As the financial crisis continues to rattle the global economy, there is a good chance some of the effects have trickled down to affect you.  Maybe you have decided to hold off making a big purchase, or you salary or hours have been cut.  No doubt it isn’t a good time, nor an easy time, but it is paramount to remember the opportunities you have had and the important role education has played in your path.  

Going through EMP’s financial records, I am very proud that each year we have increased our donations substantially.  From about $1000 in 2006 to over $6000 in 2008.  Because of this generosity Ecuador Mi Pais has donated over $20,000 over the past three years to support our growing number of “becarios,” which now total over 70.   This is in large part because of your efforts.  We had over 60 different donors last year, many who donate monthly.  What is important is that this trend continues.  While we understand this year will be difficult to raise money, remember that while ten dollars a month may not mean too much to you, it means a lot to an underprivileged child who could use that money to pay for school.  

If you haven’t donated yet, please do.  It can be as much or as little as you want as frequently, or infrequently as you’d like. One way that EMP can meet and exceed our donation total of 2008 is to get more corporate donations.  Even if you can’t donate, please let us know (vpfinanzas@ecuadormipais.org) if your office has a corporate donation program. These types of donations are mutually beneficial as your organization will receive a tax break and goodwill, and more children in Ecuador will be able to attend classes and receive an education that will allow them to take control of their lives.  All you have to do is let us know the name of the organization and with whom we should speak, and we will do the rest.

Ecuador Mi Pais is a growing organization and much of what we do is new.  We are aware there may be different ideas or ways to raise money.  If you have an idea on how EMiP can improve or change our fundraising efforts please let us know.  

Let’s make sure that this financial crisis doesn’t unduly affect those who most need our help.

Jeff Feintech

Early morning (even earlier because of the time change) on Sunday March 8th the board of Ecuador Mi Pais got together for our annual strategy meeting. We feel it is important to keep all of you donors, volunteers and supporters, informed of what we are doing as an organization and would like to share the results of our meeting as we recapped our activities from 2008 and laid out our proposals for 2009.

We kicked off with the President addressing the board regarding the accomplishments of 2008 and the vision for 2009. As is customary of our meetings the conversation soon digressed and we spent a great deal of time discussing the vision and long term objectives that we have for the organization. It was great to see everyone engaged and contributing thoughtfully to advance the conversation. The main points of discussion centered around the best way to further our objectives regarding education in Ecuador while promoting Ecuadorean culture and strengthening the community of Ecuadorians abroad.

After a lengthy discussion and some sandwiches, we delved into the presentations again starting with the cultural VP, which did a great job with slim resources this year, specifically with the Colada Morada and the the Film festival events. Speaking of events, please check out our website often to find out what events are coming up.

The Legal VP update and discussion was rather straightforward. We have now obtained all necessary permits to work as a non-profit organization in the Washington DC area (some legal nuance there) and in the next year we will focus our efforts on the Quito chapter and completing our incorporation as an organization in Ecuador.

Next, the Projects VP gave us an update on the status of our projects and how we fared compared to the previous year. On the aggregate the number of children who benefited from our scholarships has remained stable, but the distribution across projects and the total amount we donated has increased. We were all very encouraged by the results and are looking forward to even better numbers this year. In the interest of time we did not have a lengthy discussion on the new projects proposed (there were three of them) but we assure you that we will be tackling some new challenges in the near future. The proposals ranged from higher education to after-school sessions; we will probably share these projects in more detail in a later post.

Public Relations had a busy year. One of the more interesting things on the agenda was the involvement with the DC Network of Youth Organizations. We have effectively partnered up with the network over last year and look forward to sharing efforts in 2009. At this point we discussed the possibility of decoupling the work that PR does in promoting events from managing the communication with other organizations. At this point we went back to entertaining some suggestions for ways we could structure the organization to meet the our institutional objectives and operate more effectively. Given that we will be having elections for officers soon, we may not have the time to implement all these changes (or maybe this could be the best time?) but you should expect to see a more efficient and focused organization going forward.

Next we looked at the resources VP and were glad to see that donations have continued to increase. We discussed the challenges put forth by the recession we are living in and how to cope with them. This will undoubtfully be a tough year for all and we will need all the support we can get. The resources discussion ended with a call for more focused donation solicitations, especially from grants and institutional donations.

The Finance update really drove home the point of us needing more institutional donations and grants to be able to have a larger impact. For any of these applications we will need a pro-bono auditor to give us a hand auditing financial statements and would appreciate any contacts you, our supporters, may have.

The last presentation of the day was that if the Information systems VP, who got us all excited about the opportunities we have to connect better with our members and leverage our website to do so. Expect the website to be more dynamic with pictures, blog posts (like this one) and resources for you to volunteer.

Overall we had a very fruitful working Sunday, so expect more positive educational impact, some great events, and a much more focused and active organization. Thanks for your continued support.

Rodrigo

Quisiéramos agradecer a todos los miembros que donaron en el 2008. Si su apoyo y esfuerzo no podría ser posible. Esperamos mantener su interés y confianza para los programas que promovemos en el 2009.
Mientras usted prepara su reporte de impuestos para este año déjenos saber si necesita una carta oficial que incluya su donación a Ecuador Mi País en el 2008. Solo enviaremos cartas proactivamente a los donantes mayores de $250.

Si tiene preguntas adicionales favor contactar a Jeff Feintech a vpfinanzas@ecuadormipais.org

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We would like to thank all of our members who donated in 2008. Without your support our efforts could not be possible. We look forward to your continued support in 2009. As you prepare your taxes this year please let us know if you would like an official letter stating your donation to Ecuador Mi País in 2008. We are only proactively sending out letters to our donors who donated more than $250.

If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact Jeff Feintech at vpfinanzas@ecuadormipais.org