2009-2012 Giving & Donations

In 2012 our cash donations went to:

• The Green Ninja Project works to educate young people about our changing climate and then give them the inspiration and tools to do something about it. The Green Ninja Project is a collaborative San Jose State University (SJSU) effort joining students and faculty from over 8 departments.
• People for Progress in India (PPI), a 100% volunteer organization that strives to promote sustainable growth among underprivileged communities in India through small, innovative projects.
  • Additionally we offset an 1,000 tons of carbon through PPI.
• Rea Dol is the Founder and Director of SOPUDEP school, a Haitian grassroots social organization. She has headed up an adult literacy program, a women's economic empowerment organization, an HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention program, and many more.
• Asha for Education works to catalyze socio-economic change in India through education of underprivileged children.
• Jubilee USA is an alliance of more than 75 organizations working toward cancellation of the odious international debt of poor countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
• 20 Liters provides clean water for over 14,080 people in Masaka, Rwanda.
• Acterra is an environmental non-profit serving the Silicon Valley. They provide people with tangible, hands-on activities to improve the environment.
• KQED television, radio, digital media and educational services change lives for the better and help individuals and communities achieve their full potential.
• Rainforest Action Network. In 2012, we continued to support the Rainforest Action Network (RAN)'s Protect-an-Acre and Climate Action Fund, offsetting 5,000 tons of carbon through $25,000 in small grants.
  
  
  • Mother Nature. A movement of environmental activists, Buddhist monks, and remote communities fighting to stop the proposed Cheay Areng dam in the Areng Valley of southwest Cambodia that would flood 50,000 acres of rainforest and displace thousands.
  • Leuser Ecosystem Management Authority Employee Forum. A community-led project to remove 24 illegal palm oil plantations covering 25,000 acres from within the Leuser Protected Ecosystem in Aceh and North Sumatra, the first time a project of this nature has taken place anywhere in Indonesia.
  • Pueblo Originario Kichwa de Sarayaku (Tayjasaruta). An award-winning Sarayaku filmmaker producing a 10-minute advocacy video, including covering costs for travel to remote Indigenous communities to shoot footage and record testimonials, to demonstrate the unified stance of resistance to oil across all of the 7 Indigenous nationalities in the Ecuadorian Amazon potentially impacted by the XI Oil Round auction.
  • Grassy Narrows Youth Organization. Save Keys Lake Campaign is intended as a step toward canceling Ontario’s 10-year logging plan on Grassy Narrows First Nation’s territory and will provide an opportunity for this newly-formed organization to build skills and capacity.
  • Women Movement for Sustainable Development – Liberia (WOMSUD). Supporting mobilization efforts together with newly formed women-led community based organizations in Grand Cape Mount and Bomi Counties in northwestern Liberia to limit the expansion of palm oil plantations onto community land and forest areas associated with a 750,000 acre concession granted to Malaysia company Sime Darby and to document livelihood activities that women are engaged in within their communities as part of a conflict resolution process.
  • Digital Democracy (on behalf of Peruvian Federation of Achuar Nationalities - FENAP). $1,500 to support a participatory mapping project with the Achuar community of Putuntsa in the Peruvian Amazon to be used as an advocacy tool to demonstrate how they occupy and use their traditional territory, which is threatened by pending oil development.
  • Sani Isla Kichwa Community. Sani Isla Kichwa community leaders organized a series of activities to solidify resolve and garner the support and solidarity of other Indigenous communities in the fight against potential oil drilling on their territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon, which covers over 100,000 acres of some of the most biodiverse rainforest in the world.
  • Associação Xavante WarãA project that seeks to create ecological corridors between the 9 Xavante Indigenous territories in Mato Grosso by coordinating with neighboring large farms to take advantage of a Brazilian law requiring that 20% of rancher’s property must be left untouched.

In 2011 our cash donations went to:

• SOPUDEP in Haiti, a grassroots organization providing free accessible education and supporting women's rights and economic development for the poor.
• People for Progress in India (PPI), a 100% volunteer organization that strives to promote sustainable growth among underprivileged communities in India through small innovative projects.
  • We also supported three different grassroots tree planting projects through People for Progress in India, offsetting a total of 464 tons of carbon.
• Greater Good Haiti focuses on developing primary school education and sustainability projects in Haiti.
• OTEPIC teaches communities organic farming, permaculture, renewable energy technologies and recycling in north-western Kenya.
• Jubilee USA, an alliance of more than 75 organizations working toward cancellation of the odious international debt of poor countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
• Rainforest Action Network. For 2011, we have continued to partner with Rainforest Action Network (RAN), offsetting 4500 tons of carbon through $22,500 in grants to a variety of community-based organizations through RAN's Protect-an-Acre and Climate Action Fund programs.
  
  • Conservacion, Naturaleza y Vida. $2,500 to support mapping and physical demarcation of boundaries for Majé Cordillera in Panama to obtain collective land title recognition of 20,000 acres of rainforest territory for an Embera community to help protect rainforests from loggers that have been extracting cocobolo trees for export to high-paying markets in Asia.
  • Maya Leaders Alliance. $2,500 to support Maya Leaders Alliance, an organization that has helped secure major land rights victories in recent years and is now defending that progress and challenging a potential oil drilling project through a major 2 month grassroots mobilization incorporating 38 Maya communities consisting 21,000 people living within a region covering 500,000 acres of forested frontier in southern Belize. MLA seeks to inform communities about the plans for oil drilling and then gather leaders to rearticulate a collective position against the project and in favor of safeguarding land rights and the environment.
  • Yayasan Citra Mandiri Mentawai. $2,500 to support organizing a series of workshops in villages throughout the Mentawai Islands off the coast of West Sumatra, Indonesia with the aim of building awareness of the negative impacts of palm oil plantations and promoting with the District government office green and community based economic options, such as agroforestry methods based on local knowledge. In addition to the importance of local people’s rights to land, local customs, culture and food security that would be supported by these efforts, the Mentawai Islands have particular ecological importance because they have been separated from the mainland for more than half a million years and the long geographic isolation has resulted in numerous endemic mammal species, including four primates.
  • United Farmers of Jambi. $3,000 to support a project working with farmers in Senyerang village in Sumatra, Indonesia who lost over 17,000 acres of land seized by Asia Pulp and Paper in 2001. As part of efforts to regain control of the land, this project would establish a 25-acre rubber tree seedling nursery located in this area with the longer-term goal being to secure additional funding and grow the initiative to plant 3 million seedlings to support the local economy and reclaim over 10,000 acres.
  • Foundation for Uganda Women Development. $1,500 to support expanding an existing successful agroforestry and tree planting project in eastern Uganda through establishing two additional tree nurseries supported by rainwater harvesting tanks, which will seed one additional model farm where methods such as alley cropping, live fencing, woodlots and beekeeping will be demonstrated for, and maintained by, project participants.
  • Japan NGO Network on Indonesia (JANNI). $2,000 to support a community mapping project being conducted, with support from JANNI, by Dayak communities in Long Bentuk and Mekar Baru villages in the province of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, which have faced increasing deforestation resulting from large-scale logging and the rapid advancement of palm oil plantations.
  • Save Sarawak’s Rivers Network (SAVE Rivers)
. $500 to support the SAVE Rivers network’s efforts to raise awareness in Sarawak, Malaysia about the risks of building 12 proposed mega-dams on the traditional lands of Indigenous peoples, which would forcibly displace tens of thousands of people and also flood more than 2,000 square kilometers of rainforest.

In 2010 we gave to:

• People for Progress in India (PPI), a 100% volunteer organization that strives to promote sustainable growth among underprivileged communities in India through small innovative projects.
  • We also continued to offset 318 tons of carbon through the One Child/100 Trees Project supported by People for Progress in India. Survival rates of the planted trees from 2009 were over 85%.
• Asha for Education, a 100% volunteer organization focusing on basic education of underprivileged children in India.
• Haiti Emergency Fund provides aid to grassroots groups in Haiti to rebuild after the devastating earthquake in 2010.
• Rainforest Action Network. In 2010, we partnered with Rainforest Action Network (RAN) to address our carbon emissions, totaling 4810 tons, by supporting innovative initiatives that keep millions of tons of CO2 in the ground. Through a $24,000 donation to RAN’s small grant programs Protect-an-Acre and Climate Action Fund, World Centric is investing directly in community-based organizations, Indigenous federations and small NGOs that are fighting to protect millions of acres of forest. Our $24,000 grant to RAN's Protect-an-Acre and Climate Action Fund went to the following projects:
  
  
  • Caura Futures. $3,500 to support Caura Futures conservation efforts within the 45,300 km² Caura River Basin in the Venezuelan Amazon through providing training and tools to safeguard Indigenous knowledge, improve human health, and promote good ecosystem stewardship, including addressing the issue that some youths today are more likely to fell, rather than climb, a palm tree for its fruit by creating new enthusiasm for the traditional practice of tree-climbing through introducing new gear, reviewed and approved by community members, and holding competitions. A workshop will expand this aspect of the project to Iquitos, Peru, where wild palm fruit markets are highly developed and the problem of felling palms is widespread. http://understory.ran.org/2012/04/20/bringing-a-co...
  • WALHI Jambi. $5,000 to support work with 5 villages in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia to strengthen community management systems and values and help secure control and protection for over 40,000 acres of customarily-owned rainforest through holding a series of meetings to reach collective decisions to develop and implement 35 year management plans that consider ecological, economic and social dimensions and provide for sustainable sources of income that reflect local cultural values.
  • Fundación Runa. $2,000 to support the establishment of a 200-acre mixed-use agroforestry project, incorporating cacao, coffee, and 10,000 newly planted guayusa and hardwood trees that will provide income for communities, while also serving as a strategic buffer zone around the 25,000 acre Colonso Protected Area in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
  • Lati Tana Adat Takaa. $2,000 to help the Dayak Benuaq Indigenous Peoples of Muara Tae in Kalimantan, Indonesia to protect their customary rainforest land through the completion of participatory mapping of village areas as part of a process to secure a 10,000 acre territorial claim, as well as advocating to stop ongoing and future encroachment by palm oil and mining companies.
  • Frente de Conservacion Ecologica de la Comunidad Nativa Mushuk Llacta de Chipaota. $2,500 to support ongoing work* to expand the recognized territory of the Mushuk-Llatka de Chipaota Indigenous community from 55,000 to 97,000 acres through the establishment of a biological reserve in the Andean Forest buffer zone of Cordillera Azul National Park in the Peruvian Amazon and to secure protection of the area through a community-led monitoring program.
  • Campaña Amazonía por la Vida. $2,000 to support grassroots efforts to pressure the national government to commit to its proposed plan to keep oil under the ground in Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon, which would result in preventing 407 million tons of CO2 emissions and help protect one the most important biological areas on the planet that also includes territory of the Huaorani people, as well as two other Indigenous tribes living in voluntary isolation.
  • Pueblo Kichwa de Rukullacta. $2,500 to support workshops to solidify opposition in all Rukullacta communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon and lay the groundwork for outfacing activities to prevent Canadian company Ivanhoe Energy's potentially environmentally and socially devastating plan to deploy highly questionable technology to attempt to recover and convert heavy, tar sands-type oil to lighter crude for export. The Pungarayacu oil field is estimated to contain between 4.3 to 12.1 billion barrels of heavy, extremely viscous crude. It is unknown exactly how much of that lies beneath the 106,000 acres of titled Rukullacta lands, but at least a dozen wells are planned to explore the area.

In 2009 we gave to:

• People for Progress in India (PPI), is a volunteer-run organization for sustainable development, based in Seattle, with overhead expenses held at 5% or less of their annual budget. PPI enables grassroots projects that significantly impact the socio-economic conditions of marginalized rural families across India, often for under $3,000 per year, per project. Some of the inspiring work carried out by PPI in 2009 includes:
  
  
  • Planting trees in the state of Karnataka in Southern India. PPI's One Child/100 Trees project is a three-year activity that educates students and families about biodiversity in the process of helping plant the trees.
  • Bio-Sand Water Purification (Land for Tillers' Freedom (LAFTI), Tamil Nadu, India). Water-borne illnesses are the second leading cause of childhood mortality in India, with dysentery also being common. Stove fuel shortages are on the rise and so sterilizing water by boiling has become less of a viable option. PPI helped setup the fabrication of the bio-sand water filters, a virtually maintenance-free filtration system that costs less than $10 per filter.Bio-sand filters purify drinking water by removing particulates; 99% of pathogens; and 60% of metals like manganese, iron and arsenic at a rate of about one liter per minute. Bio-sand filters were also installed at local clinics, schools and area youth hostels.
  • Kitchen Gardens for Rural Women (Karnatak Health Institute (KHI), Karnataka, India). Educating and training rural women is an important way toward healthier and more self-sustaining communities. PPI's grassroots partner KHI launched a successful kitchen garden project that supports 100 rural Indian women through the construction of farm ponds, organic composting sites, and the training of nearby villagers on organic farming methods. The new gardens are now an important source of food and self-reliance for villagers and the KHI hospital.
• OTEPIC – Biodynamic Farming in Kenya. Over the last 30 years, the number of people in Africa facing malnourishment nearly doubled. In Kenya, more than 18.5 million people are in dire need of assistance following four consecutive poor rainy seasons amounting to the worst drought in that country’s history. The drought in turn is causing food insecurity, hunger and disease to rise. Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre (OTEPIC), is a grassroots organization that works with hundreds of collaborating poor farmers, especially women, in Kenya’s Western North Rift. Developing local capacity to grow food and maintain livestock are crucial to helping families become self-sufficient during this crisis and eventually move toward earning an extra income. Trainings cover biodynamic and organic farming for increasing soil fertility, crop diversification, and technologies for increasing yield.
• Solar Maasai Rural Photovoltaics. In September 2009, the Solar Maasai Project began construction on a solar-powered photovoltaic (PV) electrical system for an off-grid schoolhouse, Empruken Primary in Enoosaen, Kenya. World Centric® supported the 5-kW Solar Maasai Project with a $1,500 contribution. When the lights came on, sundown was “postponed” for the first time in that part of the world. The PV systems render unnecessary the expensive and unhealthy kerosene lamps most families are forced to use. The solar power station now provides electricity to classrooms, a laptop charging station, a fee-based cell phone charging station, and refrigeration units holding vital
• Grid Alternatives. World Centric® also contributed $5,000 in 2009 to California-based GRID Alternatives, which brings the power of energy efficiency and solar electricity to low-income homeowners. GRID Alternatives manages the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes Program for the California Public Utilities Commission. This program provides low-income homeowners with access to PV systems. The effect is two-fold: decreasing electricity usage and increasing local green-job opportunities. World Centric® staffers joined other GRID Alternatives volunteers in Solarthon 2009, shown here.
• Trees for the Future(TREES). Trees for the Future is helping us plant trees in the African nation of Cameroon. With the help of 8,000 volunteers in mostly rural villages, TREES has successfully planted more than 1.5 million trees in 2009. TREES works with rural farmers to develop sustainable land-use practices which are beneficial to the environment and improve the lives of the people involved. Farmers are planting trees to improve the soil and their crop yields, and protect the land against further erosions. Many farmers are developing income generating activities such as livestock raising, honey production, and fruit production.