Our Blog
The stories behind the grants
Movies, Personality Tests, and Discovering Our “Why”: A TPP Team Retreat
I want to know what everyone’s favorite movie is,” James West, our Director of Programs, said during lunch on the first day of our recent three-day retreat to Banyan Grove, a Service Space-managed center dedicated to cultivating inner transformation and compassion in Forest Knolls, CA.
Miracles in Motion
TPP works alongside organizations and leaders across the globe. The latest grantees introduced below show that regardless of where we are on the map, world causes trickle or flood into all of our lives. Gender based discrimination that occurs in Malawi is also...
Perfection Is Not the Goal, It’s Action
The greatest lesson I got from this experience is the realization that, while empathy is a beautiful quality, only empathizing with somebody’s pain will drain me, consume me and render me incapable of doing something to help lessen that pain. It’s only when compassion follows that I’m helpful, when I use that empathy as fuel to act.
Finding Zen in Banyan Grove—and Learning How to De-Clutter My “House”
I knew that for about six days, I would be physically quiet (the most physically quiet I had ever been in my life!). I knew that I would sit down and try to focus on my breath for many minutes every day, and that I would probably experience withdrawal symptoms from mindlessly clicking around on my phone.
Creation Comes Full Circle
Serving others can take the form of money, emotional support, counseling, friendship, and education. The forms and methods are nearly infinite, and the resulting impact increases when people create solutions together. TPP supplies grants, belief, and other...
What We Say to Ourselves, We Say to the World
Creating a sense of belonging in our communities and helping others is a purpose and impact we all aspire to achieve, but it is not until we decide to jump in fully, with unshakable tenacity that lives are transformed. The latest TPP Grantees have found the sweet spot...
Collective Change Begins With One
TPP grantees know that every person is a part of the larger whole and it is our individual acts of helping, educating, communicating, welcoming and sharing joy with others that collectively lifts human kind and restores the planet.
Atukunda Eva, Legit Housekeeping And Maintenance Services, Uganda
I appreciate the amazing work you are doing. Your grant has helped make a difference in people's lives. It has helped hopeless women find hope for their future, it has taken children back to school, and it created employment in a country where finding a job is the...
Austin Mustapher, Raise A Hand To Support The Education Of A Girl Child, Zomba, Malawi
The grant was a life changing to the community we served as it has restored hope to the children who almost lost hope for a bright future and this has been made possible with the TPP grant.
Paul Triller, Launchpad, Novi Sad, Serbia
You folks ROCK!!! The Pollination Project process should be the standard that all grant givers use. From the initial application submission through the entire process, all the way to this point...your communication skills are unsurpassed! Thank you
Together We Build An Abundant World
Food insecurity, lack of employment, gender inequality and minimal healthcare resources are issues that plague communities all over the world. These projects prove that everyone can learn a skill to rejuvenate the planet and give voice to others who struggle with similar hurdles.
To change the world, start with what you know
For young people coming of age around the world the search for new opportunities to support themselves and their families often leads them away from the communities in which they grew up. From rural America to northern Nigeria, communities with few jobs and...
Ronald Kasule, APEDIKA Coffee Seedling Production For Livelihood Improvment, Uganda
Working with TPP has been an eye opening experience, not only to persons with disabilities...but also to the mainstream community, service providers, and policy makers...On behalf of the entire APEDIKA membership, I would like to extend our appreciation for the...
Working towards healthy communities for everyone: 14 stories to inspire us all
What does it mean for a community to be healthy and how can we ensure that more communities meet that standard? For the grantees that we celebrate today, there are many different answers but the common thread running through each of these amazing projects is that for...
Together We Are Powerful
Perhaps solving each of these problems seems insurmountable, beyond the scope of what anyone can achieve by themselves. Yet this week we share with you 14 examples of just what is possible when committed, bold community members recognize that their ideas have the power to change even the biggest issues.
Daniel Lanfranco, FoCo Migrante, Santiago, Chile
Thank you very much for helping us (and every other project out there) stay alive, grow, expand, or begin. A world with more funding directed for projects that promote change, equity, and sustainability is needed. We need systems of networks that work for each other,...
Who has the ability to make a difference?
Every day The Pollination Project provides at least one small grant to a community led project around the world. Below are 14 of the latest projects we have been privileged enough to support. Just reading through the names of these project should give you a sense of...
Linnie Pawlek, Financial Literacy For Refugees In Colorado, USA
We are very grateful for the Pollination Project's support. This organization was the first (outside of our first supporters) to believe in our mission. It provided us hope and encouraged us to overcome challenges. As a new non-profit it is often difficult to gain...
Mbuih Zukane Retruyap, Blind Chat, Dschang, Cameroon
The Pollination Project is not biased nor discriminatory in their approach. Everyone, no matter their size, has a chance. Once selected, it takes very limited time to receive your money. The follow-up is more than impeccable, with reminders for report writing and...
It Starts With Communities
The Pollination Project has funded grantees in over 110 countries working on almost any kind of project you can imagine (that almost is important - there’s always room for your idea as well!). And with that broad scope comes the question - what do they have in common?...
Limbi Tata, Mangroves For Tomorrow, Cameroon
Permit me to express my gratitude to the entire TPP Team, not only for the funds, but most importantly for the moral support. I have said this before and I will say it again and again: TPP rocks. I have never felt this much support from any funder before. This has...
Tuấn ĐinhJanelle, Ba Trieu School Of Consciousness, San Jose, CA, USA
This was one of the first grants that supported our work to build a space for young Southeast Asian people in San Jose. It allowed us to build the foundations for a community that is inclusive in regards to racial, sexual, gender, and class identity.
Sabit David Mborikino, Nambazia Community Centre, Yambio, South Sudan
We at Nambazia Community Centre want to thank TPP for granting us this opportunity to start our first project as a grassroots organization. We applaud you for the wonderful and endless support you have given to all the communities in the world...TPP is the best...
Nina Magpili-Smith, The Cultural Tree Healing & Empowerment Workshop, VA, USA
The grant you provided us not only gave us a place to share our voices and be heard, but also sparked experiences that showed us how much we need to continue this endeavor. It also tapped into our collective resilience and strength and heightened our belief that we...
What is Your Unique Contribution to the World?
Though we are bound together by our shared humanity, each of us see the world from a unique perspective that is shaped by our experience– we feel joy for different reasons, we live through different challenges, and, in turn, we dream of changing the world in different...
Juliana Castaneda Turner, Juliana’s Animal Sanctuary, Colombia
We are always thankful for all the support. The sanctuary is succeeding due in large part because of the support of The Pollination Project and this means that the history for animals in my country is changing for the better. All the support The Pollination Project is...
Chetan Padliya, Jal Pari Kyon Dhari Abhiyan, India
TPP is a unique organization that helps a lot of people who want to serve society with their ideas in their own ways...Our project is very unique...it has never been implemented before to my knowledge...TPP is an amazing funding partner. It was really a great...
Dayamudra Dennehy, Lokuttara Communicative English Institute, Kerala, India
Our experience with TPP has been a wonderful opportunity to grow a small program in a sustainable way, responsive to the needs on the ground...We are also very inspired by the network of support through the TPP grantee group on social media. We have made great friends...
Christopher McGilvery, HUGS Book Share Program, TX, USA
I vividly remember receiving my first grant of $1,000 with TPP in December 2013. I finally realized someone believed in my work. It gave me the motivation, inspiration, and love to keep going...I don't think I would be able to be where I am today without the love of...
7 Activists on Community Outreach as a Means of Changing the World
Breaking the Stigma and Discrimination project is working to mitigate discrimination based on sexual orientation, identity, and gender expression within the LGBTI community in the Dominican Republic. They make visible the violations of human rights that often affect...