Virginia Gildersleeve International
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May 17, 2012
The virginis Gilldersleeve International Fund (Vgif) is a powerful force for change in the status of women and children through its activities which have impacted communities and brought smiles to faces, hope and changed lives through its humanitarian activities. It also provides privileged voluntary opportunities of service for those who have a passion for humanity and cannot get a chance to give back to society in their little ways. As a volunteer I came across people who vgif has funded to improve the lives of; street girls, girls in communities where FGM is practised as a cultural activity, widows, orphans and vulnarable children, small businesses and land rights. Through visits to these communities I came across faces of gratitude and love because vgif had revived their shattered dreams after some of their horrifying experiences among them the post election violence victims in Kenya. These women groups found hope and comfort in each other through their activities. I commend vgif for making a difference and being a light in the world with members who have hearts that are willing to serve. They need support in their tireless fundraising efforts to get donations from would be supporters to help them keep community projects running and sustainable.
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Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Life-changing
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
May 17, 2012
I am honored to be a Board member of VGIF an organization dedicated to the empowerment of women in under developed countries. This year we will be giving thirty some grants to enable women to support themselves in small vilages in countries like Africa and India. For instance they will be able to purchase goats, a cow or sewing machines which will enable them to be self suporting and to pass on new skills to their children..
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Will you volunteer or donate to this organization beyond what is required of board members?
Definitely
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
Will you tell others about this organization?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
March 19, 2011
I recently joined VGIF and had the privlege this year of reading grant proposals. This review opportunity gave me a first hand experience of the need for funding to enable opportunities for small groups of women to get a chance to learns skills to enhance their chance for financial independence and to find avenues to sell their products.
I have been impressed with the mission, leadership and accomplishments of this organization.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
N/A
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
N/A
May 15, 2012
The Virginia Gildersleeve International has been in the forefront in giving grants to help people particularly in the grassroots. The organisation also does all in its powers to make sure that the grassroots actually do benefit from the grants. I have had to be involved in contacting people even in war torn areas for the assessment of such projects.
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How does this organization compare with others in the same sector?
Very Well
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
Will you recommend this organization to others?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
May 15, 2012
As a long-time member of and donator to the Virginia Gildersleeve, I am a strong supporter of their goals to improve Women's lives throughout the world - solutions, not short-term remedies.
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Will you volunteer or donate to this organization?
Definitely
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
May 15, 2012
The VGiF specializes in giving small grants to women's grassroots organizations in developing nations. The members of the board are hardworking individuals, very devoted to providing aid for women's groups to work on projects which they have designed and which they lead.
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Will you volunteer or donate to this organization beyond what is required of board members?
Definitely
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
Will you tell others about this organization?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
March 16, 2011
As a board member and committee member over several years, I have seen how the Virginia Gildersleeve is dedicated to improving the lives of women and children around the globe.
Several years ago I traveled to Ecuador with a friend. She introduced me to a group of women doctors who were setting up educational health services and training programs for young women in Quito. They needed funding, and I suggested they apply for a VGIF grant. It was exciting to see that their grant received funding, and these very dedicated doctors were able to carry out the good work they had planned.
I was also able to visit grant recipients and hear their stories in Nepal and India. Watching children studying in a school in Kolkata, which VGIF helped to build, was heartwarming. In Nepal, the Nepalese Women's Association invited us to their meeting place to hear how VGIF grants enabled projects in farflung villages. Meeting grant recipients adds a unique dimension to the reports filed to update VGIF on projects in process.
Photos
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
Meeting and talking with grant recipients in a variety of countries encourages me to help spread the word of the good work of VGIF. Telling others about the projects, and showing slides of some of the projects generates enthusiasm in others to help with the VGIF mission.
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
Encourage more donor/members! VGIF has members from around the world, but more countries should be represented. Similarly, there are many underserved countries who could learn about the grants available, in order to apply for help in their projects to aid the lives of women and children.
May 13, 2012
VGI empowers women by providiing them with the start-up money to become self-sufficient (micro-loans). It is a formula that has been very sucessful around the world in making women and their families stronger and healthier. I was given a membership several years ago, and became interested in their work. They send women to their projects all over the world to mentor and monitor them. Their newsletter is very informative, describing the varous projects they support. As a woman, I am proud to support VGI and its important work to raise the status of women, particularly in developing countries.
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Was your donation impactful?
Definitely
How likely is it that you would recommend that a friend donate to this group?
Definitely
How likely are you to donate to this group again?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
May 13, 2012
VGIF has helped me over the years by giving me confidence and encouragement to do the work, I'm doing in Sri Lanka. Since the tsunami of 2004 I have organized women at Hikkhaduwa, Dodanduwa to get their livelihoods on tract. Thay lost everything in the tsunami. Firstly, I had to help by making sure the families had food & water and medical care as most women and children were hit by the debris. Most of the houses in this are were intact but there was nothing inside the house as it got washed away. It wa sto the VGIF that I looked for my strength.These village people are fishermen and women. They catch fish or they sell it. My husband and I were holidaying in Sri lanka when the tsunami hit. With help from our family and friends in Western Australia we were able to get most of the fishing boats fixed very quickly as that was an important livelihood for that area. We then concentrated on the women as some of them lost their husbands , children in the tsunami. We supplied sewing machines, material for sewing, crochet thread, so that women can continue their crocheting and sell them to shops in the area as well as sell them at Colombo.We bought fridges, cook tops, for the women who had a shop and sold food as their livelihood. Most of all we gave them hope for the future by building a pre School for children. We had to rent a house at first, then we built a pre school on borrowed land. Now we have started building a Pre-School for the children of Galle, on the land that we have bought. We have3 trained teachers and 1 cook as we give these children a cup of milk when they arrive and give them lunch before they leave, as this will be their only meal sometimes. The Graduate Women of WA, gave a scholarship to the head teacher of the Pre school to follow a pre-school course here in Perth. She has finished it and gone back with new ideas she can do at the pre school. We had 4 teachers coming from Papua NewGuinea for the course as well. I managed to Promote VGIF at these functions by talking about the great work done by them in Asia as well as south America and other countries. I also had pamphlets about the VGIF which I had collected when I went for the IFUW conference in Mexico city. I learnt about the VGIF a lot as I saw videos about the work they do. We get help from St. Michael's Mt.Pleasant Perth, as the people drop a few coins into a bowl every week. Once a month we send this money to pay the salaries of the teachers. I organised a fund raising Sri Lankan Banquet recently catering for 110 people. We made $AUD 4,500 that night which we shared between Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka Pre Schools. Please carry on the wonderful work you do all over the world. VGIF is a great inspiration to all of us who struggle to find donations.
The Great!
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
Yes, I have at the IFUW conference in Mexico City.
Ways to make it better...
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
send out more information and videos to people who work in South Asia and South East Asia.
More feedback...
Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Life-changing
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
What one change could this group make that would improve your volunteer experience?
By encouragement and sending more flyers to people who work in these areas.
Did your volunteer experience have an effect on you? (teaching you a new skill, or introducing new friends, etc.)
My volunteer experience is helping me today to be confident with the work I do, as well as at the talks I give in West Australia. I have certainly made friends with VGIF members.
How did this volunteer experience make you feel?
I feel I'm doing even a little thing to change the world they live in for women and children in this area.
May 12, 2012
I served on the Board in the 1990's and saw first hand wgat a wondeful job Virginia Gildersleeve does in empowering women in the world. It helps women to establish businesses where this would otherwise be impossible . It has its donors women from many countries who help to keep an eye out for those who need our help. I have continued since my time on the Board to dupport the VGIF with contributions and voting by proxy at the annual meeting.
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Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Some
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
May 12, 2012
VGIF has helped many women attend and benefit from international conferences where they have shared experiences and learned from their colleagues. My experience of this was in helping IFUW organise its 2007 conference where a number of women were only able to join us because of the generosity of VGIF in providing travel grants. Their inclusion provided inspiration not only for them on returning to their own countries but also to the rest of us - we would have been the poorer for not meeting them all!
More feedback...
Was your donation impactful?
Definitely
How likely is it that you would recommend that a friend donate to this group?
Definitely
How likely are you to donate to this group again?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
May 11, 2012
I have been a member of the Non Profits Organization, the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund, a Project Grant funding body based in New York, with members across the globe, who volunteer their time and services towards its vision and mission, to empower women in the grassroots section of society, underprivileged, victims of conflict zones, disease and poverty. Applications for grants start coming in through the post or through our website from the month of May until end August. The two tier system both in the application, and reading/reviewing the grant applications is spread thereafter until the end of March the next year.With our funds not exceeding 150,000 dollars for disbursement, we are not a huge grant providing organization, but the $7500 we give at the maximum to any of the grantees provides the kick start for the women-based organization get going into programs towards literacy and computer education, providing water and toilets for girls in schools, animal husbandry, kitchen gardens, skill learning for self employment for teenage girls, empowering women through knowing their legal rights in countries where patriarchal laws deny them rights towards inheritance or maintenance after divorce although their government's conbstitution would have these rights in the llaw courts. Ignorance proves to be a great stumbling block for women in several developing countries across the world.For the Grant Readers which I was for several early years at VGIF, it was a self-education for myself, getting to know the plight of women in countries of which I knew very little inspite of various advanced degrees at the University.Reading over a 100 applications is a long and slow process , very intense in concentration is required to do justice to each application, and then when your work is done and you post your reviews, you wait anxiously to await the Board's final verdict after a marathon 3 days of discussions at the AGM in April in New York.I have travelled from India to New York to be present at these Project Grants Committees Review sessions when the reading from several members from across the world is assessed for its value, and taken seriously for a Yes or No.The satisfaction on the final day of the Board meeting when the final 20 or so Grants make the Grade to receive the Funds is one of great satisfaction, when over the years one's grading and reviewing also mproves in its quality, and you find more and more of your own selected applicants having received the Final Grant money that will give them the power to improve their lives towards a better future. Monitoring the grantees over the years through Site visits by VGIF members who are travelling through that region gives us the Feed back to our own insight of having chosen a deserving group of women who just need that slight help forwards to give them an edge to a better dignity in life.For the VGIF member nothing could give greater satisfaction than that little information that in some corner of the world women and children are doing well through their reading and approving a Grant Application. VIVA VGIF!!
More feedback...
Would you volunteer for this group again?
Definitely
For the time you spent, how much of an impact did you feel your work or activity had?
Life-changing
Did the organization use your time wisely?
Very Well
Would you recommend this group to a friend?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2011
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