What We've Done To Date

We started very modestly in 2008 with 2 initiatives.

VISIONSPRING

We raised $5,000 to support VisionSpring (formerly Scojo Foundation) and their work in India where they provide affordable eye care to rural Indians, while training local women in lay-optical work.

For a wonderful video short about their work click here.

GONE RURAL BOMAKE

We raised $800 to pay for 10 Q-Drums – water transportation systems shaped like a tire - to a Swaziland artisan collective called Gone Rural boMake which assists with the community's education, health and social needs. By cutting down on the many hours it takes to fetch water, artisans were freed to focus more of their time on producing income generating handicrafts.

Global Giving Circle's soft launch was on Valentine's Day 2009

PROJECT HOPE & FAIRNESS

On February 14th, we hosted a chocolate tasting fundraiser to benefit Project Hope & Fairness which supports African cocoa farmers and their families. We raised over $5000 for to build a well and buy 3 scales. The scales were very significant because without them villages have no means to weigh their cacao and are forced to rely on middlemen who weigh everything off site. Unfortunately they are often cheated. For the three villages of Abekro, Broguhe, and Pezoan located in Ivory Coast this will no longer be an issue.

LOWER EAST SIDE GIRLS CLUB/NEW YORK RESTORATION PROJECT

On April 19, 2009 during Earth Week, the GGC hosted a dance party benefit to fund two environmental education and job training programs: "Girls Gone Green," a project of the Lower East Side Girls Club (LESGC) and the New York Restoration Project's (NYRP) pilot program "Green Teens."

The proceeds of the dance party were donated to the LESGC. For the GREENteens (a then pilot project of the NYRP), we developed a Professinal Development Program where we worked with the teens that founded this group to help them create a green youth movement in NYC. The five week program was comprised of leadership training, event producing, fundraising, communication skills and social networking led by GGC members, NYRP's staff and the co-president of Net Impact's NY chapter. The summer program enabled the girls to fulfill on their vision and mission - to share their thoughts and concerns about nature and the environment with like-minded teens, and to inspire activism. The program culminated with a presentation to the Executive Director who then green lighted the program officially.