Green Umbrella was officially founded on 20 December 2012, and has been registered as a Local Non-Governmental Organization (LNGO) at The Ministry of Interior of Kingdom of Cambodia. It was issued with (No.1796 ស.ជ.ណ) to operate the projects and its activities in Cambodia.

Venerable Sokrath Hour arrived in Putsor Commune, Bati District of Takeo Province in 2007 to teach monks in Chambok Bitmeas Monastery. He found a community in desperate need. The young children, teenagers and adults were all struggling with day to day basic living. There was little opportunity for children and teenagers to study. Many children did not attend school and many adults were uneducated; they had no vocational skills in order to gain worthwhile employment. Many families didn’t have their own land and were living under the poverty level. They could see little hope for their children’s future. Upon seeing these situations, Ven. Sokrath Hour was inspired to found an NGO (Green Umbrella) which would create some hope for the future of children and young people who were living in the community.

To start up the NGO, there was difficulty in finding human resources in the community who would work with him. Another challenge was that there was no electricity or clean water in the community. Venerable Sokrath Hour spent two years training teachers and high school students English, computer and other skills. He built trust and skills within the community. These trained adults became the volunteers who then supported his project work in the community.  He further developed other projects, such as the English Language School, Khmer traditional dance, community life skills classes, a community library and an educational focus in the villages where issues were raised with parents around many topics.  He also offered Dhama instruction and Buddhist teachings in the villages.