Agros Blog

Dear Friends:

June 30th marked Agros’ fiscal year end. So many of you joined our year-end matching gift campaign–I wanted to write and extend our thanks for your generous participation with us to help us end the year strong, and give you an update on our year-end efforts.

Thanks to your generous giving, we exceeded our expectations on our year-end matching gift challenge!

Through your generosity, Agros not only met the $100,000 matching gift goal, but received an additional $25,000 challenge to help inspire additional commitments! That $25,000 was matched as well!

This could not have happened without the incredible, sacrificial support of you, our faithful partners! On behalf of Agros, and the thousands of rural villagers we serve, thank you for your  generosity and commitment to help end rural poverty and enable entire rural villages to become self supporting!

Your support provided Agros with flexible funding that’s crucial in allowing us to provide help where it’s needed the most. This year, some of the greatest areas of need were villages in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Thanks to your partnership, and the help of others like you, we raised the funds needed to deliver on our commitments to these villages, and assure their progress toward self-sustainability in the years ahead.

It takes the combined efforts of so many different stakeholders to help make change possible. Your input, partnership and participation are crucial to all we do. Thank you – each of you – for helping Agros bring land, hope and life to so many families in Central America and Mexico.

It’s my deep hope and prayer that in a few years, the scope of the work Agros does will continue to grow so we can serve and empower even more people in most remote corners of the world.

You make all of this possible.  Mil gracias!

- Kathie

PS:  I wanted to make you aware of an exciting new initiative we’re soon to launch!  Have you ever wondered what living in an Agros village is really like?  In a few short weeks we will be launching a unique, online sponsorship program called One Village.  Using interactive media to bring you into an Agros village, you’ll come to know, up close and personal, the people and projects of One Village.  Through rich media, photos, stories, and video you’ll be able to follow the progress of your sponsored village over time, as the community works their way out of poverty.  Stay tuned for One Village…coming soon!

I want to share with you a story, and a life-changing opportunity.

Albertina had a daughter she loved. But Albertina was poor… extremely poor… and she had to make a choice.

Living in the remote, rugged mountains of Nicaragua, Albertina lived like many rural families across Central America–with love and dreams for her children, but waking up each day knowing that dreams won’t put food in hungry stomachs.

With no land, education, or consistent income or food source, Albertina and her family suffered.

“I had a daughter,” Albertina said. “She was tender, she was little, and I loved her. She was just like the little kids here in this village. But, I was very poor… I didn’t have any land to grow food, work was hard to find. I was often forced to leave my daughter behind while I went out to try and find work.”

“One day she got sick. But I had so little money; I had to choose between giving her medicine, or a little food. I had nothing to give her, until the day came when she died.”

“One needs to take care of children… but I didn’t have anything. I am still so sorry, and never want to pass through anything like that again.”

A mother should never have to make that kind of choice. Never.

But Albertina’s story is neither rare nor isolated. In remote villages throughout the developing world, without land of their own to farm for food, without work, families are forced to endure hunger, sickness, and a thousand degradations that destroy human dignity.

But that is where we come in. We have the ability to offer families like Albertina’s a different choice… the ability to choose life.

To that end, I am excited to share with you an incredible matching gift opportunity. Every dollar you donate to Agros by June 30–up to $100,000 in general giving–will be matched dollar for dollar. This doubles your donation, doubling your ability to impact and help people like Albertina.

We know these families have the capacity to work their way out of poverty. They simply need someone to believe and invest in their potential. It’s easy to make a difference – you can:

• Make a general donation online
• Give an alternative gift from the Agros One Seed Gift Catalog

In order to quality for the $100,000 matching opportunity, all donations need to be received by June 30, 2010.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide to ensure we finish the year strong. Click here to make a donation now to help families like Albertina’s.

We could not do this work without you. Thank you.

We are happy to announce that Agros International supporters helped us meet our year end challenge to raise $25,000 in general support!

With only a few weeks left in 2009 a generous donor issued a matching challenge to Agros – offering to match year-end gifts dollar for dollar, up to $25,000! We’re thrilled to announce YOU did it!

We’d like to thank our matching donor and his family, and everyone who helped us meet this latest challenge. What a great way to start the new year!

Thank you!

With thanks to a very generous donor, we’re excited to share that from now until December 31st, every dollar you donate to Agros – up to $25,000 in general fund giving – will be matched dollar for dollar!

Whether you prefer to make a general donation online, donate by phone, donate by mail, or give a gift in honor of someone you love from the Agros One Seed Alternative Gift Catalog – your gift will be doubled! Your gift to support the work of Agros will go far to make a lasting difference in the lives of the rural poor – from helping provide loans for small agricultural businesses and women’s enterprises, seed for crops, or support for in-country professionals that provide hands on training in agronomy, health and hygiene practices and human development.

Here are just a few examples of how far a gift can go in the countries where we work, and how taking advantage of this matching opportunity can double your impact:

• A $1000 gift is enough to provide one acre of land, the most effective tool for breaking the cycle of poverty. With this match, your gift has the potential to provide two acres of land for a community!

• A $500 gift can supply a fuel-efficient stove and composting latrine for a family.
  With this match, your gift could provide two families with a family health package!

• A gift of $250 can secure a water pump and 100 feet of irrigation piping.
  With this match, your gift could provide two valuable irrigation systems!

• A gift of $100 can provide two women with small business loans.
  With this match, your gift could provide four women with funds to start their new businesses!

Please consider going above and beyond what you might normally give to empower countless families in Mexico and Central America to break free from the cycle of poverty -  to be self-sustaining, and have the freedom to dream again.

Whatever you’re able to give, we thank you for choosing to make such an impact this year and helping Agros finish the year strong!

P.S. – If you plan to make a gift from the Agros One Seed catalog and you’d like us to send your honoree a gift card for the Christmas holiday, please be sure to order your gift by Monday, December 21st to ensure it arrives on time.

On behalf of all of us at Agros International, thank you for your presence and generosity at the 2009 Tierras de Vida event!

While many were moved by Teresa Sanchez Lopez’s presentation, it was also a great honor for Teresa to be able to share her story with you. She later told staff, with tears flowing, how much the support and encouragement of all those in attendance meant to her.

Teresa will never forget your generosity, and neither will we. Quite simply, Agros exists because of your care and support, and so all of us say – ¡Mil Gracias!

At Agros we care a great deal about communicating and sharing this work with clarity and excellence. Our doors are always open to feedback and input from you, and so to that end, for those who were able to attend could you take just a few minutes and fill out this online survey on how we might improve?

Many also asked after the event how they might become more involved with the Agros mission. Here are a few simple ways you can deepen your involvement with Agros:

• Did you enjoy the video at the event? Click here to watch it again and share it with your friends!
• Subscribe to the Agros blog to receive regular updates on our work.
• Join our Facebook Fan and Cause pages, and follow our Twitter updates.
• As the holidays are fast approaching, spread the word about the Agros One Seed alternative gift catalog to your friends and family.
• Host an Agros 101 introduction for your friends – contact us for more info!

As Teresa shared on Saturday, “without dreams you will die.” Thank you for supporting the dreams of so many families working their way out of poverty across Central America and Mexico.

Well, my friends, this has been a year to remember.When I arrived at Agros as Director of Resource Development, it was September 2008 and we were well on our way to fully funding 6 new villages and continuing our commitment to the 34 already in place. When the global recession hit our leadership team met to deal with the situation in October 2008. We knew that we had to do all that was possible to trim our expenses in Seattle and the five countries where we work. We were guided by the belief that we needed to cut as many expenses as possible without compromising the progress of our villagers out of poverty. We let valuable staff go; we slowed down certain initiatives; and we only launched four of the six new villages within the original plan (the remaining 2 will be starting in the first quarter of this new fiscal year).

June 30th marked the end of that fiscal year, and despite the challenges, as we look back over the hurdles of this past fiscal year we are grateful for all that has occurred.

There are so many things to be thankful for, and so many of you to thank.  Let me attempt a partial list here:

• Thanks to those of you who used the Agros Gift Catalog to give twice: once to the poorest of the poor, and again to your loved ones.
• Thanks to those of you who struggled mightily with your own budgets, personal and corporate, to keep your commitment to Agros.
• Thanks to those of you who called us to say that you had to adjust your allocation to Agros downward, but who would not give up supporting our villagers.
• Thanks to those of you who realized that we would be in need of additional funding, and who stepped up to give more than you had originally intended.
• Thanks to the hundreds of people who monthly sent us their pledge to support a specific village.
• Thanks to those of you who introduced your friends to Agros, and encouraged them to support sustainable, holistic development.
• Thanks to the couple who generously stepped forward with $100,000 to match the gifts of those who would help end our year well.
• Thanks to those who responded to that challenge with $117,109 in new funding: 8% over our end of fiscal year matching campaign goal!

I was going to say that I don’t want to have another year like this again, but now that I’m done with our list of thanks, I realize that with so many rallying to the cause of supporting the poor in tough times, I have come to know an amazing group of people with hearts that are deep and wide.

It’s clear what really made this year remarkable: you did, and we thank you.

If you’re an Agros supporter perhaps you’ve realized that by caring and investing in this work you’re doing something different.

Agros supporters like you are part of an effort to not just alleviate poverty, but to provide rural communities with the ability to overcome it themselves in a way that spreads across communities and generations. This is a big goal.  It’s hard work. And we are clear of this simple fact: So many more rural families would still be trapped in poverty if not for your ability to help create a world free from the devastation of extreme poverty.

It’s simple… we could not do this work without you.

Knowing you share this vision is why I’m excited to announce a new Agros matching gift opportunity, made possible by one of Agros’ closest supporters and advocates.

From now until June 30th (our fiscal year end) every dollar you donate to Agros – up to $100,000 in general fund giving — will be matched dollar for dollar!

We’re not placing any restrictions on how you contribute to the Agros mission. You can:

• Make a general donation online
• Mail in your gift to Agros
• Phone in your gift to Agros
• Give an alternative gift to others from the Agros One Seed Gift Catalog

This campaign applies to ANY new money that comes in from June 1st through June 30th. Gifts received that are intended to fulfill a past pledge do not qualify. We’ve currently raised $40,000 towards our goal, and need an additional $60,000 by June 30th to qualify for the full $100,000 match!

This campaign not only doubles every dollar received, but it doubles our ability to meet and respond to the hopes of rural families.  If you’ve ever considered the challenges of poverty and wished you could do more, this is your opportunity.  Every dollar used to fight poverty counts.

We’re so grateful for your support and care, and eagerly await your response!