DR charities you can donate to online?

May 29, 2006
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Anyone know of some reputable DR charities that you can donate online to? I'm particularly interested in anything that helps out rural schools.
 

KateP

Silver
May 28, 2004
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This one isn't specifically for rural schools but it's for a very good cause also. Jean and P.B. Dye work tirelessly to help 60-80 orphans or battered children live a better life and also educate them so they can earn a living later on.

dominicaorphanage.com
 

Gringo

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Jan 1, 2002
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Sosuakids.com

SOS?A KIDS helps poor children from the Sos?a area of the North Coast of the Dominican Republic to attend school in order to achieve their needs and aspirations and to help in the development of this beautiful and friendly country.

Children in the Dominican Republic are entitled to attend school at no cost, but they must have full school uniforms, backpacks and school materials.

Our primary purpose is to provide school uniforms for children who otherwise could not afford them or go to school. In addition, we help to support individual schools which do not receive government funding and we provide financial support to a small number of children who are continuing their education in university.


Sosuakids.com
 

Castellamonte

Bronze
Mar 3, 2005
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Cabrera
www.villa-castellamonte.com
Academia Internacional de Cabrera (AIC) has FriendsofCabrera.org as the 501c3 organization you can donate to them. But the charity is also set up so you can donate for any community cause in Cabrera. Cool beans!

Friends of Cabrera, Inc for more information on the charity
Academia Internacional de Cabrera English Language School north coast Dominican Republic for more information on the international bi-lingual school
Cabrera | Dominican Republic | Discover Cabrera | Visit Cabrera for more information on Cabrera!
 

southwardbound2

New member
Jun 5, 2008
472
0
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Sosuakids.com

SOS?A KIDS helps poor children from the Sos?a area of the North Coast of the Dominican Republic to attend school in order to achieve their needs and aspirations and to help in the development of this beautiful and friendly country.

Children in the Dominican Republic are entitled to attend school at no cost, but they must have full school uniforms, backpacks and school materials.

Our primary purpose is to provide school uniforms for children who otherwise could not afford them or go to school. In addition, we help to support individual schools which do not receive government funding and we provide financial support to a small number of children who are continuing their education in university.


Sosuakids.com

Tried going to site. Problem with it. Please notify webmaster if you can. Interested in helping.
 

Gordon

New member
Jan 24, 2011
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Peter in Brat. My wife and I have built five schools in the western part of the Dominican Republic near the Haitian border in poor areas. The schools we build are for grade one and grade two kids that have a difficult time taking the journey to travel to the existing schools. Once they can travel greater distances they go on to established grade three and up. Most of the schools we have built are used by mothers and other groups for community work in the evening. Frequently there is a shortage of working males due to problems with aids and the mothers groups are critical for the children. We have also assisted with bio filters for and solar lighting installations but in the children's homes not in the schools themselves and orphanges in a smaller way. Send me a note with your interests if you want and if I can help I will. We have some interesting projects also under consideration.
 
May 29, 2006
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Hi Gordon,
That sounds like the kind of site. I'd like to visit on my next trip down, hopefully around Valentine's Day. I'll PM you with some of my project ideas.
 

Gordon

New member
Jan 24, 2011
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We are a registered charity in Canada but very very grassroots. When we apply for grants most times the response is that we cannot leave our overhead and administrative costs out of the application. When we tell them we already did it is usually a eye brow raiser as administrative costs and advertising eat up most of typical charities budget. We were able to leverage small amounts of fundraising into major benefits in the DR. Few people outside of the grassroots community understand how difficult it is to monitor and support your own fundraising efforts. Paperwork and other mundane tasks are what keeps grassroots movement from expanding much beyond so I understand completely the other is necessary although I would prefer a better meeting in the middle.
The short answer is we do have websites and online availability and it will be expanding in the near future. It is not currently updated to start public documentation. If one wants a sneak peak at our work you can access ACCS (Alberta Centennial Charitable Society) on facebook. We would like to expand this area of marketing soon with small donations capability and approach the masses eventually. I am particularly excited about getting an upgrade on accountability and follow-up to eventually engage other more fortunate kids to help those less fortunate and be actively involved in the process even from a distance. I think if you engage the young kids of today in humanitarian projects you are setting the pace for making the most change in the world. I guess there is no short answer after all. I could go on but ..............
Grassroots is hard work
 

SKing

Silver
Nov 22, 2007
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We are an organization just starting but we now have a paypal acct.
parterasrd@hotmail.com is our email.

We are MIDWIVES FOR THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC and our focus is pregnant women, laboring women, and postpartum women.
You can find us on Facebook.

Thanks.

SHALENA
 

SKing

Silver
Nov 22, 2007
3,750
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Are a recognized 501c3 charity yet?

Not yet, all quotes from lawyers are big $$$ which we don't have yet. I have just drafted a letter that I'll be sending to the Law schools in the area when 2nd semester starts, hoping we can get a few interested students to handle the legalities for us. Right now we are all collecting $$$ and donations separately, keeping track in a notebook, as we will have to pay taxes on it. But still worth it.

Know any kind-hearted Lawyers looking for a pro-bono case? ;)

SHALENA
 

Gordon

New member
Jan 24, 2011
318
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Shalena. Congratulations on your fundraising efforts and such a great cause. All the best!!

I can only speak from experience with grassroots Canada/Dominican Republic charity but I recommend you liason with an outfit already established if possible at all. The struggle of setting up and getting to the size that will work is as difficult as setting up small business anywhere.

I am president of a small scale, grassroots and properly set up charitable society. We started with great enthusiasm and good intentions. It becomes very successfull quickly usually based on no more than the original board of directors and volunteers and all the people that tend to follow motivated others. It quickly moves to the first and second project. Then comes the excitement of raising extra funds through grants and donors wanting tax receipts.

Suddenly you start to rely on the assistance of others and you are not always around to motivate them anymore as you are busy front line. Then you come home tired and there is a mountain of paperwork and forms and people wanting time consuming reciepts and updates for small donations. Many people you counted on are now busy with another leader that is close by or a spouse or a job that takes priority.

If you are already struggling with the legal work of setting up all I can say is outsource outsource outsource and liason liason liason. It is very difficult: in order to liason you HAVE to turn over autonomy in most cases. That ability is not usually typical with the type of personality visionaries have to start these projects.

If you want the long term success I wish for you, then spend some time now contemplating the long term paperwork aspect and study how hard the foundations, NGO's and government requirements will be down the road. Regretfully there is a reason why so many charities have huge overheads for non charity expenses and require paid staff.