Resources for Supporting the Millennium Development Goals

Below are just a few of the many organizations whose work is directed toward achieving at least one of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. All organizations are tax-exempt. Listed first are organizations based in Vermont. The list of national and international organizations that follows the Vermont groups is quite limited and includes some well-known organizations and some less well-known. It is advisable to check on how well an organization of interest uses its money. “Charity Navigator” is one such service, and it is free. www.charitynavigator.org

VERMONT

CHABHA, Children Affected by HIV/AIDS, raises awareness in the U.S. of the plight of children in sub-Saharan Africa affected by HIV/AIDS. It raises funds to support, now, four community-based projects in Rwanda and South Africa. The funds provide for school costs, health insurance, emergency food, home visits, HIV prevention training, vocational training, and leadership development. www.chabha.org.

Fundación Cristosal supports programs in conjunction with the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador. One program is the creation of a self-sustaining community that builds agricultural production and marketing. They have a new school and a potable water project. www.Cristosal.org

The Kagando Foundation works to bring clean water to southwestern Uganda and to provide medicines and equipment for the hospital in Kagando. www.kagando.org

NESEI, New Sudan Education Initiative, plans to build twenty secondary schools in southern Sudan. They have won a World Bank Development competition of $200,000. The first school is scheduled to open in April 2008 and will be open to girls and young women. www.nesei.org.

Vamos raises funds to support projects in Cuernavaca, Mexico that provide food for the hungry, community centers, medical care, training for leaders, and computer training. www.vamos.org.mx

Vermont Kids4Peace brings children, ages 10-12, from the US and Jerusalem together for experiencing reconciliation, transformation, and communion. Jointly led by the Diocese of Vermont, the Ohavi Zedek Synagogue of Burlington, and the Islamic Society of Vermont, the first summer camp was held in 2007 as part of a nine-month program. Vermont Kids4Peace

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Care is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. CARE also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters. www.care.org

Church World Service is the relief, development, and refugee assistance ministry of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States. Working in partnership with indigenous organizations in more than 80 countries, CWS works worldwide to meet human needs and foster self-reliance for all whose way is hard. www.churchworldservice.org

Doctors without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries. www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Earthwatch is an organization that works to determine the effects of climate change on ecosystems around the world and how we can mitigate them. It is four star on charity navigator. www.Earthwatch.org

Episcopal Relief and Development provides emergency assistance in times of disaster; rebuilds devastated communities and offers long-term program development solutions to fight poverty. ERD’s mandate is found in Matthew 25: 37-40. www.er-d.org

Finca International provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living. Their clients include women, who make up 70 percent of the world's poor; individuals unable to find work in the formal sector; families displaced by war and internal conflict; the rural poor; and those affected by chronic poverty. www.villagebanking.org

GAIA, Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, partners with religious organizations in resource-poor countries for community-based HIV prevention and care. These grass roots, village-level projects educate high risk groups about the disease, modify sexual behavior, promote voluntary counseling and testing for HIV, foster the social and economic empowerment of women, care for AIDS orphans, provide home-based care of ill persons, improve nutrition, and reverse the stigmatization of people with AIDS. www.thegaia.org

Global Fund for Children works to advance the dignity of vulnerable children and youth worldwide by supporting and strengthening grassroots groups and harnessing the power of books, films, and photography. www.globalfundforchildren.org

Heifer International provides poor families with animals for a sustainable source of food and income. Recipients promise to share offspring of animals. www.heifer.org

Hope International is a global, faith-based, non-profit organization focused on poverty alleviation through micro-enterprise development. HOPE’s vision is to enable sustainable economic development that results in significant and lasting change, temporal and eternal, in the lives of many people living in poverty. www.hopeinternational.org

International Foundation of Hope The International Foundation of Hope (IFHope) is a US based Non Governmental Organization (NGO) that recognizes and values the tremendous potential of the people of Afghanistan. IFHope has been in Afghanistan since 1998 working in three interrelated areas: economic development, community empowerment, and education. www.ifhope.org

Living Water International is a faith-based organization which brings clean water and medical help to poor people in many countries. Much of the work is done through missions. www.water.cc

Operation Bootstrap Africa Operation Bootstrap Africa is a Minnesota-based, non-profit, inter-denominational organization dedicated to helping people help themselves in a variety of educational programs in Africa. www.operationbootstrapafrica.org

Orbis International is a nonprofit humanitarian organization dedicated to blindness prevention and treatment in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization, 37 million people worldwide are blind — yet 28 million don’t need to be. www.orbis.org

Oxfam America works to end global poverty through saving lives, strengthening communities, and campaigning for change. An affiliate of Oxfam International, Oxfam America works on the scene, helping people gain the hope, skills, and direction to create a new future. www.oxfamamerica.org

Partners in Health now works in Haiti, Peru, and several African countries training and working with community health workers to bring treatment in rural areas to those suffering with AIDS and tuberculosis. www.partnersinhealth.org

Save the Children is an independent, non profit charity helping children in need by creating lasting change to end child poverty around the world. Sponsorship links donors with children. The organization has many other initiatives. One is a campaign to provide education to the millions of children currently not in school to improve schools for millions more, and to make schools safe. www.savethechildren.org

World Hope International works to alleviate suffering and injustice around the world, through education, enterprise and community health in more than 30 countries worldwide. “We network with local churches to create hope and opportunities for the poor and needy.” www.worldhope.org

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