Global Giving

Because of all the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) work I did for my company last year, I received a US$500 gift card in Global Giving. I used it last week, and it's amazing what US$500 can do. I decided to look for projects in the Philippines. Obviously, I couldn't support everything, so I ended up making the following donations:

• $50 for blood and other lab tests for one woman or child undergoing cancer treatment (Project: Cancer treatment for 20 children and 30 women)
• $40 to help 10 kids open their first savings account (Project: Teach 15,000 rural kids to save and invest)
• $40 to provide water for a month's supply of fresh vegetables to ten families (Projects: Provide to 435 Poor Filipinos)
• $50 to provide books for 10 schools and 6 children's hospitals (Project: Give Books to 3000 Children in the Philippines)
• $40 to provide meals for 1 street family for 1 week (Project: Initiative for the Street Families of Manila)
• $60 to provide disaster preparedness materials for three communities (Philippine Disaster Relief and Recovery)
• $100 to inject capital into a local business (Project: Microloans to 16 Entrepreneurs in the Philippines)
• $50 to help develop and maintain no-take zones that grow fish populations (Project: Reduce Overfishing in the Coral Triangle)
• $10 to provide organic seeds such as rice and vegetables for a Filipino farmer (Project: Ensure Food Security for 500 Poor Filipino Villages)
• $50 to provide medication for one surgery (Project: Free Cleft Surgery for 400 Filipino Children)
• $10 to provide 40 mangrove saplings to their reforestation site (Project: Talim Bay Coastal Resources Management Project)

I was so pleased that I was able to help out all these great projects. For two of these projects, I was actually the first donor. I hope it triggers more donations for them later on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get another GC this year. There are a lot more projects out there that need funding and I would love to be able to help out again.