Expand Your Impact

Communities and individuals can become Learning Contributors by making a substantial gift and simultaneously learning about one women’s group and the country where that group resides. Minimum contribution: $6500.

Become a Learning Contributor (formerly Seeding Community)

This is a powerful opportunity for donors to learn together while they jointly support Right Sharing of World Resources.

Learning Contributors celebrate the community that is formed within one particular women’s group the year after it is awarded a grant from Right Sharing of World Resources. Multiple donors banding together (ex. Quaker meeting, church, extended family, bookclub, etc.), also create a community during this year of learning. Individual Learners are also welcome to join this endeavor.

Although the description below assumes that a Learning Contributor is a group, Learners can also be individuals.

There are several parts of the journey for Learning Contributors:

Reach out to advancement@rswr.org and RSWR provides fundraising tools as needed.
Commit to a substantial contribution to RSWR (between $6,500 and $13,000).
From a list provided by RSWR, choose one women’s group that has just received their initial grant.
Learn about the group and the country where the women live.

A large crowd gathers around a picnic table — Eustace Street Friends in Dublin, Ireland have partnered with multiple groups.

Explore Learning Opportunities

A large group of women and some children stand in front of a home — The Mugunga Women’s Group (Turbo, Kenya) partnered with Eustace Street Meeting (Dublin, Ireland) in 2016.

RSWR provides four quarterly updates. These may include:

Summary of the group’s grant application
Stories about individual women in the group and the changes they are making in their lives
Photos of the group or members of the group
Reports from the group

There are many other learning possibilities!

Learn about and prepare typical foods from the country.
Challenge yourself to live on the average daily income of the country for a week. The women you have partnered with are living on less than their country’s average income. You can see their current and expected future income in the Proposal Summary which RSWR will provide you. Some contributors might have to exclude housing and utilities for this exercise.

A group of women stand together holding plants — The Together Towards Success group in El Guayabo, Chiquimula, Guatemala partnered with Broadmead Monthly Meeting in Blufton, Ohio.

Current Events:

Follow international news about the country. You will probably have to use sources outside of the U.S. mainstream – you might start with BBC or Al Jazeera. The New York Times online version allows you to identify a country or region of interest; they then notify you about any relevant stories.

Historical Context:

Learn about the modern history of the country.
Learn about the colonial history of the country and the continuing impact of colonialism.
Learn about the pre-colonial history of the country.

Two rows of people stand together — Broadmead Monthly Meeting in Blufton, Ohio partnered with Together Towards Success in El Guayabo, Chiquimula, Guatemala.

Other Possibilities:

Read modern fiction and non-fiction about the country.
Research about micro businesses in your own community. What do they look like? What resources (training, loans, etc) are available to those entrepreneurs.

Frequently Asked Questions about becoming a Learning Contributor

Why is the gift between $6,500 and $13,000? $6,500 is the size of most initial grants. $13,000 is the approximate cost of one grant plus the training the group receives.

Does our gift sponsor a group? No, you are not providing funds specifically for one group. However, you are choosing one group around which you will focus your learning.