Fund a Finder.
A Finder is the person their community brings its hardest questions to.
One year of applied AI in Sierra Leone. It starts on the phone in a student’s hand and ends with a Certificate in Applied AI and the Finder role, conferred in public by community leaders.
Or $40 a month, set up in the same checkout.
The problem, in four people
Some questions have nowhere to go.
In most of the world, these go to someone with training and a connection. In Kono District, Sierra Leone, they have had nowhere to go.
The farmer with a crop that is failing.
The trader deciding what to stock next.
The teacher trying to reach the student who is slipping.
The family holding an exam result that decides whether a child goes any further.
Built for one place
Four things that are hard to copy.
It is hyper-local.
The work is built around the crops, the markets, the languages and the institutions of the place where it is taught. Not a generic course from America.
It is country-led.
A Memorandum of Understanding with Sierra Leone's Ministry of Technical and Higher Education, signed at the Education World Forum in London in 2025 — and the support of the paramount chiefs of Kono.
It ends in public.
Assessment is by portfolio: documented projects for real community members. The year closes with a capstone presented in public, and the Finder role is conferred in public, before their community and its leaders.
It builds a role the community recognizes.
A Finder is a new occupation, alongside the trader, the healer and the teacher: an affordable micro-consultant people pay to use AI on their everyday problems.
The film · 3 minutes
The Finder role, in three minutes.
Minister Haja Ramatulai Wurie, Mustapha Turay and Dr. Mark Luetzelschwab explain the Finder role, with footage from the Kono center.
Useful from the first weeks
One year. Eight courses.
Students don’t wait a year to be useful. From the first weeks, the coursework is real problems brought by real neighbors. They learn to listen to a need in their community, work with AI tools to produce something useful, and return it in a form the community can act on.
- Six weeks per course, across a full year.
- A portfolio of documented projects for real community members.
- A Certificate in Applied AI from Trico College, then the Finder role.
See the Finder page for more on the role, the courses and how a center runs.
The ask
$480 puts one young person through the entire year.
That is $40 a month, and it funds one student for one full year, start to finish.
Most people start here
Adopt a Student
$480
a year, or $40 a month
One young person, one full year, from the first course to the credential.
Adopt a StudentAdopt a Village
$50,000
a year
Sponsors a Community Learning Center serving an entire community.
Adopt a VillageAdopt a Country
Let’s talk
no set price
A conversation with Curt Allen about what a national program takes.
Start a conversationWhat $480 covers
- Tuition for all eight courses
- Access to the Community Learning Center for the year
- The offline learning app on the student’s own phone — it keeps working when the connection does not
- AI access
- The Certificate in Applied AI from Trico College at the end of the year
Before you ask
Questions people ask.
Who is this program for?
Young adults in Sierra Leone, 18 and over, who are qualified but cannot take up a university place because of cost, or because no university or college is within reach.
The emphasis is on the whole community rather than the individual learner alone, in partnership with civic and government leaders. A Finder is trained to serve the people around them, not only to advance themselves.
Who awards the certificate?
The Certificate in Applied AI is awarded by Trico College of Innovation and Advanced Technology, our partner college in Sierra Leone. Our other higher-education partners are Freetown Polytechnic, which hosts CLC TWO, and Kono University of Science and Technology, a partner of CLC ONE.
What happens to graduates?
The program prepares graduates to work as Finders, paid by the people they help. Graduates who don’t work as Finders can use the same AI skills in teaching, trade or health care.
The program does not guarantee a job or an income. What a Finder earns depends on their skills, the community work they can show, and demand for it.
Is my gift tax-deductible?
Yes. The Future Learning Institute is recognized by the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity, effective December 29, 2025. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, and you will receive a receipt by email at the time of your gift.
Who is behind this?
The Future Learning Institute is a U.S. nonprofit, working in partnership with Agilix Labs, which has spent two decades building online learning technology. In Sierra Leone, the program runs through two Community Learning Centers, CLC ONE in Koidu City and CLC TWO at Freetown Polytechnic. Mustapha Turay, President of FLI Centers in Sierra Leone, leads both. Certificates are awarded by Trico College. The program runs under a May 19, 2025 Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education.
Can I fund something larger than one student?
Yes. $50,000 sponsors a Community Learning Center for a community for a year. Beyond that, funding a national program starts with a conversation. Curt Allen will walk you through what one takes.
Where it stands today
Built where the conditions are hardest.
Already operating
CLC ONE has been open in Koidu City, Kono District, since March 2026. CLC TWO, at Freetown Polytechnic’s Jui Campus, opened enrollment on October 12 and launches on November 10, 2026. Bo City, Kenema, Makeni and Njala are planned next.
Country-led
The Ministry of Technical and Higher Education, our MOU partner since May 19, 2025. Freetown Polytechnic, host of CLC TWO. The paramount chiefs of Kono, who support CLC ONE.
Built to work offline
Students study on a learning app that downloads lessons to their own phones and keeps working when the connection drops. Progress syncs the next time they have a signal.
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Prefer to give by wire?
Wire transfers are welcome. Contact us and we will send the transfer details directly.