GlobalGiving 3

CHECK OUT THE NEW GLOBALGIVING WEBSITE DESIGN!

The new GlobalGiving website has even more information on projects like the one in the Congo. If you look throught the Congo project, you will find a beautiful video describing what the project does with great sections on the children who benefit and background information from Jay Nash, the founder and prime mover of this project.

Treatment for 100 youth with disabilities in Congo
This project provides 100 Congolese youth with disabilities essential treatment and equipment, increasing their mobility, dignity and opportunities for the future.

Theme: Health Location: Congo, Democratic Republic of the Need: $47,520

AN AMAZING PROJECT TO HELP

DISABLED CHILDREN WALK

-- AND THRIVE --

JUST POSTED ON GLOBALGIVING.COM

A charity I know well, the International Polio Victims Response Committee, now has a project on the GlobalGiving site. You can access it here. I am proud to be a member of the Advisory Committee of this tremendous organization. IPVRC uses trained technicians (themselves disabled) to craft high-quality, custom-fit braces so that disabled Congolese youth can walk. Pre-bracing surgery by a specialist is provided for cases requiring it; physical therapy is provided after bracing.

Children who otherwise could end up begging on street corners end up -- literally -- dancing in celebration and then moving to school and gainful employment. When you visit the site, be sure to click on "More Photos" and then scroll down to actually view and read about the amazing stories of the children that IPVRC helps!

I have visited one of the homes where IPVRC works many times over the years -- as have my wife and my two daughters. There is nothing on earth more moving than watching hope in movement, as these children -- exactly the same as the boys and girls one sees with shriveled limbs begging on downtown streets in many major cities in poor countries -- dance, play basketball, and see themselves as able to live full, rich lives. This is what IPVRC gives.

Please think about giving to help the children reached by IPVRC. Thank you.

A PROJECT WORTH SUPPORTING

Recently, I have gotten to know a new, exciting project to help Congolese who live in the same area as those most amazing of our near cousins, the bonobos (the "make love not war" chimpanzees). A partnership now links Falls Church, Virginia to a remote village of 19,000 people in the Congo called Kokolopori. And, as part of the partnership, we are looking to support people in Kokolopori through micro-credit. This program is run by the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, an impressive organization working in the Congo to protect bonobos.

I urge people to look at these websites and give generously to help people in Kokolopori.

And if you live in the Washington, D.C. area, think about attending the fundraiser on April 19 from 6-8 PM to launch this micro-credit fund for Kokolopori.

Thanks,
Tony

SO LET'S DO MORE, PART II:
New Chance to Help Make Your Idea Become Real
Act Soon, Deadline is APRIL 30!!!

In the first entry to this blog, I said this about the RPCVs PROJECT! idea:

"The promise of this endeavor, once it takes hold, is to expand the number of PROJECTs, so that some day, and I hope soon, a project you like from YOUR country of service also will be on the site. "

That time has already come:

Do you have an idea that you believe in and you wish you could find a way to raise the funds to support it? Until now, you had to go through the process of creating an official charitable organization (a "501(c)(3)" organization) so that any donations would be tax deductible.

NO MORE!!! Now, the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) and GlobalGiving have launched a competition to choose worthy projects and post them on the dynamic GlobalGiving website (www.globalgiving.com).

If you are a member of NPCA and/or a leader of an NPCA affiliate group, you are eligible for this competition. Winning projects will be posted on the GlobalGiving/NPCA site, making it MUCH easier for people to contribute. When people contribute through the GlobalGiving site, they get to deduct it on their taxes.

For details on the competition, please go to http://rpcv.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=1224. Let's go!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!
2 RPCV Organizations Get an Additional $5,000

Hats off - chapeau - to Friends of Burkina Faso and the High Atlas Foundation for doing the work it took to meet the GlobalGiving challenge and earn an extra $5,000 for their worthy projects. These things don't just magically happen. I know that both organizations reached out and pushed hard to get these funds.

That's what organized, committed people can do, and it is both a great end to 2006 and a challenge to keep moving forward in 2007.

I expect there will be some exciting announcements from GlobalGiving in the near future about where we go from here ... Stay tuned!

For lots of good information on GlobalGiving and how these ideas germinate, see Dennis Whittle's blog.

TIME IS ALMOST UP TO MEET THE GLOBALGIVING $5,000 MATCH CHALLENGE

Two of the three projects on the GlobalGiving site, helping girls' education in Burkina Faso and planting trees in Moroccan villages, are doing well. The Burkina Faso project is 2/3 of the waya to its $13,000 goal. The project in Morocco has further to go, but already has raised almost $3,000.

I don't know why there's so much less interest in the project to promote agriculture in Thailand. The Thailand project only has raised $300 to date, much less than either of the others. Why is this? Any ideas anyone?

Please give before the December 15 GlobalGiving challenge deadline!

Remember, only 100 individual donations of $10 or more generates an additional $5,000 from GlobalGiving. This is a real challenge; if it is not met, then these great projects will not get the extra money.

Thanks.

VERY EXCITING NEWS FROM GLOBALGIVING -- AND A CHALLENGE TO PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT BURKINA FASO, MOROCCO, THAILAND

GlobalGiving has challenged people who care about the three projects posted. Help generate 100 donations to one of these projects by December 15. If that happens, an additional $5,000 will be donated.

What can you do? Send a copy of the link about the project and the challenge to a half dozen of your friends, emphasizing that YOU believe in this project and that it needs more support.

If you have another idea that helps engage others, please post it here.

We want to fully fund these projects, meet the GlobalGiving $5,000 challenge, and get many more people interested in helping people overseas.

This partnership between GlobalGiving and the National Peace Corps Association brings together two great organizations to make a difference in the lives of poor people overseas. GlobalGiving is pioneering web-based techniques and new strategies to create virtual giving communities. The Peace Corps community is the largest group of Americans around who have served for peace overseas. Now that we're back in the US, a lot of us wonder how we can reach out to help people who we KNOW need help overseas. This partnership creates new pathways for many more people to do just that.

Go to this link: GlobalGiving NPCA giving page

We can help end hunger and unnecessary suffering and promote grassroots development overseas one person, one family, one community at a time. We'll do it by our own engagement combined with that of our friends, families, and communities here. Are you going to be part of this?