Smile Network International

In as little as 45 minutes and for just $500 a life is changed.

Smile Network International is a Minnesota-based, non-profit organization devoted to changing the lives of impoverished children with cleft lips and palates by providing free operations.

Smile Network is obsessively prudent with donors' money. The American Institute of Philanthropy rates as “highly efficient” any organization that spends 70% or more of its total expenses on charitable programs. Our audited financial statements show that Smile Network consistently spends between 80-89% of every dollar contributed on program services. 

Since 2003, we have sent all-volunteer teams of doctors and nurses to impoverished villages. Our teams have operated on over 4,000 children around the world. Our volunteers donate their time and talent and medical companies provide many of our supplies free of charge. We still must pay for travel, lodging and medicine, which bring our average cost for a procedure to just $500. For so little, so much is accomplished.