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Bright Kids is a grassroots charity operating in Ukraine. We are committed to providing underprivileged children and their mothers with the support they need to create a brighter future. Bright Kids is a small team of dedicated humanitarians who want to make a difference. Our Focus: Health Children who have no parental care or whose families have no financial means to pay medical bills struggle with their health. Bright Kids Charity aspires to financially support kids and their families who are struggling to overcome health concerns and the costs involved. We also aim to support aftercare needs, such as treatments, rehabilitation and recreational activities. We raise and distribute funds so that more children can receive financial support to improve their health and quality of life. Wellbeing and Education We aim to help orphans, unprivileged children and their mothers discover their place in society. As an independent charity, we do not have a large budget and a broad support base. We find our partners and sponsors by ourselves. Our aim is to unite people who need help with people who are willing to give help. We are very cost-efficient as most of our administration is conducted online with our team working remotely, contributing from all around the world.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS/BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The negative hindrance to development and economical growth in Uganda include:- Unemployment, high population growth rate, low income, subsistence agricultural dependence, low literacy levels, hunger and poverty, disease especially HIV/AIDS and domestic violence. All these culminate in chronic poverty, low income earnings and poor standards of living. The above problems have not excluded the individuals in Kibwa Zone kampala, with a majority of children orphaned, and youth drop-outs unemployed so they are unable to meet the basic necessities of life, poor shelter, shortage of land and unable to access development information about the available social services. They have no minimum capital essentially for raising incomes and improving the quality of life. So, these have over the years resorted to very low earning income/ economic activities, engaging in multiple relationships, others stay in redundancy resulting to idleness. All these have led into disease spreading, family conflicts, drug abuse and many other associated problems. Although there is some help from the Government and Non-governmental organizations and other development agencies, the result has remained. PROJECT GOALS: This is a non governmental organisation established with aim of helping Vulnerable children, improving their economic and social welfare especially orphans and Aids Infected children to attain minimum basic necessities of life and standards of living. To improve social welfare and economy of individuals within our organization especially single orphans and youth Caring and supporting children infected/affected by HIV/AIDS, war and domestic violence. OBJECTIVES: Sensitizing the community towards an HIV free generation through prevention of mother to child transmission. People living with HIV/AIDS to adhering to drugs through timely taking, nutritional support and sanitation. Starting up an orphanage centre for caring and supporting orphans/children who were infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, war and domestic violence because many of them are discriminated from families, schools and in their communities as well. Providing holistic care and support to children until they grow to a level of basic sustainability. Provide members with basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter, and to sustain their house hold income. Setting up a Kindergarten/Primary school for orphans. Acquiring land and putting up permanent structures To provide an option of better economic activities such as the idea of good farming and poultry. To sensitize and mobilize over 300 orphans and disadvantaged children in other income generating activities e.g. poultry, farming and other disadvantaged individuals to join the profit in caravan of and other profiting economic activities so that they can abandon the non-profiting businesses. FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Most of our members have got the ability run the project activities but they lack capital and bank loans would be an appropriate source of capital to finance our projects but they carry huge interest rates. We have also tried a hand of other several projects i.e. poultry, farming which we feel if expanded, could be a good source of income to our families and hence become self reliant TARGET GROUPS: The target groups e.g. Orphans and disadvantaged children 250 50 METHODS/IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES: The primary method is that we have to put in place a workshop/seminar/meeting where our members will attend to sensitize people about our objectives. That we have put in place an office to extend our services and get in touch easily to the communities. We are also having a long run project of opening up a Nursery /primary School and a large orphanage centre for orphans, and school dropouts using the obtained funds. This will help us to enhance the sustainability of the project without more external help or funding. Meetings, workshops or seminars will be held annually to check the development and weaknesses of the organization. The plan will be put in place for members to generate systematic collection of information about the operations of the project and provide a basic for sharing information with other similar projects. Commitment and complete involvement of all members in case of any new ideas or trainings in more skills. EVALUATION: Performance indicators will be designed to determine whether the set targets are being achieved. STAFF AND ADMINISTRATION: This organization will operate with five (5) members selected due to one's skills. These will include; Chairperson, Vice-chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer/Finance, and Publicity Secretary Chairperson/Vice Chairperson: Both the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson will be responsible for planning and organizing, overseeing the project development and operation, establishing and maintaining links to community, NGOs, CBOs and scheduling of centre programs and activities. They will also be responsible for developing working valuation man ship with formal and informal community leaders. The Vice Chairperson will be carrying out the above duties in the absence of the Chairperson. Secretary The Secretary will be handling all general secretarial function for the organization; e.g. typing, printing, arranging for meetings, preparing reports and record keeping. The Secretary will be responsible for maintaining the structure and appearance of the association, routing correspondence and other forms of communication with women orphans, school drop-outs and other disadvantaged people in the community. Treasurer/Finance: The Treasurer will be responsible for the finances of the organization and; Shall solicit for funds for the Association with the help of other members. Shall receive and bank funds of the organization Shall keep books of accounts and be accountable for organization's financial report and hence come up with an annual audited balance sheet. Any other duties as required by the Committee. Publicity Secretary Shall be responsible for publicizing any matter in regard with the organization.

Our Why IAEOU was founded because of our founder, Lisa Canning's, experience as a small business owner. Now 53, Lisa Canning has successfully been self-employed since the age of 17. Her first venture was a successful 12-million-dollar business in the music business with little to no investment except for the use of personal credit cards. When she did qualify for bank loans, after 4 years, her 20+ percent continuous annual and profitable growth, for more than 15 years, required ongoing investments that were hampered by banks who were risk adverse. Advisors and mentors interested in the growth of her small business were far and few between despite her being recognized as a Top 200-retailer (in a male dominated 'boys-club' industry), being routinely quoted in trade magazines and appearing on their covers, and being named by the National Association Women Business Owner of The Year in Chicago, Illinois. Since our inception in 2006, IAEOU has been focused on our founder mission to help under-served small business owners, especially women, find the resources they need to transform their ideas into sales and build the channels to market they need to grow and raise the capital they need to rise and thrive. At its core IAEOU is about helping those least served-those in small business who like our founder have viable business models that are offered few if any resources, struggle to access bank loans and who may not yet be investable by Angels or Venture Capitalists. Our Early Years to Present In our early years, IAEOU's family and friends supported the launch, advancement and development of our incubator, The IAE- The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship, for the creative sector in Illinois. It was an experiment to see how quickly we could help small business owners find new sales and channels to market, as often this is the only way creatives in small businesses can survive and find any investment resources they need to grow. IAE achieved a 97% success rate with over 200 small business owners, helping them to find new sales and new channels to market. Our success brought us recognition by The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) and the White House for our innovative education to helping under-served entrepreneurs thrive. Our academic model was published by USASBE by Elgar Publishing in the Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy in 2014. We were also invited to speak on the first ever creative industries panel at the 6th Annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, Kenya in 2015. That recognition propelled our 501c3 forward into a global arena resulting in the introduction to IAEOU's co-founder Scott Gillespie, and to the founders of The JOBS ACT, Jason Best and Sherwood Neiss, from Crowdfund Capital Advisors. Scott is a growth adviser, investor and mentor to ventures (micro) around the globe; helping founders to transform their: ideas into products, products into sales, and ventures into businesses. Scott splits his time architecting regional startup ecosystems (macro) in: Australia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Palestine, Jordan, USA, Malaysia, and Colombia. As Founder and Director of theJigsaw Group, a business accelerator Scott and his team connect: founders, talent, customers, markets, and channels; with global opportunities. Jigsaw Group investment portfolio ranges from office fit out (UAE Compare), to new media (BTG Studios) and online education (co-founder IAEOU). To learn more about Scott go to ABOUT at the bottom of our website iaeou.me Shortly after Scott came on board, The IAE closed its physical doors, created a new partnership with Crowdfund Capital Advisors as their educational arm, and became a virtual accelerator called IAEOU- Vowels are to words what creativity is to business- basic and necessary. Why is creativity so basic and so necessary to business? Because growing a business is challenging! It takes a lot of creativity and ingenuity to mature from a startup into a venture with growing sales, viable products, adequate funding, and a team prepared for growth- especially without access to resources others who are considered more scalable gain access to far more quickly. And you have to be strong enough to fund raise which means you have to have traction and sales. The competition for survival weeds out >50% in 5 years according to the US Bureau of Labor. Once a venture achieves breakeven, our research suggests that a SME (small and medium sized businesses) #1 goal is to secure 'more sales' to build a robust pipeline (few if any businesses ever say they have 'too many sales'); yet the majority openly admit plans are easy and sales management is hard. Albion Ventures Growth Report 2013, examined the challenges faced by 450 SMEs with a combined turnover of over 1.6B and found that the biggest gap in the small business skillset is SALES. And because of IAEOU's success skilling SME's in sales; and based on Crowdfund Capital Advisors global research advising 50+ countries on how to build financial ecosystems for entrepreneurs, as well as working with over 100 startups, and because of their research supporting that online traction is critical to SME's online funding success; we have spent the last few years building our abilities to help entrepreneurs globally find sales and build their social media skill building to find key influencers and investors. Together with CCA we have worked on projects with entrepreneurs for The World Bank, Climate Innovation Center in Kenya; International Development Bank in partnership with the Universidad Anahuac in Mexico, and delivered social media education to Virl Microfinance, the largest microfinance fund in Zimbabwe. These projects lead us, 18 months ago, to launch a training program in Pakistan to help women who otherwise are discouraged from working to become social media marketing specialists who are focused on finding sme's sales and new channels to market. Part of the challenges entrepreneurs face is the need for lead generation and marketing support at a low price. We spun off this project under the IAEOU umbrella and named it Sana's Kitchen after the woman in Lahore who is our partner. See more at SanasKitchen.me To date, we have perfected our education process and have been steadily working with clients successfully. Now we are partnering with a large training organization in Lahore, Pakistan called Loop.org.pk founded and run by a woman, Faiza Khalid, who shares our values and vision. With the passing of Title III of the JOBS act becoming a living law on May 16, 2016 in the United States, regular Americans (a.k.a. unaccredited investors), now have the opportunity to invest in ventures (incorporated as businesses, not for profits and B corps) they use everyday and in entrepreneurs they believe in. This allows family, friends, colleagues and peers to make investments of $10 or $100,000 to accelerate IMPACT and earn, real returns. We are in need of Global Giving's support because while we have part 1 of our mission just about ready to scale- to build an affordable resource through Sana's Kitchen to help SME's access sales and new channels to market- part 2 of our mission requires additional staff to create a parallel ongoing effort to reach key influencers and investors to build traction for their fundraising efforts through crowdfunding. IAEOU has recently been invited to become a key partner to a newly forming association too for the State of Illinois- The Illinois Business Innovation Association. Founded by Carol Abrahamson, a former valley venture capitalist and the founder of over 13 not for profits and 7 for profit businesses, our goal is to serve the over 200 incubator and accelerators in Illinois. We already have the support of the Governor's Office and have been invited into participating in numerous Bi-Centennial Events. We also are co-creating the newly created Great Lakes Innovation Summit bringing together the managers of incubators and accelerators across 5 states and Canada. Entrepreneurship is critical to the life of economies globally and to individuals, their families and the communities they serve. For the first time entrepreneurs (who come in all genders, ethnic heritage and represent a wide variety of causes) can use crowdfunding methods to engage with communities of origin, communities of interest, communities of geography and communities of diaspora to raise capital for their businesses. But this opens the door to more questions we need a new hire to help us to help them answer like: Where do I go to find my supporters that have capital? What is the right type of campaign for my initiative? What is the process to getting listed on one of these websites? How do I create a campaign that sells my vision to my potential backers? How do I approach the social network I am building for sales and new channels to market back my campaign? How do I stay compliant with the law? How do I use my crowd not just for money but knowledge, experience and relationships? How do I keep my investors informed about what I'm doing without diluting my efforts at running my business? What are investors looking for? What are the keys to success? As the 3 year-old fledging Regulation Crowdfunding industry takes shape, IAEOU wants to provide the under-represented especially female-owned, women of color, and social enterprises, access to answers to the above questions and best practices in education and training to help them become prepared to raise funds. Through the development of their social media and sales skill building we will help them find their audience and access the capital they need. We are so close to realizing our goal to connect these efforts to their fund-raising needs and believe with Global Giving's support we can overcome our staffing hurdle to fully realize our mission.

CYDD's mission is mainly to contribute to bring Turkey to the level of contemporary civilization by being a modern secular democratic society with due respect to law and commitment to peace. Its aim is to support the modernization of society through progressive education and to contribute to achieving equal opportunity to children and youth in access to schooling and use of modern educational tools. The Association believes that modernization of Turkey can only come about by overcoming ignorance. For this reason the association has been running campaigns to increase enrollment of girls population by utilizing civil and corporate funds toward establishing scholarship programs, building and improving schools, building girls dormitories, libraries, opening classrooms for preschoolers, becoming the voice of civil citizens by staying independent of politics but also voicing opinion when deemed necessary. Special attention is placed to areas in Turkey which are economically underdeveloped and also the areas in the big cities which have received domestic migration. The 100 branches of our organization also run their own projects according to the local needs of the area they functioning mainly on subjects such as gender equality, human rights, community leadership. Activities such as giving scholars to students of low income families, supporting schools by renovating or making boarding facilities for the students or the teachers, building libraries and preschool classrooms , establishing social centers for both the children and adults. At these places activities such as informative seminars , , summer and winter schools,youth gatherings and confronces, organizing various cultural and musical events, seminars and discussion groups.

The mission of the Youlou Arts is to promote excellence in the visual,performing and literary arts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It is the intention of the organization to ensure that each child receives an art education, needed to become lifelong learners regardless of their learning capabilities and socioeconomic status. The focus of this education would be on traditional culture in general, but will also provide a broader exposure to art in general. This will be achieved through collaborating with arts foundations from different parts of the world, through classes in different media and techniques etc. Second to improve the economic self sufficiency of local artists and artisans through the promotion and marketing of St. Vincent and the Grenadines arts, crafts and cultural events. Recently, Youlou Arts committed itself to the establishment of a dedicated Art Center and Gallery to provide a venue for both local and visiting exhibitions in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. More than a gallery, the Art Center would be an educational arena, offering art classes and specialized training. The vision is to have a building with beautiful grounds and space for: an art gallery, a craft shop, ca cafe and rooms for art lessons and studio spaces for local and visiting artists. It would be a place to support a local cottage industry, selling hand-crafted items on the premises. Not only would it offer economic support to local artists and artisans, but it would be a tourist destination as well. Additionally, the dedicated facility would provide an attractive venue for art and cultural events. The third goal for the organization is to develop a scholarship fund to provide further education for exemplary artists.

Refugees must be seen as an essential part of our shared humanity. Today more than 65 million people have fled their homes seeking safety wherever they can find it - nearby communities, neighbouring countries and often new continents. The global response has been a band-aid solution to a humanitarian crisis that needs long term, sustainable solutions. In countries like Malaysia, where refugees are denied legal status, offered few protections and faced with restrictions on education, work and the perpetual fear of arrest; both their lives and their plight remain in the shadows. We're here to change that. Our vision is of a single, shared humanity, where social inclusion is about dignity and choice, not dependence, not charity. Payong Organisation (which is fully supported by Liberty to Learn Berhad) champions 'Equitable Outcomes' for all refugees living in Malaysia. By championing we support refugee initiatives, leverage partnerships, increase advocacy and work towards creating and funding solutions to bring about systemic changes in the education, health and livelihoods sectors for refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia. With an outcome that all refugees will be able to build meaningful, purpose-driven and successful lives for themselves. Because refugees are in transit in Malaysia, while waiting for resettlement we believe it is critical that we work with and support them to becoming 'transition ready'. Resettlement or repatriation can happen at any point, so all programmes aim to equip them with hard skills/soft skills and tools so that they can navigate their lives during/after transition. Essentially setting them up for success.

THE BLINDNESS FOUNDATION works in Burma/Myanmar,Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines & Thailand. Our mission is: "HELP US,HELP OTHERS, HELP THEMSELVES" -working with local eye Doctors in these SE Asian countries to help prevent & cure blindness. This is achieved through education, training and mission supply for outreach cataract surgery programs to the rural & urban poor . To date for example we have over the last two decades, contributed lens implants that have been implanted in over 65,000 patients' eyes to help them see again -curing their blindness. Ongoing training and education, upgrades the knowledge and skill -sets of young Eye Doctors in training so that they can treat their own people better, without reliance on outside Ophthalmologists. This builds their health care systems closer to modern world standards. We respond to specific requests for assistance in placing young Eye Doctors in residency & Fellowship programs out of country , Also supply of anti-fungals for the Burmese fishermen with corneal infections after the Nargis Cyclone hit the Irawaddy delta region of Myanmar. Our goal is sustainable self-sufficiency for eye care in these developing nations. We have annual missions that incorporate training & lectures at university based teaching hospitals where possible to assist their development. During these missions we process requests for equipment, traing and supplies and coordinate with industry in the US to raise supplies. Your funding helps develop the third world and truly ,you do ,indeed, "make a difference" Thank You, CHRISTOPHER LYON, MD PhD Director THE BLINDNESS FOUNDATION

Apadrina la Ciencia (Sponsor Science) is a new initiative to promote scientific research and public understanding of science in Spain. It stems from the conviction that scientific research is a source of wealth and prosperity, and that investment in science is an investment in the future. Apadrina la Ciencia (Sponsor Science) was launched by a group of scientists with extensive experience in several research areas, who have joined efforts to promote communication and direct collaboration among scientists and the rest of society. Unlike other initiatives, the goal is not to obtain funding for their own research, but rather to secure resources through patronage, sponsorship and micro-grants to support science research and outreach in Spain. More than 200 internationally renowned scientists from different universities and research institutions support this initiative. Apadrina la Ciencia (Sponsor Science) aims to direct people's solidarity to support research on issues related to health, the environment and new technologies, with special attention to basic research, which is the foundation of scientific progress and technological development. Through job contracts and project grants, Apadrina la Ciencia (Sponsor Science) is a means by which citizen support can have an optimum return and maximum impact on the goal of strengthening the Spanish scientific system. Scientific outreach is a priority of Apadrina la Ciencia (Sponsor Science), to inform citizens about scientific advances and help to generate critical opinion on important social issues. One of the main objectives of Apadrina la Ciencia is thus to make science more accessible, especially to young people. Apadrina la Ciencia (Sponsor Science) will be a platform for meetings, discussion and collaboration between scientists and society. In addition, Apadrina la Ciencia hopes to involve all members of society, including institutions and companies, to help make our dream come true: to achieve strong, visible scientific research in Spain that generates knowledge and increases prosperity for society.

We women is a foundation that strives to achieve equality for various groups of people in the world. The foundation assists women, refugees, ethnic minorities, and disadvantaged groups with their questions, struggles and needs, as they are formulated within their own terms. Academic research is the first step in this process because it helps to gain insight into local beliefs, practices and ambitions. The key areas of We women's engagement include personal growth, social inclusion, (mental) health, education, and the encouragement of creative initiatives, with the ultimate goal of achieving equality for all. The We women foundation has been based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, since 2010, where we have been developing and implementing the We women from Burma Project. This project promotes the education and well-being of unrecognized refugee women from Burma. The Foundation targets women whose passions, goals and motivations implicate them as future leaders of Burma. We women provides a much needed service to women from Burma by offering them the opportunity to succeed in higher education. Each year the We women foundation supports a select number of qualified women as they prepare themselves for leadership in their country and communities. We women assists students as they prepare themselves for university by advising them during the application process and throughout their job search. During each woman's period of study, the We women foundation provides scholarship funding for their university tuition, as well as academic tutoring and coaching. In order to provide long-term support, We women assists its alumni in their search for positions as they enter the professional world. The long-term aim of the We women from Burma project is to assist unrecognized refugee women into obtaining higher positions within policy making or influential organizations so that they then can empower other women and their communities, on their own terms.In order to realise our long-term objective, the We women foundation intends to make higher education accessible for the future female leaders of Burma. In addition, we assist them where possible in the process of professional development. To this end we have developed a number of short-term goals: To ensure prospective students have the necessary qualifications and documentation to be admitted to a university of their choice, so they can make well informed and realistic decisions about their future education. To grant scholarships to the most promising students, so they can successfully enroll at the university of their choice and not experience financial restraints while completing their degrees. To support and coach students during their studies at university, so they can successfully complete their degree and gain all the theoretical knowledge they need for their future careers. To create opportunities for students to gain practical working experience in an internship setting, so they can put their education and theoretical knowledge into practice, build their credentials and further develop practical expertise. To assist alumni in obtaining key positions in policy making and influential organizations. To research community needs in order to improve existing programs and create new programs with research results. To provide a gender program that addresses gender issues in the community in order to promote gender equality and create a platform for women leaders. These goals are collectively addressed by our programs, which jointly make up the We women from Burma project.

Bridge of Hope NGO is strong local non-governmental organisation, with an effective management and well established financial system, material resources and technical expertise in the field of disability and human rights. The NGO is recognized by national and local authorities and civil society partners in Armenia as the local initiator of inclusive education in the country and an NGO committed to the rights of children with disabilities to equal opportunities in education and community life. Bridge of Hope" (BOH) Armenian NGO is founded in 1996 by parents of children with disabilities and committed individuals from the field of health, education and social protection. Since then BOH has been promoting the disability as human rights issue and promotes the social inclusion of children and youth with disabilities so that their basic human rights are respected and implemented, they are able to make decisions on issues affecting their lives, live independently and with dignity and as active citizens participate equally in all community affairs. BOH programs are developed based on human rights and inclusive approaches for all children and youth including those with disabilities and with other forms of vulnerability. Thus, the organization's development work has influenced paradigm shift in existing approaches to disability issues in Armenia towards the reinforcement of social model of disability in Armenia. BOH has got strong cooperation with Local and National Governments, international organizations and civil society networks for promoting inclusive education and disability rights in Armenia. Since 1999 BoH projects have been focused on promoting inclusive policies, services and education to enhance equal protection and respect towards the rights, potential and dignity of all children who face exclusion, isolation and neglect because of disability and vulnerable social background. More than 25 different projects are realized since that time with financial support of many international organizations in collaboration with governmental and nongovernmental institutions. All the projects have had impact on education and social protection policies in Armenia. Due to this successful advocacy and cross-sectorial cooperation, inclusive education became a reality in Armenia. The development of inclusive education in has become a state policy and the government is committed to further the sustainable development of inclusion and equity in its education policies and the development agenda. For the contribution in development of inclusive education in Armenia, NGO "Bridge of Hope" has been awarded the Highest Award of the Ministry of Education of Armenia - Gold Medal. In 2014 "Bridge of Hope" became the winner of UNESCO Emir Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah International Prize 2013 to Promote Quality Inclusive Education for Persons with Disabilities (also please visit www.bridgeofhope.am). BOH community based services is another direction of its development work directed to creation of equal access for children and youth with disabilities to community life and independent living. In between 2001-2004 BOH has opened 5 centers for "Child Development and social inclusion" in Yerevan and 4 regional centers of Tavush Marz - Dilijan, Ijevan, Berd and Noyemebryan. These centers have become doorways from exclusion to inclusion for hundreds of young children and youth with disabilities and their families. The municipalities of Dilijan, Ijevan, Berd and Noyemebryan have provided these centers big buildings free of charge and cover 15% of running costs of the centers through the community budgets. Every year BOH raises funds from different national and international donors to keep the centers functioning and serving to more than 500 children and youth with disables and their families. Up to date about 1200 children and youth with disabilities (with physical, hearing and visual, intellectual, mental, behavioral and emotional problems) benefitted from BOH inclusive services, many of them have become a productive and active adolescents and youth leading independent and dignified lives. "Bridge of Hope" NGO is member of European Association of Service Providers for People with Disabilities (EASPD): https://www.easpd.eu/ , and Inclusion International: https://inclusion-international.org/.

Community Food Initiatives (CFI) is a 25 year-old organization serving families and individuals in Appalachia Ohio. The mission of CFI is to ensure everyone has equal access to healthy, local food. CFI's vision is a resilient region in which everyone in our community has access to an equitable, inclusive, and thriving local food system. As a membership-based social benefit organization founded in 1992, Community Food Initiatives is deeply connected to the region. CFI is a long-serving team player within the local food system, as we believe that we benefit when others succeed, because that is how community works. CFI is the only organization in the area routinely donating thousands of pounds of local produce to food pantries, connecting regional seed savers to promote seed diversity and sustainability, managing low-cost community garden plots, supporting school gardens and teaching youth to grow food, and offering gardening and cooking workshops to adults. Community members, regional farmers and food producers, partnering non-profits, local government, and foundations support our work. All of these programs come together to build a stronger community where citizens are empowered to grow and cook their own healthy, whole foods, despite the barriers of poverty. CFI is building capacity to reach more communities across the region by increasing collaborative efforts to fight food insecurity. We value naming our assets-soil, seeds, and an Appalachian heritage of food production and preservation-so that everyone can see their place in strengthening our assets and our community. We believe that by sharing the knowledge to grow and prepare wholesome foods, people become empowered to feed their families, improve their health, and strengthen their community. We are rooted in the belief that equitable access to fresh and nutritious local food leads to a safe and clean environment, meaningful work with livable wages, and fulfills the needs and rights of all people. Finally, we believe in the strength of collaboration and in doing better together. Our work is driven by those we serve: the community members themselves. We currently work in seven program areas: The Donation Station Program collects fresh local food at the Athens Farmers Market, Chesterhill Produce Auction, and farms and distributes it to regional food pantries and social service agencies. Additionally, the Discovery Kitchen project teaches healthy cooking classes to food pantry patrons using seasonal produce. These programs are now serving five Southeastern Ohio Counties - Athens, Meigs, Morgan, Vinton, and Washington. The Community Garden Program manages five community gardens, coordinates gardening and food preservation workshops throughout the year. Currently, we manage 20,000 square feet of garden space at five locations throughout Athens County. The School Garden Program offers support for school and youth gardens, working with day care centers, and youth social service agencies such as Athens County Children Services and all five Athens County school districts. CFI provides resources, consultation, volunteer coordination and curriculum integration resources for teachers. YEAH! Kids (Youth Entrepreneurs at Hope) program is funded by the Athens Metropolitan Housing Authority, and engages low-income youth between the ages of 11 and 18 in production gardening, culinary skills, money management, and professionalism. The YEAH! Kids grow their own produce in a community garden located at Hope Drive apartments, subsidized housing in Athens. They have weekly kitchen workshops where they make products such as jam and kimchi using the produce they grow. The participants sell those products at the Athens Farmers Market, and they log their hours and get paid according to how much work they put into the garden and kitchen. Ridge & Hollow Seed Alliance is CFI's regional seed company, named for the hills and valleys of Appalachia. Ridge & Hollow supports the preservation of regionally adapted, open-pollinated seeds through partnerships with skilled seed savers in the Central Appalachian region. Additionally, Ridge & Hollow Seed Alliance hosts seed saving workshops and annual seed exchanges. SEO FOODLINK is an action research project that maps emergency food networks and compiles data from 10 Southeast Ohio counties into an online resource hub. This is a new initiative launched by CFI in 2017, in partnership with West Virginia University. FOODLINK is designed to alleviate food insecurity through the sharing of resources and facilitation of grassroots collaborations.

Board of European Students of Technology is a non-profit and non-political organisation that since 1989 strives to improve communication, cooperation and exchange opportunities for European students. The mission of BEST is to help students achieve an international mindset, reach a better understanding of cultures and societies and develop the capacity to work in culturally diverse environments. To achieve this mission BEST offers high quality services to technology students all over Europe. These services include a European engineering competition, academic courses, career events and events on educational involvement. BEST offers these events in 96 European Universities, spread among 34 countries, reaching over one million students, with the help of 3300 members. It is BEST's mission to provide complementary, non-formal education in every event that it organises. This to make sure that the students that are reached grow to their full potential before they enter the job market. It is essential for BEST to show students the value of complementary education, not only to widen their perspective on the technology topics covered in their studies, but also to teach them the needed soft skills. To begin, these soft skills are covered in BEST's events by bringing students together with its two other stakeholders, universities and companies, and letting them dialog. Secondly, BEST provides specific training sessions to teach students how to acquire these skills in a safe and stimulating environment among peers. Lastly, this is done not only towards outside students, but also towards BEST's own members. By letting them organise events after they had a thorough knowledge transfer and did some in-depth training sessions, they acquire a lot of hands-on experience that makes them valued assets on the job market. In all this soft skill acquirement, there is one thing that makes BEST special: everything happens in a culturally diverse environment. BEST's volunteers really learn how to cooperate with project members from all over Europe and also the outside students are introduced to a specific mindset that BEST likes to call 'the BEST spirit'. This means that everyone works together, respecting each other's backgrounds, to achieve a common goal: empower students and give them a voice in today's society. For this donation campaign BEST would focus on the educational involvement that it stimulates among European students. It is namely very unique that an organisation run by students offers their peers a voice by collecting data in surveys and events and presenting that data to the relevant authorities. BEST, therefore, attends a lot of conferences about education to be able to share our outcomes to the fullest. We hope to raise some donations in this campaign to be able to carry out next year's planning around the theme of Digital Literacy. This theme focuses on how prepared students and universities are for the upcoming digitisation wave. It raises the question of how we will learn and teach digital skills and how industry 4.0 will make its way into our education. For this program BEST invests in conducting surveys, doing symposia on education and writing scientific papers with the purpose of disseminating the outcomes. It is not the first time that BEST is going to conduct such an Educational Involvement Programme. Last year, for example, the theme was 'Diversity in STEM education' and the years before we covered topics such as pedagogical skills, new teaching methods, relation between university and industry, etc. So what were the steps BEST undertook to create all the materials around last year's topic? First, a team was created to do research on existing literature about 'Diversity in (STEM) education'. Based on that research a survey was created in which 4 diversity types were tackled: cultural diversity, ethnic diversity, gender diversity and students with disabilities. Then, after the answers of the survey were gathered and analysed, the subtopics for the BEST Symposia on Education were identified: in this case, each symposium had a different diversity type. The same team that worked on the content creation of the symposia also prepared and delivered the sessions of those symposia. After the events, the input of all the participating students is gathered in a scientific report, which is then either published in conferences, or disseminated through social media and newsletters. The approach used last year proved to be a successful one and will be repeated in this year's Educational Involvement Programme. If we manage to get more funds via Global Giving, this will mean that we can elaborate this process and spend more resources on content creation, promotion of the surveys and dissemination of our results. In short: we will be able to make a lot more noise in the educational world.