Global Giving American Cup

[Guest]

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[cjp1973]

Global Giving is having a competition to allow American Non Profits to stay on Global Giving and raise funds. There are 74 projects competing, to raise $4000 and 50 donors.  These projects have until the 30th of June to do this.  If they do they will be allowed to stay on Global Giving permantly.  I loved most of the projects listed.  I have chosen Every Child Deserves School Supplies because I think all kids should get to start school with the basic supplies they need.  But there are many other very worthy projects that you can search for here 

[Mona]

Until now 20 of the 74 projects that are part of the Global Giving American Cup have been secured: http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/v2/americanchallenge.html

"Secured" means in this context, that they were able to get minimum $4000 donations from minimum 50 different sponsors. All projects that reach this goal until June 30, 2009 (11:59 pm EDT) will be allowed to stay also after this time on Global Giving to get the chance for further fundseeking for their worthy causes.

There is one project very close to reaching this goal that has really touched me: Nourish International Chapter Network. Nourish is a student movement to eradicate global poverty. During the school year, undergraduate students organize as Nourish Chapters where they raise money through small businesses called "Ventures." Using the money they've earned, they select a sustainable development project to fund. Over the summer, they travel abroad to work alongside members of the community to implement the project.

They have worked already in India, Uganda, Guatemala, ... supporting by this project like The Full Belly Project: Worldwide, half a billion people rely on peanuts as their primary source of protein. These peanuts are used for food by the farmers, sold in a marketplace, and sold to wholesalers who produce peanut oil, peanut butter, and other peanut-based products. In order to be processed, peanuts must first be shelled. Currently, these shells are being thrown away. Most peanuts that are grown in developing communities are shelled by hand: in Africa alone, women and children spend 4 billion hours each year manually shelling peanuts. This time-consuming task is often time spent away from attending school, caring for their families, and participating in other income-generating activities. The Full Belly Project (FBP), a Wilmington-based non-profit, has developed the Universal Nut Sheller (UNS), which can shell peanuts, as well as various other nuts, 98% more efficient than by hand.

Another example is a project from Peru: In 2008, a team from the Nourish UNC Chapter worked with a squatter settlement in Ciudad de Dios, Peru, that lacked access to clean water. The team partnered with a local organization and members from the community to build a clean water system capable of serving 5000 people. By participating in this process, Nourish students are equipped with the experiences and skills they need to create a more prosperous world.



If you want to read more, check out http://nourishinternational.org/.

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At the moment this project needs to raise $415 within the next 2 days and 12 hours to be secured. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could make this together? 

You can help with as little as $10. Here is the link if you want to help: http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/nourish-international-chapter-network/

[Mona]

Here is a nice short video I found explaining how Nourish works. Really amazing job these young people are doing!

http://www.nourishinternational.org/about/video-documentary.php

2 days and 10 hours left now to fund the remaining $415  :
http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/nourish-international-chapter-network/

[Dagfinn]

Your posts are dangerous Mona - it is impossible to turn them down    Thank you for your enthusiasm  and point out worthy causes that need our attention.

-- Dagfinn A

[Mona]

Thank you all so much for your kind words and your help! I really really appreciate this!!!

The only thing that confuses me a bit is that though I know that there have been a couple of donations during the last hours the site still shows for me "Received $3,585 from 48 donations". Maybe they do not update it in real time? Or is it just me and one of you can see other numbers? 

http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/nourish-international-chapter-network/

[wthepoo]

It says "$3,650 from 53 donations" now.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

[Mona]

It says "$3,650 from 53 donations" now.

Best wishes,
Wolfgang.

Strange, not for me, even though I deleted my cookies and other stuff... However, I prefer your numbers, Wolf,  as this leaves us with only $350 to fund during the next 2 days and 3 hours.

[Unilove]

RULES

American Open Access Challenge 2009

The Challenge is for participants to generate donations for their projects between June 8, 2009 (12:01 EDT) and June 30, 2009 (11:59 pm EDT). The top three fundraising projects (most dollars raised) will also receive supplementary cash bonuses from GlobalGiving of $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. The project with the greatest number of unique donors will be awarded a bonus of $3,000.

ANY Project that is able to raise a minimum of $4,000 and at least 50 separate donors will be invited to remain on the GlobalGiving website. These projects will be eligible to continue receiving donations from the general public, private and corporate foundations through www.globalgiving.com.

Online donations will be accepted through June 30, 2009 until 11:59 EDT. Checks received by June 29 will be included in the Challenge and will count towards the number of unique donors for each project. Checks received after June 29 will be applied to the indicated project, but will not count towards the Challenge. Checks should be made payable to the GlobalGiving Foundation and should clearly indicate the project to which the funds should be applied.


There are already 54 different donors, but they are short $340 of the goal of $4,000.00 to remain listed ongoing...


edit: to add bolding

[Unilove]

Since Mona is afk from her computer for the next few days, she asked me to keep everyone updated on this effort. 

More have donated, so we are closer, but we only have one day left to close the gap of $270 to reach the minimum threshhold to remain listed on Global Giving to keep working on reaching their goal...

http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/nourish-international-chapter-network/

So, if you have the time, funds, and heart, please take a moment to push this project past the qualifying goal!

Thanks!! 


edit: to add italics/color

[Unilove]

Thank you all very much.... you KF'rs are amazing.  The project made the minimum requirement to stay posted on Global Giving, so they can continue to advocate and fund raise for their goal. 

Thank you thank you thank you!

 


edit: darn typo

[cjp1973]

Thanks for posting the results Cheryl.  I was about to do the same.  Thanks to you all that helped these great non profits.

Charmaine

[Unilove]

I wonder why they just can't leave all 71 on there?  What does it hurt?  It's all just cyberspace?  Or does it dilute the donations by spreading them too thin...  I think there, like here, people will only fund what 'speaks' to them...

[Mona]

Wow, we did it! What a great result to come back home to!!! 

Thanks and a big hug for all who helped and especially to Lisa for keeping us updated! 

[Unilove]

Was glad to hold the torch for a day... thank you for all you do, Mona! 
 
Unilove aka Lisa

[Mona]

I finally found the time today to read an update I got recently for the Nourish International project you had been supporting so generously with me during the Global Giving American Cup. And guess what - they work together with Kiva!!! 

I would really love to learn more about this cooperation! Is there a chance one of you might be attending the Summer Institute hosted by Nourish International on Sunday, August 9th, at the Global Education Center on the Campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill? Individual tickets are available at a cost of $75 per person, which includes admission to the keynote speech, food, and wine: http://www.nourishinternational.org/keynote/

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Latest Update from the Field
News From Guatemala
By Julie Jenkins - Intern, Juli 14, 2009 11:31 PM

Thank you again for your continued support of Nourish International! I wanted to let you know about a successful student project that recently wrapped up in Guatemala and give you some other Nourish updates.

In Guatemala, students from the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Texas at Austin worked together to bring financial independence to women in El Jicaro through the sale of unique soaps and shampoos. Nourish students worked with women who were previously “economically inactive” to give them the sales, marketing and financial skills necessary to sell a product, manage revenues and contribute to family income. To read more about the student project in Guatemala from Lidia Hernandez, UCLA student project leader, check out the attachment below and our student blogs at http://nourishinternational.org/blog.

Back in Chapel Hill, the National Office is continuing to gear up for our annual Summer Institute, a five-day conference that prepares students for the challenges they will face throughout the year. We are pleased to present Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva.org, as the Summer Institute keynote speaker. Individual tickets to the keynote speech and accompanying banquet on August 9th are available online at www.nourishinternational.org/keynote.

Last but not least, Nourish is having a dessert event in Charlotte on July 30th. “Nourish Your Sweet Tooth” will feature desserts from Crave Dessert Bar in Charlotte. Proceeds will benefit the mission of Nourish International. RSVP today, http://nourishinternational.org/dessert/. We hope to see you there!

Once again, thank you for your support. It is only with the generous donations from people like you, that Nourish is able to lead successful projects like the one in Guatemala all over the world!

As a donor, your feedback is important to Nourish, so we encourage you to respond to this update.
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If you want to read more you can download the students report for the Guatemala project at http://www.globalgiving.com/pfil/2878/Student_Report_from_Guatemala.doc. It is only 1 page long, nicely written and has also some photos in it.