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Our mission is to support girls and women in need. We focus on Kenya by counselling girls together with their schools, provide accessable medical preventive care and support where necessary together with our local partners. We work sustainable by enabling local partners to deliver the prevention, support, care and treatment according to their regulations and what they feel is neccessary. We have no political or religous mission. We work according to the sustainable development goals 1,3,4,5,10 and 17 by the UN. The UN introduced 2015 the sustainable development goals in order to achieve worldwide improvements for people in respect of health, safe environement, democratic rights and education. The former Millenium Development goals, set 2000, could not meet their target in 2015. Millenium Development Goal 5 was a reduction of maternal mortality by 3/4 until 2015. Only a reduction of 44% was achieved. The SDG now aims at a maternal mortality rate of 70/100.00 maternities or less. At present, the maternal mortality rate in Kenya is 400/100.000,(1) meaning 6.400 women dying each year during pregnancy and childbirth. Nearly half of these deaths are attributed to unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortion. 45% of women requesting abortion were younger than 19 years and did not use family planning methods prior to pregnancy (2). Females suffer from poor education and poor information of physiologic processes like menstruation and fertility. Taboos regarding these phenomena are still in place in underpriviledged parts of society in Kenya. These periodpoverty must end. These horrible figures cry for action by simply providing medical assistance able to deal with family planning, ante natal care and experienced gynae services if necessary. Kenya has a well organized health system, free medical care is guaranteed for everyone. Medical care is provided by governemental institutions, private institutions, and faith based organizations. Poor patients are waived if possible in the private sector and treated for free in the faith based organisations.Kenya is establishing a health insurance at present. Contributions are low. Reality unfortunately shows, that even the low contributions are too high, people can not afford the low charges in public hospitals , especially if young and female. There is an considerably equity gap between the social classes and the rural compared to the urban areas (3).The offer of antenatal care and preventive measures like cancer screening are not taken up by marginalized people in dire straits. Young girls need education regarding menstruation, physiologic female cycle, prevention of sexual transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy. Access to menstral hygiene products is necessary to achieve that girls can go to school, do not suffer lack of education just because they menstruate and can achieve the same level of ecucation as their male classmates. (1) www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en (2) fact sheet No 1, African population and Health Research Center, Ministry of Health, Kenya (3) Kenian Demographic health Survey 2008-09

Our mission is to proclaim the full gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth * to the lost that they may be saved, * to the believers that they might be established, * and that Churches might be strengthened. (Ephesians 4:12-15) 1. The first aim of our Ministry is to go out in to the communities, nations and into the world and share the Gospel of Christ. Encouraging individuals to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. * To assist the saved to become Disciples of Christ by encouraging, equipping, leading, supporting and providing practical assistance to those called by God to witness and serve throughout cultures, ethnics, communities, nations across the world. * Identifying and planning short-term mission projects. * Planting Camp meeting, churches (locally, nationally, and internationally). 2. The second aim of our Ministry is to make difference in the lives of people through spiritual, physical, educational, outreach clinical and other humanitarian assistance to the needy (care and serve the lost, orphans and widows in their affliction James 1:27), whereby fallen man might return to God. * To establish and enhance WMCC’s efforts to improve the quality of life nationally and internationally through Evangelistic Commission of the Word of God and WMCC’s Foundation actions. * Through the balanced impartation of the Word, Spirit, and Life, WMCC is committed to equipping the body of Christ for the end time harvest. It is the purpose of WMCC to provide opportunities for yielded lives to be Feed, Transformed, Formed (trained) and equipped so that churches might be strengthened.

The Liahona Children's Nutrition and Education Foundation (LCF) is a grass-roots organization dedicated to nurturing the potential of children to lead healthy and productive lives. We do this by providing nutritional supplements to malnourished and underweight LDS children and their friends ages 6 months through 5 years who live in resource poor countries. We also promote sustained breastfeeding for infants and young children and provide education in hygienic and healthy food preparation. In areas where funds permit, LCF also provides small scholarships to elementary students to enable them to attend local school programs. The foundation is run by volunteers. Native coordinators, however, are provided a small stipend for their services in measuring children and in purchasing and distributing the nutritional supplements. The mission of the Liahona Children's Foundation is to nurture the potential of children to lead healthy and productive lives by eliminating malnutrition and providing educational opportunities among LDS children and their friends. We accomplish our mission by the following processes: -Provide nutrient dense supplements to children ages 6 months through 5 years who qualify for services secondary to underweight, stunting, or wasting as measured on standard World Health Organization Growth Charts. -Promote exclusive breastfeeding of infants until 6 months of age with introduction of complementary foods at age 6 months. We also support sustained breastfeeding until a child is at least 2 years of age. -Educate families on hygienic and healthy food preparation and meal planning. -Provide micronutrient supplementation with a focus on Vitamin A, iron, and zinc. -Provide semi-annual de-worming of children. -Monitor growth every six months -Sponsor elementary education scholarships for children unable to afford school. -Literacy training of families enrolled in the program. -Employ local resources and volunteers -Make quality improvements based on outcome data Since inception, we have expanded to 17 countries and 200 projects. We are involved with children in Africa, Latin America, Brazil, the South Pacific, the Philippines, and Asia. We will continue to expand as our funding permits to meet the nutritional and educational needs of children throughout the world.

The Global Autism Project works to build local capacity to provide services to individuals with autism in under-served communities worldwide. To address the lack of resources and extremely limited understanding of autism that plagues many under-served populations, we partner with autism centers established by local individuals in these communities and provide training and support to encourage excellence in autism treatment and organizational independence. Our community empowerment model supports systemic change by providing family and community education through workshops and hands-on training. We believe in embracing the talent and resources of the communities we serve by furnishing them with tools that engender self-reliance, sustainable development, and continued innovation. Through this comprehensive, bottom-up approach, it is our vision to build a world in which all individuals affected by autism have access to effective services. There are an estimated 70 million people in the world affected by autism, the majority of whom live in under-developed countries where services are limited or not available at all. In these countries, children with autism are mistreated, and in many cases injured, abducted, or even killed. Seeking to change the status quo, the Global Autism Project carries out its vision through a systematic, two-pronged approach that provides to our international partners training in both clinical best practices and, importantly, sustainable business practices. For all global partners, provision of best practices in clinical services entails participation in evaluations, data collection, and weekly Skype-based training-all overseen by Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs). At our partner sites, the Global Autism Project employs Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), currently the only evidence-based treatment method for children with autism. Data collection conducted on all children receiving ABA therapy helps identify areas of improvement and concern to best treat each individual child and track their progress, as well as trend-level indicators for areas of concern to target on a center-wide basis. In addition to this ongoing support, the Global Autism Project visits each partner site in person at least twice a year, based on the site's individual needs. These site visits are conducted by a SkillCorps team-a highly-skilled team of four to six volunteer professionals selected through a competitive application process by the partner sites themselves in conjunction with staff at the Global Autism Project. Each team is supervised by a designated team leader and consists of professionals with a variety of skills in clinical best practices and development practices to meet the individual needs of the partner site at that time. These teams are comprised of unique combinations of individuals for each site visit, to encourage collaboration and independence on behalf of the partner site. With regard to best practices in sustainable business development, the Global Autism Project implements the "sustainability model" of NGO involvement. By using approaches based on scaffolding, the partners develop greater levels of independence throughout their partnership. All partnerships are designed to be five to seven years in length, to support sustainable program development and to encourage complete independence as a center of excellence in autism treatment in their community. In order to facilitate this, the same model is used to develop both sustainable business practices and quality clinical services. Simultaneous to receiving clinical supervision and support, each center receives supervision and assistance related to business practices based on their individual needs. This often includes assistance with organizational infrastructure, accounting and money management, facility development, business management, awareness-raising activities and events, and development of a sustainable system in their community for education and training of clinical professionals. Additionally, all local partners work closely with the Global Autism Project to complete a dissemination plan for their communities that includes a systematic review of available resources, government support, and local perceptions of autism in the community. Dissemination plans include collaboration and sharing of resources with local centers which serve children with autism, awareness campaigns, government outreach, and establishing local programming in the community where it is lacking. Ultimately, the objective of the Global Autism Project is to train its partners to develop the creativity and entrepreneurship needed to sustain and expand their own organizations. Throughout the partnership process, the Global Autism Project provides services requested by the partner, based on their individual needs. The level of training and support becomes more complex as the organization masters basic clinical and business principles, and expands to support the unique needs of that community. Other organizations that we are aware of are based on models antithetic to community empowerment and sustainability, and involve either massive in-country training with little follow-up, or the installation of full-time, non-indigenous staff on-site, which fosters dependence on the organization. Of the existing projects and efforts in this field, the Global Autism Project is the only one with an explicit goal of fostering sustainability and community empowerment.

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 MISSION IS: education, entrepreneurship and international cooperation Summary During 2012 I quitted my job in a Bank, which I was doing almost twenty-six years because the question of financial certainty was imposed as a priority I decided to change something because I knew that the job I was doing was not something I wanted to do for the rest of my life During 2012 experts in the Liberal academy in Ljubljana , Slovenia encouraged me and helped me in the development of ideas I spent some time on the Institute of Employment during 2012, where I was confronted with many problems but instead, chose to look for opportunities Unemployment gave me the possibility to realize new ideas. Through my workshops I teach my participants how to think like entrepreneurs and also how to avoid bureaucracy First I opened GOTA, a small business for marketing and consulting and after that I opened Association for education, entrepreneurship and international cooperation LIBERA It took almost 7o days to open a business, which at first demotivated me, but I told myself not to give up I realized that the future entrepreneurs do not have adequate information, regardless of the number of agencies and all kinds of services that put in our offer to help My idea was to invent a workshop for unemployed people to help them in starting business. I called my workshop WE CREATE OUR OWN BUSINESS. In a period of five days I teach them about developing ideas, strategy, company, expenses, business plans and supporting activities from employment office. And also in the workshop I gathered all the knowledge from my first entrepreneurial steps. I feel that I'm fullfilling my mission as a person, and as an entrepreneur. Especially, when I see my students on the first day of the workshop totally demotivated, opposite to the last days of the workshop where they become interested in making their first steps in business Until now there had been held 4 workshops in August 2013 in CISOK centre (of Croatian Employment Office), address Knez Viseslav 7, Zagreb, which were attended by 55 women, age 20- 55 Until now there had been held almost 133 workshops during 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 in a Centre for Culture Tresnjevka, which were attended by cca 950 men and women, age 20-55 By current informations cca 30% of the attenders started their own business. Starting a job in Croatia is not easy, and for that reason a large number of young people left their country.This is one of the reasons that we focus our activities on children and on the development of projects that will promote entrepreneurship at this time, as well as the development of projects that will address the issue of mental health in children due to their dependence on mobile phones and other techniques.

The upraising problem with stray animals (dogs and cats) in Bulgaria actually exists for long years, but in the last few decades escalated significantly and caused social tension that endangers to confront people to animals in particularly unacceptable way. The population of homeless dogs is generally a result of human neglect towards domestic animals - irresponsible breeding and abandonment. The lack of institutional and public control was one of the main reasons for the situation. The state and local authorities for many years have taken hesitant and inconsistent measures in governing the problem. In the past years (the early 2000s) some outrageous, inhuman initiatives of the local municipal authorities led to mass slaughter of stray dogs. The "measures" have not demonstrated any stable results in solving the problem but caused huge negative response among both local and international animal friends community and media. Following the Bulgarian entry in the European Union and the enactment of the present Animal Protection Law in 2008, the "Trap-Neuter-Release" method that has proven to be both effective and humane in many countries, was applied and nowadays brings expected results at controlling stray dogs population growth. Alongside with this, local shelters (municipal and governed by NGOs) are overcrowded and for great number of already neutered and vaccinated dogs, the city streets are the only home available. Insecurity, malnutrition, health issues, human aggression and cruelty are the life-threatening companions of the homeless animals that rarely reach mature age. The mission of the "Vzemi me vkushti" (Take me Home) Foundation is the life improvement of homeless dogs and cats. To achieve this aim, the campaign works in two main directions: - To improve the attitudes towards the animals that live on the streets by convincing people that when treated with respect, these animals are safe for the society; - To find home for as many actual homeless dogs and cats as possible by bringing out the understanding that those are adorable potential pets - affectionate, intelligent and successfully domesticated. Supported by their friends and allies, the campaign team strives to change the attitudes towards the unwanted animals by bringing them out of anonymity and giving them a chance to find good and safe home. The campaign shows cats and dogs available for adoption with their pictures and detailed information about their temper, habits and actual health condition. The strict procedure for the adopters selection includes completed questionnaires, personal meetings with the candidates and final decision made together with the animal guardian (the person that provides temporary shelter and care, usually the one that saved it from the streets and that looks for lifelong home for it). "Vzemi me vkushti" Foundation, encouraged by the successful record of its adoption initiative, has ambitious plans for the promotion of the cause for responsible and caring treatment towards the animals - homeless and domestic. Vzemi me vkushti" Foundation seeks for donors and sponsors support for its projects - educational, informational, cultural, sports and entertainment initiatives that will spread the cause of animal welfare even more widely and will remind people the important role of the animals as loyal and loving friends. "Vzemi me vkushti" Foundation follows a policy of financial transparency in accordance with its "Foundations Act" and "Rules and Regulations of the charity activities". The Foundation cannot distribute profit. The accumulated financial reserve can be used solely for the activities, stated in the "Foundations Act".

HONOR FLIGHT SOUTHLAND IS A 501(C) (3) NON-PROFIT 100% VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION CREATED SOLELY TO HONOR AMERICA’S VETERANS FOR ALL THEIR SACRIFICES. WE SAFELY TRANSPORT OUR HEROES TO WASHINGTON DC TO VISIT AND REFLECT AT THEIR MEMORIALS. TOP PRIORITY IS GIVEN TO THE SENIOR VETERANS – WORLD WAR II SURVIVORS, ALONG WITH THOSE OTHERS WHO MAY BE TERMINALLY ILL. OF ALL THE WARS IN RECENT MEMORY, IT WAS WWII THAT TRULY THREATENED OUR VERY EXISTENCE AS A NATION – AND AS A CULTURALLY DIVERSE, FREE SOCIETY. ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS, AN ESTIMATED 860 WWII VETERANS DIE EACH DAY. IN 2015, OUR YOUNGEST WWII VETERAN IS 87 YEARS OLD, MOST ARE WELL INTO THEIR 90’S. OUR TIME TO EXPRESS OUR THANKS TO THESE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN IS RUNNING OUT. HONOR FLIGHT SOUTHLAND IS OUR WAY OF PAYING A SMALL TRIBUTE TO THOSE WHO GAVE SO MUCH – A MEMORABLE, SAFE AND REWARDING TOUR OF HONOR!Honor Flight Southland was created for the veterans located in the Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino Counties. Our tours in Washington DC consist of 3 days and include roundtrip airfare, accomodations and meals provided to our veterans. It costs approximately $2,000.00 to take one veteran back to DC. Our first trip is in June and we will be taking 20 veterans. We are currently fundraising for our next trip which is October 23-25, 2015. On this tour, we plan to take between 75-80 veterans.We are an accredited charity. Your donation will help transport veterans to Washington, D.C. to visit THEIR memorials. Our top priority is our nation's most senior heroes. World War II veterans waited patiently for over 65 years for a memorial that recognizes their service and accomplishments. The World War II Memorial also recognizes the ultimate sacrifices of their friends who never made it home. Similarly, Korean and Vietnam Veterans have been waiting for years to see their memorial as well. They ALL deserve this one last opportunity to visit America's "Thank You." Tours are simply not possible without public support. Prior to Honor Flight Network, our veterans had given up all hope of ever seeing their Memorials. Now they have hope… but time is not on our side.The time to act is NOW!In another 5-7 years almost all of our World War II veterans will be gone. This tour is their "last hurrah" - the last time they will be recognized as the conquering victors that collectively and literally saved the world. To this day most of Europe is free, most of the Pacific is free and America is free. This freedom came at a very high cost. We can never repay them for what they've done. An “Honor Flight Tour” is simply a small token of our appreciation for everything they've done. Throughout their Honor Flight Network tour, the Veterans are thanked, recognized and admired for their service. They come home personally knowing how much their country loves them and respects them. Veterans will never forget this gratitude and adoration.Please help us rewrite this final chapter of their lives. Our American Veterans deserve nothing less. Equal priority is given to any terminally ill veteran who has never visited their Memorials. If America thought it was important to build a memorial to their service and sacrifice, Honor Flight Network believes it's important for them to visit their memorial before it's too late.If you are a veteran or know a veteran that would be interested in going one of our trips, please visit our website at www.honorflightsouthland.org to fill out the application. We would love to have you join us on a future trip. We are also accepting applications for guardians to accompany and help chaperon the veterans while we travel across the country to see their memorials. Please contact us with any questions regarding these applications.

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.

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.