To begin, what is the goal of the Mountain Fund?
Our mission is to educate travelers and adventurers about the needs of the mountainous regions, the people living in those regions and organizations working to solve the problems of the world's mountainous communities.
Right now we have 32 programs in 22 countries, all are very small, grass-roots groups doing awesome work for some of the poorest people in the world, the ones the huge multinational organizations never quite get to.
We are working everyday to bring healthcare, human rights, responsible tourism, environmental progress to those who need it most in mountain communities of the world.
Why can't these NGOs just represent themselves?
As foreign NGO's they can't take advantage of the tax deductability of donations from the US. Only a US nonprofit can give them a portal to that. We act as fiscal agent, the technical term for them, meaning that donations coming through us are tax deductable. We've also got much better access to the donor market in the US than these NGO's do.
Having now learned to keep quiet and observe more, I began to notice a pattern between these and other organizations like them that I was getting asked to be on the board of. There were common themes:
First, every one of these small organizations I was working with were really good groups of people. They had small projects, but they were in control of those projects, knew the issues, the communities and their needs.
Second, none had hardly any staff or money.
Third, a chief reason for the lack of funds was a lack of exposure, no one knew they existed outside of a very small, but loyal group of supporters.
I felt strongly that if the people who enjoyed activities like international travel, trekking and climbing only had access to the knowledge that these organizations were out there, they'd flock to support them. If you've been to Nepal, Peru, Tanzania or most of Central Asia, you have to come away wishing you could help the good people that live there. I felt and still feel that having access to organizations that are small like this, ones where you can really get involved and take some ownership would be very appealing to the US outdoor market.
It isn't like giving money to some mega-charity and wondering who exactly you had helped. As a supporter, you could learn their names, visit their homes and really be a part of it. I also looked around the outdoor industry and really saw very few organizations that were available. Most of the money donated by climbers and adventurer were going to support bolt replacments or to hire lawyers to sue landowners to maintain access to a crag. It seemed like the industry was ripe for some serious giving back. So, I rounded up a bunch of really good programs I knew about, and met some others along the way. We formed The Mountain Fund as a way to raise awareness of the work being done in these countries and groups that were doing it. We set out to become the one clear voice to communicate the common message of all our groups, which is why we are here, we are making things happen, give us a hand.
Tell us some of your successes and failures?
On the success side, we've have kept the doors open to the Karing for Kids clinic, revitalized the work with porters in Nepal and opened two satellite clothing banks to make it more accessible to more porters. We found some good equipment for a group that trains Nepali women to work in the trekking industry and some work for them too. We raised the funds to train 15 traditional birth attendants from three remote villages in how to be midwives and save lives. We've taken volunteer medical people and teachers across the ocean to help out. W e have a hugely successful program in Peru loaning small amounts of money to women who have street vending carts so they can buy inventory to sell and have enough in their household budgets to feed the whole family. That' s a few things that have gone really well.
On the not so well side, we haven't raised nearly what we hoped to raise and haven't found the outdoor people to be flocking to help near as much as we thought we would. But we've figured out that all we need is a quarter. The Access Fund, who has a budget over one million, lists on their site that there are 1.6 million climbers in the US alone. I don't know how many more adventure travelers, backpackers and trekkers there must be, but using just the climbers, if they all sent us one quarter each, we could just about fund all of the needs of all of our programs for one year. So, we're looking for some quarters now.
How can the average tourist, say, going to climb the Inca Trail or going to Nepal help you?
Lot's of options. Of course being a member and donating is top of the list. Reading our newsletters and sharing it with friends comes next. You can do those things anytime and from anywhere.
We need volunteers in every country we work in and often need people willing to transport and extra bag of donated gear or equipment too. I have five duffels with me on my upcoming trip to Nepal along with four volunteers. We'll be taking medical supplies, clothing for porters and gear for Empowering Women of Nepal. We'll spend time volunteering at a clinic and an orphanage as well. We'll see some of the countryside in the process, so it isn't all work, there's a bit of fun tossed in.
People can also help by just paying attention to what they see in these countries, really taking a look at how good we have it and how little it takes to make a huge difference in someone else's life.
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