Innocents Relief is a nonprofit and was founded by Professor Colin Apelt OAM and ten volunteers in Brisbane, Australia in 1962.

Colin's experiences as a teenager in the 1950s working with World War II refugees in remote construction sites in Queensland, and, as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University awakened him to the crushing life impact that poverty has on children. He saw that education could give poor children a better chance at life. Since 1962, our supporters have donated about $10m (at today's values) to educate poor children in developing countries.

Our aim is to give poor children a chance to attend school and get an education. We support 31 schools in 11 countries. Members can sponsor a school for just $180 a year. These funds pay school fees, buy uniforms, shoes, lunches and school materials. Higher cost needs such as a safe water supply for a school, new or refurbished classrooms etc are funded as special projects through additional generous donations from our supporters and members.