INSTANT

Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. We celebrate and support people looking to create a better future for themselves, their families and their communities. 

By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential. For some, it’s a matter of survival, for others it’s the fuel for a life-long ambition.

100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans. Kiva covers costs primarily through optional donations, as well as through support from grants and sponsors.

This month we have chosen Kiva to partner with. At the end of the month we will fund 1 entrepreneur's loan and 1 student's loan. When the loans are repaid, we will do it all over again. A gift that keep on giving.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to achieving prevention and a cure for breast cancer. We provide critical funding for cancer research worldwide to fuel advances in tumor biology, genetics, prevention, treatment, metastasis and survivorship.

Since our founding in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder, BCRF has raised more than half a billion dollars for lifesaving research. Through a unique and streamlined grants program, we seek out the brightest minds in science and medicine and give them the necessary resources to pursue their best ideas. As a result, researchers are able to make discoveries and design new approaches to address all aspects of breast cancer—and do so in record time.

 “Our goal is to accelerate the breakthroughs bringing us closer to a cure to speed up the progress that will improve survivorship and quality of life for breast cancer patients today.” – Myra J. Biblowit, President & CEO

In 2016-2017, BCRF will award $57 million in annual grants to more than 250 scientists from top universities and medical institutions around the globe. In addition, BCRF has established the Evelyn H. Lauder Founder’s Fund, a multi-year international program dedicated to metastasis that is the first large-scale global effort to unravel the biology of metastasis, with more than $30 million earmarked to date. It is the largest privately funded project exclusively focused on metastasis in the world. But we still have more to do.

The thousands of women and men suffering from breast cancer today depend on us. No institution can conquer this disease alone. Together, we can.

Three Avocados is a non-profit coffee company based in St. Louis, Missouri, which supports clean water projects in Uganda. It was founded in February 2010, after Joe Koenig visited Uganda for the first time. Three Avocados sends 100% of its proceeds to provide clean drinking water in Uganda and education in Nicaragua. Their coffee is grown in Uganda and Nicaragua, by small farmers. They pay fair prices for high quality coffee to deliver you an amazing cup of coffee that also provides amazing benefits for the countries where the coffee is grown.

A bit about their story here:

"Our story begins in the humble village of Bulopa Uganda. Bulopa, like many other villages in Uganda, is a very remote and extremely poor village. There is a small church there, which amounts to nothing more than a few sticks in the ground and some benches. We had been invited to worship with the people of Bulopa. Despite the fact we were over four hours late, the entire village was there to welcome us.

It had been a long day, we were all tired and eager to get back to the comfort of our hotel in Jinja. And then it happened. As the offering basket was passed around, a poor widow placed three avocados in the basket. It was literally all she had. And she gave it up, all for the sake of others. You see, in Uganda, the pastors do not receive any pay. The food they eat is given through the offering as they visit different villages. That widow had given all she had to ensure someone else could eat. What a beautiful gift.

It was that simple gift that inspired us. We left Uganda brainstorming ways that we could help. Though our efforts could never match the generosity of that widow, our goal is to do everything we can to ensure the poor throughout the world are cared for and are never forgotten. And we deeply thank you for being a part of Three Avocados."

Some 10 million people have been displaced in war-torn Syria, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), having been exposed to violence and unremitting fighting. Many now remain within the borders with no home to go to and no possessions. There are over 4 million refugees, three quarters of them being women and children, seeking safety and shelter across neighboring countries. Many are living in flimsy cramped makeshift shelters. The vast majority of fleeing families arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs. Many are injured from continuous bombing and shelling. They have no regular food and no income.  Men, women and children are suffering through no fault of their own. They are in desperate need of emergency shelter and other lifesaving supplies. ShelterBox is responding. 

So far ShelterBox has sent aid to support over 5,000 families in Syria, Iraqi Kurdistan, Lebanon and Jordan. But many thousands more need our help today. Our ShelterBox Response Teams are working to assist the most vulnerable families.

ShelterBox has ensured distribution of aid through implementing partners including Hand in Hand for Syria (HIHS). Shelter kits, more tents, mosquito nets, water filters, water carriers, blankets, groundsheets, SchoolBoxes and solar lamps have all been sent to assist families in the region. HIHS are continuing to distribute aid throughout the country including to areas in the Aleppo governorate and the Syrian/Turkish border.

In August 2015, 350 UN tents and tarpaulins were transported to Syria, where they will be distributed by aid agency the Violet Organization to replace tents that are starting to wear out due to long-term use in refugee camps near the Turkish border.

The need for protection is critical and we are aiming to provide shelter and supplies for a further 5,000 families over the coming months - we urgently need your help today.

What started out as a peaceful protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the southern Province of Deraa in March 2011 has degenerated into a regional interethnic civil war. The growing violence, sectarian tensions and economic hardship are forcing more and more Syrian families from their homes. 

Founded in 1891, Dogs Trust (formerly the National Canine Defence League) is the largest dog welfare charity in the UK. Our mission is to bring about the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction. Here's what we do in a nutshell…

Each year we care for around 16,000 dogs at our nationwide network of 20 Rehoming Centres. No healthy dog is ever destroyed.

We run subsidised neutering campaigns in areas of the UK with the most acute stray dog problems.

Our Education Officers give thousands of classroom presentations every year. Free teaching resources are made available to all schools in the UK.

Our FREEDOM Project helps pet owners who are fleeing domestic violence by fostering their animals while they start a new life.

The HOPE Project gives preventative veterinary care to dogs belonging to homeless people.

We advise government on any matters concerning dog ownership.

We have established a charity in Ireland that runs a rehoming centre in Dublin.

We assist overseas animal welfare charities by training their staff in best practice.

We rely on the kind generosity of the public to make this possible. So, if you love dogs, please make a donation today.

Mama Hope works in close collaboration with local African organizations to fund the completion of schools, health clinics, children’s centers, clean water systems and food security projects that improve the health and economic standing of the entire community. We currently partner with communities in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana. 

At Mama Hope we believe that there are enough resources in the world for every human being to live healthy, happy lives. We envision a world where resources are correctly shared across the globe to provide the tools communities need to thrive.

Our model is called Connected Development. We listen to community needs, connect donors through inspiration and enable sustainable projects. We know that each community we work with is unique, and our range of projects reflects this diversity.

121Ethiopia was founded in 2005 by artist Olafur Eliasson and art historian Marianne Krogh Jensen. Based in Berlin, Copenhagen, and Zurich, the small, international NGO works to improve the lives and conditions of vulnerable children in Ethiopia.

121Ethiopia uses funds from the HEKLA Foundation to support carefully selected projects in Ethiopia. Through close cooperation with local partners in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, who also facilitate the daily work on the ground, 121Ethiopia is able to gain an intimate understanding of the Ethiopian context and maintain local ownership of the projects. We strongly believe that such collaboration is indispensible for the projects’ successful and sustainable implementation.

121Ethiopia is committed to continuously reflecting on, rethinking, and adjusting our activities to accommodate the children’s specific and current needs. We periodically bring in professional experts for quality assessment. This independent assessment helps our work stay constantly appropriate to its context and informed by recent studies, and it ensures that our projects maintain the highest possible quality and achieve their intended results.

121Ethiopia’s Vision 121Ethiopia envisions a safe, healthy, and enjoyable childhood for vulnerable children in Ethiopia. We want to work towards this vision by training Ethiopian caregivers in methods for softening and reducing the stress of the transitions for the children and by providing safe, caring, and stimulating environments in Ethiopian orphanages.

121Ethiopia’s Values

Always take the child’s perspective

Work through local partnerships and resources with respect for the local context

Continuously share and exchange knowledge and tools of practice

Create sustainable and lasting impact

Encourage transforming thought into action

We are proud to have Fuck Cancer as our charity of the month for November. Magdalena Wosinska chose the charity this month. Below is a short video about Fuck Cancer and a message from the founder, Yael Cohen.

In 2009 my mom, Diane, was diagnosed with breast cancer. This shook me to my core and has, quite obviously, fundamentally changed my life. This was the first time I saw my mom as mortal. And the first time I saw my dad cry.

I was very involved in mom’s treatment and recovery, to say it lightly. I was a research machine; I read every book, blog and article I could get my hands on. This is indicative of my generation. We help how we can, with what we know, and we know the digital space and social media. So I made sure that FC harnessed the power of the youth and invited them into a conversation that no one really includes us in.

After her first surgery I made mom a shirt that said Fuck Cancer. To me, the shirt said, “Yes, I have cancer – but no, I won’t go down without one hell of a fight.” It said, “I am not a patient – I am a survivor.” It was something that I thought she’d wear privately, at home, while recovering. I should have known better. Being the firecracker she is, as soon as she was well enough to get her hands over her head and put on a t-shirt (more accurately, let me put one on her), mom wore it everywhere.

My mom isn’t the kind of woman to say fuck, let alone wear the word fuck, so I was shocked when she wore it in public. But that wasn’t the most shocking part. People’s reactions were! People hugged her, high fived her, wanted to hear her story and share theirs. I always joke (but am secretly very serious) that I knew we had something special when strangers would hug mom – it takes a hell of a lot for a stranger to hug another stranger in our society. These two words were really powerful, and resonated far beyond my family. It allowed people to be brave and vulnerable and I wanted to do good with it. So I started Fuck Cancer.

Why didn’t I just support an existing charity? I thought about it, hard. But ultimately, I found most existing cancer organizations were research-focused, which is incredibly important, but not my fight. I’m not a researcher so couldn’t contribute scientifically and couldn’t raise the billions of dollars needed to find a cure. I can, however, change the way society perceives cancer; from something we wait to get and pray there’s a cure to something we’re actively working to prevent, actively looking for and finding when it’s most curable.

Early detection is what saved my mom’s life and it’s where I felt I could make a real impact and really help people.

Everything we build is for our community; it’s what they’ve told us they need and what we anticipate they will need. Beyond education, I wanted community. I wanted to create a safe space for people to say what they were actually feeling, not what society told them they should be. 

Thank you to the unbelievable community of highly active, motivated, and passionate supporters who’ve grown with us. I can’t wait to see what we create together in the coming years.

Every Mother Counts is a non-profit organization dedicated to making pregnancy & childbirth safe for every mother.

“I became a maternal health advocate the day I became a mom. Thanks to a skilled healthcare team, I survived a potentially life-threatening complication after delivering my daughter. Once I learned that hundreds of thousands of girls and women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications similar to mine I decided to take action. I knew becoming a mom would be life changing but I hadn’t quite envisioned how big a change it would inspire.”

INSTANT is participating in a coastal cleanup of the embayments in East River Park on Saturday, September 20th from 11:00 to 1:00 as part of the International Coastal Cleanup Day supported by the Ocean Conservancy.  

As part of our appreciation, INSTANT will hand out 'discount cards' to all volunteers for a 15% discount on all purchases made on the website.