You could call Bilaal Rajan of Richmond Hill, Ontario, a philanthrokid. That’s a term used in this article to describe kids who go beyond collecting coins for charity to become pre-teen fundraising phenomenons raising millions of dollars for charitable causes. As a fourth-grader Rajan raised thousands for victims of Hurricane Jeanne in Haiti. He continued fundraising following the 2004 Tsunami, coming to the attention of UNICEF, who made him a children’s ambassador and had him speak at schools to his peers about making a difference. He travels around the world to meet with children, including a trip last month to South Africa where he also met humanitarian luminaries Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

According to Rajan, his philanthropic career started at age 4, when his dad read him a story about the 2001 Gujarat earthquake that inspired him to go door to door, accompanied by an adult, selling clementines to raise funds for earthquake victims.

I first heard about him in connection with the Barefoot Challenge, which seems to be more about raising awareness than about raising money. Rajan and those who participated in his challenge a few months ago spent a week barefoot to raise awareness of children living in poverty. Chronicling the events of that week, which included being kicked off a sports team and advised against attending a field trip in addition to fielding dozens of media interviews and being trailed by a photographer, Rajan explains the connection. Continue reading →