Our Blog
The stories behind the grants
News From the Resilience & Recovery Fund
This month, The Pollination Project’s Resilience & Recovery fund will turn two years old. It was born in the early days of the pandemic, conceived out of an understanding of the importance of community-led, grassroots responses to unforeseen emergencies. We...
One Man Recycles Trash to Create Healthy Food and Feed a Town
The Mushroom Guy. That is the name the community has given to him. It might have something to do with the jacket he wears as it has a giant mushroom on the back but more than likely, it has to do with the fact that Jake Garza has done something extraordinary - he’s...
Inspiring Young People to Apply Design Thinking to Social Issues
As a young girl, AnnaLise Hoopes felt overwhelmed by all the problems in the world and continually asked herself, “What can I do with my one life to make the most impact?” The answer would arrive in college, when she learned of humane education—using education as a...
Journeying Together
Dear Friends, I want to thank you for the warm messages I have received from so many of you during this, my first full week as Executive Director of The Pollination Project. It goes without saying that I am deeply humbled and honored to have the immense privilege of...
Raising the Voices of Indigenous People in an Effort to Save Our Planet
When Abdel Mandili, a filmmaker from the Netherlands, returned home after working on a project that documented the threats that Indigenous people were facing in a battle over palm oil in Indonesia, he hoped things would change. However, in speaking with community...
One Inspiring Program Empowering Women Entrepreneurs
When two, talented women with a love of technology and entrepreneurship came together to create a program that would inspire young Nigerian women to further their education and develop entrepreneurial skills, they had no idea how many lives they would positively...
Transitions
It was nearly ten years ago when I found myself at a crossroads. After years of monastic life - the only world I had known as an adult - I felt a pull in my heart that it was time to move on. I didn’t know what the future held, but I knew that I had grown as much as I...
Dancing with the Natural World
Imagine dancing upon a beautiful, wooden dance deck that lives among a lush landscape of gardens and trails on a warm summer afternoon. The sun kisses your skin as you move across the floor and through the space exploring the connection between your body and the...
Doing Nothing Is Easy
To see something takes little effort. And when we see something, doing nothing is easy. Part of the problem we have in today's times is that we have lost view of the inherent agency each and everyone of us have to be agents of change. It’s become far too easy to do...
Hope Floats on the Wings of a Butterfly
Perhaps it was witnessing her mother’s commitment to environmental politics and the work she did for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley’s Solar Committee in the 1970’s that inspired her. Or it might have been her own personal experience of saving a chrysalis - the hard...
One Woman’s Inspiring Journey to Provide Access to Education for Children in Nigeria
The Beyond the Classroom Foundation, an incredible volunteer-driven nonprofit working to improve access to education for children and reproductive health education for girls in marginalized communities in Nigeria, was founded by Raquel Kasham Daniel. When varying time...
The Heartivist Legacy of Thich Nhat Hanh
Last week, the prolific author and thinker Thich Nhat Hanh died; although in penning that sentence I recognize he would take offense to the very idea. He did not believe in death, once writing: This body is not me. I am not limited by this body.I am life without...
Virtual Animal Advocates Retreat
May what I’m about to do yield favorable results. May it give me the capacity to benefit others. May it help me overcome ignorance and limitation. May it clear away all obstacles on the path. May it lead me to the union of wisdom and compassion. OM AH HUM SO’HA So...
Compassion in Action: Saving One Wildlife Animal at a Time
Gretchen Strate had always loved animals but witnessing a terrifying incident inspired a far deeper connection to them, one that would change her life forever. On her way to a wedding reception, Gretchen watched as a car in front of her intentionally ran over a flock...
Meet Me in the Greenhouse
Much of our world is oriented around accumulation of financial capital. Even in the non-profit sector, where our service flows from altruistic intentions, the continuous need for fundraising pulls our work back squarely into the exhausting, unceasing capitalist...
TogetherWell: Listening & Empowering the Community to Increase Access to Mental Health Education
Dr. Michele Haley has a beautiful and distinctive ability to make people feel seen. The way she leans in to listen with her heart and extends genuine kindness with her thoughtful words opens the door to meaningful connections that foster healing and growth. Combine...
An Invitation to Dream Big Opens the Door to Lasting Change
When the Napalese Lounge and Grille in Green Bay, Wisconsin decided to install a public art mural to foster pride and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and host a modest celebration in its honor, they had hoped it would encourage cooperation and collaboration among...
New Year’s Evolution
I must admit, I am not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. I appreciate setting positive intentions, continual improvement, and self-reflective efforts to be a better human. However, I find the idea of rigid timelines and lofty goals counterproductive and in some...
2021: Projects & Changemakers
Dear Pollination Nation, As we approach the end of 2021, we’re taking a moment to pause as we look back on the work of the everyday heroes that we’ve had the honor to serve this year. Hundreds of inspiring individuals around the globe took action in making their ideas...
A Compassionate Dialogue to Change the World for Generations to Come
While working on her Masters degree in 2019, Greshma Pious Raju had an amazing opportunity to do an internship with Earth Charter International, an organization located in the middle of a forest in Costa Rica. One afternoon, Mirian Vilela, the Executive Director,...
Diane Callaway: Life is Delicious
Faith in the Unknown Inspires One Woman to Make Life More Delicious for All Faith is what it takes to follow your heart into unknown spaces hoping that you will find your way; Diane Callaway’s life is a beautiful illustration of what happens when you take that leap....
A New Story for a Forgotten Animal
When Tracey Glover was seven, she and her Dad surprisingly stumbled upon kittens in a flower nursery. The owner told them that they were welcome to take them and offhandedly commented that if they didn’t, they’d simply be put in bags with rocks and thrown into the...
A Thank You from Our Hearts to Yours
Each week, we choose a changemaker to feature whose actions and intentions are creating a kinder, more compassionate world. This week, we want to flip the script. Our changemaker of the week is you. Without our friends and global neighbors, there would be no...
Sharing is Caring
"Sharing is caring" is a common phrase, yet it carries a rather uncommon meaning. A meaning that is powerful and extremely important for us to understand. To truly express the deepest caring, one must express it through the act of sharing. To share means to give...
A Voice for the Voiceless Creates Space for Wildlife to Flourish
At the age of seven, Jeremy Gregory wanted more than anything to save the harp seals and blue whales. With the support of his parents, he ventured around his neighborhood conducting his first fundraising efforts; however, they would not be his last. Having grown up in...
The Greatest Gift
The highest expression of humanity is the spirit of serving others. In my humble opinion, our existence is inseparable from the concept of service. Everyone is serving someone or something - a nation, cause, family, one's self. Service that is directed inwards; seeks...
Perfectly prepared
When I entered highschool, I was blessed to have a wonderful home room teacher who went above and beyond by sharing life lessons with us. One thing he would often say was, “Perfect preparation prevents poor performance.” Often we long for spontaneity and to live in...
One Extraordinary Alzheimer’s Organization Adapted to Challenges and Touched Even More Lives
When Lydia Guo joined National Alzheimer’s Buddies (NAB) as a neuroscience student at Wellesley College, she had no idea what a profound effect it would have on her life. Working with an Alzheimer’s patient who was largely non-verbal meant that Lydia had to be...
A Powerful Voice Leading the Fight Against Diabetes
Bridget Saffold, a registered nurse and Superhero in the fight against diabetes, is working hard to care for diabetic patients both close to home in Iowa and across the country. With her first grant from The Pollination Project, Bridget hosted the Cedar Valley Focus...
#PreparedToServe Campaign – More than a feeling
How do you define care? According to the dictionary, the definition is, ‘the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something.’ Care, much like its companion love, is more than a feeling. Care is an active...