Our Blog
The stories behind the grants
Jemima Laurent, College Lingual, Newark, NJ
When I first received the email from the Pollination Project stating that they have agreed to fund our project, I was beyond ecstatic. To me, it meant that somebody other than myself believed in College Lingual and its potential. Starting College Lingual was a...
Margaret Grafstein, Restorative Alignment Yoga Classes for Young Women , Oaxaca, Mexico
The grant I received from the Pollination Project spurred me into really taking on this project and turning the idea of doing it into the reality. There were times in the application process when I really didn't believe I would get the grant and I mostly gave up on...
TPP Founder, Ari Nessel in the Daily Good
The Pollination Project: An Interview with Ari Nessel, January 2016 "Deven: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. My name is Deven and I'm your host for our global "Awakin Call". Welcome, and thank you for joining us today. Today, our special guest speaker is...
If you feel like giving up
Sometimes trying to see how we can make a positive impact in the world is daunting. It is easy to feel like we are too small, and that the problems facing our planet are too big and too many, for us to make a difference. It is at these times that we look to our...
Julia Hollins, North Durham Youth Empowerment Project(YEP), Baltimore City, Maryland
You have made a vision a reality. Once I received the funds, I went right to work. I was able to have a 3 day craft making event and I was able to get the grounds prepared for the community garden. I was also able to reach out to community business to get donations...
Topistar Were, Supporting Orphans Through Income-Generating Activities, Kakamega, Kenya
After receiving the grant in October, I started by mobilizing of 20 care takers/care givers of orphans whom we had already identified around sicharayi village and organized them in groups of five people each forming 4 groups and conducted a series of site training...
Geri Gaskin, Animation for Autism: Aiko & Egor, San Diego, California
I am grateful to be a part of the active community associated with The Pollination Project (TPP). The funding from the TPP supported our nonprofit, our product development, and all of the families in the autism community that can download and use the iPad app for...
Linda Sanchez, Fuerza Indígena, Oaxaca, Mexico
Personally the grant has given me the confidence and determination to further carry out this project. At this stage two of the women, and myself, are going through a co-op training to gather the tools and skills necessary to turn Fuerza Indigena into a cooperative run...
Cynthia Frame-Endres, Household Battery Recycling, Erie County, New York
This has been one of the best years of my life: I am starting a meaningful environmental project that people are joining in on, and I am supported by your granting agency, which is filled with the same hope and purpose as I. With added confidence, I have described my...
Christopher White, Future Leaders Today, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The grant made a difference to me personally as it was our first grant and it personally gave me encouragement to push forward with our desire to change lives of at risk youth. Your faith and confidence in Future Leaders Today gave me the continued strength to press...
Cory Brown, Schools of Sustainability, California
Because our project has expanded its scope and the financial requirements have grown so immensely, it might seem that a $1000 grant is not much help. But this is not the case! You were our first grant, at a time when we were just getting going and your grant made a...
Jamila Banks, Youth Earth Club, Los Angeles, California
To some, $1,000 may seem like a drop in the bucket, but for me, it opened the widow of opportunity to change lives, including my own, members of Foster & Banks Walk in Faith Foundation and everyone we have come across. We went from a 3 Person Board to now having...
Phyllis Stuart, Elephant Daze, Los Angeles, California
I consider your $1000 donation as a vote of confidence. It was a small amount of money but it made me less lonely...I felt like I had others who supported this vital cause...and I felt appreciative, which kept me going in the face of so much heartbreak.
Rita Doppenberg, the DIG Nursery, Guatemala
I simply want to say thank you. This project and the seed money you provided not only helped others to have a chance at life, both human and animal... but it helped restore my hope and faith in what I am doing. It has provided me with the drive and fortitude to carry...
Nelly Shella Tchaptcheut Yonga, D’Girls Residential Training Workshop, Cameroon
The grant provided by the pollination project did not only fuel some of the financial resource required to organize the program but help us approach and engage other local businesses and individuals who finally contributed to the project. It served as a major pillar...
Thenmozhi Soundararajan, #dalitwomenfight, India
It was a wind beneath my wings that helped me get traction for the work at a time when I was deeply struggling to have people believe me. I knew this work was important, I knew I had the skills and drive for it to have impact. But I needed someone to believe in me....
Donna DeGennaro, Unlocking Silent Histories, Pennsylvania
The original Pollination Project funds helped to bring alive the power of youth leadership. Over their tenure, our Leaders began to vocalize their desire to focus future films on uncovering their histories and documenting their languages. Through the support of the...
Elle Morgan, The Elements of New Life Scripts, Pennsylvania
We will reach our funding goal. I say, with a smile, and with faith. TPP is the most incredible funding group though, because of this incredible “push” toward the next step that you provide!
Hayu Patria, Our Seeds, Our Future, Indonesia
The way this project developed is beyond our expectation. It was only last year we started this project and now the project have developed into something very big. And we are grateful that The Pollination Project has been always the first one who gave us support so...
Anna Farquhar, Go Baby Go Canadian version, Canada
This project has allowed a bunch of young adults to realize that anything is possible if you work together to find solutions. You helped empower my students to make a difference. This has led many of them to take on advocacy projects within the high schools they now...
Mercy Kananu Mungania, Miomponi Tree Planting Project, Kenya
The grant has given me courage to face the community, thereby igniting their willingness to participate. In fact many neighboring villages are now calling me everyday seeking support with seeds and poly-tubes for them to also participate in tree planting.
Sean Russell, Stow It-Don’t Throw It, Florida
Since I launched the Stow It-Don’t Throw It Project, the greatest challenge I have faced is the continued need for support to meet the growing demand of youth and adults wishing to become involved in this effort. With support from the Pollination Project Youth...
Marcus Muendo, Promoting Conservation of the Environment in Kenya, Kenya
For a long time,my friends and I only talked about the the deforestation in our region but never did anything about it. This grant has thus enabled us to take responsibility by practically starting a project on conserving the environment through tree planting. The...
Carla Buntyn, Compassion for Lives, Louisiana
We were inspired after receiving the grant dollars and reviewing the story in the Huff Post about our services. We shared the successes of receiving the grant from Pollination Project with all of our community partners. I personally felt as if our cause at Compassion...
Adriana Bueno & the BiblioVan – Part 3 of 3
This is the end of my interview with Adriana Bueno, Founder of Habitat Sur, in the Colombia Amazon. She tells us what is ahead, what's working / not working and how we can help. In Part 1 and Part 2 she shared how this colorful “mobile” children’s bookstore/library on...
Adriana Bueno & The BiblioVan Part 2
In Part 1 of this interview with Adriana Bueno, Founder of Habitat Sur, in the Colombia Amazon, she shared how the Bibliovan was born and what she had to overcome to be where she is. Here, she shares what breaks her heart (like tree cutting in the Amazon Rainforest),...
Teresa Njoroge, Clean Start Solutions, Kenya
The publicity that came from making it into the Huffungton Post also gave us more credibility - being in the International Publication - It has opened more doors for me that I am so proud of, for instance I have been invited to the BBC Global Questions Programme -...
Daisy Ozim, 13th Goddess, Oakland, Californoa
TPP has actually helped me step up to my role as a young woman of color owning a business and uplifting the image and status of my community. I have more faith in the work that I’m doing and I feel so sure that I will be able to accomplish everything that I have...
Lavonnia Kincade Lee, Project Care, Longwood, Florida
This grant has made a difference to me personally because I feel like someone believed in me and my idea. I have had the opportunity to see my dream and goal come alive. I am able to help others who may be having a hard time, a hard time that I have experienced...
Jason Mass, Student Artist Volunteer Experience, New York, New York
This grant allowed us to begin to fully realize our vision, and the knowledge that The Pollination Project was believing in us consistently gave us inspiration to keep going— I can’t express how powerful this is when starting something from nothing to know that there...























