Click here for more information on giving to GFC
1101 Fourteenth St., NW
Suite 420
Washington, DC 20005
USA
As we close our fiscal year on June 30, I am pleased to report that we have exceeded our goal and have awarded 430 grants valued at more than $2.5 million to grassroots groups all over the world. Our most recent grants, awarded in spring 2007, amounted to more than $1.16 million, a 45 percent increase over spring 2006.
Approximately 34 of the 112 grants awarded this spring were given to new organizations. Among them is also our first partner in war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our grant will enable the Uasdruzenje Nove Generacija (New Generation Association) to meet the educational needs of 80 orphans in the city of Banja Luka. In a country where volunteerism is rare, this youth-led association is able to harness volunteers from the city’s universities to help care for and educate these orphans.
Another new grantee is the Neng Guan Performing Arts Group in Ruili, China, which will train 25 young people to use traditional ethnic dances and songs to raise awareness about drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. The students, who will draw their dances and songs from the minority Jingpo culture, are slated to give eight performances in the villages along the China-Myanmar border.
If you have been reading our blog, On the Road, you will know that we gathered 22 of our grantee partners from six countries affected by natural disasters—Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the Pakistan earthquake. This is the first time that such a gathering has been convened. The experience was extremely emotional but uplifting.
The participants hope that sharing their experiences will help others be better prepared to handle future disasters. They have prepared a manifesto of the lessons they have learned and their advice to other community-based groups when faced with natural disasters. The manifesto and the results of this knowledge exchange are currently being edited and we look forward to sharing it.
Our blog is also our major means of giving you advance information about the exciting community-based organizations that we are planning to support. At this stage, however, we can’t tell you their names. You’ll also find out the lengths our program officers go—no matter how arduous the trek or how risky the circumstances—to identify the best grassroots groups working to alleviate the problems of the world’s vulnerable children and youth.
While we still have to formally launch it, I’d like you to be among the first to know that we have a new board book, Global Babies. It is a darling of a book and makes a perfect gift for a baby shower or birthday—it’s a great book for the baby in your life.
In May, we organized an exhibit in Washington, DC, with the embassy of Peru featuring the photographs of Malin Fezehai, our most recent Global Fund for Children / International Center of Photography Fellow. She photographed the children served by our grantee partners in the District and in Peru playing, studying, and laughing. My favorite of the 22 photos in the collection is called “Looking Through the Window.” All the photos, ten of which are limited editions, are for sale.
I’d like to welcome the newest addition to our senior management team, Mitchell Fenster, vice president for finance and operations. Mitchell was most recently the chief financial officer of Phyto-Riker Pharmaceuticals, a manufacturer of essential medicines in Ghana. He has also worked as an investment officer for Modern Africa Fund Managers, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Inter-American Development Bank. With Mitchell, our senior management team is now complete.
I’d like to also welcome three additional staff members: Andrew Barnes, grants manager; Ann Corbett, grants development officer; and Nardos Worku, administrative assistant. Sarah Ireland, a graduate of Harvard University, has joined us as the William Ascher Summer Fellow. We also have three interns this summer: Angie Kim, Catherine Hendrix, and Stephen Kalin.
While summer is usually vacation time, our staff will be busy scouting for new grantee partners, developing a new metrics framework to more accurately gauge our impact, and growing our organization so that we will be able to serve more vulnerable children and youth all over the world.
Our growth, however, continues to be dependent on your personal support. Though we are closing our fiscal year on June 30, you can always continue to support us by donating online, mailing us a check, gifting us with stock, including us in your estate plans, or simply telling your friends and families about our work. Thank you for your continuing support.
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
My best,
Maya Ajmera
Global BabiesGenerates Buzz
We have not yet launched it, but our newest children’s board book, Global Babies, is creating a buzz. It familiarizes little ones with the friendly faces of their peers around the world. [buy a copy]
The Council on Foundations conferred three gold and one silver Wilmer Shields Rich Awards to our website, our book catalog, our annual report, and our newsletter.
[read more]
By the end of this fiscal year, we will have given 430 grants valued at more than $2.5 million. Since we made our first three grants, totaling $3,100, in 1997, The Global Fund for Children has awarded 1,399 grants valued at more than $7.5 million to 279 grassroots organizations in 65 countries.
[read more] [download Spring 2007 Grants]
A group of nuns and other volunteers is making a difference in the lives of the children of seasonal farm workers in Victorias City, Philippines. The workers, or sacadas, plant and harvest the sugarcane that is processed in the 14 mills of the city, the largest concentration of sugar mills in Asia. Often, the children labor alongside their parents so that their families can survive.
[read more]
[BACK TO TOP]
Photo Credits:
© The Global Fund for Children