Last week in The Zip – our podcast focused on all things local – I mentioned that we had some plans in the works to help our neighbors, who are mostly American for the time being, show one another kindness and support, in lieu of much of the negativity that’s bubbled up these past few months.
So this week, we’re debuting ZipSprout’s Give Love.
Our Give Love initiative will highlight organizations in need of funding and volunteers across the US. Typically at ZipSprout, we charge businesses to find the best fit for their local sponsorship dollars, but these opportunities will be listed free-of-charge on zipsprout.com/give-love. To get in touch with any of these organizations for sponsorship or volunteer purposes, email hello@zipsprout.com, and we’ll connect you with our contact. Fitting with our model of micro-sponsorships, all of these organizations offer sponsorship opportunities for $1,500 or less.
These organizations, chosen specifically by ZipSprout Matchmakers, represent just a small grouping of the great organizations we’ve spoken with and facilitated sponsorships for. But it’s a start. In the coming weeks, we plan to release another list that focuses specifically on organizations who serve rural communities, as most of the organizations below are based in more urban environments.
Give Love, Fall 2016:
| Organization | Opportunity | Keywords | Metro Area |
| Activate Good | Couture for a Cause | Volunteer, Service, Community Development | Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC |
| Authentic Caribbean Foundation | Authentic Caribbean Foundation | Kids, Disability, Caribbean culture, folklore, diaspora | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy (MA-NH) |
| Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance | Florence Forth | Autoimmune encephalitis, disease awareness, autoimmune disease | Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC |
| Bunnies on the Bayou | Bunnies on the Bayou | LGBTQ, community outreach, HIV/AIDS | Houston, TX |
| Eckerd Organization | Brevard Walk of Fame | child violence prevention, child substance abuse prevention, and child abuse and neglect prevention | Palm Bay−Melbourne−Titusville, FL |
| Gender Reel Festival | Gender Reel Festival | Film, transgender, gender, LGBTQ, visual arts | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington (MN-WI) |
| HomeAid Atlanta | HomeAid Atlanta | Home building, Homelessness, ending poverty | Atlanta, GA |
| Iconotheatrix | Iconotheatrix | theatre, youth, the arts | Houston, TX |
| International Women’s House | General Sponsorship | domestic violence survivor advocacy | Atlanta, GA |
| Klamath Bird Observatory | Mountain Bird Festival | bird watching, wildlife, habitat conservation, natural science, education | Medford, OR |
| LGBT Center of Raleigh | Out! Raleigh | LGBT, community development | Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC |
| Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter Community | Annual Auction | soup kitchen, homelessness, poverty, ending hunger | Nashua, NH |
| National Black Book Festival | National Black Book Festival | african american culture, the arts, literature | Houston, TX |
| New Women New Yorkers | Winter Bash | Immigrants, Refugees, Immigrant women, Young mothers, Young adults, Women’s empowerment, Professional development, Job training, Leadership development, Community building | New York City, NY |
| Red Wiggler Community Farm | Harvest Celebration & Silent Auction | Sustainable agriculture, health, food production, developmental disabilities | Washington–Arlington–Alexandria (DC-VA-MD) |
| San Diego Coastkeeper | Seaside Soiree | Green, Environmental, marine, wildlife | San Diego, CA |
| Sexual Assault Victim Advocate Center | SAVA Soiree | sexual assault prevention, sexual violence prevention, sexual assault survivor advocacy | Fort Collins-Loveland, CO |
| The Concilio | Annual ¡Vive tu vida! Get Up! Get Moving! | Hispanic, community development, educaiton | Dallas, TX |
| Union Station Homeless Services | Rockin’ for the Homeless 5k | ending homelessness, social services | Los Angeles, CA |
| Uniting NC | Uniting NC | Hispanics, Networking, Spanish Speakers, Latino community, immigrant rights, | Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC |
| Workshop Houston | Reason 2 Race | youth, minorities, education K-12 | Houston, TX |
| YALLA SD | General Sponsorship | refugees, education, college prep, youth sports | San Diego, CA |
From the Matchmakers:
Matchmaker Candice Green selected The Authentic Caribbean Foundation, which works to assist Caribbean children with disabilities, who live in the American Diaspora. The nonprofit, based out of Boston, Massachusetts, provides scholarships for at-school learning disability programs to qualifying children, as well as pediatric disability supply equipment to families under financial strain. The group also facilitates an arts program, which provides training in Caribbean folkloric creative art, speech and dance, working with individuals, groups and selected schools in preserving our rich arts for the overall child’s development.
“I spoke with Andrew Sharpe on the phone and he is a firecracker,” Candice said. “And it turns out we were both born in Kingston, Jamaica. He is so passionate about providing health and education for the Caribbean children and families. He is literally beating down the doors to find funding for his ‘family dem’ as he says.”
Among Matchmaker, Munsie Davis’s selections is the Sexual Assault Victim Advocate Center (SAVA) in Fort Collins, Colorado. The center provides counseling, crisis intervention and advocacy for those affected by sexual violence.
“Organizations like this can have a hard time finding sponsors, from a branding aspect, but this population so deserves to be loved,” Munsie said.
SAVA holds a “turn the town teal” event for Sexual Assault Awareness month in April, as well as a soiree fundraiser each September. But they’re always open to donations or volunteers for their crisis hotline.
Matchmaker and Fulfillment Manager, Claudia Cruz, selected Uniting NC among her choices for Give Love. Uniting NC works with immigrants who now live in North Carolina, to provide a warm welcome and a sense of community to newcomers. Among this organization’s projects is Code the Dream, which provides young immigrants with classes and support to learn technology and coding skills.
“During times of polarization, Uniting NC brings a message of unification and closeness,” Claudia said. “Building diverse and unified communities is what has made America the greatest, always. Our society is a beautiful melting pot and I personally celebrate the efforts of Uniting NC for applying principles such as inclusion and community building in their mission.”
Matchmaker Jasmine George selected the International Women’s House in Atlanta as one of her Give Love organizations.
“This organization helps women that are in difficult situations such as human trafficking, domestic violence, with a focus on immigrant and refugee women and children, cultural sensitivity and self-sufficiency,” she said. “When talking with Kristin [the fundraising director for IWH], she was very passionate about what she does and how she helps these women, even saying that they don’t turn people down.”
Finally, my nominations include Activate Good and YALLA SD, two organizations I’ve previously interviewed. Activate Good is a Raleigh-Durham based nonprofit that helps locals find volunteer opportunities. I’ve learned from working with so many nonprofits, that time and money are both in short supply for local organizations, and groups like Activate Good, who gather and organize volunteers, provide a great service for nonprofits who are in dire need of people-power. YALLA SD, a San Diego-based nonprofit, works with local refugee children to help them overcome new immigrant barriers and catch up with their American classmates. I love the idea behind YALLA SD, which uses soccer to entice kids into tutoring sessions, and whose leaders provide support all the way until helping their students reach college.
From refugees to underserved communities and marginalized populations, we worked to develop a well-rounded list of organizations that serve at the hyperlocal level. If you want to support any of these organizations, please get in touch. And if you’re interested in adding your organization to ZipSprout, sign up (it’s 100% free) here.