Under the leadership of alumnae Joyce Meng, C’08, W’08, and Jennifer Chen, C’08, W’08, peer-to-peer nonprofit Givology has crowdsourced more than $550,000 for students and projects in developing countries. They cofounded the venture almost nine years ago as seniors in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business because they “wanted to democratize philanthropy.”
The 100-percent volunteer-driven online marketplace allows potential donors to research and connect with grassroots organizations and leverages dollar donations to fund education projects in the developing world. Givology now has 28 chapters globally and nearly 50,000 registered donors.
Joyce recently spoke about the organization’s beginnings, its mission to expand access to educational resources in underprivileged areas, and the importance of education in overcoming gender inequality in an interview for the Inspirational Women Series, a blog launched by Megan Foo, W’19.
“We wanted to work with grassroots organizations with impact-driven models so that we could maximize impact per dollar with innovative, community-driven and led solutions,” Joyce said in the interview.
Rather than focusing on large outfits with well-funded budgets, Givology prides itself on identifying network partners that are local, on-the-ground organizations led by inspirational leaders with deep ties to the community and a proven track record. A number of those partners spearhead projects that focus on making quality education for girls accessible and economic empowerment for women possible.
“That’s one of the most inspiring parts about working with Givology: that each organization has its own model, each has its own story, and whether it’s trying to find the best students and cultivate the next generation of very significant leaders through a top-notch boarding school in Somaliland or developing a very low-cost, very efficient $20-per-child after-school program in rural India to combat poor public education, each is focused on delivering the best results and innovation,” Joyce said.
You can read her full interview with Megan on the Inspirational Women Series blog.
Photo courtesy: Jiashan Wu
Posted: January 4, 2017
