LAST CHANCE – Few Hours Left to Help Grameen Foundation Fight Poverty

Vote Now  – www.takepart.com/membersproject/vote

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/vote

Grameen Foundation is in the final countdown. It’s still in a tight race with a very strong competitor where EVERY vote counts. After battling for the last 12 weeks for a $200,000 grant from American Express, the Foundation is hoping to put this money to good use helping the world’s poorest.

NetIP, our support is crucial. With an outreach to over 40,000 South Asian Americans and the drive to succeed, we have the voters Grameen Foundation needs to get this grant and help empower the poor in South Asia – and throughout the world – by providing access to microfinance and technology.

Let’s create a world without poverty!

If you’ve already voted, thank you.  If not, please take the time now – it will only take a couple of clicks and minutes of your time. You can vote once from each e-mail address you have.

And no matter what, please encourage everyone you know to vote for Grameen Foundation before 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday, August 22nd. This is the last weekend!

A vote for Grameen Foundation is a vote to make poverty history!

Thanks,
All of us at Grameen Foundation

P.S. After you vote, please spread the word to your friends!

Tweet this:

Join me and #netipna in fighting global #poverty w/ #microfinance & VOTE 4 @GrameenFdn to win $200K! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF #Vote4GF

Tell your friends on Facebook. Copy and paste this text as your status:

LAST CHANCE! Vote before 11:59 p.m. PDT to help Grameen Foundation create a world without poverty by providing microfinance and technology products and services to the world’s poorest, especially women. Make a difference! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF plz RT

URGENT ACTION REQUEST – Your Vote Could Help Grameen Foundation Win $200,000 to Fight Poverty!

Vote Now  – www.takepart.com/membersproject/vote

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/vote

As you may know, NetIP has chosen to raise funds and awareness for Grameen Foundation’s work in South Asia.  NetIP believes in Grameen Foundation’s mission to enable the poor – especially the poorest – to create a world without poverty. We do this by providing cutting-edge products and services in microfinance and technology, enabling those in need to change their lives forever.

With a small action – just a couple of clicks  – you can help make that world without poverty a reality.

Grameen Foundation is battling for first place – and $200,000 in funding – with just one other organization in the Community Development category in American Express’s Take Part Challenge.

We need every NetIP member to vote TODAY (before Sunday at 11:59 p.m. PDT) – and next week too!  Voting ends next Sunday, August 22^nd.  You can vote once per week from each e-mail address you have.

Please help – it’s an easy and effective way to make a difference in our fight against global poverty.

Thanks,

All of us at Grameen Foundation

P.S.  After you vote, please spread the word to your friends!

Tweet this:

Join me and #netipna in fighting global #poverty w/ #microfinance & VOTE 4 @GrameenFdn to win $200K! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF #Vote4GF 

Tell your friends on Facebook. Please copy and paste this text as your status:

Vote before 11:59 p.m. PDT to help Grameen Foundation create a world without poverty by providing microfinance and technology products and services to the world’s poorest, especially women. Vote now and again on Monday! http://bit.ly/Vote4GF

From Bottom Billion to Next Billion

Republished with permission from The Grameen Foundation

Luckshmi Sivalingam is a Program Officer for Grameen Foundation’s Solutions for the Poorest program.

Before joining GF, I interviewed fifty clients of a Nepal savings and credit cooperative as part of an impact assessment. I saw that particularly for those living in extreme poverty, the solution to changing their situations can’t be limited to providing access to microfinance’s traditional product: an enterprise loan.

THP client on her new farm in West Bengal

Nearly all the clients I spoke with said that if they’d undergone appropriate skills development or received training on value addition for the goods and services they were selling, then their microenterprises could have generated the additional income required for them to progress out of poverty.

The Solutions for the Poorest team at GF is joining a small but growing group of microfinance practitioners that are looking at how the industry can better meet the needs of the very poor.  One approach we are testing couples livelihoods support with microfinance in a financially sustainable manner, contributing to what has been termed the “double bottom line.”

Solutions for the Poorest has partnered with BASIX/The Livelihood School India, a pioneering livelihood promotion institute, to design an integrated and sustainable methodology to provide financial and non-financial services to the extreme poor—individuals that BASIX wouldn’t typically serve through its everyday microfinance activities.  Also, my colleague, Malini, and I recently travelled to Calcutta to visit Bandhan’s Targeting the Hard Core Poor (THP) program.  THP targets female-headed households, like Shahida Bibi’s, with no or very erratic opportunities to make income. The program provides these women with the skills and assets required to jumpstart a microenterprise.  Supplemented with confidence-building measures, this support cultivates a seemingly limitless entrepreneurial spirit.

Shahida, her seven children, and her disabled husband survived on just $2 a week. Shahida was a housemaid, but without any productive skills and regular income, she wasn’t considered creditworthy by other MFIs.  THP provided her with four goats to help generate a more consistent income stream. This income has allowed Shahida to provide for her family while also nurturing the habit of saving.  In eighteen months, she sold one goat for $43 and diversified her income stream by buying chickens, selling eggs, and later selling coconuts and vegetables to her neighbors.   Shahida has now grown into a real business woman, generating a weekly income of Rs. 2,000 (about $42 dollars).  She’s already planning for additional ventures.

Shahida and her children share their story

Addressing the issue of global poverty in a holistic and practical way has made the past month’s immersions in Solutions for the Poorest initiatives an intellectually stimulating and inspiring experience for me.  I look forward to continuing our work to propel the bottom billion into the next billion.

Vote for Grameen Foundation & help us win a $200,000 grant to fight global poverty! Learn more about how you can help!

To make a donation to the Grameen Foundation, NetIP North America’s 2010 Philanthropy Partner, click here.

Cancer is Color Blind

What is “CiC” and Why NetIP for $100,000?

Our first blog launching the Cancer is Colorblind (“CiC”) campaign simultaneously responds to two questions we’ve heard throughout the course of the last six months while developing and planning our fundraising campaign benefiting pediatric and adult cancer patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital and the Sinai Health System:  What is CiC? and Why NetIP?

Everyone wants to help the kids (i.e. our pediatric cancer patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital) and adults fighting cancer (i.e. our partnership with the Sinai Health System).  But why NetIP?  Is cancer NOT colorblind?  What does cancer have to do with a group of 5,000+ South Asian professionals?  Does cancer uniquely affect South Asians?  Are various types of cancer more prevalent in the South Asian community?

It’s true that researchers compile information about cancer diagnoses and track cases using a number of variables including ethnicity and gender to understand the factors affecting cancer risk and how cancer impacts society.  It’s also true that rates of certain cancers, such as liver and stomach cancer, are relatively higher among Asians than certain other segments of the general population.  (See, e.g., USC Comprehensive Cancer Center, 2006 Cancer Report).  But it’s equally true and voluminous statistical data support the proposition that cancer affects all races, genders, and ages.  (See American Cancer Society, Illinois Cancer Facts & Figures 2008-2009)  Since no subset of the population is immune, the theme and direction of our campaign focuses on the “colorblind” nature of cancer.  It’s also our namesake.

But many potential supporters may still wonder why a group called the Network of Indian Professionals of Chicago (“NetIP Chicago”) would invest significant resources, time, and money launching a six-month campaign dedicated to raising funds for cancer-related programming and research and honoring cancer survivors and fighters. After all, there are numerous “South Asian-specific” charities and causes ranging from Apna Ghar (domestic violence shelter catering to immigrant populations) to Akshaya Patra (meal program for hungry school kids in India) to the Association for India’s Development (movement promoting sustainable and equitable development in India).  And these are just a few South Asian focused community groups starting with the alphabet “A”!

While NetIP Chicago partners with and/or supports each of these noted organizations, we designed the Cancer is Colorblind Campaign, which includes our signature year-end gala, to highlight the new and improved NetIP Chicago.  Our mission entails fostering the development of all segments of the Chicago professional community, who have an interest in South Asian culture.

Cancer is Colorblind provides a unique opportunity to achieve our mission by mobilizing and leveraging the success of the entire Chicago community, while recognizing and supporting the cancer struggle shared by all.  Individual participants are presented with an avenue to make an impact, help save lives, and work with like-minded professionals throughout the course of the CiC Campaign.

Getting involved is easy. Participate and start making an impact today.

NetIP Chicago: 8 hours, 4 Members, and 1 House

Written by Kesha Parikh, Community Outreach, NetIP Chicago

On National Rebuilding Day, April 24th, volunteers from the Network of Indian Proffesionals Chicago Chapter put in a great deal of  hard work and time commitment in helping one elderly woman rebuild her home.  The purpose of the event was to renovate the homes of elderly, disabled, or low-income residents by pulling together electricians, carpenters, plumbers, painters and volunteers.

This year, NetIP Chicago volunteers woke up very early on a Saturday morning and spent 8 long, hard hours re-painting and re-flooring an elderly woman’s house on the south side of Chicago.  The woman had lived there for over 30 years and was recently disabled due to a hip fracture.  A special thanks goes out to all the volunteers, Sujata, Bobby, Kesha and Amit for going above and beyond their duties.  Together, they de-greased and painted two bathrooms, a kitchen, a hallway and a living room.  Sujata was on her hands and knees helping clean and re-floor the kitchen.  Bobby did the tough job of painting all the ceilings and removing a dusty carpet from the living room.

The house captain who was responsible for managing the project was so pleased with the volunteers that he has asked NetIP Chicago to collaborate with him again next year to help a new home owner transform their house.  The granddaughter of the woman whose house we rebuilt also had some kind words to share with the volunteers as she was touched to see total strangers spending their free time helping her rebuild her grandmother’s home.

Please join NetIP Chicago in expressing a special thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work and dedication that day!

For more information on NetIP Chicago and their upcoming events visit www.NetIPChicago.org or www.Facebook.com/NetIPChicago.

www.NetIP.org

Edited by Latha Nerhru, VP Of External Affairs, NetIP North America

Charlotte Walks Together – 2010

by Hardik Shah, Marketing Chair, NetIP North America

The Network of Indian Professionals North Carolina Chapter was recently one of the leading organizations at Charlotte Walks Together.  This event, touted as one of Carolinas’ most human-engaging events, was held on Saturday April 17, 2010.  This annual gathering utilizes a non-competitive walk to provide an opportunity to join hands with all and promote unity in diversity.

Each year the Charlotte Coalition for Social Justice (CCSJ) organizes this event with a variety of major partnerships including corporate giants such as Bank of America, Wachovia, JPMorgan Chase, Lowe’s and Nascar, as well as entrepreneurs and political leaders.  NetIP North Carolina was present representing the South Asian community. CCSJ has been able to engage senior leadership at partner corporations and integrate large crowds to pass on a strong message of unity, which accounts to a stronger community of Carolinas’ corporate as well as entrepreneurial world.  The key note speaker for this year’s walk was the CFO of Wachovia/Wells Fargo, Mr. Howard Atkins.

This year’s walk was a tremendous success as it engaged more than 500 people from a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds and also raised eyebrows by collecting more than 50 thousand dollars for charity work. These donations, as in the past, will be utilized for uplifting children’s education and giving them equal opportunities for betterment.  This event also presented an opportunity for people to reach out and connect with other participants regardless of their background and status, allowing them to learn about one another, their views, lives & cultures, in a casual way.  There were many friendly scenes during the walk which eventually ended with ethnic and cultural presentations and food and refreshments for the walkers.

This was NetIP North Carolina’s 4th year of affiliation with CCSJ in the form of community representation and donation generation.  Event’s such as these continue to promote NetIP’s mission and integrate South Asian Professionals with other mainstream professionals, thus NetIP North Carolina will strive to participate in Charlotte Walks Together every year moving forward.

To learn more about NetIP North Carolina and their upcoming events visit www.NetIPNC.org or send an email to info@netipnc.org

Edited by Latha Nehru, VP of External Affairs, NetIP North America

www.NetIP.org