I was in DC this week meeting with a client. While I was there had an appointment at the Peace Corps with Rosie Mauk, the Associate Director of the Office of Volunteer Recruitment and Selection - formerly the Director of AmeriCorps at the Corporation for National and Community Service.  During our discussion she mentioned to me one of the initiatives of the Peace Corps that I had not heard of previously so I wanted to share it. 

Did you know you can support Peace Corps projects all around the world by donating through the Peace Corps Partnership Program? All donations are tax deductible and 100% of your contribution goes to the project you select.  This is a great way for businesses interested in global issues to support projects in developing countries.  Most of the projects are requesting relatively small amounts of money - often $2000-$5000.  You choose how much to donate - you don’t have to fund the whole thing. 

The projects are developed “on the ground” by Peace Corps volunteers with members of the community in which they work.  For the project to be eligible for consideration, local community members must supply some resources - often labor - as a “local match” to the dollars requested.  Submitted project proposals are then fully reviewed so you know whatever project you choose to support has been fully vetted  and will truly benefit local people.  One of the things I really like is that we can read the sumary of the projects - listed by country and region - and choose specific projects to support that match our interests.  Sometimes even when contributing to good global causes, it feels like my relatively small business philanthropy dollars go into a black hole.  Not so with these projects - I know exactly what I am supporting and how the money will be used.  I am making my first donation today.

The website says, “We are not asking for a handout to the communities we serve. This is a true partnership. In order to receive funding through Partnership Program, a community must make a 25% contribution to the total project cost and outline success indicators for the individual projects. This helps ensure community buy-in, a greater chance of long-term sustainability, and, ultimately, success.”

As 100% of your donation goes directly to the project, this program is a great way to really help the poorest of the poor.  Because projects are reviewed at Peace Corps headquarters and posted on their website, for most of us, this is a far better way to be of assistance in the world than trying to generate something ourselves.  Due to my international development background, I know that sometimes our best efforts to make a difference actually create unanticipated problems.  We don’t always fully understand local culture and our well intentioned innovations may not be the most appropriate.  I have seen projects, for example in Haiti, where folks flew in from the US for a week, started an aquaculture project and then ran out of time and left assuming the local people who had not been fully consulted or integrated into the project would finish it up.  Not a good use of anyone’s resources - the US folks felt good because they tried to do something positive but they left with an unrealistic sense of their true impact (or lack thereof)!!

I was very excited to hear about this program - it seems to be one of those best kept secrets that should be more visible.  I have worked with MANY Peace Corps folks over the years through my international development work and my more recent work with AmeriCorps and National Service.  I think helping support these small local programs through the Peace Corps is a great way to counter some of the bad press the US has gotten in recent years around the world.

Rosie mentioned to me that for her birthday, she picked a women’s empowerment project that caught her eye on the list and told her children that instead of buying her a gift, she would prefer they made a donation to the project.  For the holidays, she mentioned making donations to projects in the countries where her staff had served as a gift to them. 

Could you make donations through the Peace Corps Partnership Program on behalf of your company?  Your staff? Your clients?  Yourself?  Give it some thought - it is a great way to make difference in our world.