Empowering Individuals in the Global Community Through Entrepreneurship
These organizations help maximize our reach, intellectual capacity and effectiveness through technical support, fundraising support or communicating our mission with Whole Foods Market team members, customers and the general public.
To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America follows several entrepreneurial women borrowers as they pursue their paths from poverty to success, whether opening a bakery, starting a hair salon, or selling ice cream. The documentary will be accompanied by an expansive education/impact campaign utilizing public-private partnerships, national organizations, grassroots outreach and community screenings to provide information, improve understanding, and produce easy-to-accomplish ways to engage, and create social change primarily through Grameen America and microcredit. To donate or get involved go to www.tocatchadollar.com.
A Glimmer of Hope is a compassionate social enterprise making a sustainable difference in the lives of some of the poorest people in the world. Since 2000, A Glimmer of Hope has helped more than two million people improve their quality of life. The foundation believes justice, equality and dignity are everyone’s birthright and where you are born should not determine whether you live or die. A Glimmer of Hope has developed an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to Humanitarian Aid and Development. It starts at the village level as they listen to community leaders about what they need. Then, using a bottom up instead of a top down approach, A Glimmer of Hope works with those communities to develop a plan and identify projects that truly reflect the true necessities of those communities. Only if the people of these communities are engaged in solving their own issues can the solutions be sustainable. This applies during each of a project’s construction phases but especially after completion when management and maintenance play such an important role in their success. That success is measured in terms of accountability, transparency and performance with photographs, videos, GPS coordinates and inspections by the Addis Ababa-based team all playing an important role in this process. A Glimmer of Hope supports programs in these areas: Water and Sanitation; Education; Health Care; Income Creation; Micro-Finance; Micro-Irrigation; and, Veterinary Clinics. Whole Planet Foundation partners with A Glimmer of Hope in Ethiopia.
Mercy Corps helps people in the world’s toughest places turn the crises of natural disaster, poverty and conflict into opportunities for progress. Driven by local needs and market conditions, our programs provide communities with the tools and support they need to transform their own lives. Our worldwide team of 3,700 professionals is improving the lives of 16.7 million people in more than 40 countries. Whole Planet Foundation partners with Mercy Corps in Nepal. For more information, see mercycorps.org.
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, the Silverton Foundation's vision is of increased opportunity and equity so that people are empowered to improve their lives by building on their own strengths and resiliencies. Through its grant making, the Foundation supports agencies and programs which advance school readiness, transition to college and career, and economic inclusion. Through its activities, the Foundation strives to foster greater community awareness of and commitment to social enterprise. Whole Planet Foundation partners with Silverton Foundation and microfinance institution Moris Rasik in East Timor where Whole Foods Market sources coffee.
The Green Children Foundation was established by two musicians to support microcredit, education and healthcare. Through sales and donations Milla Sunde and Tom Bevan managed to raise the funds for a new eye care hospital in rural Bangladesh, a project of Professor Muhammad Yunus.
Mambo Sprouts Marketing is proud to partner with Whole Planet Foundation in support of the multitude of projects that truly make a world of difference in changing the course of poverty. Mambo Sprouts is supporting Whole Planet Foundation with a $2,438.99 donation, creative design work, calendar coordination with vendor partners and enthusiasm for our mission. We love working with them!
iShop4Microfinance is an innovative online portal that socially conscious shoppers can click through to do their normal online shopping. After check-out, 4% is donated to micro-finance- at no cost to them. Whole Planet Foundation is proud to partner with iShop4Microfinance and will be featured there soon.
With the support of Whole Planet Foundation, four US college students will be spending the summer of 2010 shooting a documentary in Guatemala to demonstrate the reality of living on less than one dollar a day. In order to gain this understanding, they will be conducting research on how the rural poor manage their money. In a creatively youthful way, they are doing research by working alongside their neighbors, conducting interviews, and creating financial diaries, all the while subsisting on less than one dollar a day themselves. The goals of this film are twofold. First, to increase awareness about how access to reliable financial services, such as microfinance, can help the poor. Second, to raise $100,000 dollars for Grameen Guatemala and Fonkoze in Haiti, whose borrowers have been recently devastated by natural disasters. If you are interested or would like to make a donation, please follow their story and show your support at www.onedollaraday.weebly.com
Valley Credit Union is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative serving the diverse communities of the Bay Area, and is also the credit union for Whole Foods Team Members in Northern California in addition to over 300 other companies. Valley Credit Union was established for the sole purpose of people helping people, and as a result, we deliver financial services at little or no cost along with free financial education and counseling to members. We’re pleased to help support the mission of Whole Planet Foundation by generating awareness about the foundation among VCU members, and the people in the greater Bay Area. Whole Planet Foundation is grateful for Valley Credit Union's $500 donation to empower the poor through microcredit.
EARTH University was created in 1990 under the sponsorship of the EARTH University Foundation. EARTH University in Costa Rica strives to create leaders for the 21st century - agents of change who will fundamentally shape the direction of environmental protection and development in Latin America and the global community as a whole.
The Whole Planet Foundation in partnership with Grameen Costa Rica is providing opportunities for EARTH students to experience first-hand the power of microcredit. Through a series of programs including lectures, site visits, technical assistance for microcredit clients and research projects EARTH students and faculty will have an opportunity to learn from the microcredit program as well as further their connection and betterment of the local community.
Izzit.org provides over 150,000 teachers and 15 million students with compelling videos and current event lessons. One of their most successful videos is Pennies a Day which features Muhammad Yunus and a special bonus video by The Green Children. Pennies a Day tells the inspiring story of how one poor family - and their entire village - escaped poverty with the aid of small loans from Grameen Bank. Thanks to Pennies a Day, izzit.org teachers and students are inspired to get involved with microlending.
Global Vision International (GVI) was formed in 1998 to provide support and services to international charities, non-profits and governmental agencies, through volunteering opportunities and direct funding. GVI is guided by the unique belief that to be successful, volunteer and service efforts must work at the invitation and under the direction of those they are attempting to assist. Through an international network of over 150 personnel in over 30 countries within six continents, GVI continues to support many of the most critical conservation and humanitarian projects around the globe. GVI is a non-political, non-religious organization, which through its alliance with worldwide aid-reliant organizations provides volunteers with opportunities to fill a critical void in the fields of environmental research, conservation, education and community development. International partners include the South African National Parks Board, Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund, Jane Goodall Institute, Rainforest Concern and Kenyan Wildlife Service. In 2006, 78% of all volunteer contributions received were spent directly in field.
RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization, committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS is committed to individuals exercising their personal and political power by lobbying elected officials for effective solutions and key policies that affect hunger and poverty. Creating the will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty requires working on multiple fronts to resolve complicated issues that keep hunger and poverty in place.
The first Microcredit Summit, held February 2-4, 1997, in Washington, D.C., brought more than 2,900 people together from 137 countries. The Summit launched a nine-year campaign to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, and offer credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005. That goal was nearly reached and in November of 2006 the Campaign was re-launched and extended to 2015 with two new goals:
Working to ensure that 175 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the end of 2015.
Working to ensure that 100 million families rise above the U.S. $1 a day threshold adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), between 1990 and 2015.
The fifteenth Mcrocredit Summit will be held in Spain on November 14-17, 2011.
Universidad Francisco Marroquín (UFM) was founded in 1971, as a private, secular, coeducational and nonprofit University. Its mission is to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal and economic principles of a society of free and responsible persons. In partnership with the Whole Planet Foundation, UFM is giving their students an opportunity to learn from the Guatemala microcredit program. A number of site visits have been conducted by students to witness the impact of microcredit. Recent projects have included joint research with MIT MBA students and participation in the international SIFE competition.
