Search Nonprofits

WE CARE Solar promotes safe motherhood and reduces maternal mortality in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, mobile communication, and blood bank refrigeration using solar electricity. The Problem Maternal mortality worldwide accounts for more than half a million deaths a year; 99 percent of these occur in underdeveloped countries. For every maternal death, at least 20 women suffer severe complications from childbirth. Major causes of maternal death include obstetric hemorrhage, obstructive labor, eclampsia, and sepsis. These emergencies cannot always be predicted, nor are they always preventable. However, with prompt, appropriate and reliable medical care, they are unlikely to result in loss of life. Sporadic electricity impairs the operation of surgical wards, delivery wards, essential hospital equipment, and hospital communication devices. This compromises the ability of health workers to provide safe, appropriate and timely medical care. Labor and delivery nurses cannot quickly notify on-call physicians of emergencies. Midwives and physicians are forced to make treatment decisions without the benefit of necessary diagnostic tests. Obstetric procedures and emergency surgeries are conducted under grossly suboptimal conditions, and can have tragic consequences. Our Background Co-founder Dr. Laura Stachel went to Northern Nigeria in 2008 to study ways to lower maternal mortality in state hospitals. She witnessed deplorable conditions in state facilities including sporadic electricity that impaired maternity and surgical care. Without a reliable source of electricity, nighttime deliveries were attended in near darkness, cesarean sections were cancelled or conducted by flashlight, and critically ill patients waited hours or days for life-saving procedures. The outcomes were often tragic. Laura wrote to her husband, Hal Aronson, a solar energy educator back in Berkeley, California. Together, Laura and Hal co-founded WE CARE Solar to improve maternal health outcomes in regions without reliable electricity. Hal designed an off-grid solar electric system for the hospital Laura was studying, targeting the maternity ward, labor room, laboratory and operating theatre. A Portable Solution Hal created a suitcase-sized prototype of the hospital solar electric system so Laura could show Nigerian hospital workers the LED lights, headlamps and walkie-talkies planned for deployment. When Laura returned to Nigeria toting the "solar suitcase," her Nigerian colleagues immediately grasped its significance and began using this kit to charge headlamps and walkie-talkies while they awaited the larger solar installation. In addition, hospital employees introduced Laura to clinicians in outlying health facilities who begged her to bring solar lighting to their own clinics, too. Our five-year goal is to serve 5 million mothers in remote areas by deploying 10,000 Solar Suitcases to health care facilities around the globe.

The mission of the Fundacion Helping Hands-La Paz (Bolivia) is to open up educational opportunities for marginalized and vulnerable Bolivian youth of scarce economic resources so that they may complete a programme of studies to become technicians or university graduates. Education is the focus of the Fundacion Helping Hands -La Paz (Bolivia), and we hope to broaden the horizons of our young people by providing new experiences and activities. Helping Hands works with several orphanages, social projects and international organizations to give these young people the opportunity to educate themselves and become more productive and responsible citizens. In particular we work with girls who, traditionally, have been marginalized as far as upper education is concerned. Our project began in an informal way in 2004 to give support to the 48 boys who had to leave the state boys' home at the age of 18 and they had not yet finished high school. We provided rent support, school materials, moral support and help with documentation so that the boys could finish high school. The project grew to include studies in technical schools and universities when the boys had finished high school and in 2006 we expanded to include girls from the many social projects in La Paz and El Alto. In 2014 our project was formalized with the creation of the Fundacion Helping Hands - La Paz (Bolivia) and we now support 100 students from the ages of 15 to 25 of which 65% were girls in 2017. The Fundacion Helping Hands-La Paz (Bolivia) also provides medical and dental care for the students to insure their permanency in their programmes of study. There is no universal health care in Bolivia, and the costs of health care can be devastating for those lacking economic resources. Students are required to attend monthly meetings where we provide talks on many themes of interest to young people in order to provide a more integral personal development. We invite speakers in the areas of education in reproductive health, the environment, values, general health, living without violence, and written expression. We organize outings to museums and other cultural activities. We feel that in order for an underdeveloped country to progress it must provide education for all of its citizens. Education is one of the keys to eradicating poverty.

About Us: Our Bridgeport club was founded in 1992, and is part of Soroptimist International of the Americas which was founded in 1921. Soroptimist is an international volunteer organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world. A 501(c)(3) organization, Soroptimist relies on charitable contributions to fund its programs. Local members join with almost 100,000 Soroptimists in more than120 countries and territories to contribute time and financial support to community-based projects benefiting women. Soroptimist International has consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council, which oversees U.N. activities promoting human rights. In addition to sponsoring the awards programs, our club has participated in community programs focused on various health and human service issues for women and girls, such as the Center for Women and Families, Mi Casa/My Home, Women and Men’s Health Project, Project Courage, and Local Soup Kitchens. For more information about our mission and programs, please visit our website www.soroptimist.org

To provide early educational opportunities to needy children and to create conditions that will help them succeed in life. To promote early education as a means to overcome poverty, reduce AIDS, gender inequality and political oppression. To setup schools to be used not only as centers of education, but as community resources and health centers for the benefit of students, their families and the community in which they are located. To establish bonds between our students in Ethiopia and children all over the world by sponsoring music, travel, language and cultural education programs.

The Drug Policy Alliance envisions a just society in which the use and regulation of drugs are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, in which people are no longer punished for what they put into their own bodies, but only for crimes committed against others, and in which the fears, prejudices and punitive prohibitions of today are no more. Our mission is to advance those policies and attitudes that best reduce the harms of both drug misuse and drug prohibition and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and bodies.

The GOD'S CHILD Project's mission is "to break the bitter chains of poverty through education, housing and healthcare." While GOD'S CHILD is rooted in education and health-care, we aim to support the communities we serve at every level of development. Through our wide range of programs, we help children and families living in extreme poverty to meet their basic needs and find a restored sense of hope, self-worth and human dignity. Religious affiliation is not a requirement for any program services.

The mission of Project Angel Food is to nourish the body and spirit of men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses. Our goal is to make sure no one in our community suffers the ravages of hunger and malnutrition while struggling with serious illnesses. Without our daily meal deliveries, clients risk malnutrition and deteriorating health since they are unable to provide their own meals. Project Angel Food acts with urgency as hunger and illness do not wait.

Our mission is to promote prevention of infectious diseases (HIV, TB, and HPV) in Mali while working to develop vaccines for distribution on a not-for-profit basis in the developing world. The Foundation's activities are centered on four themes: education, prevention, access to care, and vaccines. Through our active, ongoing collaboration with West African physicians and support for prevention-related clinical activities in the region, we work to improve the health of Malian children and their parents while setting the stage for ethical vaccine trials.

Birth In Color RVA is non-profit organization designed of a community of practitioners engaged in the promotion and practice of culturally centered reproductive health support in and around Richmond, VA. Aligned through membership and purpose, they offer women, families, and communities the place and space to be supported and affirmed through information and choice. The network directly provides pregnancy, birth, and postpartum support to expecting parents and families, opportunities for skill development for fellow practitioners, community engagement and advocacy initiatives to address relevant needs.

Feed Hope empowers the joyful children of Malawi out of extreme poverty. Our projects focus on four key areas: Clean water, Nutrition, Health and Education. We believe a holistic, community-based approach is the best way to effect sustainable change. Rather than focusing on a single issue like water or education, we tackle multiple issues to bring broad-based transformation; one village at a time. Some see poverty. We see possibility.

MISSION: Concordia Welfare & Education Foundation is a Hong Kong based non-profit organization founded by Lutheran Christians and dedicated to improving the lives of impoverished rural communities in Asia through education and service. We partner with local communities, organizations and governments to identify sources of poverty and implement programs in the areas of education and community health. We believe education creates opportunities for people to change their lives and create a new future. VISION: Thriving communities, serving and inspiring hope in others.

CTF was born from the idea that the world would be a better place if we were all given the opportunity to give back. Established by a group of water women, we feel it is our calling to help others by teaming up with local organizations globally to raise awareness and address social, environmental, health and safety concerns in the places we visit. We aim to bridge the gap between the traveler and our projects enabling travelers to add a life-changing experience to their journeys and add purpose to travel.