Programs for Children
Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives educate young people who are most vulnerable to the dangers and injustice of human trafficking. Educates boys about the injustice of sexual crimes against women, encourages understanding of women’s rights at an early age, and informs girls how to prevent and protect themselves from becoming victims of sex trafficking. Kenneth B. Morris, Jr., Founder/President, is one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. Learn more
GirlQuake amplifies the voices of a new generation of powerful female innovators and disruptors who are creating a global force for positive change. Denise Restauri, Founder/CEO, is one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. Learn more
Girls Who Code is a nonprofit aimed at closing the gender gap in technology and bringing young women on a path of financial well being during economically limiting times. Programs include summer immersion programs/ computer camps for girls in New York, Detroit and California and, soon, Miami, Boston and Seattle. Reshma Saujani, Founder/CEO, is one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. Learn more
Maysoon’s Kids is a nonprofit that addresses the educational needs of children with disabilities in Palestine, funds education scholarships and brings teachers and technology to children who are differently-abled. Maysoon Zayid, founder, is one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. Learn more
Pack for a Purpose. Give back as you travel! Carry much-needed school and medical supplies in your checked luggage. (Five pounds is enough for 400 pencils.) Enter your travel destination on this website and you’ll discover what’s needed by local NGOs. Drop off points are resorts where you may even be staying. Learn more
One World Children’s Fund. This nonprofit has a unique model. If you live in the US and know a grassroots group of children in need of basic necessities anywhere in the world, you can become their “champion” and without starting a 501c3 yourself, you can have mentoring, fundraising training, and access to best practices and resources. All--100%--of the funds you raise go to the group you support. One World Children’s Fund benefits 50,000 children in 18 countries. Learn More
Home of Hope. Dr. Milima Sabharwal, a San Francisco physician, started this nonprofit in 1999. Since then, it has improved life for more than 2,000 orphaned and abandoned children all over India by helping them study at schools that emphasize English and computer literacy. The organization has four Executive Directors, all women---and the “unofficial co-founder” is Dr. Sabharwal’s daughter Sonia. Learn more
Itafari Foundation. Itafari means “brick“ in Rwanda‘s language, and the Foundation uses the word metaphorically to describe rebuilding Rwanda one brick at a time after the catastrophic genocide of the 1990‘s. Your $75 brick will help build a school; a $25 “brick“ will buy a school uniform--or a nanny goat for a child-headed household; a $100 “brick“ will provide a microloan. Learn more
Zoom Uganda. Photographer Julie Resnick gave disposeable cameras to a dozen orphaned girls in Uganda, and invited them to document their lives over 24 hours. You can schedule an exhibit of their work at your school or workplace! Or help fund a science lab at the school the girls attend, which will be dedicated to the 12 photographers, making them benefactors of their own community. Learn more
Tapestries of Hope. Paola’s friend, award-winning indie filmmaker Michealene Risley went to Zimbabwe, Africa in 2007 planning to spend two weeks filming a documentary about a heroic woman's fight to save girls from sexual abuse. A week into the filming, she was arrested, accused of being a CIA spy, interrogated, deprived of food and water, and incarcerated in a filthy, crowded prison. She survived to tell the tale, return to her family and complete the documentary. The film, Tapestries of Hope, tells the story of Betty Makoni, who began the Girl Child Network to help girls who had been sexually abused and to fight the myth that led to much of the abuse — that having sex with a virgin could cure a man of HIV/AIDS. Learn more
Keep a Child Alive. In Africa, 470,000 children die each year because they cannot get the anti-retroviral drugs they need for HIV/AIDS. For $1 a day, you can sponsor a child through Keep A Child Alive; 97% of all donations go to medicines and clinics. Learn more
The Girl Child Network. In Zimbabwe over the past eight years, 20,000 girls have been meeting after school; about half have been sexually abused by their fathers, uncles, teachers or boyfriends. The Girl Child Network in Harare set up the first shelter in Zimbabwe to protect, rehabilitate and empower girls and alter men’s behavior. You can help. Learn more
Teenaged members of New Global Citizens. San Francisco, California, are collecting toys, washing cars and organizing garage sales to fund a toy library for children who live on the train platforms in Bubaneswar, Orissa, India. Soon, they will have the $16,000 required for a truck and driver to drive the toys between train stations. Teaching kids to be philanthropists is NGC’s goal; they’ll share their methods. Learn more
Make-A-Wish Foundation International grants wishes to children around the world who are living with life-threatening illnesses. They work in 28 countries and territories outside the United States; your donations will help them go further. Learn more
Project Baobab. Californian Gee Gee Williams took a Kenya safari trip in 1996—and witnessed the poverty and abuse that women and girls experience. The nonprofit she founded, Project Baobab, now trains teachers to instruct girls in entrepreneurship and life skills. Since 2001, the program has reached more than 1,000 young women. You can host a house party, run in a fundraiser marathon, share their newsletter with friends, or donate to their work.
Right now, Save the Children’s humanitarian aid is helping children in war and conflict areas such as Iraq, Sudan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Guinea and Nepal. Their well-researched publications, Children In a World of AIDS (available on line) and their annual report on the State of the World’s Mothers, are must reads. The e-post cards on their Website will help you spread their name. Learn more
El Shadai Family Foster Home is an orphanage in southeastern Uganda, run by a local NGO. Thirty children live there as a family. Ages 2-19, they share a history of poverty neglect, abuse and abandonment. The organization’s US Friends group is staffed by four professional women in San Francisco who volunteer their time so that 100% of the tax deductible donations go to the children. El Shadai means “of God” in Hebrew, but the organization is not religious and doesn’t discriminate. Learn more
The Nyanya Project. Mary Martin Niepold volunteered for three weeks in orphanages in Kenya and met grandmothers raising as many as 18 AIDs orphans. She founded TNP, which has established grandmother cooperatives in Kenya. Tanzania and Rwanda. TNP provides livestock for the co-ops to raise, breed and sell; trains members in basket weaving, jewelry making and running businesses; runs daycare and preschool centers. You can contribute a goat, ram or sheep; hot lunches; healthcare; preschool fees and much more.
Fotokids. Nancy McGirr taught photography to children who lived in the dump in Guatemala City. That resulted in a book of their work, a school, the expansion of the project to Honduras, and ultimately in her formation of Fundacion de Ninos Artistas de Guatemala. You can buy a print, download their book, fund a scholarship. Check out the photos
Firelight Foundation. With only 10% of the world's population, Sub-Saharan Africa has: *92% of the world's AIDS orphans: 12.1 million children *more than 2 million children with HIV *46% of all pregnant women are HIV positive and a quarter of their babies will be born infected. One hundred percent of the money you donate to the Firelight Foundation will fund grassroots organizations in twelve African countries, supporting and advocating for these children.
The Global Fund for Children makes small grants to grassroots organizations to gain schooling for the world’s most vulnerable children and stop hazardous child labor, child prostitution and exploitation. Some of their funding comes from the sale of children’s books from their publishing arm, Shakti for Children but your contribution will be welcome. Learn more
Educate Girls Globally (EGG) is a nonprofit that works in developing countries to improve girls’ chances of being educated by involving parents and communities in reforming government-run elementary and secondary schools. Worldwide, there are about 82 million school-aged girls who are not enrolled, this is a big job, but the future effects of girls education are dramatic: a woman will have one less child for every four years of school she attends; her income increases 10-20% with each additional year of schooling. You can help. Learn more
Photographer Phil Borges’ online classroom project, Bridges to Understanding, connects indigenous and urban students via interactive photo story telling. Learn more
One way to teach kids to think about people in other parts of the world, is to enrich their understanding of other cultures. The Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco, conducts workshops in Bay Area schools that include artifacts and hands on art projects. You (and the National Endowment for the Arts) can send their experts into classrooms. Learn more