In 2015, The Pollination Project made 513 seed grants in 51 countries. Thanks to support from Levi Strauss & Co., Alan and Daveen Fox, and our generous group of daily givers and donors at the Pollination Project, we are giving away another $115,000 today.
The Pollination Project makes micro grants every day of the year to social changemakers who have a plan and a project to help create a more kind, compassionate, peaceful and sustainable world. This year, we are giving second grants of up to $5000 each to some of our best grantee projects worldwide.
Photo courtesy of Impact Grantee, #DalitWomenFight.
The 38 grantees and projects we selected represent people who have overcome the odds to do something truly good in their community and in the world. People like Padmanaban Gopalan, the young social entrepreneur in Coimbatore India who feeds hungry people and recently mobilized volunteers to gather and distribute 32 truckloads of emergency supplies for the flood ravaged citizens of neighboring Chennai. Teenagers Katrine Kirsebom and Corinne Hindes who launched Warm Winters, a nationwide program that reclaims tens of thousands of lost and found winter items from 26 ski resorts in 12 states (and Australia) and redistributes them to homeless people. And Aph Ko, the author and activist behind Black Vegans Rock, a multimedia platform for a growing population of animal advocates who are ill represented in "mainstream" animal rights organizations in the US.
By design, The Pollination Project funds across any issue area, anywhere in the world. We are not trying to "move the needle" on one single cause- instead, our goal is to nurture the seeds of goodness in everyone by funding people who have the courage and conviction to make a difference in the lives of those around them.
Each of our grantees is a miracle: they represent the triumph of hope over despair; they story of goodness over greed and selfless service over egoic pursuits.
Here are 38 of our favorite social change "miracles" of 2015. Each of these grantees will receive a second grant of up to $5000 to support their outstanding grassroots efforts. You can read more about each of them here.
- Zachary Lager, Access to Water and Community Reforestation Project, Nguineia, Mozambique
- UTOPIA Organisation, Flying Gardens, Tripoli State, Lebanon
- Thomas Ponce, Lobby For Animals, Casselberry, Florida USA
- Thenmozhi Soundararajan, #dalitwomenfight, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
- Thell Robinson, A Thug is a Dud, Columbus Ohio, USA
- Teresa Njoroge, Clean Start Solutions, Kiambu, Kenya
- Susan Silber, Nature's Voices Project, Berkeley, California, USA
- Steve Barr, Cartoon Classes for Pediatric Patients, Columbus, North Carolina, USA
- Rhythm And Remedy, The HeartBeat Music & Education Institute, Los Angeles, CA, Atlanta, GA, New York, NY
- Peterson Obusuru, Impact Integrated Humane Education (IIHEP), Narok County, Kenya Sitawa Wafula, Mental Wellness Training Program, Nairobi, Kenya
- Padmanaban Gopalan, No Food Waste, Coimbatore state India
- Nicole Javorsky, Cubs for Coping, New York, New York, USA
- Nicole Cardoza, Yoga Foster, New York, New York, USA
- Naomi Mwaura, Public Safety Certificate Program, Nairobi, Kenya
- Nakitto Betty, Community Water and Sanitation Hygiene Project, Mityana District, Uganda
- Michelle Carrera, Chilis on Wheels, New York, New York, USA
- Mary-Justine Todd, Women's Crisis Care International, Manama, Bahrain
- Magin Patrick, Project Hawai'i Summer Camp, Keaau Hawaii USA
- Louino Robillard, Pak nan Ginen, St Raphael, Haiti
- Kehli Berry, 1 Shine, Performing Arts Community Program, Compton, California, USA
- Julie Struck, Art In The Margins, Evansville, Indiana, USA
- Jimmy Amone, Kitgum Basketball Association, Kitgum, Uganda
- Jenny Lowrey, From the Ground Up Farms, Chico, California, USA
- Jamila Banks, Foster and Banks Walk in Faith Foundation, Los Angeles, California, USA
- James Offuh, Intercultural dialogue reconciliation outreach project, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
- Donna DeGennaro, Unlocking Silent Histories, Lake Atitlan Region, Guatemala
- Corinne Hindes & Katrine Kirsebom, Warm Winters, Walnut Creek, California, USA
- Claudia Bernardi, The Disappeared are Appearing, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Charles Orgbon, Greening Forward, New York, New York, USA
- Beth Koigi, Aqua Clean Initiative, Chuka, Kenya
- Batale Fred, Disability Art Project Uganda, Kampala, Uganda
- Aph Ko, Black Vegans Rock, Inverness, Florida, USA
- Amy Bramlett,HSMS and HSHS Dance Program, Hot Springs Arkansas, USA
- Alex Omondi, Child Destiny Foundation "Village therapy clinic", Nairobi, Kenya
- Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, Mother Nature, Koh Kong, Cambodia
- Adriana Bueno, The BiblioVan, Leticia, Amazonas state, Colombia
- Adam Rubin & Uswege Mwakapango, RENEW, Arusha, Tanzania
May these examples inspire us all to create our own social change miracles in 2016!