics.
2023
🇺🇸
PPE Distribution to First Responders
Delivered hand sanitizers to local police departments and hospitals in New York when supply chains had failed and frontline workers were most exposed.
2020
🇺🇦
Ukraine First Aid Support
Volunteered to gather and coordinate first aid kits for Ukraine, joining a global network of individuals refusing to look away from the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
2022 - 2023
🇰🇿
Kazakhstan Relief Donations
Gathered and directed community donations to families in Kazakhstan during the pandemic, bridging diaspora communities with those in need back home.
2020 - 2021
🌱
What's Next
We are expanding our education programs, building toward a named scholarship fund, and deepening our environmental work. The next chapter starts now.
2025 →
IN MEMORY
"Education is the one thing no one can take away from you."
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR FOUNDER'S FATHER — WHOSE BELIEF IN EDUCATION FOR EVERY CHILD CONTINUES TO GUIDE TENGRI'S WORK.
A SCHOLARSHIP IN HIS NAME IS COMING.
"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
— RALPH WALDO EMERSON
WHAT WE DO
Our Programs
Multiple focus areas. One shared belief that children deserve better than the conditions they're born into.
01
Education & Scholarships
We work to remove financial and systemic barriers that prevent youth from underrepresented families from accessing quality education — in the US and in Kazakhstan. Our forthcoming scholarship program will carry on a legacy of believing that every child deserves a chance to learn.
02
Environmental Action for Youth
Environmental degradation disproportionately affects the most vulnerable communities — and the children who grow up in them. We raise awareness, support community-led environmental initiatives, and advocate for cleaner, safer conditions for the next generation.
Humanitarian Relief
When crises hit — pandemics, earthquakes, conflict — we mobilize. We coordinate community donations, connect volunteers, and make sure resources reach the people who need them most, across borders and time zones.
Arts & Cultural Stewardship
If children are surrounded by art, beauty, music, and thoughtful ideas, they grow not only in knowledge, but in soul. We strive to inspire and empower the creative potential of the future generation by bringing arts and culture closer to the communities we serve.
04
03
WHAT WE’RE BUILDING
Arts Programming
In today’s world, where attention is scarce and connection harder to come by, art is more essential than ever. Art is how we learn how to say what we cannot yet explain, how traditions stay alive across generations, and how strangers find themselves and each other understood.
We believe that cultural work is not separate from humanitarian work, because a thriving community is shaped by more than the sum of its needs — it deserves the tools to create, the room to imagine, and a place in a story larger than its own. This is why Tengri is deepening its investment into the arts by expanding our cultural programming.
A society that teaches children beauty teaches them humanity.
— INSPIRED BY DENIS DIDEROT
GET INVOLVED
Work With Us
Whether you're a funder, a volunteer, a partner organization, or someone who simply believes in this work — we want to hear from you. Tengri was built on the belief that collective action starts with one conversation.