We Want Our Cause To Be Yours
Smile Train is an international children’s charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solveable problem: cleft lip and palate.
Many children with clefts around the world live in isolation, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing, and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Our sustainable model provides training, funding, and resources to empower local doctors in 90+ countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery and comprehensive cleft care in their own communities.
We use the “teach a man to fish” model focusing on training local doctors to perform cleft repairs in their own communities. Those doctors then go on to train other doctors creating a long-term, sustainable system.
Patients see their smile for the first time, parents cry tears of joy, lives and communities are changed forever.
As a result of our efficiency and with the support of our donors and partners around the world, Smile Train has transformed the lives of more than 1.5 million children by giving them the power of a smile.
A common birth defect
Globally, 1 in every 700 children are born with a cleft lip and/or palate.
Learn More
“Teach a man to fish”
Smile Train leverages technology and innovation to help train local partners, and provides them with resources that enable long-term sustainability.
Learn More
Global impact and reach
Smile Train has provided comprehensive cleft care to children in need in 90+ countries around the world.
Learn More
Dedicated to changing lives
Smile Train supporters are passionate people spreading awareness, raising money, and changing the world one smile at a time.
Learn More