Every day, nonprofits take meaningful action against the world’s most stubborn social problems. The impact they create on communities is immense – and the way they keep supporters involved and spread the word is genuinely inspiring.
According to a DevEx report, between January 2020 and May 2021 the global funding to combat COVID-19 reached $21.5 trillion, with $259.9 billion deployed across 1,399 program announcements. The WHO also raised significant funds for its 2021 Strategic Preparedness and Response plan.
The pandemic forced even the most developed nations to tackle a deadly virus while simultaneously confronting hunger, poverty, and climate change. While governments worked to keep people safe, nonprofits stepped up with selfless humanitarian effort to keep the world moving toward normalcy.
Below are five nonprofit impacts that moved us – examples of mission, scale, and execution worth celebrating.
1. Care Canada
Care Canada works to end the inequality caused by poverty. They empower communities to tackle climate change, economic independence, food security, and pandemic response. Care works with survivors of war – especially women and children – to help them recover from crisis. In emergencies, they deploy local response staff and partner with domestic groups to deliver immediate food, water, and shelter.
Care is one of the oldest nonprofits in the world; their original CARE Packages® went to World War II survivors. Today their volunteers work for the upliftment of women and girls across more than 90 countries and train communities in climate-adaptive farming techniques.
2. Mercy Ships
Mercy Ships makes healthcare viable for the people who need it most. Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, the organization deploys advanced hospital ships in developing nations. The ships are run by volunteers and provide free healthcare to patients without access to medical aid. Over four decades, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 56 developing nations and treated over 2.7 million people, often in close coordination with local governments.
3. One Girl
One Girl works to overcome the barriers that prevent girls in Sierra Leone and Uganda from accessing the most basic right of all – education. Through partnerships with 27 schools, One Girl has helped roughly 541 girls receive scholarships, distributed more than 339,000 sanitary pads, and reached over 800 community members with sexual and reproductive health and rights training. They advocate for sexual rights, respect for girls, and safe relationships.
4. Pencils of Promise
Pencils of Promise is reshaping the education landscape by building schools and offering world-class educational programs in Ghana, Guatemala, Laos, and Nicaragua. They focus on enrolling more students, improving teacher training methods, and expanding programs for water, sanitation, and hygiene. Founded in 2008, Pencils of Promise has built ~616 schools, supported 2,528 teachers, and impacted 113,548 students.
5. Motivation
Founded in 1991 by two alumni of the Royal College of Art in London, Motivation is a global nonprofit working to ensure people with disabilities can participate in every walk of life. They started by designing wheelchairs for people with disabilities, then expanded into custom designs for different physical conditions. In 2017, Motivation rolled out its 25,000th Rough Terrain wheelchair, which became a permanent exhibit at London’s Design Museum.
Why nonprofit impact matters
Strong nonprofit impact is the key to thriving communities. These organizations create platforms for people to come together around shared hopes and beliefs. They are the people doing the groundwork to feed, heal, shelter, educate, inspire, and nurture people of every age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status across borders.
If your nonprofit is doing this kind of work and you want to communicate your impact more effectively, see our guides on how to develop the best impact report, how to showcase your social impact, and how to communicate impact reporting. GiveLife365 helps you turn the work into the story donors need to see.
