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 believed that our existing network of nearly 5,000 volunteer community leaders could be vital catalysts of activated compassion; that they could mobilize quickly, work without bureaucracy or red tape, and that the power of their existing relationships and love for their communities would amplify even small amounts of financial support.
Since that time, we have been able to channel our community’s generosity to support 327 Resilience & Recovery projects in 28 countries. These efforts were highly effective, quickly deployed, and made efficient use of seed grants of just $1,000. A review found that each supported project served an average of 1,049 humans or non-human animals and mobilized 150+ hours of additional volunteer service. The Resilience & Recovery fund is unique in that it acts as a complement to large-scale humanitarian aid by harnessing a truly powerful force: the love and care that ordinary individuals have for their neighbors and communities.
This week, we funded our first projects in response to the crisis in Ukraine. They included a team setting up free vegan community kitchens in abandoned restaurants in Ukraine, and an activist transporting families from Ukraine to his village in Italy, where a welcoming community waits to help support them in the months ahead. Now more than ever, we are honored to uplift these individual actions that so decisively affirm our shared humanity. There is power in community, and in the days ahead we will do all we can to be of service during these challenging times.
If you would like to apply to the Resilience & Recovery Fund, click here.
If you would like to donate to the Resilience & Recovery Fund, click here.
