Peace Corps Related Charities

Many people wonder how they can help the Peace Corps cause without having to devote more than two years of their time. An easy answer would be to make a donation to various charities that work with the Peace Corps. During my time in Africa I had first-hand experience with the following sources and found them to be of a high quality.
Any of the following would be a good potential donation...

Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP)

PCPP Website

Sometimes a volunteer wants to do a project which cannot be funded entirely in-country. One place they can turn is the Peace Corps Partnership Program. After an application with a clear project plan and schedule followed by an approvals project, their project will go up on the PCPP website where it can receive donations. 

There are various stringent requirements to make it onto the PCPP system and there is a lot of accountability to ensure that the money is spent where it is supposed to be. There are also requirements as to what amount required must be contributed by the host community.

You can use the PCPP website to search for projects using the volunteer's name, host country or project emphasis.

Mother Bear Project

Mother Bear Website 

This is a great project which helps to bring joy to disadvantaged children throughout the world who have been affected by HIV. Volunteer knitters from across the world knit teddy bears. They attach a simple tag to each bear that reads "With Love, Mother Bear" and the name of the knitter. The Mother Bear Project then sends boxes of these bears around the world where they can be distributed to the kids. The Project's goal is to show the children that there is some definite person in the world that loves them and cares about them.

The cause is very sweet and pure and the website has a load of pictures of smiling kids with their new teddy bears. For 10 dollars you can sponsor a bear and it will be sent with your name attached so some grateful child somewhere in the world.

KLM Foundation

KLM Website

This organisation was started by a former South Africa Peace Corps Volunteer. Its purpose is to send extremely bright but disadvantaged children to one of the best private secondary schools in the country in order to get a fantastic education which will create innumerable opportunities for their futures. The goal is for these learners to come back to their communities later in life with their assumed larger resources and help spur on development in those areas.

The organization hand picks one young learner each year to send to Uplands College after extensive interviewing of candidates. Their selection criteria is explained on their website.

Books for Africa

BFA Website 

This group sends shipments of books to Africa just as the name suggests. Books on the continent are rather hard to come by and amazingly expensive. Therefore it is difficult for schools and communities to put libraries together. My secondary school received something around 2,000 books from this organization which really filled out our library.

You can donate books or funds which will go toward shipping and other costs.

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*Note: I provide these charities only for your reference and consideration because I have firsthand experience working with them. There are hundreds of worthwhile organizations that do good in the world and many will be able to do great things with your generosity.