Ready to answer some hard questions? Imagine you had $25,000 to donate to one of these causes. Which is the best use of your money?
- Helping provide 50,000 people with clean water in Nicaragua
- Training young Nigerians in entrepreneurship with the expected result being 30 new businesses and 150 jobs
- Assisting people in America where costs are much higher. It takes $19,200 for tuition and mentoring for three at-risk but high potential students who aren’t ready for their school’s mainstream work/study program.
These are not easy choices but every year, classmates who are part of Project Redwood are asked to make these difficult decisions and vote on which proposals will be given grants of $15,000 to $25,000.
With a record number of 20 different projects sponsored by our classmates, this round of analyzing and ranking the projects was more challenging than ever. The non-profits serve people from 14 different countries across four continents. All of them address the challenges of extreme poverty and its devastating impact on human health and potential. Of this year’s proposals, about a third focused on health care, a third on education, and a third on economic development.
Through months of animated discussion and airing of different viewpoints, the eleven classmates on the Grant Review Committee sifted through the projects and ranked them based on these criteria: impact, achievability, entrepreneurial characteristics, ease of replication and the degree to which the project is helped by Project Redwood’s financial and non-financial support. They then presented their recommendations for a vote.
Reviewing all these grant applications every year causes each of us to look more deeply at the problems of the world and what we can do to help. It forces us to make hard decisions but it also inspires us to know we are part of a much broader community, one that works to alleviate the curse of extreme poverty.
At Project Redwood, we all know that our grants are miniscule in the face of the problems of the world. But by working together, we can accomplish more than any of us can accomplish alone.
If you are already a Redwood Partner, please be sure to vote the ballot that was sent to you via email. If you’re not a Partner but want to learn more, let us know by going to the “contact us” section of our website: www.projectredwood.org