The Virtual Foundation®
Building Global Civil Society by Connecting Donors
with Community Projects Worldwide
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The Virtual Foundation is a project of ECOLOGIA
The Virtual Foundation® / ECOLOGIA
PO Box 268, Middlebury Vermont 05753 USA
Telephone 1-802-623-8075.
E-mail: cschmidt@ecologia.org

What is the Virtual Foundation?


The Virtual Foundation is a unique philanthropy program which supports grassroots initiatives around the world. Carefully screened community improvement projects are posted on our web site. They can be read and funded by donors.

All Virtual Foundation projects:

  • meet needs with a combination of volunteer labor, local contributions, and outside assistance
  • solve local problems of environment, human health, poverty alleviation or economic development
  • are supervised by our network of Consortium Members (capable organizations on the ground in the developing countries)
  • meet locally identified needs directly and on an appropriate, sustainable scale

More about how the Virtual Foundation works...

For more on the ideas and experiences of ECOLOGIA, and reflections on the power of community-based grants, see "From the Baltic Mini-Grant Program to the Virtual Foundation: Small Grants and Global Change".

January 2010
Featured Project

"TAIGA ALIVE!
Totem Project 2010"

Region Mongolia, Central Asia

Budget: $28,340; Collected: $19,225

Goal: To provide critical direct aid, capacity training and native rights support to people of the mountain, taiga forest and steppe grassland cultures; to maintain and enhance their traditional nomadic lifestyles of reindeer, yak and camel breeding, hunting and gathering in their native homelands... ...read more.

Comment: ABC World News traveled with Totem Project founder Dan Plumley to interview and film the Dukha reindeer herders. View the September 28, 2009 ABC World News broadcast at: http://www.abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=Dukha%20Reindeer%20Herders.

Progress Report:
China Earthquake Relief -
Loans for Village Rebuilding

Region: Sichuan Province, China
Collected: $52,338
Goal: Working through existing contacts in Sichuan Province, ECOLOGIA organized and implemented a sustainable re-building loan program in response to the May 2008 earthquake. Our quick action just after the earthquake, and continued support for survivors struggling to rebuild, became a model for the entire region.

Comment: We used this opportunity to seed the creation of community funds. Reconstruction and repair loans are being repaid to the community trust fund that is beingused to promote environmentally and socially sustainable development.... continued

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