Category Archives: Team Dayā Updates

Minority Report Podcast Features Team Dayā

The latest Minority Report Podcast features Team Dayā and its founder Jay Sears (Episode #197). The podcast, by Kerel Cooper and Erik Requidan, features leaders from across the ad tech ecosystem. In the podcast, you will learn the origin story of Team Dayā’s work Building Change by financing the construction of primary schools in remote corners of the developing world and how everyone can support the work – in small and large ways.

Cooper, Requidan and Sears also discuss leadership and the ad tech business. Some of the executives discussed in the episode include Jaryd Knutsen, Jordan Mitchell, Terry Kawaja, Todd Smith, Matt Deets, Ed Carey, David Peterson, Frank Addante, Mike Chevallier and Michael Lehman among others. Cooper and Requidan launched the award winning Minority Report Podcast in May of 2018 as a way of highlighting leaders within business, media, and technology. Since that time the two have recorded nearly 200 episodes featuring leaders who share insights and experiences gained throughout their personal and professional journeys.

The next Team Dayā school build kicks off on March 22, 2026 in Guatemala, and all our 2026 building dates are now available. Anyone curious to learn more about joining a future school build or otherwise supporting the mission should contact Team Dayā’s Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen.

You can listen to latest Minority Report podcast featuring Team Dayā and its founder Jay Sears (Episode #197) on Spotify, Apple, Amazon or pick your favorite platform.

Your Support & The Team

Please consider supporting Team Dayā. We cannot build these schools without your support. Example investment opportunities:

$40,000 Fund an entire school
$1,000 Paint for a school
$500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
$250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school

Three Ways You Can Help

Make a Donation Online
- Example investment opportunities:
  - $40,000 Fund an entire school
  - $1,000 Paint for a school
  - $500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
  - $250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school
Spread the Word
- Share our mission with your friends, your company and your industry
- Invite us to speak about our mission to your network
- Follow us LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Join the Team & Travel on a School Build
- If you have a combination of fundraising chops, an adventurous spirit and the belief each of us has the capacity to be Building Change, get in touch with us and have a conversation.

Team Dayā 2026 School Project Dates:

We are now actively recruiting members for our 2026 groundbreakings. If you are curious to learn more about joining a build, please reach out to our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. Not sure? Watch the documentary Building Change, the Team Dayā Story (8 minute run time), by Kathmandu based filmmaker Shyam Karki of Samson Film Productions.

Guatemala 2026

Sunday, March 22, 2026 – Saturday, March 28, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
Arrive & depart: Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA-La Aurora Intl.)

Malawi 2026

Sunday, June 28, 2026 – Saturday, July 4, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
Arrive & depart: Lilongwe, Malawi (LLW-Kamuzu Intl.)

Senegal 2026

Sunday, November 29, 2026 – Saturday, December 5, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
Arrive & depart: Dakar, Senegal (DSS-Blaise Diagne Intl.)

Thanks again for your continued support,

All of us at Team Dayā

(PHOTO: Team Dayā members Jay Sears, Sajal Patel, Thane Liffick and Jordan Mitchell with community members on the site for the new school building in Shripur Domilla, Nepal October 2025.)

Team Dayā 2026 School Building Dates

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(PHOTO: The first Team Dayā school build in Dhayapur, Nepal, October 2019. Left to right: Jaryd Knutsen, Winnie Yang, Jay Sears, Hasan Arik, Jordan MItchell and Suman Chagarlamudi.)

Team Dayā is pleased to announced its 2026 school building dates. For our supporters that want to bear witness to Building Change, and see for themselves the impact of primary school education in fighting poverty and illiteracy, consider joining us.

Curious? Have questions? Contact our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. You can also contact any Team Dayā member and ask about her or his experience (scroll through our site). Each participant on a Team Dayā school build covers 100% of her own cost, and commits to raising money towards our school construction fund.

If you work in advertising or technology, there is almost certainly someone you know among our team members and supporters! Read the first person accounts of school building and listen to some of our Team Dayā members, just below. We also welcome others who are not able to travel but still want to joining a team and help us raise funds.

Team Dayā 2026 School Project Dates:

Guatemala 2026

Sunday, March 22, 2026 – Saturday, March 28, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
Arrive & depart: Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA-La Aurora Intl.)

Malawi 2026

Sunday, June 28, 2026 – Saturday, July 4, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
Arrive & depart: Lilongwe, Malawi (LLW-Kamuzu Intl.)

Senegal 2026

Sunday, November 29, 2026 – Saturday, December 5, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
Arrive & depart: Dakar, Senegal (DSS-Blaise Diagne Intl.)

Listen to just a few of our Team Dayā members on our school building sites around the world:

Nicolle Pangis of NetFlix, former Ampersand, WPP in Malawi:

Jordan Mitchell, former IAB Tech Lab, Rubicon Project in Guatemala:

Mike Benedek of Datonics in Senegal:

Suman Chagarlamudi of Pinterest in Nepal:

Jeff Green of The Trade Desk in Senegal:

Lauren Rose, former OpenWeb, Connatix in Nepal:

Michel de Rijk of Kredit Hero and 19Volt, former S4 Capital, GroupM in Nepal:

Humanitarian Award Goes to Team Dayā Founder

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(PHOTO: Team Dayā Founder Jay Sears in Langtang Valley in Nepal in 1988, during his junior year at Kenyon College.)

Team Dayā Founder Jay Sears has been presented with a humanitarian service award by his alma mater Kenyon College. The award is given at the discretion of the college’s alumni council to members of the Kenyon family who have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to humanitarian service. The previous winner of the award was former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink.

“On behalf of Kenyon, I congratulate Jay Sears for his Humanitarian Service Award,” said Kenyon College President Julie Kornfeld. “He joins other accomplished Kenyon graduates who take their Kenyon experience and use it to lift up others.”

“Thanks everybody for this recognition,” said Sears when accepting the award. “To do things like this, I often think it brings those of us who work on it as much or more joy than the communities that are our partners. And these are places that are deeply, deeply deserving. There are all sorts of ways to help the college, to help places like Team Dayā but the big message is just to do something, and there are so many ways that people can help.”

Sears founded the nonprofit Team Dayā, Inc., which works to fight poverty and illiteracy by funding and constructing primary schools in the developing world, in 2018. One of the inspirations was his experience studying abroad during his junior year in Nepal in 1988. Dayā means “kindness” in Nepali.

The film Building Change, the Team Dayā Story details Team Dayā, its purpose, including its origin story back to Sears’ junior year in Nepal. Produced by Kathmandu based filmmaker Shyam Karki of Samson Film Productions, it was shot on location in two communities in the Western Terai of Nepal, Hardahani and Dhayapur. Both communities have schools funded by Team Dayā.

Team Dayā completed their first school groundbreaking in Nepal in October 2019. The group actively funds primary school construction projects in remote areas of Nepal, Senegal, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Later this June, the group will hold the groundbreaking for its 10th school — in Malawi, East Africa.

If you are interested in joining a future school build, please contact our head of recruiting, Jaryd Knutsen.

Three Ways You Can Help

Make a Donation Online
- Example investment opportunities:
  - $250 All the nails, nuts, and bolts to build a roof for the school
  - $500 In-country mason during the entire construction of the school
  - $1,000 Paint for a school
  - $40,000 Fund an entire school
Spread the Word
- Share our mission with your friends, your company and your industry
- Invite us to speak about our mission to your network
- Follow us LinkedIn, X / Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Join the Team & Travel on a School Build
- If you have a combination of fundraising chops, an adventurous spirit and the belief each of us has the capacity to be Building Change, get in touch with us and have a conversation.

Team Dayā 2025 Plans

We are now actively recruiting members for our 2025 groundbreakings. These builds represent our second schools in Nicaragua and Malawi and our third school in Nepal.

Our Team Dayā 2025 school building dates:

Nicaragua, Central America [groundbreaking completed]
Sunday, February 9, 2025 – Saturday, February 15, 2025

Malawi, East Africa
Sunday, June 22, 2025 – Saturday, June 28, 2025

Nepal, South Asia
Sunday October 26th, 2025 – Sunday, November 2nd, 2025

If you are curious to learn more about joining a build, please reach out to our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. Not sure? Watch the documentary Building Change, the Team Dayā Story (8 minute run time), by Kathmandu based filmmaker Shyam Karki of Samson Film Productions.

Thanks again for your continued support,

All of us at Team Dayā