Senior Alyssa Ing, the founder of nonprofit organization Empowering Kids with Autism, is passionate about supporting kids through this cause. The organization raises money for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’s autism department and their needs.

As the organization’s founder and agent, Ing’s responsibilities include reaching out to other organizations or autism centers, making sure her events and plans are approved by the state of California, and handling the organization’s paperwork, all while balancing academics and other extracurriculars. 

Ing is ranked number two in the senior class, plays tennis and takes rigorous courses. Prioritizing her responsibilities is important and she manages to balance everything by using her time wisely and planning in her calendar. 

She was inspired to start this organization after volunteering in a disabled children’s orphanage called The National Center for Infants and Children located in the Asian country of Cambodia. It is a home for kids affected by Down syndrome or cerebral palsy and working with them over the summer led to her passion for helping children with special needs. 

Ing knew she wanted to further support kids with autism so she focused her two years on her research project for Advanced Placement (AP) Capstone on the negative portrayals of autism in media and how that led to discrimination among younger children, which later helped her start her nonprofit. She also was inspired to start this organization by Cancer Kids First, the world’s largest nonprofit organization that helps kids with cancer look past their illness.

Early on in her nonprofit organization, Ing was challenged with the approvals and supervision needed to execute the events. To strategize and work within the state’s regulations, she followed all the steps needed to start her organization such as naming her organization on her own with the support of her family. 

“I filed an article of incorporation with the California secretary of state then I had to register under tax exemption to file tax papers, in order to get my 501c3 status. Then after that I had to get an identification number,” Ing said. 

All of these steps allowed her to start planning fundraisers and promoting her 501 3 organization, which are organizations that are solely charitable and whose purpose is to serve the public by creating and engaging in educational benevolent work. 

Since Ing just started her organization, she is still trying to fundraise. At the beginning, the money she gathered through donations was utilized for ideas or products such as fees when filing paperwork, supplies needed for the events, but making t-shirts came from her own savings.

“It’s barely the start of it, but we’re trying to fundraise. I hosted a walk-a-thon previously in the year to help fundraise money. I’ve currently made t-shirts as well that will be going up for sale. I feel everything is in the beginning right now so in the future there’ll be more events and fundraising opportunities,” Ing said.

The one hour walk-a-thon was held Oct. 12, 2024 on Thyberg Field and was promoted on the organization’s Instagram @EmpoweringKidswithAutism and the daily announcements at school. About 30 people attended to help the cause and people who participated donated about $200which was sent to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; Ing plans to make this into an annual event. 

Due to Ing still being a minor, many of her decisions require adult approval, which is why her parents played a huge role in the organization process. They helped her overcome the challenges of requiring having adults present to provide supervision by being the supervisors and helping her set up the event. 

“My parents are my biggest supporters, with the events and stuff they were there to help supervise, provide snacks, drinks and all that stuff,” Ing said. 

Currently, Ing is working on another fundraiser and making t-shirts with the organization’s name, which she plans to sell on Amazon and with time, she also hopes to plan more fundraisers that will help the hospital. 

In the future, Ing plans to be a doctor and continue growing her nonprofit organization by reaching out to other autism centers. She also wants to expand her organization and continue funding to support Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. 

“I think we can start up a chapter here on campus in the future, I plan to reach out to other schools as well to see if they want to start a chapter. Then go from there and see what happens,”  Ing said. 

Although Ing’s nonprofit is in its beginning stages, she has big plans to continue to grow and see it flourish.