Mikaela Clouser is the greatest neice ever. Love you!

Zig Software Foundation is a passionate group of highly skilled developers who are tackling the difficult task of making C-like development more convenient while preserving its simplicity. We shouldn't take their work for granted!

There are few organizations that I can rely on to be in integrity with their mission, to actually walk the talk. I can and do count on Zera Bolivia to do the work they say they are doing and to persevere on behalf of those who benefit from their actions. 

The youth needs organizations that will help them grow to be the best they can be 

Simply the best, most accessible and reliable source for some of the most important data about our world

The LOVB Foundation fosters personal & holistic growth and community involvement through youth volleyball at the grassroots level.

Our donors and the work of the Foundation increase access for players facing financial challenges, opening doors to the many opportunities that the volleyball community offers. Our donors connect the unique benefits the sport provides to those who might not otherwise experience them, through club support and collaboration with local and national organizations.

By supporting the LOVB Foundation, you directly empower young athletes to access life-changing opportunities through volleyball, fostering leadership, developing mental & physical health skills, teaching effective teamwork, and facilitating upward mobility.

LOVB Foundation

Zig is a general-purpose programming language and toolchain for maintaining robust, optimal, and reusable software.

The Zig Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded in 2020 by Andrew Kelley, the creator of Zig, with the goal of supporting the development of the language. Currently, the ZSF is able to offer paid work at competitive rates to a small number of core contributors. We hope to be able to extend this offer to more core contributors in the future.

Zig Software Foundation Inc

Zera Bolivia Foundation fosters indigenous-led education, enabling self-empowerment, financial independence, and social mobility.

**Zera Bolivia** is an Aymara-led foundation that hosts classes and events for kids as a response to colonial norms, championing indigenous self-determination—especially for women and girls—through transformative education grounded in emotional intelligence, critical thinking, self-awareness, and practical tools for financial independence.

We began in 2015 with a socio-emotional learning pilot at a women’s prison in La Paz, and have since grown to reach thousands of children, youth, and families across Bolivia’s nine departments. Collaborating with municipal governments, the Ministry of Education, and local communities, we co-create culturally adapted programs that honor each community’s priorities and values. Thanks to our community and donor support, we have provided training, world-class educational materials, and technology infrastructure to prisons, children’s hospitals, rural areas, schools, and grassroots groups—always centering local leadership.

From the “Qantatai” literature podcast to “Bolivian Thinkers for Everyone By Zera,” our initiatives celebrate Bolivia’s intellectual heritage and open new pathways for dialogue and growth. Participants often report stronger emotional well-being, improved academic performance, and greater economic opportunities. As we look to the future, we are developing our first “STEM for Indigenous Young Women” program in El Alto and across 20 rural provinces of La Paz, in partnership with India’s STEMED NETWORK.

When you support Zera Bolivia, you invest in locally driven, inclusive solutions that affirm the power of Indian communities to shape their own destiny. Your contribution furthers our shared vision of a Bolivia where education is a tool for self-empowerment, cultural pride, and lasting social change.

Zera Bolivia Foundation

Empowering youth through education and experiences. Join us in transforming lives! #BeGreaterThanYourGreatestExcuse

At Project Transition, we're not just an organization; we're a beacon of hope and a catalyst for change. Through our High-FIVES pillars—Family Unity, Intelligence, Value, Enriching Experiences, and Steadfast Sportsmanship—we're empowering underserved youth to unlock their true potential and forge paths of prosperity. 

Each donation, each volunteer hour, and each shared story fuels our mission to transform lives. In a world of endless challenges, we offer solutions, support, and a community united by a single mantra: "Be Greater Than Your Greatest Excuse." Join us, and together, let's build a brighter future for every young soul eager to learn, grow, and succeed. #BeGreaterThanYourGreatestExcuse

Project Transition

Communicating the best research and data to understand big global problems and make progress against them

Poverty, disease, hunger, climate change, war, existential risks, and inequality: The world faces many great and terrifying problems. Our World in Data focuses on communicating the best research and data that helps us understand and find solutions to the world’s largest problems.


Our World in Data publishes an open-access publication where users can understand the state of the world today, where we are making progress and where we are falling behind. Through interactive data visualizations we can see how the world has changed; by summarizing the scientific literature we can understand why. We cover everything from global poverty to natural disasters, education and health, democracy; we have over 13,000 charts across hundreds of topics.


Our World in Data is free, open-source and provided as a public good. It has millions of users every month, and is cited in research and media across the world every day. This allows millions of people to understand the large problems the world is facing, and how we can solve them.

Our World in Data

An organization focused on preserving, protecting, and improving environment. It received its nonprofit status in 2024.

Seed Foundation

TapIN channels the energy and enthusiasm of tap dancing back into the community to invoke positive social change.

TapIN Youth Dance Ensemble is dedicated to **expanding access to high-quality tap dance training in underrepresented communities**. We believe every child deserves the chance to experience the joy, discipline, and creative expression that come from rhythm and movement—regardless of financial or geographic barriers.

Through **free tap classes, school partnerships, mentorships, and performances**, TapIN builds a bridge between world-class tap education and the students who need it most. Our growing network includes ongoing enrichment programs at the East Oakland Youth Development Center, public school workshops, and collaborative showcases that bring students from diverse backgrounds together on the same stage.

Since our founding, TapIN has **collected over 500 pairs of tap shoes** for redistribution and raised **more than $18,000** through our annual Bay Area Tapathon to fund free community programming. Looking ahead, we’re developing a **scholarship initiative** that will provide Bay Area dance studios with resources to train talented young dancers who would otherwise be unable to afford tap education.

When you donate to TapIN, you invest directly in **equity in the arts**—helping to sustain a pipeline of opportunity that empowers young artists, celebrates cultural heritage, and keeps tap’s rhythmic legacy alive for the next generation.

TapIN Youth Dance Ensemble

Empowering Palestinians since 1983 through education, culture and relief programs in Palestine and beyond. Together, we build hope

**Taawon (Welfare Association)** is a **non-profit**, **civic organization** launched in **Geneva** in the year **1983**, upon the initiative of a group of **Palestinian and Arab economists** and intellectuals.
**Taawon has become one of the largest organizations operating in Palestine and the diaspora camps in Lebanon**, whereby it touches the lives of **more than one million Palestinians** on an annual basis, with half of these beneficiaries being **women**.
**Since its establishment, Taawon has invested funds reaching nearly US $900 million, dedicated to development and relief programs.**

**Taawon’s record** over the past 40 years reflects a journey full of achievements reinforced by **strong partnerships**.
Taawon’s long and rich experience has enabled it to:

- Overcome **obstacles** and **difficult conditions** due to the **Israeli occupation**
- Find **innovative and creative solutions** to crises
- Remain responsive to needs despite **social and economic instability**

Taawon maintains a presence in:

- **Palestine**
- **Jordan**
- **Lebanon**
- **Switzerland**
- **Great Britain** (via its sister organization)

Its **interventions reinforce the steadfastness** of **Palestinian citizens** in **Palestine** and the **refugee camps in Lebanon**.

**Taawon aims to:**

- **Empower Palestinian individuals** and **civil society institutions**
- Strengthen **identity**, **freedom**, **democracy**, and **human values**
- Preserve **Palestinian cultural heritage**, highlighting its **unique position**
- Unleash the creative energies of **youth**, **women**, and **children**
- Provide **equal opportunities** for all segments of society
- Promote **creativity** and **excellence** despite the most difficult circumstances

**Taawon works in partnership** with civil society organizations through:

- Purposeful planning
- High-standard policies

Guided by:

- The **Universal Declaration of Human Rights**
- The **United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)**
- The **Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity**

🏅 *Awards & Recognition:*

- **Taawon Awards for Excellence & Creativity**, granted annually to those advancing **sustainable development in Palestine** 
- Recipient of the **Mahatma Award (2018–2020)** for **COVID‑19 humanitarian efforts** [taawon.org](https://www.taawon.org/en/content/awards-received?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

***Our Vision****:*

*“To envision the Palestinian people as citizens of an independent, free, democratic Arab Palestine, living in dignity, prosperity and self‑fulfillment.”*

Taawon (Welfare Association)

Fighting poverty and human trafficking with education and vocational training. 

SUPPORT OUR EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL TRAININGS 
Since 1985, Agir pour le Cambodge has been combating poverty and human trafficking by giving the poorest people, and girls in particular, access to education and vocational training so that they can find work quickly and sustainably.

Sala Baï Hospitality School was created in 2002 to offer 1 year, all included training to underprivileged young Cambodians (70% women). The school welcomes 150 students every year in 5 different departments: Food Production, Food & Beverage, Front Office, Housekeeping or Beauty Therapy. All the costs inherent in their training year (accommodation, teaching, food, medical care, uniforms, school supplies, transport...) are covered by the school.
It's donations like yours that enable us to continue our mission among the poorest of the poor, and we sincerely thank you for your support.

[Watch our video to know more.](https://https://youtu.be/nHW5Gvhhs9Q)
 

Act for Cambodia 

AvdheshanandG Mission is a nonprofit organization dedicated to charitable purposes, 

**AvdheshanandG Mission** is a nonprofit organization dedicated to charitable purposes, including relief for the poor and underprivileged, advancement of education, elimination of prejudice and discrimination, and the defense of human and civil rights. The organization may also make distributions in support of these goals.

Avdheshanandg Mission

GuardRailNow is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit leading public-facing campaigns to prevent AI extinction risk.

GuardRailNow’s mission is to help people understand how rapidly advancing AI could affect everyone on the planet. *Every child, every family, every life*. The public is being left out of the conversation—and we’re here to change that.

Through The AI Risk Network, we create clear, engaging podcasts and videos that reach millions, explain what’s really at stake with AI, and make sure the public has a voice in shaping how this powerful technology is used.

Your support helps us empower everyday people, build nationwide awareness, and encourage leaders to adopt common-sense AI safety measures.

Join our community and have your say in how AI shapes our future. *Together,* we can create the change we need.

**Donate now—before it’s too late**

GuardRailNow

Sass Go is a nonprofit that protects and supports survivors, their families, and the professionals who serve them.   

SASS Go's work ensures prevention education and support for survivors of physical and sexual violence, their families, and the professionals who serve them. That work has served over 30,000 people on four continents since receiving its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2019. The future of SASS Go includes a state-of-the-art campus in the Midlands of South Carolina, which we lovingly call The Banks. Fundraising efforts for this legacy project are underway now. To learn more, go to thebanksus.org. 

SASS Go

We connect Black students and entrepreneurs to global Black excellence. We repair the exclusion created by lack of access.


The Diaspora Salon is an initiative of Association Collectif Eclats de Lune which organizes cross-cultural events . This specific program is an annual convening of scholars, artists, cultural practitioners, financiers, technologists, and community builders from across Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas. It is designed as an intentional intervention: a space where students and entrepreneurs experience, often for the first time, what it means to belong to excellence—and to be seen, valued, and welcomed into it. 

Beyond inspiration the participants gain durable access to a global network that invests in their potential, mentors their ambitions, and walks alongside them over time. This is social capital made visible, transferable, and enduring. Most Black students and entrepreneurs remain structurally excluded from these global networks. Few have the opportunity to travel. Fewer still have direct relationships with Black leaders operating at the highest levels across sectors and geographies.

Philanthropic support for the Diaspora Salon directly addresses this gap. It ensures that proximity to excellence is not an accident of privilege, but a deliberate act of investment—one that creates lifelong networks, expands global possibility, and helps a new generation imagine, and access, futures previously out of reach.

Our past initiatives have shown that access to global networks and excellence creates permanent, life-changing impact.    

Our annual gathering unfolds in Marrakech, beginning on the final day of the Contemporary African Art Fair 1:54 — a moment when the city hums with creativity and the spirit of Black cultural imagination. The sponsored participants for most have never travelled. They are then immersed in a world where brilliance travels freely across continents, and art collectors from around the globe arrive to celebrate Black excellence in contemporary art.

For many who may not often step inside museums, it becomes a revelation — a doorway into the vast and powerful presence of Black artists shaping the global stage. Creativity is not simply seen. It is felt, shared, and honored as part of a living, breathing heritage. 

After discovering the international power of Black visual artists, participants are then immersed in four days of luminous conversations with leaders who look like them — voices of brilliance, achievement, and imagination. In their presence, possibility widens. Dreams feel nearer. And students begin to see that they, too, can aspire — and belong — at the very center of excellence.

As someone who understands the power of being in the right place at the right time, we invite you to give that opportunity to others. 

We invite you to support this singular initiative, building lasting pathways to success and changing lives for generations.

Association Collectif Eclats de Lune 

Ventfort Hall Association is a nonprofit organization focused on arts, culture, or humanities. It is based in Lenox, MA. It received its nonprofit status in 1997.

Ventfort Hall is an elegant Jacobean Revival mansion built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. The estate, located in the heart of Lenox Village, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Ventfort Hall is now a museum dedicated to the history of the period between the Civil War and World War I, known as the Gilded Age, that was a time of transformational change in American social and economic life driven by industrialization, technological innovation, urbanization, the women’s and labor movements, and immigration.

THE GILDED AGE IN LENOX
Ventfort Hall was one of the many grand estates (called “Cottages”) built in Lenox in the late 19th century when the village was a popular resort for affluent urban families. Drawn by the region’s scenic beauty and its legacy as a home to artists and intellectuals, wealthy entrepreneurs and financiers built opulent summer homes in the Berkshires. 

“ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN LENOX” 
Ventfort Hall was designed by the prominent Boston architects Rotch & Tilden for Sarah, the sister of J. Pierpont Morgan, and her husband (and distant cousin) George Morgan. It was one of the most distinctive homes built in Lenox, the embodiment of Gilded Age prosperity and taste, characterized by innovative building technology and inspired by European art and craftmanship. The mansion has a red brick and brownstone exterior with slate roof, an elegant porte cochere entrance and a long wooden veranda across the back of the house. Inside, there are 28 rooms, a 3-story great hall and staircase with intricately carved woodwork, a billiard room, and bowling alley. The house was set on 26 acres (the museum now owns 11 acres) with landscaped gardens, arboretum, two gatehouses, a carriage house and stable, and six greenhouses. Ventfort Hall boasted the most modern amenities of its time with central heating (coal-fired boiler and hot air system), plumbing, electric and gas lighting, elevator, burglar alarm, and ventilated bathrooms.

Sarah Morgan died in 1896, only three years after building her beloved home. Following George’s death in 1911, the estate was used as a private home, hotel, and housing for a number of groups.

FESTIVAL HOUSE & THE ARTS
Beginning in the 1950s, Ventfort Hall became Festival House, an affordable hotel and art center that was the first in the region to welcome members of racial and religious minorities. Musicians, artists, dancers, and actors stayed and performed there including folk musician Pete Seeger, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and singer Odetta. When the hotel closed in the early 1960s, the property became the summer ballet camp of the Fokine Ballet where a generation of young people studied dance, music and drama in an idyllic Berkshire setting.

MUSEUM OF THE GILDED AGE
By 1991, Ventfort Hall had fallen into serious disrepair and was slated for demolition. A group of community members formed the Ventfort Hall Association in 1997, and raised funds to purchase and renovate the property which opened as a public museum in 2001. 

Open year-round for tours, as well as lectures, theatrical and musical events, special exhibits, and educational programs, Ventfort Hall brings nearly 11,000 visitors each year to downtown Lenox. 

The popular Tea & Talks lecture series features historians, journalists, and other experts on the multi-faceted history of Gilded Age. Topics have included  women’s suffrage, the growth of the labor movement, the advance of American architecture and landscape design, the rise of the railroads, the Gilded Age in literature and film, and notable women artists and entrepreneurs.

The beautiful six-foot rosewood Steinway piano purchased for by the Morgans in 1895 was returned to Ventfort Hall in 2022 and is now used for concerts and special events. 

HERITAGE TOURISM
Located in the downtown Lenox Historic District close to local inns, restaurants, stores, and theater, Ventfort Hall brings significant tourism business to the town. The property is also a desirable rental site for events and destination weddings, and has hosted major film shoots.

As a heritage tourism site, Ventfort Hall plays a key role in realizing the Town of Lenox’s 2021 Master Plan for economic and community development which cites tourism as its number one engine for growth:

The unique combination of Great Estates, cultural amenities, and the historical New England character of its villages distinguishes Lenox from other popular destination towns…Heritage tourism has helped distinguish Lenox as a destination and, in turn, serves to buoy the Town’s economy. 

The top goals of the Town’s Historic Preservation Plan are: 1) Make historic preservation and community character central to Lenox's quality of life; and 2) Use Lenox's historical identity as a core element of the Town's economic development strategy.

VENTFORT HALL NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
Ventfort Hall is a significant cultural site that has welcomed thousands of visitors over more than 20 years. We need your help now to continue our restoration and educational mission:

Support our programs and tours so that we can bring the rich and complex history, arts, and culture of the Berkshires to a wide audience. We keep our admission fees reasonable, but they cover only part of the cost of maintaining the property and presenting programs.

Preservation is an ongoing process. A Master Plan, created by Spencer & Vogt Group in 2016, outlines a phased approach to the restoration of Ventfort Hall. Phase Two is currently underway, consisting of major repairs to the chimneys, roof, and tower. Future phases will address further interior restoration, building envelope, and site work.



To learn more about Ventfort Hall and our efforts to preserve and share this historic estate, please visit GildedAge.org or contact us:

Ventfort Hall
Mansion and Gilded Age Museum
104 Walker St
Lenox, MA 01240
413-637-3206
info@gildedage.org




Ventfort Hall Association

The official foundation of NFL Buffalo Bill’s star Dion Dawkins.

**Dion’s Dreamers was founded with the goal of providing mentorship and support to young men and women in underserved communities, as well as those in a place of mental, financial or physical hardship. Dion’s Dreamers also aims to advocate for vulnerable populations by increasing awareness of the environmental issues that directly affect their communities.**

Dion's Dreamers

A loving children's home since 1985 giving care, nutrition, medical, education, and rehabilitation to abandoned children in Mumbai

**Bal Asha Trust provides comprehensive care to abandoned and destitute children for 38 years.** Our child protection services ensure immediate shelter in their children's homes.  **We have supported over 6,000 children through our programs.**

**We provide physical care, health services, education and well-balanced meals,** including formula milk for infants and four healthy meals a day for older children.  Our children go to different schools as per their ability. **We have two visiting pediatricians who treat children with a range of conditions,** from undernourishment,  Hep. B, Albinism and HIV to cerebral palsy and developmental delays.

**We also assist with legal procedures to reunite children with their biological parents across India or find caring Adoptive parents.** The goal is to ensure that every child in our care has the opportunity to grow up in a loving and supportive environment.

Our child development & family strengthening programs support vulnerable children in communities with Nutrition, Educational Sponsorships, and developmental therapies.  We create awareness in communities and among various stakeholders on Juvenile Justice and Adoption. Our mission is that every abandoned child is protected and in a loving family.

Bal Asha Trust

Autism Empowerment is a neurodivergent-led nonprofit devoted to helping youth and adults  worldwide lead awesome meaningful lives!

**Autism Empowerment** is a passionate nonprofit organization led by individuals with lived experience. We are devoted to enriching and empowering the lives of autistic and neurodivergent youth, adults, and their families. We promote a culture of Autism Acceptance and believe every one of us has gifts and strengths to share with the world.

Through our enriching and empowering service-oriented programs like [Spectrum Life Magazine](https://www.spectrumlife.org), Autism Serves: Helping Hands, Autism Empowerment Cares and AWEtism We Embrace, we promote Autism Acceptance, Inclusion, and Advocacy for today's world and the future.

Come join us as an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities! Be a meaningful part of helping create a world where people of all abilities are embraced! Your donations directly support programs that inspire and uplift our community members.

Thank you for your generosity and for being a part of positively changing our world!

Autism Empowerment

Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action was founded in 2017 to bring the clinician
voice to climate change advocacy in Virginia.

Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action (VCCA) was founded in 2017 to bring the clinician voice to climate change advocacy in Virginia. Through education, advocacy, and community outreach, VCCA builds a network of clinician advocates advancing local and statewide climate solutions. Since our inception, VCCA has become a leading health voice for a clean energy economy in Virginia.

Virginia Clinicians For Climate Action

The DSS empowers creators to imagine & build equitable, just, regenerative futures through art, design, community & collaboration.

The **Design Science Studio** (DSS) is a cultural and educational incubator that supports creators in shaping futures rooted in regeneration, justice and belonging. We are a living ecosystem of artists, designers, systems thinkers, story-weavers and movement builders committed to creating a world that works for all of life.

DSS holds space for interdisciplinary collaboration, creative capacity-building and community-rooted innovation. Our work is deeply informed by the legacy of Buckminster Fuller and carried forward through decentralized and decolonial ways of being, imagining and doing.

At the heart of our ecosystem is the **(r)Evolutionary incubator** —a 7-month journey of creative emergence and collective evolution that centers artists and designers as cultural stewards and worldbuilders. It weaves together art, design science, storytelling, systems thinking and regenerative design, offering an invitation to grow alongside others who are working to create futures rooted in care, justice and imagination.

**Each program cycle includes:**

- 144 participating artists
- 30+ mentors
- 50 visionary guest speakers
- 4 global salons for deep learning and connection
- Digital and in-person exhibitions

Support a global commUnity of creative peers

Design Science Studio

Since 1958, Children of the Mekong supports children’s education in Southeast Asia. 

In Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, we help children grow through [child sponsorship](https://www.childrenofthemekong.org/sponsor-a-child/) and [education projects](https://www.childrenofthemekong.org/get-involved/support-a-project/).

Our priorities of action are early childhood, girls' education, slums, rural populations, refugees, children with disability, and ethnic minorities.

Children of the Mekong

The Transformative Justice Center provides services to the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. 

Our mission is to advocate for transformative justice, emphasizing empathy and understanding as we work with those who have been incarcerated. We aim to break down the barriers of social stigma, creating a platform for personal growth and change. At the Transformative Justice Center, and our flagship prison program - Empathy in Action, we see past the person’s history and focus on their potential. By providing crucial support and resources, we aspire to drastically reduce recidivism and help individuals reclaim their lives. At its core, transformative justice works to transform relationships, institutions and systems historically founded in oppression, marginalization, and violence into ones grounded in restoration, respect, and responsibility.

We believe that everyone deserves a chance to be seen, heard, and understood regardless of background, race, class, socio-economic status, political or/and religious views. We know that most if not all people in prison come from painful, traumatic backgrounds, from victims to victimizers. We work to transform prison spaces into places focused on higher education, healing, whole body wellness, accountability and respect. We see that within every human being there exists the possibility to grow, to change, and to transform with the right tools and interventions. We are committed to building bridges being the public and our incarcerated community in order to learn, understand and humanize those most impacted by familial and societal harms.

At the core of our work, we believe in redemption, and that everyone deserves an opportunity to transform their lives. Our center is built on empathy and understanding, providing crucial resources and support to individuals who are navigating their way back to society after incarceration. We appreciate any form of support, small or large, to assist us on this journey towards healing, change, and rebuilding lives.

The Transformative Justice Center

Quad9 is a free, recursive, anycast DNS resolver providing end users robust security protections, high performance, and privacy.

Quad9 is a free, recursive, anycast DNS platform that provides end users robust security protections, high performance, and privacy.

Security: Quad9 blocks against known malicious domains, preventing your computers and IoT devices from connecting to malware or phishing sites. Whenever a Quad9 user clicks on a website link or types in an address into a web browser, Quad9 checks the site against a list of domains combined from 20+ different threat intelligence partners. Each threat intelligence partner supplies a list of malicious domains based on their heuristics which examine such factors as scanned malware discovery, network IDS past behaviors, visual object recognition, optical character recognition (OCR), structure and linkages to other sites, and individual reports of suspicious or malicious behavior. Based on the results, Quad9 resolves or denies the lookup attempt, preventing connections to malicious sites when there is a match.

Performance: Quad9 systems are distributed worldwide in over 200 locations in 90 nations, with more coming online daily. These servers are located primarily at Internet Exchange points, meaning that the distance and time required to get answers is lower than almost any other solution. These systems are distributed worldwide, not just in high-population areas, meaning users in less well-served areas can see significant improvements in speed on DNS lookups. The systems are “anycast,” meaning that queries will automatically be routed to the closest operational system.

Quad9

Pay Away's mission is to inspire HOPE and spread KINDNESS.


What started as a simple act of generosity has grown into a nationwide mission to uplift families in need.  For over 10 years, we have surprised unsuspecting families by paying off holiday and back-to-school layaway balances. Since our inception, Pay Away has helped over 20,000 families nationally and military bases worldwide.

Our core initiatives focus on Back-to-School and Holiday balance payoffs, as well as shopping sprees, gift cards, and other impactful activations that bring relief and joy to deserving families.

We also partner with individual donors and corporate partners to maximize our impact through employee engagement, matching contributions, volunteer days, and customized giving opportunities. Together, we can make an even greater difference in the lives of families who need it most.

Pay Away 

We aim to advance the mental wellbeing of our South Asian community.

In 2021, during their freshman year of college, our founders Ravi Parekh and Aaron Pandian suffered the loss of their close friend and roommate, Farhan, in a tragic murder-suicide where he took the lives of himself and his family. 

Farhan was struggling with a variety of inadequately treated mental illnesses. However, like so many members of the South Asian-American community, his parents simply lacked the tools, resources, and education necessary for providing him the care he needed.

They recognized that, as an immigrant South Asian family, they lacked the tools, resources, and education necessary for providing Farhan the care he needed. The tragedy of Farhan and his family revealed that there are many mental health issues unique to the cultural characteristics of South Asians. Understanding that these environmental factors and structural barriers to effective care created the situation which led to this tragedy, we theorized a youth-led grass-roots advocacy and education initiative that equips South Asian youth and other interested parties with access to tools and resources to understand, process, and empower.

Grass-roots efforts are often inspired by lived experiences. Our passion and drive to bridge the gaps in mental health care for South Asian individuals stem from our lived experiences.

Knowledge is empowering, and part of understanding mental health is to both learn and express empathy for those affected who are unable to receive effective care. To learn not to fear mental illness as a sibling, parent, friend, significant other, or affected individual and employ newly acquired tools that work to connect with the resources they need. 

MHISA embodies these ideals and provides us an outlet to engage those around us with a shared goal: to enable South Asians struggling with mental illness to lead better and healthful lives.

Mental Health Initiative for South Asians

An endowment protecting the Los Cedros cloud forest forever.

Held in the mists of the Ecuadorian Tropical Andes, a scientific station works with local communities to protect a cloud forest known as Los Cedros (“The Cedars”). The station encourages artists, educators, and researchers to connect with and learn from Los Cedros, whose walking palm trees and old growth lift racket-tail hummingbirds and critically endangered brown-headed spider monkeys into the clouds. Decades of interdependent artwork and scientific discovery from the station—including over 100 publications—factored into the 2021 [decision of Ecuador’s highest court](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/02/plan-to-mine-in-ecuador-forest-violate-rights-of-nature-court-rules-aoe) to ban extractive practices in the forest by upholding Los Cedros’ constitutional rights to exist and to thrive.

This ruling set a monumental precedent for worldwide Rights of Nature efforts. Yet mining companies continue to apply pressure to Los Cedros communities and Ecuadorian authorities—and if mining comes to pass in Los Cedros, it will devastate one of the most biodiverse and endemic forests in the world. Home to thousands of wildlife species, Los Cedros spans 6000 hectares of mostly primary forest habitat. There, the threatened spectacled bear builds a tree bed to feast on aguacatillo berries (tiny avocados), and the elusive jaguar has left her tracks on the banks of waterfalls. In the abundant green shadows, undiscovered fungi, insects, and orchids flourish. A glass frog hides his heartbeat under a leaf.

As one of the rare places where humans can still drink directly from cascading rivers, this refuge also protects numerous watersheds crucial to downstream communities. So, the Los Cedros Fund will prove that the station’s approach of sustainably partnering with the cloud forest and surrounding communities is best for Pachamama—all of Mother Earth, including humans—in the long term.

The Los Cedros Fund is growing an endowment for the cloud forest to be financially self-sufficient. Honoring all who’ve protected the forest for decades, the Los Cedros Fund aims to offer this new watershed of perennial support to the forest to keep artistic, educational, and scientific collaborations flowing.

We can only achieve this mission through the kindness and generosity of thoughtful donors like you.

Los Cedros Fund

148788709

1578280819

1873740264

188270313

2052641908

2088874155

We are a nonprofit, so instead of charging fees we rely on the generosity of donors like you.