"I feel good because I have saved enough to buy a refrigerator. I have a goal to buy a car to go to sell my bread to other communities, to sell more and to earn more. Never before have I had the kind of support I get from the Adelante Foundation."
- Maria Reina Benitez (pictured right)

Maria Reina Benitez started her bread baking and sales business with a $27 loan from the Adelante Foundation. Adelante is the Spanish word for forward, or progress, and its mission is to improve the standard of living of the extreme poor in rural Honduras. They do this by providing small loans - microcredit - to very poor women in rural villages.

After successfully repaying her first loan, Maria took out a second loan of $88 which she invested in the cabinet you see pictured and more supplies to bake more bread.

Now on her third loan of $166, Maria is earning more than she ever has before - enough to send her children to school, to buy medicine when she needs it, and even to save a little.

Thanks to the support of GlobalGiving and others, Adelante has already helped over 2,000 women like Maria. Extremely poor women who live in rural villages in Honduras have often never earned a living wage before. In addition to loaning them capital, Adelante provides business training so that the women learn practical skills to make their business grow.

Resources

 
• Contribute to Adelante's rural micro-credit fund
   
• Read more about the project

Born in the heart of Patagonia, the Benegas brothers have pursued a long apprenticeship in the mountains. They started on the big walls of Yosemite, the airy summits of South America, and the loftiest peaks of the Himalayas. But despite their many accomplishments, few expeditions have shown the promise of their upcoming attempt at the north ridge of Pakistan's Latok I (7,145m).

Known as the Walker Spur of the Karakoram, Latok I remains one of the world's most well-known unconquered routes. But more than that, the Latok I expedition gives the Benegas brothers the opportunity to give back to the communities surrounding the Walker Spur.

Teamed with GlobalGiving, The North Face has identified social and economic development projects that will yield enormous benefits to Pakistani people in surrounding villages. The North Face plans to donate funding for every foot that the Benegas brothers climb.

"GlobalGiving provides an exciting new opportunity that streamlines international aid," said Letitia Ferrier, Strategic Marketing Manager at The North Face. "Through this partnership, The North Face funding will go directly to high-impact development projects overseas. This allows us to directly give back to the communities and regions where we send our athletes to explore."

For more information on this expedition and the project(s) The North Face will be supporting, see globalgiving.com/thenorthface.html.

Resources

• See other GlobalGiving projects in Pakistan
   
• Read more about GlobalGiving's partnership with The North Face

CNN recently interviewed GlobalGiving CEO Dennis Whittle for an upcoming feature story on obstacles to international giving. The interview discussed how the Patriot Act has increased the challenges donors face in making donations to projects led by grassroots groups overseas. Whittle noted that the Patriot Act highlights the need for donors to have a trusted platform such as GlobalGiving to make secure donations to authenticated projects. Regular communication from project leaders (such as project progress updates) is a priority for GlobalGiving, said Whittle, since it is key to building community, accountability and a direct connection between donors and project leaders.

Resources

• See additional press on GlobalGiving
   
• See the Patriot Act in print