Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Fri, 21 Mar 1997 17:46:29 -0800 (PST)
More about the Virtual Foundation
www.virtualfoundation.org/
A couple of days ago Donovan Meyers of ECOLOGIA posted a
message on CivilSoc about The Virtual Foundation that piqued
our interest. After visiting the Virtual Foundation's Web
site, we thought Mr. Meyers' message was too modest and that
CivilSoc subscribers would be interested in more information
about the project.
The Virtual Foundation is an example of the way electronic
communication and the Internet can be used by people living
in one part of the world to provide concrete assistance to
people on another continent. It also presents a model that
CCSI thinks can be replicated by other organizations working
in a wide variety of fields.
What makes the Virtual Foundation so interesting is that not
only does it offer another fund-raising mechanism for cash-
starved NGOs in the NIS. It also provides an opportunity
for individuals and small organizations to participate in
international philanthropy--a field previously reserved for
governments and large charitable foundations.
How it Works:
The Virtual Foundation is made up of a consortium of
environmental organizations in the U.S. and Eastern Europe
with extensive experience administering grants to NGOs.
Consortium members--ECOLOGIA, ISAR, PERC, Sacred Earth
Network, and others--are responsible for specific regions of
the NIS and Eastern Europe. NIS NGOs submit project
proposals to a local office of one of the Foundation's
members where the proposal is vetted. The proposal is then
passed on to the Virtual Foundation's Board of Directors in
the U.S. for further review. If approved by the Board, the
proposal is uploaded to the Internet where it can be viewed
by millions of people.
People visiting the Virtual Foundation's Web site can review
a variety of proposals and either fund a project in its
entirety or make a contribution which will be pooled with
donations from other people. Since Foundation consortium
members are 501(c)(3) organizations, contributions are tax
deductible. Once sufficient funds have been raised for a
particular project, a grant is made by the consortium member
responsible for that geographic region. The consortium
member assumes all the normal grant-making responsibilities
to ensure that contributions are spent wisely.
Projects considered by the Virtual Foundation are limited to
$3,000, with priority given to those under $1,000. If this
seems small or insignificant, Randall Kritkausky, President
of ECOLOGIA and founding member of The Virtual Foundation,
reminds us that in the late 1980s
Thousands of western tourists poured into nations
emerging from Soviet history and made friends. Small
individual acts of kindness and generosity between
individuals and families became lasting partnerships
between communities, Sister Cities, and formal
organizations. Many of the US organizations currently
operating in the region were started with the personal
resources of individuals or families of middle class
background.
The Virtual Foundation model can be used in many other
fields: health care, law, housing, social welfare, etc. For
each of these fields there are organizations already in
place that can vet proposals and administer grants. There
are many American doctors, nurses, lawyers, social workers,
etc. who would like to assist their NIS colleagues but don't
have the time to travel to the NIS for three weeks. By
using the Internet they can pool their finacial resources
and develop meaningful and lasting contacts between
themselves and their colleagues abroad...all without large
amounts of money, time, or travel.
As U.S. government aid to the NIS declines, CCSI believes
that projects such as The Virtual Foundation offer the
promise of a low cost, sustainable way for individuals and
small organizations in the West to make concrete
contributions to the development of civil society in the
NIS.
For more information about The Virtual Foundation, contact
Lydia Thompson of ECOLOGIA at: [email protected]
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| CivilSoc is a project of the Center for Civil |
| Society International ([email protected]) |
| in Seattle, in association with Friends & Partners. |
| For more information about civic initiatives in |
| the former USSR visit CCSI's web site at: |
| |
| http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/ |
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