Mt. Nyiru, Kenya                                                                                     Sukulen, 37

As a social documentary photographer and filmmaker I typically have to suggest marketing ideas to the nonprofit organizations I work with. I find it important to get to know what the PR or marketing staff of the organizations are trying to accomplish and then brainstorm with them on projects that could accomplish their goals. For example in talking with Helen Garrett, the marketing director of Amnesty International, I learned that they wanted to conduct a multicity campaign in North America and Europe to celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They wanted to collect 10,000,000 signatures of people rededicating themselves to the UDHR. In our conversations I suggested the signatures be collected in museums and galleries so there could be a backdrop of images at the events they staged. Of course it was my suggestion that I could supply the images and book that traveled with the events. As a result they accomplished their goal and I was able to create my Enduring Spirit series.

Willoq, Peru                                               Lourdes 9, Benigno 18 mos.

Today many corporations are looking for ways to align their marketing efforts around social issues. ‘ Green marketing’ is a fast growing multimillion dollar business. This trend presents opportunities for the university student, retired baby boomer or documentary photographer who is passionate about an issue to find support. It just takes a little ambition and creativity to forge your own path.

Jinka, Ethiopia                                                                 Buzayan 6

1. Community based Issues–Are the issues (i.e. girls education; trafficking etc.) that you are interested in addressed in the program?
2.  Field based or classroom based–Ideally you want to be living and interacting as much as possible in the community you are studying or volunteering in.
3.  Study or Research—how much support is in place locally to facilitate your study or research project
4. Local Language immersion and instruction should be a strong component of the program
5. Accreditation—Of course it’s ideal to receive college credits for your time and work while abroad.

As we build out the Call to Action section of our website we will categorize various study abroad programs with these attributes in mind.  Again, please give us feed back or let us know about any firsthand experience you have had in study abroad programs so we can grow our support for those who want to take this path.

I find these numbers a shocking reminder of how insular our country is today.

However, as I traveled around the country promoting the Women Empowered project I found many college and high school students were coming up to me after my presentation and asking how they might get involved.  I began to realize that these students could be a significant source of support for empowering women and girls in the developing world.  For the most part they didn’t have much money to donate but wanted to volunteer their time.  The students who had traveled abroad let me know how much their trips that involved some form of community service had “changed their lives”.  

Of course the most personal way to contribute is to volunteer time.  University students who are not yet tied down with family obligations and mortgage payments are ideal candidates for this type of involvement.  It’s an excellent way to broaden perspectives and get an experiential high by giving to something outside of oneself.

In 2009 I decided to expand and reconfigure the Women Empowered exhibition and website to, among other things, reach this younger demographic by including multimedia pieces and an expanded call to action that offered many more ways to get involved.  I want the exhibition and website to inspire student participation—to make it easy for students to become advocates and to provide resources that would allow them to find study abroad or volunteer programs that focused on the issues faced by women and girls in the developing world.

I’m looking for organizations that have programs that allow university students to take a semester abroad and work with local organizations that empower women and girls.  It would be ideal if the program were structured so the student could choose their specific area of interest (i.e. maternal health, micro credit, girl’s education, child trafficking, etc.)  It would be even more ideal if the student could receive credit toward their degree for their time abroad.  SIT –(School for International Training) is a good example.  If anyone knows of organizations with programs like this I would be so appreciative if you let me know.  I want a list of resources to accompany my website and exhibition Women Empowered as it travels to universities to help students that want to get involved with these issues.

In my work I have had the opportunity to see many of the issues women face in the developing world up close and personal.  I realize that many people that want to help women and girls have not had a face to face encounter with those they would like to help. 

Fortunately, nonprofits have recently evolved some great techniques to make donors feel engaged with the personal stories of those in need.  Along with the desire to feel that person-to-person connection, lenders are becoming savvier and clearly desire an explanation of precisely where their donations are going. 

A recent blog post by David Roodman states, ‘In short, the person-to-person donor-to-borrower connections created by Kiva are partly fictional.”  This information attracted widespread attention.  The “Donor Illusion” debate is outlined well in this article in the NY Times and this is another great source of additional information.

In my opinion the way in which the nonprofit world is evolving is a step in the right direction.  The desire to have a direct person-to-person contribution with no intermediary is in itself an illusion.  Tim Odgen of Philanthropy Action makes this point well.

Kiva gives you a list of photographs and profiles of individuals you can support with a micro credit loan.   Your loan goes to one of Kiva’s worldwide “Field Partners”, (microfinance institutions that service the community where the individual you have chosen lives).  The Field Partner approves and disburses a microloan to the entrepreneur you have chosen and gives them a repayment schedule.  When the loan gets repaid you can collect it or designate another entrepreneur to lend it to.

The Kiva model of lending is currently being used to help worthy students get educational loans in countries where student loans have heretofore been nonexistent. 

Another program for donors (not lenders) administered by CARE that takes off on this idea is Join My Village.  Instead of choosing an individual to contribute to you choose a village in Africa and General Mills matches your contribution dollar for dollar.   The donations to Join My Village support ‘Village Savings and Loan’ programs that enable small groups of women to form their own micro banks.  I visited many of these VSL groups when I was in Malawi last year and was very impressed. 

I created a multimedia piece about the program for CARE if you would like to learn more.

As time goes on I’m sure more programs like these will make giving more personal and transparent.  I would love to hear of your experiences with organizations like these, as well as, similar organization that you have been impressed by?