Our History

"The idea for illuminAid began in 1973 when I first experienced the power of creating audiovisual presentations. It was clear to me that this technology had enormous potential to be harnessed for the benefit of mankind. I find myself enthusiastically promoting a miracle that our culture has overlooked yet can bring about profound social change. I see a system of creating and sharing the audible voice or visual presentation of gifted teachers to underprivileged students around the world. After 25 years of helping people in developed countries entertain themselves with audiovisual technologies, I feel the need to spend my next 25 years helping people in the least developed countries lift themselves out of poverty through education and the use of those same technologies."

- Matt York, Founder of illuminAid

Our Roots

In 1986, Matt York founded Videomaker Inc., a leading publisher on video production. With a magazine readership of over 64,000 and 400,000 monthly visitors to its website, it is Videomaker Inc.'s mission is to empower individuals to make video through its monthly magazine, website, DVDs, books and hands-on workshops and conferences.
Branching out from Videomaker Inc. in 2008, Matt founded illuminAid because of his genuine passion to make a difference in the developing world by bringing change through video. Since then, Matt has been able to apply over two decades of expertise in the video consumer electronics industry to grow illuminAid from an idea to a humanitarian charity making a measurable difference in the lives of global neighbors.
Through the development of his own patent for a consumer electronics device as well as his travels to research and development labs in Japan, Matt learned the ins and outs of electronics equipment development. Leading with compassion and a heart of service, Matt and the illuminAid team have continued to iterate to discern the best equipment for video development in low-resource communities around the world. Today, the illuminAid team has conducted projects across dozens of developing countries and distributed thousands of cordless, solar-powered projectors into the hands of local leaders equipped with the knowledge of how to produce video to educate and benefit their rural communities.
illuminAid has conducted critical projects in partnership with agencies like WHO, the U.S. Department of State, the CDC, and many change making organizations like World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, and UNICEF to promote positive behavior change in sectors like disease prevention, sanitation and hygiene, women’s empowerment and economic development.