GlobalGiving Project of the Month Club

Dear Project of the Month Club,

Greetings from snowy Washington, D.C.! We hope you had a joyful holiday season and your new year is off to a prosperous start. Last month, 550 of you gave $21,302 to Atzin Mexico’s Literacy for Adults: Reading the World  project, which supports literacy education for adult women living in rural Mexico. Atzin is excited to use your support to increase their team’s capacity to better serve the community.

For February’s Project of the Month, we’ve selected Rahul Kotak Foundation’s Give Hope to Kisumu's Underprivileged Children project! Mansi from RKF has been a welcoming, engaging member of the GlobalGiving community, using her skills to mentor fellow nonprofit leaders around the world. At RKF, she supports education, feeding, and menstrual hygiene programs in the slums of Kisumu, Kenya.

Mansi was thrilled to hear that RKF had been selected as Project of the Month!

“The RKF Team was ecstatic upon finding out that we had been selected as the Project of the Month for February 2019. This comes as yet another feather in our cap after joining the GlobalGiving platform where we have had the opportunity to learn as well as experience tremendous growth.

“Our congruent goal of accelerating community-led change will further be strengthened by the magnanimity of the Project of the Month Club members who will help us get a step closer to our goal: a future in which every child in Kenya has all the necessary tools to succeed in their lives. Our programs are designed to work directly with the communities and help them take ownership of sustainable and long-term solutions. We use a multi-pronged approach to directly address the issue of education quality whilst tackling the various issues that prevent children from accessing this very education, such as no meals at school, little access to sanitary pads and learning material, especially books, among others.

“We are overjoyed at the possibilities that come with being selected as the Project of the Month. Thank You! Or as we would say in Kenya: ASANTE SANA!!”

Mansi knows your generosity will go a long way in Kisumu.

“This generous sum of money will help us empower some of the most vulnerable communities living in the slums and rural areas of Kisumu County by strengthening their local schools and providing quality education to the next generation of our country. It will provide a boost to the various programs we implement within these schools to achieve the following:

• Serve over 250,000 meals of breakfast and lunch in the 2019 academic year to over 1,800 students in the slums and rural parts of Kisumu through RKF’s Meal Program
• Complete our current work of converting a storage room into a library that will hold 10,000 books and 50 seating units that will cater to over 1,300 children in a fishermen community
• Convert 2 shipping containers into libraries that will hold up to 5,000 books each
• Provide various learning material like exercise books, pencils, educational toys etc. to all the students we work with
• Keep all the existing WASH Programs in our schools by ensuring access to soap and running water throughout the year

I’m honored to partner with every single one of you to support Mansi, the Rahul Kotak Foundation, and all of the children that will benefit from your generosity. Thank you for being a part of our community.

Warm wishes,

Alix Guerrier

GlobalGiving CEO

Dear Project of the Month Club,

Happy New Year! I'm excited to introduce myself to you. I started as the CEO of GlobalGiving in November, following the direction set by our co-founder and former President, Mari Kuraishi, who remains on the board. I'm thrilled to be a part of the team that supports our amazing community of nonprofit partners and dedicated donors whose support make their work possible.

Last month was your most generous month yet—468 of you gave $22,129 to Japan Animal Therapy Association, an organization training stray rescues to become therapy dogs to support sick children and elderly adults. Their team is excited to use your donations to upgrade their facilities and save even more stray dogs who would otherwise be put down.

For the first Project of the Month in 2019, we selected Atzin Mexico’s Literacy for Adults: Reading the World project! GlobalGiving representative Maria visited Atzin in 2018 and was amazed by the impactful work they do with such few resources. Atzin is the only nonprofit working in its community of Tlamacazapa, meaning its team takes on a variety of work. Your gifts will primarily support the adult literacy program working with Mexican women in acute poverty, but the Atzin team also plans to use some of the funds for some much-needed operational support.

Susan from Atzin was overjoyed at the great news! 

“To be honest, we were overcome with a mix of emotions, seeing this as a true godsend. On hearing the news, team members said, "I am so excited, filled with hope!;” "This is a signal that we need to continue, not to give up;" "This is a light for us; it gives me goosebumps." Let me fill you in on the background. Since about mid-2014, the people of Mexico generally have experienced ever-increasing violence and corruption, especially in Guerrero (where we work) and other states. Prices have risen drastically; rural families now suffer deeper poverty and constant tension. Volunteers and visitors stopped coming, and each year, it has become harder and harder to find funding, even for our basic programs of education and health.”

“We cut back more and more programming as well as staff, squeezed every peso twice, recycled, repaired and reused everything possible, and sought out alternative ways to bring in money—each time, just barely managing to keep things going. The last four years have been tough and stressful especially in the face of acute need. To all of you, we offer a heartfelt "thank you" for your trust in our work. You will never know just how much this vote of confidence means to us.”

Susan already knows the donations will be put to good use.

“These funds will be used immediately to: send the eight literacy modules for printing; increase the amount of educator payments for classes taught; purchase medications, equipment and transport for children and adults with special needs or chronic disease; expand outreach for education (more home-based classes); repair or purchase of needed equipment (such as a small photocopier); repair of our vehicle’s electrical system; pay external accountants (they have been very patient with us); renew Atzin’s legal charitable status as well as the status of Yotlakat Non Siwatl, our village partner. The list is long!”

From the GlobalGiving family to yours, we wish you a joyous and peaceful 2019. Thank you for your continued support and generosity.

Warm wishes,
Alix Guerrier, GlobalGiving CEO