July 2023 - Match Day for 75 Students in Guatemala

Greetings from Guatemala

We just came off a great Match Week, hitting our goal in the first 4 days. 
This is a tribute to the depth of support we have gathered behind our work here in Guatemala over the past 13 years.

From the bottom of all our Integral Hearts – THANK YOU!

A question came up repeatedly during this week about our Monthly Donors, or, more appropriately our Monthly Sustaining Sponsors.

I, and our team were asked several times about the value we place on our Sustaining Sponsors. Let me explain.

Our annual budget for the school, school materials, scholarships, the in-house education programs, the nutrition programs both in-school and for the families of our children (not to mention our dog rescues/spaying clinics, family medical emergency fund) means we have to raise about $200,000 per year.

About one-half of that comes from our Sustaining Sponsor; these lovely hearts who donor each month anywhere from $10 - $200.

So when I set about planning our fundraising events for each year I at least know that I have at least half of our operating budget already promised.

Now as you might has noticed this year was unusual in that between January and May 2023 we lost about $8,000 in annual support from our monthlies. This is about 10% of the total. Some dropped out because they wanted to switch focus, others because of financial hardship.

A 10% drop is a lot for us and while it would not affect our operations short-term, over the longer term we could not afford to provide the same level of support as we had been.

We launched several campaigns, thanks in great part to Luke and Erica, to help recover this loss. And we did recover, almost $3,000 in annual support and then this week we, thanks to 11 new monthly donors starting up during Match Week, we have cut that loss down to $1,500 annually (that’s just 5 monthly donors at $25 each month).

Over the longer tem, we are planning to increase the amount of support from monthly Sustaining Sponsors to exactly half of our annual needs, to $100k. From where we are today, that would mean finding an additional 33 new monthly donors each supporting us for $25 per month.

We will do this. Our programs will continue and maybe even expand a little with your most gracious help.

100% Match is now ACTIVE on all new monthly Sustaining Sponsorships donations:
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/funding-the-integral-heart-school-in-2023/

With love and respect,

Mick Quinn & Debora Prieto
Co-Founders.

Photo updates of our work:

We update our photo albums twice per month here:
https://www.facebook.com/integralheartfamily/photos_albums

About us:
Integral Heart was founded in 2011 by Mick Quinn and Debora Prieto.

They had vacationed in Guatemala in 2009 and were drawn to its beauty but also felt compelled to respond directly to the potential they saw in the younger generations.

They have lived year-round in Guatemala ever since.

The Integral Heart Family School is 100% crowdfunded. We currently have 220 individuals whose monthly and annual donations support our work.

This core team of Sustaining Sponsors raises about one half of the total funds needed to operate our school and programs.

The rest of the funding is raised in special events and in participation with our funding partner, GlobalGiving based in Washington D.C.

Education is the heart of our work. Our school is home to 70 children receiving classes in Spanish, English, Psychology, Human Rights, Homework Help, Art and serves 1,500 meals monthly.

Since 2011, our programs have delivered classes and support to over 1,200 students and their families in Guatemala. We also provide a food basket to each of our 45 sponsored families.

IHF School History Since 2010: See our Full History in photos

5-year Dream Plan: We are saving to buy/build a school which incorporates our existing educational programs and an animal rescue center. Imagine, One Child - One Animal :-)

If you would like to see our plans for this 5-Year Dream Plan