Global wealth is higher than at any point in the history of humankind. Meanwhile, nearly 750 million people, nearly one-tenth of the world’s population, live in extreme poverty. COVID-19 will significantly increase this number. If there has ever been a time to disrupt the status quo, the time is now. In 2019, World Connect again saw what is possible when progress starts with local ideas and leadership. With an investment of $663,670 in 153 communities across 25 countries, we saw 92% of completed community-led projects achieve their vital development objectives.
One of the biggest assets that exists within the most challenged communities is resilience. In the miles young people walk to school, in the woman who dreams her whole life to launch a business, in health care providers who deliver babies by flashlight, we see and support resilience. World Connect’s support enables a community to it's their resilience into action that improves health, education, economy, and the environment.
World Connect taps the large reservoirs of resilience and talent in the Global South and turns that potential energy into kinetic energy with catalytic investment. We invest in those with the biggest stakes in their own progress and change. We see capacity where others have often seen only need, we start with a success frame. World Connect matches essential resources with essential spirit and turns resilience into progress.
Letter From Leadership
World Connect Executive Director Pamela Nathenson, Kallpa Warmi Founder Marisol Peñaloza, and World Connect Board Chairman George Biddle in Sayausí, Ecuador. Marisol launched an indigenous women's cooperative that has increased income for its members and launched Marisol's political career.
Dear Friend of World Connect,
In these unprecedented times, when collective action is most needed to fight injustice and advance systemic change, many of us feel lost. We are stranded in place because of the pandemic, psychologically and economically constrained. The pandemic deferred, and in some cases dashed, so many hopes and dreams. Its impact is compounded for communities of color by systems and centuries of inequity.
The theme of our 2019 Annual Report is RESILIENCE because not only do we see it in every community we work in, resilience is the world’s lifeline right now. We won’t glorify resilience because it is hard and often borne out of necessity, but resilience is instructive. When women carry water for miles, students walk to school over mountains and through traffic, and doctors deliver babies by flashlight, they tell us that anything is possible. As we wear masks, adapt businesses, teach our children from home, and join together with our communities to support the most vulnerable, we too see resilience born out of necessity, showing us what is possible.
World Connect launched 153 new projects in 2019. 92% of our partner communities who have completed projects achieved their goals, with many others ongoing and reporting significant success, in spite of the pandemic. As you will read in our first virtual interactive annual report, these projects improved learning environments, kept girls in school, increased water access, launched new women-led businesses, improved food security and the environment, and increased safe deliveries of babies. In addition to the outcomes of these projects, we also celebrate the compound impact of the way we work. By investing directly in local talent, we see new leaders rise, confidence in local capacity grow, and communities uniting to lead their own progress.
We thank our supporters and our implementing partners for your confidence, trust, and collaboration, and we commit to being resilient and backing resilience as we advance development in these challenging times.
Sincerely,
Board Chairman
Executive Director
Board of Directors: George Biddle, Chairman, James Hunt, Treasurer, Stephanie Cabot, Secretary, John Adams, Christoph Becker, Clara Bingham, Courtenay Cabot Venton, Tamala Chirwa, John Coumantaros, Glen Davis, Bill Haney, Chairman Emeritus, Julia Haney, Robert Hecht, Rehmah Kasule, Avinash Kaza, Diane Lifton, Carolyn Makinson, Morag Neill-Johnson, JJ Ramberg, Sean Reilly, Jack Sullivan, Ayanna Wayner
How We Work
Hover over to discover more detail
Resilience
Local Capacity
We believe capacity exists in every community. To achieve success, World Connect identifies and trusts existing community leaders and assets. We center resilience as a defining asset of our partner communities around the world, not something they are lacking but that they already possess in abundance.
Empowered Leaders
Trust and funding convey power. We fund our partners quickly and directly, supporting the joint collaboration of local leaders, groups, and communities working together towards common purposes such as improved health, education, economic opportunity, and environmental protection. This power shift is vital for sustained success.
Compound Impact
The growth in confidence of local leaders is validated by direct funding. Their achievement leads to greater confidence in local capacity, the generation of new ideas, and momentum toward collective action and progress.
2019 Results
153 Communities Funded With $663,670 across 25 countries
145,835 people impacted
3x the number of projects launched in Malawi than in any other country.
Malawi projects comprise 40% of our global portfolio.
Global Results
19 school infrastructure projects improved the learning environments for 9,000 students and teachers.
Menstrual health projects in 7 communities kept 6,800 girls in school.
61 newly launched enterprises and cooperatives are increasing financial stability for more than 10,000 people.
2,820 people have improved waste management in their communities.
14,600 people improved their food security and nutrition through improved agricultural practices and technologies.
40,000 people gained access to potable water.
Health clinic renovations and maternity ward construction gave 15,000 people better access to healthcare.
Scroll to learn about a few 2019 projects...
Project Highlights
Indigenous Culture
Trash to Fashion
Fish Farm
Women-led Bakery
Helping Mums
Fighting HIV on the Playground
Our Investors
Financials
2019FinancialStatements(as of Dec. 31)
- Program Services
- Management and General
- Fundraising
Assets
| Cash | $248,333 |
| Contributions Receivable | $326,240 |
| Government Grant Receivable | $0 |
| Prepaid Expenses | $45,413 |
| Other Assets: Website and Logo | $186,620 |
| Total Assets | $806,606 |
Liabilities
| Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses | $20,110 |
| Grants Payable | $19,506 |
| Total Liabilities | $39,616 |
Net Assets
| Without Donor Restrictions | $563,080 |
| With Donor Restrictions | $203,910 |
| Total Net Assets | $766,990 |
| Total Liabilities and Net Assets | $806,606 |
Support and Revenue
| Contributions and Grants | $991,476 |
| Government Grants | $518,392 |
| Special Event Revenues | $454,947 |
| Donated/In Kind Services | $92,011 |
| Other Revenue | $32,806 |
| Total Support and Revenue | $2,089,632 |
Expenses
| Program Expenses | $1,564,675 |
| Supporting Expenses | |
| Management and General | $181,093 |
| Fundraising and Development | $289,553 |
| Total Expenses | $2,035,321 |
| Change in Net Assets | $54,311 |
World Connect continues to find, foster, and fund resilient leaders in
Donate Now
In 2020, World Connect launched its COVID-19 Response Fund to identify and fund the most pressing needs facing vulnerable communities hit hardest by the pandemic. Since April, we have been deploying funds to support solutions by local visionaries, deepening their communities' resilience during this critical time. Click to support our COVID-19 Response Fund.