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World Connect is a growing community of doers and donors who invest in local leaders around the world. We invite you to join us.

Send Us a Message

Join our Community

 

By contacting us, you agree to receive communications via email, phone, and text messages. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency may vary. Your information will be used solely for customer support purposes and will not be shared with third parties without your consent, as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Learn More

Frequently
Asked
Questions

What is World Connect?

World Connect is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with its operations hub in New York City (EIN/tax ID number: 56-2525151). All donations are tax-deductible.

At World Connect we do not prescribe or import solutions to address community needs. Rather, we listen to local priorities and work to identify and reinforce strong local institutions, initiatives, and individuals across a wide range of sectors. Recognizing that the capacity and ingenuity necessary to solve development challenges lies in local knowledge, talent, and commitment, World Connect identifies local leaders and invests in their ideas to drive progress in their communities. Projects are carefully vetted by World Connect staff, and those selected for funding receive extensive guidance to support success.

Questions? Fill out the Contact Us submission form on this page.


How is World Connect different from any other nonprofit?

Trust. World Connect believes in the talent, capacity, and social capital that already exists in communities around the world. We don't build capacity--we identify it and support it with direct investment.


What is World Connect’s development approach?

World Connect embraces a participatory approach to development in which communities assess their own needs and priorities, establish their own project goals, and define success on their own terms. In this way, communities are the leading actors guiding their own development. To facilitate this, World Connect coordinates with a network of trusted partner organizations that play supportive and secondary roles, leading from behind, to ensure that community members and local leaders are the primary owners and drivers of development in their communities, strengthening sustainability. World Connect receives all proposals through its online grant application tool, and multiple team members review applications to ensure a diversity of perspectives on proposals. All funded projects must provide progress and final reports. World Connect maintains 400+ project indicators in a customized project management database.


What percent of the money we raise will go directly to the project?

On average, 80% of money raised is applied to community grants and program support provided to grantees.


What types of projects do you invest in?

We invest primarily in local leaders in the Global South (with emphasis on Rwanda, Malawi, Nigeria, Guatemala, and Ecuador) who identify local development priorities, which tend to fall within the health, education, livelihoods, and environment sectors. World Connect also operates a domestic grantmaking program in New York City.


Why does World Connect ask under-resourced communities to contribute their own cash to projects?

World Connect requires communities to co-invest a minimum of 10% of the project budget in cash, which ensures that communities are committed to the projects we fund and that they see themselves as owners of the projects and the results, not as beneficiaries of charity. We have documented over the years how higher levels of community cash co-investment correlates to project success and sustainability.


Who are World Connect’s partners?

World Connect works with a network of vetted and established partners who source locally-led development projects that may be eligible for grant funding. In general, our sourcing partners meet the following criteria.

  • They share our philosophical commitment to local decision making, participatory development, and mobilizing women's leadership
  • They work with us to align programming and communication to mobilize local momentum for projects
  • They are willing to collaborate with World Connect and affiliated organizations to advocate for systemic change in favor of locally-led development

Sourcing partners have included: Peace Corps (returned and active volunteers), Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), CorpsAfrica, Global Health Corps, LEAP Africa (Nigeria), Help Haiti, Village X (Malawi), and the Segal Family Foundation (Malawi).


Why grants instead of loans?

Many communities we work with are cash-poor but rich in local knowledge, skills, and capacity. While lending can be an effective approach in scaling small businesses, and lending in extreme poverty contexts has shown some impact in supporting individuals through economic and environmental shocks, the evidence for the transformative impact of micro-lending around the world is underwhelming. World Connect prefers to validate the ideas and the energy of our community partners with a different type of investment, grants, to communities who co-invest with their time, talent, and resources. We believe providing small grants to advance locally-led development priorities is a more cost-effective approach to delivering development. We also feel that grants convey trust more so than loans.


How does World Connect ensure the money gets into the right hands?

World Connect collaborates with a network of trusted sourcing partners to identify local leaders and project propoals on which we conduct due diligence. With 2,000+ projects completed at a 94% success rate, World Connect has a ready set of criteria to assess integrity, capacity, and feasabiltiy. Less than 1% of World Connect's funding is reported lost or misused by grantees. In addition, by requiring community participation in project planning, communities are often aware of the opportunity and the local leaders thus have a reputational stake in ensuring projects are successful. If we sense a higher-than-usual risk profile on a particular project, we work closely with our sourcing partners to ensure secure transactions and accountability processes.


How does World Connect know its projects are effective and sustainable?

We monitor 400+ data points that analyze project management and implementation success, impact and outcomes, and replication and scale. We mobilize staff and sourcing partners through site visits to communities to speak with participants and local implementers to better understand how projects have impacted community life and local realities, document knock-on effects and sustainability, and identify challenges or barriers to success and sustainability. We also carry out regular impact analyses to dive deeper into our data and make conclusions about the aggregate impact of our work across the world.


Can we go visit a project?

World Connect does lead small groups on trips to visit project partners. For more information on how to join a World Connect trip, email info@worldconnect-us.org.


Get Involved

Contact Us

World Connect is a growing community of doers and donors who invest in local leaders around the world. We invite you to join us.

Send Us a
Message

Join our Community

 

By contacting us, you agree to receive communications via email, phone, and text messages. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency may vary. Your information will be used solely for customer support purposes and will not be shared with third parties without your consent, as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is World Connect?

World Connect is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with its operations hub in New York City (EIN/tax ID number: 56-2525151). All donations are tax-deductible.

At World Connect we do not prescribe or import solutions to address community needs. Rather, we listen to local priorities and work to identify and reinforce strong local institutions, initiatives, and individuals across a wide range of sectors. Recognizing that the capacity and ingenuity necessary to solve development challenges lies in local knowledge, talent, and commitment, World Connect identifies local leaders and invests in their ideas to drive progress in their communities. Projects are carefully vetted by World Connect staff, and those selected for funding receive extensive guidance to support success.

Questions? Fill out the Contact Us submission form on this page.


How is World Connect different from any other nonprofit?

Trust. World Connect believes in the talent, capacity, and social capital that already exists in communities around the world. We don't build capacity--we identify it and support it with direct investment.


What is World Connect’s development approach?

World Connect embraces a participatory approach to development in which communities assess their own needs and priorities, establish their own project goals, and define success on their own terms. In this way, communities are the leading actors guiding their own development. To facilitate this, World Connect coordinates with a network of trusted partner organizations that play supportive and secondary roles, leading from behind, to ensure that community members and local leaders are the primary owners and drivers of development in their communities, strengthening sustainability. World Connect receives all proposals through its online grant application tool, and multiple team members review applications to ensure a diversity of perspectives on proposals. All funded projects must provide progress and final reports. World Connect maintains 400+ project indicators in a customized project management database.


What percent of the money we raise will go directly to the project?

On average, 80% of money raised is applied to community grants and program support provided to grantees.


What types of projects do you invest in?

We invest primarily in local leaders in the Global South (with emphasis on Rwanda, Malawi, Nigeria, Guatemala, and Ecuador) who identify local development priorities, which tend to fall within the health, education, livelihoods, and environment sectors. World Connect also operates a domestic grantmaking program in New York City.


Why does World Connect ask under-resourced communities to contribute their own cash to projects?

World Connect requires communities to co-invest a minimum of 10% of the project budget in cash, which ensures that communities are committed to the projects we fund and that they see themselves as owners of the projects and the results, not as beneficiaries of charity. We have documented over the years how higher levels of community cash co-investment correlates to project success and sustainability.


Who are World Connect’s partners?

World Connect works with a network of vetted and established partners who source locally-led development projects that may be eligible for grant funding. In general, our sourcing partners meet the following criteria.

  • They share our philosophical commitment to local decision making, participatory development, and mobilizing women's leadership
  • They work with us to align programming and communication to mobilize local momentum for projects
  • They are willing to collaborate with World Connect and affiliated organizations to advocate for systemic change in favor of locally-led development

Sourcing partners have included: Peace Corps (returned and active volunteers), Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), CorpsAfrica, Global Health Corps, LEAP Africa (Nigeria), Help Haiti, Village X (Malawi), and the Segal Family Foundation (Malawi).


Why grants instead of loans?

Many communities we work with are cash-poor but rich in local knowledge, skills, and capacity. While lending can be an effective approach in scaling small businesses, and lending in extreme poverty contexts has shown some impact in supporting individuals through economic and environmental shocks, the evidence for the transformative impact of micro-lending around the world is underwhelming. World Connect prefers to validate the ideas and the energy of our community partners with a different type of investment, grants, to communities who co-invest with their time, talent, and resources. We believe providing small grants to advance locally-led development priorities is a more cost-effective approach to delivering development. We also feel that grants convey trust more so than loans.


How does World Connect ensure the money gets into the right hands?

World Connect collaborates with a network of trusted sourcing partners to identify local leaders and project propoals on which we conduct due diligence. With 2,000+ projects completed at a 94% success rate, World Connect has a ready set of criteria to assess integrity, capacity, and feasabiltiy. Less than 1% of World Connect's funding is reported lost or misused by grantees. In addition, by requiring community participation in project planning, communities are often aware of the opportunity and the local leaders thus have a reputational stake in ensuring projects are successful. If we sense a higher-than-usual risk profile on a particular project, we work closely with our sourcing partners to ensure secure transactions and accountability processes.


How does World Connect know its projects are effective and sustainable?

We monitor 400+ data points that analyze project management and implementation success, impact and outcomes, and replication and scale. We mobilize staff and sourcing partners through site visits to communities to speak with participants and local implementers to better understand how projects have impacted community life and local realities, document knock-on effects and sustainability, and identify challenges or barriers to success and sustainability. We also carry out regular impact analyses to dive deeper into our data and make conclusions about the aggregate impact of our work across the world.


Can we go visit a project?

World Connect does lead small groups on trips to visit project partners. For more information on how to join a World Connect trip, email info@worldconnect-us.org.


World Connect
1370 Ave of the Americas,
29th Floor New York, NY 10019

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2025 World Connect. All Rights Reserved
  • Charlotte Daniel Fund
  • Powell R. Cabot Fund
  • Contact Us
  • Financial Information
  • Privacy Policy

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World Connect
1370 Ave of the Americas,
29th Floor New York, NY 10019


2025 World Connect. All Rights Reserved
  • Charlotte Daniel Fund
  • Powell R. Cabot Fund
  • Contact Us
  • Financial Information
  • Privacy Policy

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