Charity Talks

Joey Savoie, the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Charity Entrepreneurship, is this episode’s guest.  CE’s core mission is to launch high-impact nonprofits by connecting entrepreneurs with effective ideas, training and funding.  As Joey and Brooke discuss, each year CE dedicates hundreds of research hours to identifying the most effective charity ideas.  It then recruits aspiring entrepreneurs, and through its two-month incubation program, provides them with training and funding to turn these idea into high-impact organizations.  CE’s systematic approach has already led to the launch of 32 highly effective charities in the areas of animal welfare, health and development policy, mental health and happiness, family planning, capacity building and health security.  (0:26).

Website:  https://www.charityentrepreneurship.com/

Andrea Goodman, the CEO of I AM ALS, joins Charity Talks.  I AM ALS was founded by Brian Wallach and his wife Sandra after he was diagnosed with ALS in 2017.  ALS is a terminal neurodegenerative disease that robs people of their ability to move, speak, eat, and breathe, usually in less than five years.  Brian and Sandra founded I AM ALS to find a way to empower people who are living with ALS to be a part of finding the solution for their disease.  As Andrea and Brooke discuss, I AM ALS is a patient-led community that provides critical support and resources to those living with ALS, caregivers and their loved ones.  It also empowers advocates to raise mainstream awareness and lead the revolution against ALS in driving the development of cures.  I AM ALS is infusing hope in so many who are suffering from this disease.  (0:30).

 

Website:  https://iamals.org/

Titus Syengo, the Executive Director of Teaching at the Right Level Africa (“TaRL”), is this episode’s guest.  TaRL began as a joint venture between Pratham and J-PAL (whose Global Executive Director — Iqbal Dhaliwal — was a guest on Charity Talks last year).  Its primary goal is to strengthen children’s foundational literacy and numeracy skills by using its evidence-based approach.  As Titus and Brooke discuss, TaRL is supporting governments and organizations in over 14 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, helping them to build the capacity to design, deliver and scale impactful programs.  TaRL’s goal is to help every child across Africa build foundational skills for a better future.  (0:29).

Website:  https://teachingattherightlevel.org/

John Renouard, the Founder and Executive Director of WHOlives, joins Charity Talks.  On a trip to Africa in 2010, John was shocked to see how little access to clean water many villages he visited had.  So, working with college engineering students, he invented the “Village Drill,” which is a low cost, hand-operated water drill, and then started WHOlives.  Since then, WHOlives has helped bring clean, safe water to over 12 million people in 40 countries.  In addition, when John learned that girls were being subjected to female genital mutilation and essentially sold into slavery as “child brides,” he again decided to do something about it.  Working with local police and government authorities, WHOlives has helped support their efforts to enforce the laws prohibiting these appalling practices.  Given the impact John and WHOlives has had, it is not surprising that the American Red Cross presented John with an International Hero Award in 2015.  (0:37). 

 

Website:  https://wholives.org/

Marko Kasic, the Founder of FundLife, is this episode's guest.  FundLife works directly on the ground in the Philippines, where a very high percentage of children live in poverty and without access to the tools to develop flourishing lives.  FundLife has developed a youth-led, community-first approach to ensure that all children there have an equal opportunity.  As Marko and Brooke discuss, through a variety of programs, including education and empowerment, as well as emergency humanitarian programming and peace building, FundLife is helping thousands of children reach their full potential.  (0:26).

 

Website:  https://www.fundlife.org/

Sean Mayberry, the founder and CEO of StrongMinds, joins Charity Talks.  StrongMinds treats depression suffered by women largely in Africa. For African women, depression is a leading cause of disability. Yet, due to the lack of investment in mental health services, approximately 85% of people in low-income countries – if not more – receive no treatment.  As Sean and Brooke discuss, StrongMinds addresses this by providing group interpersonal therapy delivered by lay community health workers.  To date, StrongMinds has provided group talk therapy to approximately 260,000 women and adolescents in Uganda and Zambia. 80% of clients are depression-free after treatment, and those results are sustained six months post-treatment.  As a result of this success, StrongMinds has brought its treatment model to the United States, where it is already getting positive results.  (0:22).

Website:  https://strongminds.org/

Catherine Spencer, the CEO of Cochrane, is this episode’s guest.  Cochrane is a global organization that collaborates to produce trusted health evidence, make it accessible to all, and advocate for its use.  Its work is internationally recognized as the benchmark for high-quality information about the effectiveness of health care.  During the podcast, Catherine and Brooke discuss the process by which Cochrane produces this information, the research groups it has all over the world, and how it communicates its research to health care professionals and the general public.  They also discuss some of the recent impactful research findings Cochrane has made, including, for example, in the area of Parkinson’s disease.  (0:21).

Website:  https://www.cochrane.org/

Dr. James Deutsch, the CEO of Rainforest Trust, joins Charity Talks.  For more than 30 years, Rainforest Trust’s primary mission has been to raise funds in order to make grants in Africa, Asia and South America that preserve and protect land and habitats there.  As James and Brooke discuss, by protecting millions of acres of land, Rainforest Trust is saving endangered species from extinction.  But its impact goes well beyond that.  Rainforest Trust’s work also is helping to ameliorate the effects of climate change, since rainforests keep carbon locked up in their wood and soil, while removing excess CO2 from the air.  It also is empowering indigenous people with the resources to preserve their land and culture.  These are just some of the positive impacts that Rainforest Trust’s conservation efforts have had.  (0:27).

Website:  https://www.rainforesttrust.org/

Princess Padmaja Kumari Parmar, the Founder and President of Friends of Mewar, is this episode’s guest.  Padmaja is the daughter of the House of Mewar, which was founded in 734 AD and is the world’s longest, unbroken serving dynasty.  She founded Friends of Mewar to address three pressing problems - women’s empowerment and education, lack of preventive healthcare, and preservation of Mewar’s cultural heritage.  Over the past ten years, Friends of Mewar’s work in these areas has helped so many people in rural and urban Rajasthan, India.  (0:25). 

Website:  https://www.friendsofmewar.org/

Email:  info@friendsofmewar.org

Michael Chuter, the Chief Executive of Pump Aid, joins Charity Talks.  Pump Aid works primarily in Malawi, and its goal is to achieve lasting positive change in the poorest and most disadvantaged communities there by implementing water, sanitation, and hygiene programs. As Michael and Brooke discuss, over the last twenty years, over 10,000 communities and almost 2 million people have been provided with access to safe, clean water thanks to Pump Aid’s programs.  This access has been life-changing for those communities, and Pump Aid intends to continue its work in the most remote regions of the country until every community has the type of basic access to water that most of us take for granted.  (0:32). 

Website:  www.pumpaid.org