By SOPHIE HOOVER/Murphy News Service

An orphaned Ethiopian girl named Tigist can attest to the good work being done by the University of Minnesota’s She’s the First chapter.

The group last year sponsored the girl as part its annual fundraising to help pay for the education of girls in impoverished nations.

She’s the First is raising more than $400 this semester, enough to pay for one girl’s education for a year.

Members raise the money through fundraisers such as “Cheese the First,” a grilled cheese sandwich delivery fundraiser they started last year. And they are having a bake sale later this semester to help them reach their goal.

Part of the sponsorship for Tigist, the Ethiopian girl, included being reunited with her sisters, who also had part of their schooling paid for.

Chapter President Hannah Grunewald said Tigist wrote that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up, a goal that might not be possible without help from groups such as She’s the First. Statistics from UNICEF, for instance, report that only 47 percent of females in Ethiopia are literate.

“The best part [about being in She’s the First] is feeling connected to these kinds of issues. It makes you want to know more about the countries we are working with,” Maddie Weiler, the group secretary, said.

She’s the First was founded in 2009 and has grown to include about 2,600 volunteers across several countries. Its mission: to sponsor girls’ education in the developing world “with the goal of creating first-generation graduates and our next generation of global leaders.” The group works with schools in countries such as South Sudan, Ethiopia, India, Guatemala and Peru.

The organization states on its website that it specifically works with credible and researched partner organizations in the impoverished countries. It gives those other organizations the money so that it knows where the donations are actually going.

On Guidestar, a trusted database that makes non-profit records available to the public, She’s the First is given a “gold participant” rating. It earned that rating, Guidestar said, for its transparency and rare 1:1 donation ratio, meaning that 100 percent of donations go to the cause.

“They (She’s the First) don’t just throw money at schools in struggling countries,” Grunewald said, “They really like people to know where their money is going.”

Reporter Sophie Hoover is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.

For more information or to get involved in She’s the First visit shesthefirst.org or like the She’s the First U Facebook page.