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Hi Everyone!

I want to share with you an excellent fundraising opportunity for Nourish.

Nourish International has joined GlobalGiving’s American Open, a fundraising challenge where American Non-Profits can win up to $6,000 in extra funding. Nourish is also eligible for a permanent spot on GlobalGiving.com, the internationally recognized marketplace for philanthropy that connects individual donors to the causes they care most about.

The American Open competition runs from June 8th –30th. The three projects that raise the most will receive awards of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000, respectively; the project receiving the most individual donations will receive an additional $3,000.

Organizations participating in the challenge can also earn a permanent spot on the GlobalGiving website if they successfully mobilize supporters to raise $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors through GlobalGiving during the contest.

We need your support to earn a permanent spot on the Global Giving website! Every donation helps, and no donation is too small. You can support us for as little as $10 and make an impact.

Thanks!

Julie and Whitney

Julie and Whitney are interns with the National Office

The Fulbright program offers opportunities for students to do research, study, or teach English abroad. Caroline will be traveling to Brazil, where she will conduct research on nonprofit growth strategies with Ashoka and the business school Fundacao Getulio Vargas. Caroline told us, "I was fortunate to get the fellowship in part because of what I learned working with social entrepreneurs during my Nourish experience.”

Caroline had previously led a Nourish Project in Fortaleza, Brazil, where her team aided in the construction of a center and factory, called the Bate Palmas Company, for the manufacturing of musical instruments. The business built upon community programs that provided young individuals with training to build and play instruments and to perform throughout the state.

“Working alongside Brazilian students and youth in the community was an incredible experience that helped our team gain a better understanding of life in Brazil and the importance of social enterprise in the economic development of the community”, says Caroline. “We learned more about Brazilian life and economic development than any textbook could have taught us. It was truly an unforgettable experience.”

Before she departs for her Fellowship in Brazil, however, Caroline is first finishing up a year with the Residency in Social Enterprise program, where she is working on nonprofit growth capital campaigns with the Nonprofit Finance Fund in Boston.

]]> http://nourishinternational.org/blog/nourish/2009/04/24/nourish-student-recieves-fulbright-fellowship/feed/ http://nourishinternational.org/blog/nourish/2009/04/22/251/ http://nourishinternational.org/blog/nourish/2009/04/22/251/#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:47:39 +0000 Nourish http://nourishinternational.org/blog/nourish/?p=251

On April 17^th, we hosted Brew Local Act Global, a charity beer tasting event featuring North Carolina's local breweries and Nourish's home-grown effort to end global poverty. Held in the heart of downtown Raleigh at Mosaic Wine Lounge, the event was a great success! We could not have asked for better weather. Brew Local Act Global brought together over 70 Nourish supporters and beer appreciators, raising a total of $1,865 to support Nourish Chapters and their work.

Nourish International Hosts Brew Local Act Global

LoneRider Brewing Company, Natty Greene's Brewing Co., Aviator Brewery and the Mash House Brewery provided some of their finest brews. 518 West brought over a selection of delicious pizzas, dip and breads for all to enjoy.

We would like to thank our host committee, sponsors and volunteers for making this event possible!

SPONSORS

Aviator Brewery, Ham's Brewhouse, The Mash House Restaurant & Brewery, LoneRider Brewing Company,  Natty Greene's Brewing Co., 518 West, Mosaic Wine Lounge

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sindhura Citinenti, Ryan Allis, Buck Goldstein, Virginia Carson, Jud Bowman, Thomas Thekkekandam, Joshua Lee, Joel Thomas,  Mark Laabs, Neil Bagchi

SPECIAL THANKS

Braden Rawls, Julie Jenkins, Sebastian Wolfrum, Greg Overbeck, Sumit Vohra, T.L. Adkisson, Mark Doble, Ian VanGundy

Don't forget that the application deadline is Sunday, April 19th, at 11:59 PM EST!

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 919-747-3642, or email us at chapter.founders@nourishinternational.org.

The Conference featured Anne Hastings from Fonkoze, Stephen Smith from George Washington University and Kate Drushel fromt the Grameen Foundation, in addition to global development icon John Hatch, founder of FINCA, as well as student groups from across the United States that are taking action against global poverty.

Nourish was extremely excited to be involved with the event because of its focus on demonstrating scalable impact and student action — we hope to continue it in the future!

Summer 2009 Projects

Hey everyone!

We’re happy to announce our partner organizations for the summer of 2009!  Below you can find information about each of our partners, the projects we’re supporting, and which Nourish Chapters are involved with each.  Also, if you feel so inclined, you can click here to donate directly to a Nourish Project.  And now, without any further ado:

Partner: Kigezi Community Project
Project: Cycle for Health Initiative
Chapter(s): Boston College

The Kigezi Community Project works in Kabale, Uganda, a region where hilly terrain, a lack of paved roads, and an inability to access motorized transportation make it difficult to mobilize people, goods, and basic resources.  The Cycle for Health Initiative addresses this problem by working with community health care organizations to effectively distribute donated bicycles and train employees in their maintenance to increase access to health care.

Partner: African Sky
Project: Organic Cotton Scrub Tailor Shops
Chapter(s): Emory University

African Sky is a community development organization that works with individuals and communities in Mali to confront the devastating effects of endemic poverty and inequality.  Emory University will be working to support the Organic Cotton Scrub Tailor Shops project, which facilitates local tailor shops in creating organic cotton scrubs.  The sale of refined products (scrubs) rather than raw materials provides farmers and tailors with a direct revenue stream and fair wages.

Partner: Seva Mandir
Project: Community Leadership Program
Chapter(s): UNC-Chapel Hill

Seva Mandir is an organization working for the development of the rural and tribal populations in India. Nourish students will document the formation of Seva Mandir’s community leadership program for women in Udaipur, Rajastan.  This program is intended to empower women as they help their communities to improve linkages to their local governments and to strengthen their political voice.

Partner: Talamancan Association of Ecotourism and Conservation (ATEC)
Project: Rebuilding Yorkin
Chapter(s): University of Georgia

ATEC works to promote culturally and ecologically sound tourism, small-scale locally-owned businesses, and to stimulate conservation through education.  The University of Georgia is partnering with ATEC to support rebuilding efforts focused on improving water sanitation and rebuilding infrastructure following the devastating effects of recent flooding in Talamancan, Costa Rica.

Partner: Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), University del Valle of Guatemala Chapter
Project: IMAGINA (Incorporating Women to Generate Income Through New Action)
Chapter(s): University of Texas at Austin & University of California at Los Angeles

The University del Valle of Guatemala chapter of SIFE seeks to give women who are "economically inactive" a chance to contribute to their family income.  The IMAGINA project works to give women the sales, marketing and financial skills necessary to sell a product and manage their revenues.  20 women are currently producing disinfectants and shampoos in the communities in which Nourish will be working, and there are plans for expansion into neighboring communities.

Partner: Triple Salto
Project: Organic Urban Agriculture
Chapter(s): University of California at Davis, Washington University at St. Louis, North Carolina State University, University of Virginia, American University, Wesley College, Stanford University

Triple Salto is an organization that works to promote the triple bottom line in the private and public sectors.  Nourish chapters are supporting the Organic Urban Agriculture project, a joint venture involving  public and private sector organizations that seeks to battle poverty through the construction of greenhouses, building capacity in community members, and the creation of a microbusiness incubator.

Partner: Mobilizing Opportunities through Community Heritage Empowerment (MOCHE)
Project: Health and Sanitation Campaign
Chapter(s): UNC-Chapel Hill

UNC-Chapel Hill is partnering for a second consecutive summer with MOCHE, and organization which is dedicated to protecting, teaching, and studying the rich cultural heritage of Peru by creating partnerships with rural communities.  Students will be initiating a Health and Sanitation campaign, which will consist of a latrine construction project and a health assessment to prepare for the construction of a free clinic in the summer of 2010.

Partner: Fundación para la Investigación Participativa con Agricultores de Honduras (FIPAH)
Project: Youth Engagement
Chapter(s): UNC-Chapel Hill

Nourish will work for a second summer with FIPAH, a foundation that cultivates and supports a network of farmer cooperatives in some of the most marginalized regions of Honduras.  Nourish students will work with FIPAH’s youth engagement program and create a video documentary that captures FIPAH's unique model of food security.

Update: New Partners!

Partner: Global Gallery
Project: Bolivia Orphanage Project
Chapter(s): Ohio State University & University of California at Berkeley

Ohio State University and the University of California at Berkeley are teaming up to support the Bolivia Orphanage Project in Bolivia this summer. Working with Global Gallery, this project will help construct a large scale orphanage, which will create safe living conditions for 2 families, including 12-20 children.  In the future, this orphanage will be expanded to incorporate 8 families and 60-100 children, along with job training facilities, community development space, gardens and living quarters.

Project Cancellation:

Unfortunately our projects in Mexico will no longer be happening due to recent increases potential health risks in Mexico.  We wish our partners in Mexico the best of luck during this time, and hope to have the chance to work with them next summer.  Below is a description of the project.

Partner: Fundación Comunitaria del Bajío (FCB)
Project:  Arts and Culture Training Center
Chapter(s): Duke University & Yale University

FCB is a Mexican non-profit which works to help create local opportunities in communities with high migration rates to the United States.  Duke and Yale Universities are teaming up to work with FCB to support the Arts and Culture Training Center project in Mineral de Pozos.  Mineral de Pozos is dealing with rapid foreign investment and immigration as the town has become popular to artists and photographers.  This project will build an Arts and Cultural Center in the town to provide integrated training for local residents to enable them to both promote the area as a cultural tourism destination as well as to benefit from the tourism development that is occurring.

Click here to donate directly to a Nourish Project

Logan Couce is the Chapter Coordinator for Nourish International.

Since the beginning of the selection process in January of this year, 264 interested students have begun Chapter Founder applications—a number that is expected to grow as the second and final deadline of April 19th approaches.  Ten to twelve students will ultimately be chosen to receive 500 dollars in startup capital, the opportunity to attend Nourish’s annual Summer Institute in Chapel Hill this August, and professional training and support throughout the year as they return to their campuses and begin their chapters during the 2009-2010 academic year.

If you or anyone you know are interested in applying, you can go here to tell a friend, and you can also visit our Chapter Founders page to start an application today!

Founding an organization is one of the most difficult things someone can do. It takes time, skill, dedication, and a healthy amount of luck.

Nourish International does everything it can to make sure that it’s Chapter Founders are as successful as possible. Our Chapter Founders program selects for students with the right mix of motivation and leadership ability. Each chapter receives $500 in start-up capital, training at the Summer Institute, and support from a full-time staff member throughout the year in order to make sure that our Chapters thrive from day one.

On the whole, we’ve succeeded. Of the 19 Chapters we founded last year, 14 have grown to the point of running multiple ventures on their campus, a success rate of over 70%. Even more impressive, this summer we expect 90% of our Chapters to participate in implementing a project abroad.

Despite our success, however, it’s important to be upfront about the places where we haven’t been as strong so that we can learn from them. Of the 5 Chapters that haven’t been able to run multiple ventures, 2 have been working to gain student organization status on their campus (the college version of “incorporating”), which will allow them to raise money in the future.

The other three chapters have folded.  Those Chapters are Princeton, Tufts and Virginia Tech.

More information on why these Chapters folded, and what we’re doing to make sure that this is the exception rather than the rule, will be available later in 2009.

The internship will take place at our National Office in Chapel Hill, NC.

Responsibilities
Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:
• Communicating with international non-profits and NGO’s to identify potential partnerships
• Assist international partners in developing proposals for community development projects
• Coordinate the Summer Institute training conference for our Chapter Leaders
• Develop and expand the curriculum for our Chapters.

Education and Experience
• High school degree required
• Previous leadership experience, preferably with an undergraduate student organization
• Previous international service experience preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
• Highly motivated, results-oriented individual who excels in an entrepreneurial environment
• Proven ability to build strong relationships with a variety of constituents
• Exceptional communicator with external and internal audiences
• Strong organizational and operational skills
• Strong management skills
• Respect for developing communities
• Passion for international development

Compensation
The position will be 40 hours per week, for a total of 8 weeks. A stipend of $1000 will be provided.

The Poverty Action Conference will have two components, keynote speeches and student sessions.  We have the following keynote sessions planned for the conference:

Economic Development and Why We Do What We Do- Dr. Greg Stanton and Steve Smith
Microfinance: Possibilities and Limitations- John Hatch and Anne Hastings
Keynote- Out of Poverty author Paul Polack

The unique portion of the conference will be the Students in Action sessions, in which students can apply to make presentations on their organizations.  They will receive feedback from the experts on how to improve their models.  This two-way dialogue will help bridge the gap between students and experts and prepare the students to become the future leaders in the field.

For more information on the Poverty Action Conference or how to register, visit: http://www.povertyactionconference.org/

Our Executive Director, James Dillard, will be presenting the Poverty Action Conference as our Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiatives University.  The conference will be held at the University of Texas at Austin from February 13-15.

Carlyn Cowen has been an intern at Nourish International since May 2008.  She is a senior international studies and philosophy major at UNC-CH.