GlobalGiving Project of the Month Club

Dear Project of the Month Club,

Last month, 468 of you gave $22,129 to East Bali Poverty Project, an organization that educates children near Mount Agung in Indonesia and runs a social enterprise creating bamboo bicycles. The EBPP team was elated to benefit from your support and is planning to train even more young people to build and sell bamboo bicycles.

 For our last Project of the Month for 2018, your donations are headed to Japan to support dozens of very cute therapy dogs. Japan Animal Therapy Association rescues stray dogs—who would otherwise be put down—and trains them to be therapy dogs, serving elderly people and people with disabilities. Sarah and Shreya, two GlobalGiving staff members, visited JATA this past spring and were so impressed by their impactful work.

Eiko, JATA’s CEO, couldn’t believe the great news!

“When we heard the news that we have been selected as GlobalGiving's Project of the Month for December 2018, we totally doubted our ears! It was amazing news and we repeated to ourselves, “Really? Really we were selected?!” We at JATA greatly thank the GlobalGiving’s staff and community for supporting and helping us! And of course, we truly appreciate everyone who has made donations for our project to make a change. We will keep dedicating all our best to show all the people in Japan and all over the world the “power of the dogs” and work to reduce the killing of dogs.

Eiko has big plans for your donations:

"First of all, your donations will help us improve the indoor and outdoor facilities for training the rescued dogs. These facilities help us raise the rescued dogs into therapy dogs. Our association JATA was established in 2007 so almost all facilities and equipment, such as kennels and fences, need upgrading. Also, enough care should be taken on the earth of the training areas to prevent water flooding at times of rainy seasons. We hope all the dogs live and be raised comfortably.

“In order to train the stray dogs into therapy dogs, we need an experienced dog trainer. For this reason, we would like to use the donation effectively to hire professional dog trainers.

“This week we will visit a palliative care unit in a local hospital for therapy with a golden retriever named Johann. He was a stray dog in Turkey. I rescued him three years ago, and two years ago he came to Japan. After some intensive training, he became an excellent and caring therapy dog and now he even has a fan club! We want to show all the people in Japan that even a rescued dog can be a therapy dog. And with these donations, we will continue to rescue more dogs and train them to become a nice therapy dog!”

Thank you very much for your support and generosity! From everyone here at GlobalGiving, we hope your holiday season is full of joy and peace.

Warm wishes,

Mari Kuraishi, Co-Founder + President

Dear Project of the Month Club,

In October, 451 of you gave $19,908 to support the first-ever Project of the Month from Palestine: Empower Palestinian Kids to Lead Positive Change, from Defense for Children International - Palestine. DCIP trains children to document human rights violations, create positive change through local government, and become leaders in their communities.  

In November, your donations are headed to Bali, Indonesia! The East Bali Poverty Project’s Bamboo Bikes Social Enterprise trains young people to build and market bikes made of bamboo—a renewable resource— to connect communities in rural parts of the island. EBPP also educates children who live near the foot of Mount Agung, an active volcano on Bali.

David, who met GlobalGiving’s field team in Bali this summer, couldn’t believe the great news.

“This is wonderful news! At first glance I really couldn’t believe it was true; took a deep breath, re-read the email and felt exhilaration!! Thank you so much for your kindness in selecting the East Bali Poverty Project as a recipient of GlobalGiving’s November Project of the Month donation. You have shone a bright light at the end of a dark year of disruptions to our activities and village communities’ lives with Mount Agung volcano eruption evacuations until February followed by the August Lombok earthquakes which destroyed many homes in 12 of our 19 village hamlets, now rebuilt. Our team and I unanimously agreed that this generous grant comes at the perfect time to build on the foundations of our youth and community empowerment programs and to optimize the added value of wonderful bamboo, that is readily available in our village.

“We will use these donations to create exciting brochures and catalogs to market and promote our bamboo bikes and accessories so that we can create employment for unemployed high school graduates and other local youth who can then go on to train their local communities. In parallel, we’ll build more of our MTB and City bikes, our exciting prototype kids’ balance bikes and bamboo BMX bikes and accessories that our East Bali Bamboo Bikes team will now be able to take to prominent exhibitions, display in popular bike shops and internationally well-known bamboo product centers. We will also now be able to start building up stocks of our bamboo speakers, laminated bamboo holders, and many more exciting products our students’ created and new ones that we are designing. We’ll then create exciting online catalogs for these products which we’ll promote domestically and internationally, which will enable our youth to develop community-based bamboo home industries. We will also be able to extend the contract of our Indonesian expert bamboo bike designer and builder to train our new team members to proficiency.”

Thank you very much for your generosity! I look forward to sharing December’s Project of the Month with you.

Warm wishes,

Mari Kuraishi, Co-Founder + President

Dear Project of the Month Club,

Happy autumn! Your donations in September—totaling $16,459 from 455 people—helped p.h. Balanced Films sponsor scholarships for women to attend workshops and learn about creating change through storytelling. This month, I’m very excited to share our first-ever Project of the Month from Palestine.

Defense for Children International - Palestine is a child rights nonprofit based in Ramallah that works with children throughout the West Bank and Gaza. In addition to providing legal aid to Palestinian children in Israeli military courts and prisons, DCIP teaches children how to document human rights violations, create positive change through local government, and become leaders in their communities. We selected their project Empower Palestinian Kids to Lead Positive Change as October’s Project of the Month.

Upon hearing the news that DCIP had been selected as Project of the Month, General Director Khaled Quzmar was elated:

“We could not be more thrilled to learn that our program “Empowering Palestinian Kids to Lead Positive Change” has been selected by GlobalGiving for October’s Project of the Month Club. Our young people have been working hard, learning how to document rights violations and turn data into evidence-driven advocacy. These are ambitious goals! Our child participants are deeply appreciative to receive this honor. Thank you for choosing to invest in an organization like ours, as we stand beside Palestinian children and help them raise their voices.

“Recently, on September 13, DCIP’s Children’s Council submitted a report on changes they would like to see in their school learning environments to the Palestinian Minister of Education. The report represented a culmination of discussions, youth workshops, and a past meeting with the Minister of Education during which he invited them to submit a proposal about their dream school. Our child participants have designed an advocacy plan to hold decision-makers accountable for improvements in school learning environments. The Project of the Month Club’s donations will support this project as it continues to develop into next year. The funds could also cover some of the program’s peer-to-peer educational activities, a planned training on research, and new child-led advocacy initiatives in the new year.  Thank you for helping bring these children’s goals to life with your generous donation.”

Thank you for generously helping children amplify their voices and fight for their rights! We’re so grateful to have you as part of the growing GlobalGiving community.

Warm wishes,

Mari Kuraishi, Co-Founder + President

Dear Project of the Month Club,

September is a busy time at GlobalGiving. We’re gearing up for the big year-end giving season, honoring the one-year anniversaries of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria as well as the Mexico earthquakes, and offering more learning opportunities for our nonprofit partners than ever before. Which is why I’m excited to share this month’s Project of the Month, which also inspires learning—about creating social change through filmmaking and storytelling.

In August, 446 of you gave a total of $16,968 to support Green Shoots Education Services’ Help More South African Children Achieve in Maths project. Jo, the executive director of Green Shoots, was overjoyed with the award. Because of your generosity, Green Shoots is able to fund their innovative math technology curriculum for vulnerable kids in South Africa through the end of 2019. That’s amazing.

This September, your donations are funding p.h. Balanced Films’ Reel Women Real Change project. Their team leads workshops for women wanting to fight social injustices in their community and equip them with storytelling and filmmaking skills. Piper, who founded p.h. Balanced Films and launched its first project in Nepal, is taking their program global this year with your support.

"Being the Project of the Month on the cusp of the one-year anniversary of our Reel Women Real Change program is a dream come true,” Piper said. “Every member of our team is deeply passionate about our mission of equipping women to use storytelling to address injustice and promote positive change. Every member of our team is also a volunteer, meaning that 100% of all contributions support our programming. After launching in Nepal last year and pairing graduates with expert mentors to support their filmmaking and advocacy work, we are planning future workshops, both full multi-day sessions and shorter sessions that we launched this spring. We are overcome with gratitude—thank you."

With more than $16,000 from you, p.h. Balanced Films is planning to run more global workshops and provide scholarships for women to attend.

Piper said, “We are currently planning future workshops, both multi-day sessions outside of the United States and shorter sessions within the U.S. These shorter versions draw from one or more of the components of the full workshop—from best practices in advocacy and the brain science of storytelling to perceptions of gender and sustainable self-care practices specifically designed to support advocates in challenging situations over the long haul. All of our workshops, whether half of one day or a full week, are tailored to ensure cultural sensitivity and relevance and meet the interests and needs of attendees. In both settings, we equip participants to recognize inequality and injustice and advance meaningful change in their own lives and communities. Support from this month will catapult our ability to provide international sessions and numerous scholarships for future attendees. Thank you.”

Thank you for being an incredibly valuable part of the GlobalGiving community—I’m looking forward to sharing next month’s project with you.

Warm wishes,

Mari Kuraishi, Co-Founder + President

Dear Project of the Month Club,

Around the world, people of all ages head back to school in August. That’s why we’re happy to share that this month, your gifts are supporting students studying math in South Africa. This selection is a particularly momentous occasion—this is the 100th project supported by Project of the Month Club!

Last month in July, 453 of you gave a total of $16,165 to support Latin American Youth Center’s Help 100 Youth Exit Homelessness in Washington, DC project. The LAYC team was thrilled to receive your donations and put them to good work for a variety of needs, including a new commercial washer/dryer, upgraded security system, hygiene products, and a field trip to an amusement park.

Staring now, you are supporting Green Shoots Education Services’ Help More South African Children Achieve in Maths project. In an area of South Africa where only 35% of 12-year-olds pass math, Green Shoots integrates a comprehensive, technology-based math education system that helps teachers get real-time feedback and provide one-on-one support.

Jo, Green Shoots’ director, is so grateful for your support.

“Being honoured as Project of the Month is just amazing news for all the learners at Mzamomhle, Zwelihle, and Jamaica Way Primaries, and of course our team at Green Shoots,” Jo said. “Thank you so very much to all the generous donors who are supporting these schools and learners from some of our most disadvantaged communities.”

She explained why math education is so vital in South Africa, and how your donations support lifelong change for students. 

“Mzamomhle and Jamaica Way Primaries are located in some of the most challenging areas of Cape Town, with learners coming from communities that are facing major issues with crime, gangsterism and extreme poverty. We started supporting Zwelihle Primary school in 2018. It is situated in a township just outside the coastal town of Hermanus. This project is promoting excellence in Maths through the use of technology. Learners at these schools are experiencing weekly online Maths lessons that provide immediate feedback to them and real-time analysis to their teachers. Technology is proving to be a powerful tool in promoting in a love for learning and even Maths (!) in these vulnerable learners. Your commitment to supporting quality education at these schools is allowing these learners a chance to enjoy, gain confidence, and ultimately achieve in Maths. This quality education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty for these learners. The donations from this month will provide the online Maths resources to over 3,100 learners and ongoing support to the teachers at the three schools, not just for the remainder of 2018 but for the whole of 2019 too!”

Thank you for being an irreplaceable part of the GlobalGiving community.

Best wishes,

Mari Kuraishi, Co-Founder + President