The 2006 "Turn It Up" Grant Recipients

These grants are for visionary nonprofit organizations that are customizing their use of Salesforce.com technology to support their ability to implement their social change mission.

United States

Fund for Public Schools New York City, New York, New York

The Fund for Public Schools works to attract private investment in school reform, which includes working to secure critical funding for system-wide education reform initiatives; facilitating strategic public-private partnerships; managing a targeted set of programs to support city schools; and building citywide public awareness.  This grant will facilitate the development of  data-driven professional learning communities in the New York City public school Autonomy Zone. This is the first step towards engaging teachers in the regular collection, analysis and use of data to drive instruction and decision-making in schools.

Nonprofit Enterprise and Self-sustainability Team (NESsT), Turlock, California

NESsT works to solve critical social problems in emerging market countries by developing and supporting social enterprises that strengthen civil society organizations' financial sustainability and maximize their social impact. The NESsT “Turn It Up” project will coincide with the NESsT Venture Fund’s expansion from seven countries to over 20 in three continents, and will enable them to leverage innovative technology to efficiently manage this transition. NESsT staff will be better able to tailor information for their funders and find accurate nonprofit matches for their funding priorities.

HelpArgentina, New York, New York

HelpArgentina is a US-based foundation that promotes philanthropy by connecting individuals, businesses, and foundations around the world with organizations within the Argentine social sector to empower the local community.The focus of this grant is to enable the training of leading Argentine nonprofits that are currently ill-equipped to build a constituency and raise needed funds from a loyal donor base.Thus, with the use of Salesforce.com and other tools, HelpArgentina is in a unique position to help worthy nonprofits capitalize build sizeable and lucrative, yet dispersed, donor networks.

2006 Mission Support Grant Recipients

Europe

PhotoVoice, London, United Kingdom

PhotoVoice is dedicated to bringing attention to, raising awareness and improving the lives of some of the most marginalized groups in the world through the use of the startling images and stories they themselves have taken and created. This grant will enable them to work with Jerusalem-based NGO, The Parents Circle, to develop a photographic dialogue between young Israelis and young Palestinians who have lost family members in the ongoing conflict. The project will begin in July 2006; PhotoVoice will train local facilitators and hold workshops; throughout the following year the young people will document their lives using digital cameras. In fall 2007, an exhibition of the work will be held in Jerusalem and London with a possible touring exhibition around the Middle East during 2008.

Thembanathi, Mahlanya, Swaziland

Thembanathi supports South African organizations caring for orphans and other vulnerable children in communities impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Thembanathi also works to provide economic opportunities for poor South Africans, mostly women, in HIV/AIDS-affected communities by supporting several local income generation projects in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. In With this grant, Thembanathi will establish after-school care for primary and high school students to address both the rapid spread of HIV and the increasing number of orphans and vulnerable children without care. The after-school program will integrate technology and care to give children both the necessities they need to survive in their present situation and the skills they need to succeed in the future. This grant will provide computers, internet access, and digital cameras, with which they will create a film about HIV prevention to illustrate the dangers of risky behavior through digital photography.

Dublin YMCA, Dublin, Ireland

The City of Dublin YMCA, founded in 1849, is the second oldest YMCA in the world. They offer a wide variety of services to the community at large, including youth programs, job training, short- and long-term accommodation, sports and fitness training, dance classes, childcare, transitional housing and much more. This grant will set up a revenue-generating Internet Cafe in the lobby of the YMCA as a resource for residents and  students of the STEP program\. Any income generated will be injected back into the YMCA’s youth service program to fund facility upgrades and  programs.

St. Joseph’s School for the Visually Impaired, Dublin, Ireland

St. Joseph’s School for the Visually Impaired provides training and education of blind and partially sighted children and young adults. This grant will supply specialized computer equipment for visually impaired children, enabling them to explore technology.

FOCUS, Janus Foundation, North London, UK

The Janus Foundation aims to give disadvantaged youth and access to creative opportunities that surpass those available from state services. This grant will fund the FOCUS project, which will be a learning hub for disadvantaged youth between the ages of 12 and 19 within North London who want to explore film, music, interactive and new media, and the creative world of art and performance as a means of expression. The project will provide creative workshops, personal mentoring and individualized training.

Middle East

Machshava Tova, Jerusalem, Israel

Machshava Tova works to provide computer centers in less-privileged neighborhoods, allows individuals to acquire basic computer skills and, as a result, empowers them to build a different future for themselves and their families. Machshava Tova work particularly with youth from orthodox families who are at a high risk of drug abuse and involvement in crime. They are also dedicated to creating a collaborative group of Jews and Muslims who will attend video classes and make shared video pieces.

Asia Pacific Region

Kamonohashi Project, Japan/Cambodia

The Kamonohashi Project is committed to pursuing a solution to the problems of child prostitution and poverty in Cambodia.  Specifically, by offering vocational-training and employment opportunities for the poor in Cambodia, they provide income generating opportunities for families and in doing so, a measure of stability. A stable income means that a child can go to school, free from the danger of being sold into prostitution. This grant will empower students with the technology tools and expertise to find sustainable jobs. Following an initial grant in 2004-2005, this year's grant is supporting the establishment of a new IT lab and a 5 month training program for 200 youth.

Tabunka Kyosei Center, Tokyo, Japan

Tabunka Kyosei is a Japanese nonprofit whose goal is to foster multiculturalism and diversity and to support communication across linguistic and cultural divides. Its activities focus on migrant families and in particular on children and teenagers, who often face painful experiences as they try to integrate to the Japanese school system. The project funded by this grant will allow eight migrant children to create video works depicting their lives, challenges and hopes from a personal perspective. In addition to being publicly screened, the films will be accessible online, both individually and in a 20 minute edited version. By placing technological tools in the hands of migrant youth, and by encouraging them to share their experiences, the project hopes to make these children's voices heard more broadly within Japanese society.

Minsai Center, Tokyo, Japan

Minsai Center is a Japanese nonprofit supporting education programs in Thailand and Laos. After funding the purchase of IT equipment for a rural school in Northern Thailand in 2005, this grant will allow a second school to be similarly equipped. Computer and internet training courses will be offered in conjunction with the school’s agriculture curriculum.The project will allow students and their communities to use technology to communicate efficiently and to share their knowledge.

KIDS, Tokyo, Japan

For the third consecutive year, a grant will support the realization of a video project under the tutelage of KIDS, an organization working with underprivileged youth in Japan. In order to address the situation of children and teenagers growing up in orphanages, KIDS provides creative and therapeutic outlets through the making of documentary films. This year, one high school student and two junior high school students will work as a team to design, direct, and edit their film, which will then be accessible online. The making of the film will be an opportunity for the entire community—children, staff, and others involved—to reflect on life within the institution.

Project 180 - Fei Yue Community Center, Tampines, Singapore

Project 180 is a youth center, under the umbrella of Fei Yue Community Services, working to transform the lives of youth and their families through a guidance program, ecounseling and a new media program. This grant will enable the creation of an educational website  for youth throughout Singapore. The site is monitored and facilitated by counselors who encourage young participants to connect, share their concerns and ideas, and ask for advice. Through blog development, eforums and ecounseling, Project 180 seeks to build bridges across generations.

United Nations World Food Programme

This grant will contribute to funding WFP's Indonesia Protracted relief and recovery operations—(PRRO) 10069.1: "Assistance to Tsunami and Earthquake Recovery and Nutritional Rehabilitation in Indonesia."