February 3, 2016 marked the beginning of Nourish International's Sixth Annual Giving Challenge. Over the course of three weeks, students across the United States and Canada will compete through Crowdrise for the top spot on the fundraising leader-board across the Nourish movement and the chance to win up to $4,000 in prize funding for their chapter. With $77,000 raised last year from 1,087 donors in 15 countries, Nourish is setting its sights even higher in 2016 with a fundraising goal of $85,000 by February 24th.
As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future," and Nourish International aims to do just that. Through a triangular model of students, ventures and projects, Nourish's mission is to engage students and empower communities to make a lasting impact on extreme poverty. Students on over 60 college campuses implement social ventures and work to develop the leadership skills and financial capital that allow them to develop community-based, scalable solutions to global poverty.
The annual Giving Challenge provides university chapters with the resources they need to succeed in the organizational mission. The $85,000 raised through this year's campaign will financially support the international projects our interns will implement this coming summer. The 2015 Giving Challenge funded 30 Projects, enabling Nourish to make significant impacts in communities all over the world. In Peru, students from McGill University were able to use the staggering $13,323 they raised to partner with Project Amazonas, an organization that provides the people of the Peruvian Amazon with adequate modern health care and health education, promotes the sustainable use and conservation of the rainforest, and encourages self-sufficiency and self-reliance in the communities in which they work. The 2015 Giving Challenge champion, the McGill University Chapter was able to help build a medicinal herb garden and start a tree nursery program with their international partner.
Visit the 2016 Giving Challenge Crowdrise page to learn how Nourish students are working to implement grassroots, sustainable development projects in the communities that need them the most.
Follow the competition leaderboard, support a chapter and empower a community. Updates available on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook throughout the competition.