Pencils of Promise was founded by Adam Braun in 2008, a big idea sparked by a chance encounter with a street kid in India. Braun met the boy when he was backpacking around the world and his poignant answer to a question Braun asked him—what do you want most in the world?—has led to a global initiative to build schools in impoverished communities. What the boy wanted most was a pencil, an answer that prompted Braun to reflect on the importance of education in a child’s life. To date, Pencils of Promise has built 39 schools, with a further 19 ongoing builds and three upcoming ones.