About Us
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The problems facing underserved communities — broken infrastructure, missing clinics, schools without technology — look mammoth from a distance. Up close, each one breaks into researchable questions, fundable projects, and finishable steps. Eat The Elephant exists to take those bites, in order, with the community at the table.
"Our mission is to empower communities through investigating community issues, developing pragmatic plans, and building sustainable solutions — by mobilizing research, public engagement, expert consultation, and strategic partnerships to implement sustainable infrastructure, foster economic opportunity, and cultivate impactful change." — from our Bylaws
We develop programs that address social issues in communities around the world, and we put students at the center of the work: young researchers learn how change actually happens by doing it — assessing needs, drafting action plans, raising the funding, and standing behind the results.
Our first program, MIAP Med, immersed students in real medicine through mentored hospital experience. It proved the model: students do serious work when the work is real.
Eat The Elephant incorporated in California as a nonprofit public benefit corporation, founded by Kenneth Woodall, Sheila Vatan, and Ryan Vatan.
The IRS approved Eat The Elephant as a 501(c)(3) public charity, effective retroactively to April 21, 2025. Contributions are tax-deductible.
Our flagship L.E.A.D. Fellowship enrolled its first cohort of high-school fellows, partnering with Cal Poly Pomona on community redevelopment in Lubao, Philippines.
| Legal name | Eat The Elephant |
|---|---|
| Entity | California nonprofit public benefit corporation |
| Tax status | 501(c)(3) public charity — IRC 170(b)(1)(A)(vi); approved September 12, 2025, effective April 21, 2025 |
| EIN | 33-4700167 |
| Contributions | Tax-deductible under IRC §170 |
| Principal office | PO Box 511, Trabuco Canyon, CA 92679 |
| Focus (NTEE) | B20 — Educational programs & community development |
| Workplace giving | Find us on Benevity: charity ID 840-334700167 |
