COTAP mitigates your CO2 footprint with life-changing and certified forestry projects in least-developed countries.

When donating, please specify one of the following three options: 1) Offset To All Projects, 2) Offset: (Choose Nicaragua, Uganda, India, Fiji, Indonesia, or Mexico), or 3) 100% to COTAP’s Operations & Expansion. For more information, please see https://COTAP.org/Crypto.

Founded in 2011, COTAP empowers individuals and organizations in developed countries to simultaneously fight both global poverty and climate change. COTAP connects your carbon footprint with forestry projects in least-developed countries which create life-changing income for the world's poorest people. 

All COTAP projects are certified by the Plan Vivo Foundation Carbon Standard, the world's oldest forest carbon standard and the only standard which requires that projects share 60%+ of carbon revenues with participating communities. Combined with COTAP's transparent, modest, and consistent margin of 10%, ensures that you are creating $8.10+ per tonne in income for some of the world's poorest communities.

Our Mission

The mission of Carbon Offsets To Alleviate Poverty (COTAP) is to empower individuals and organizations in developed countries to address both climate change and global poverty. COTAP counteracts your carbon emissions through certified forestry projects in least-developed regions which create transparent, accountable, and life-changing earnings for rural farming communities where income levels are less than $2 per day.

The Problem

In developing regions around the world, hundreds of millions of people live in rural areas on less than $2 per day. This level of poverty forces communities to make hard choices between food, health care, and education. It is the poverty level where an estimated 11 million children die every year. Many of these communities are not fits for traditional microfinance, which tends to be primarily urban, and significant portions of their land are not suitable for agriculture.

While there are many promising technical innovations and development programs which can increase crop yields, there remains a geographic limitation on markets where such increased yields can be sold.

The result is that there are farming communities all over the world who could be made much less economically vulnerable if there were a way to generate significant supplemental income from non-crop land usage which did not rely on physical distribution.

The proven potential of small-scale forestry carbon projects

Small-scale afforestation, reforestation, and agro-forestry programs have a proven track record of reaching such communities and for creating direct, significant, verifiable and lasting economic benefits for them. One of the most compelling ways to finance such activities is through the sale of carbon credits.

Such projects have faced a combination of serious challenges in selling their carbon credits. Many would-be customers and/or project investors dispassionately view carbon credits as a single-dimension environmental commodity, of which they are only able to technically value and pay for the environmental component. Relative to other project types, carbon credits from community-focused tree planting projects credits are issued in smaller quantities, they are issued more slowly, and they entail a variety of unique risks, albeit highly manageable ones.

Further, carbon projects entail significant startup, certification, and ongoing management costs. In order to cover their costs and maximize returns, project investors rationally prefer larger projects and shy away from geographically-fragmented, small-scale ones where return/profit potential opportunities do not pool in large amounts in any one place. This, in turn, means that more carbon market volume is transacted under carbon standards which favor large projects, and that in turn puts more momentum behind the market acceptance of such standards, tilting the playing field away from quality, community-focused standards like Plan Vivo.

The small-scale forestry carbon financing gap

The above set of factors has created a financing gap for community-focused forestry carbon projects, whereby project organizers are able often able to obtain a fair per-tonne price, at an early stage, and at volume – but rarely, if ever, are they able to attain all of these factors at the same time.  If this problem were solved, then the proven and multifaceted solution of small-scale forestry could rapidly expand, thereby lifting the poorest out of poverty, mitigating climate change, enhancing food security, and restoring landscapes at a much larger scale.

COTAP is founded on the belief that this financing gap, though understandable, is an unacceptable market failure – and a humanitarian injustice – given forestry carbon projects’ proven ability to reach and empower the world’s most vulnerable populations.  Who does COTAP believe can fill this gap? Individuals and organizations in developed countries.  Virtually all individuals in developed countries have unavoidable carbon footprints, and most are highly concerned about global warming, global poverty, or both.

The need for a crowdfunding intermediary

Every year, small-scale forestry projects plant trees which will result in the projected sequestration and long-term storage of tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2; however, the average annual individual CO2 footprint is relatively very small in comparison, CO2 footprints vary among individuals, and individuals have different preferences and budgets pertaining to how much of their footprint they wish to address.

COTAP is the critical intermediary which fills the gap between individuals and these poverty-alleviating projects by pooling together offset donations from many individuals and organizations and then working with projects to ensure that commensurate quantities of the offset they’ve generated will be retired, which means they cannot be re-sold.

The net effect is that, through COTAP, you’re indirectly employing the poorest people in the world to plant and maintain trees which counteract the emissions which you have not yet been able to eliminate.  This empowers you to fight both climate change and poverty with one tax-deductible donation, and it empowers our participating farmers by connecting them with funding that’s at an early stage in the planting cycle, at a fair price, and at significant volume.

COTAP’s Solution

COTAP makes individuals in developed countries, primarily the U.S., aware of the poverty-alleviating power of forestry carbon projects, and COTAP makes forestry carbon credits accessible to individuals in small amounts and as a tax-deductible donation.

COTAP sources carbon offset funds from those who care about both climate change and poverty alleviation, pools those funds, and transparently matches those funds with our partners’ forestry projects in order to fill the forestry carbon finance gap, restore landscapes, and create direct, significant, verifiable, and lasting benefits for the most economically vulnerable people in the world.

All of COTAP’s current portfolio projects are registered under the Edinburgh, Scotland-based Plan Vivo carbon accounting standard. With roots stretching back to a research project in Chiapas, Mexico in 1994, Plan Vivo is the longest-standing and most established forestry carbon accounting standard in the world. Plan Vivo is also the only carbon accounting standard which always requires projects to have detailed plans for direct payments to smallholders and community groups. Plan Vivo-accredited projects are projected to sequester over 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Addressing more financing gaps by being “vintage agnostic”

COTAP not only seeks to support upcoming planting seasons at an early stage, but also supports projects’ unsold credits from prior planting seasons or “vintages.” In our view, unsold Plan Vivo credits are a societal injustice just the same as the fact that these projects’ credits aren’t pre-sold in larger quantities and at earlier stages. COTAP is thus “vintage agnostic,” so as to pursue all of our projects’ funding opportunities and thereby fulfill our mission to the fullest possible extent. As COTAP scales, the issue of older vintages will become a moot point as we will have been instrumental as the buyer which ensured those credits were sold. For more on vintages and COTAP’s transparency, please see COTAP.org/transparency.

More Accountable, Market-Based Philanthropy

COTAP’s dual mission, crowdfunding model, and tax-deductible status, together with Plan Vivo’s reach, accountability, and transparency, forms a new category of microfinance and a new category of high-performance philanthropy.

In pursuing its mission, COTAP doubles the number of reasons for individuals to take action on climate change and it greatly expands the climate change issue beyond that of a disempowering and single-dimension environmental problem.

COTAP’s Vision

On an annual basis, COTAP aims to eventually catalyze millions of tonnes of validated carbon sequestration, millions of planted trees, and tens of millions of dollars in wages to hundreds of smallholder farmers who live on less than $2 per day. Unlike “crowdsourced” philanthropic models which involve loans, grants, matched savings, or guarantees, COTAP involves wages.

COTAP creates a new system whereby the world’s most vulnerable perform the tangible service of counteracting the unavoidable carbon footprint of individuals in developed countries.

This will not be simple, easy, or quick, but this is one of the many things that is worth doing despite all of the challenges.  It requires a movement, and we invite you to join us in our movement to make tomorrow brighter.


Carbon Offsets To Alleviate Poverty (COTAP)

HOPE USA is a Volunteer-Based 501(c)(3) Organization Working to End Poverty in Pakistan by Empowering Women and Children.  

About HOPE USA:

HOPE Charities USA is a volunteer-based nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization working to better the socioeconomic forefront of impoverished citizens in Pakistan.  Estimates of poverty in Pakistan range anywhere from 25 percent to almost 40 percent.  Health indicators suggest that it is the lack of accessible healthcare — not terrorism, drones or the energy crisis — that is the greatest adversity facing Pakistan.  Additionally, in a country where 60 percent of youth are illiterate and only 1 in 3 women can read and write, education becomes a scarce commodity which inhibits freedom from poverty.  HOPE USA’s mission is to end poverty in Pakistan through a calculated, multi-pronged interventional approach which focuses on Healthcare, Education, Vocational Training, Clean Water, and Disaster Relief.

Currently, HOPE has a countrywide presence throughout Pakistan which includes 4 Hospitals, 3 Formal Schools, 200 Informal Schools, 7 Vocational Centers, 1 Basic Health Clinic, 2 Mobile Health units, and 6 Maternal and Child Health Clinics.  Altogether we have grown to a network of hospitals and schools that treats over 750,000 patients per year, educates 11,000 students annually, and provides income-generating skills to over 2,000 young adults yearly; 70 percent of our beneficiaries are women and children.

All of HOPE USA’s health, education, and vocational training facilities provide free/nominal cost services to the impoverished. Additionally, HOPE has been on the frontlines of every emergency relief effort that has impacted Pakistan, from the 2005 Kashmir earthquake to the current 2022 catastrophic flooding crisis.  Our emergency relief efforts have generated aid to over 100,000 victims of natural disasters over the years and we have established 130 hand pumps in remote and rural areas to provide clean water to 130,000 people total.

As a nonprofit organization, HOPE USA has an outstanding record of performance. With almost 15 years of experience, we are currently at the stage where we are a small organization with tremendous impact potential.  Major corporations/governments have vetted us and trust our work.  Some recent grantors include Procter & Gamble, Paypal, Target Corporation, US Aid, Unicef, and the Centers for Disease Control. Additionally, HOPE USA has received corporate matches from Cisco, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, Facebook, Linked In, Adobe, Paypal, Mastercard, and Dreyers. 

We are a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) boasting some of the lowest overhead rates one will see in the nonprofit realm (less than 3 percent). In 2021 we were awarded a medal by Pakistan President Arif Alvi for our poverty alleviation model in Pakistan – we were 1 of just 2 organizations to receive this honor. We are also the only authorized distributor of Procter & Gamble PuR water sachets in Pakistan which become critical during times of natural disasters such as the 2022 Pakistan Flood Crisis.

“No matter how dire the current situation in Pakistan, or the obstacles we face in the future – there is always hope.” ~ Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla, Founder of HOPE USA

HOPE USA's Story:

Health Oriented Preventive Education (HOPE) was the inspiration of Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla, a pediatrician by profession who helped eradicate polio from Pakistan in the early stages of her career.  In 1997, while working in Karachi’s government-sponsored hospital for the needy, Civil Hospital (where she currently still practices), Dr. Mubina thought of a vision for the betterment of the citizens of her country.  She and a small band of volunteers joined forces to establish HOPE as a nonprofit governmental organization in Pakistan.  

Due to Dr. Mubina's medical background, HOPE's initial objective was to provide the poor with better access to medical centers and hospitals.  In a country grappling with basic issues such as lack of access to clean drinking water, poor maternal and infant health, malnutrition in children, prevention and treatment of diseases such as malaria, cholera, and tuberculosis, it already seemed as though HOPE had enough of a challenge on its hands.  

But soon Dr. Mubina realized that the cornerstone of a productive and forward-thinking community relies on both a healthy body and healthy mind.  She honed her vision to an integrative approach that was twofold: health and education.  Today, HOPE has evolved to an organization that prioritizes the health and education opportunities of underserved women and children in Pakistan.  HOPE aims to empower females with education and health so that they become self-sufficient and productive members of society. 

As a single woman in a male-dominated country, Dr. Mubina faced many challenges and setbacks; it was through perseverance and hard work that HOPE grew from a dream to a reality.  Today, HOPE has a countrywide presence throughout Pakistan which includes hospitals, formal schools, informal schools, vocational centers, basic health clinics, mobile health clinics, and maternal health clinics, all which provide free or minimal-cost healthcare and education.  Additionally, HOPE has been active in disaster relief efforts throughout Pakistan. 

In the course of 25 years, HOPE has emerged as a viable solution in bettering the socioeconomic forefront of the people of Pakistan, particularly women and children. 

HOPE USA

To support the projects and development of the International Township of Auroville, which is an attempt to create a universal town where men and women of all countries can live together in peace and progressive harmony.

Auroville International USA

Protecting the Amazon rainforest and our climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples

Since 1996, Amazon Watch has defended the Amazon rainforest and our climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples. Long-term, trusted partnerships with Indigenous peoples — the best stewards of the rainforest — are the foundation for Amazon Watch’s campaigns for climate justice, corporate accountability, and the permanent protection of the rainforest.

The Amazon is home to more than 511 distinct Indigenous peoples. As our planet’s largest tropical rainforest, it stabilizes our global climate and an immense amount of Earth’s biodiversity and flowing freshwater can be found there. This vital ecosystem and the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded it for centuries face grave threats from deforestation, resource extraction, land grabs, and destructive development projects. The Amazon is facing a tipping point and won't be able to sustain itself as a rainforest if we remain on our current path of destruction.

To move to a turning point, Amazon Watch is carrying out campaigns in partnership with Indigenous peoples to secure Indigenous rights to ancestral territories, halt oil drilling and mining in the biome, and mobilize solidarity funds directly to Amazonian peoples at their request. Their work combines on-the-ground legal, advocacy, and communications expertise and long-term trusted partnerships with Indigenous peoples and organizations.

🌳Amazon Watch’s Amazon Defenders Fund (ADF) provides direct solidarity funding to Amazonian peoples and organizations free of bureaucratic barriers. The ADF supports Indigenous-led initiatives including community organizing, women’s leadership, communal economies, protection of Earth Defenders at risk for resisting destructive development, and crisis response including to wildfires and oil spills. The ADF is built upon a multi-decade track record as a trusted partner among Indigenous nations. You can learn more at amazonwatch.org/get-involved/amazon-defenders-fund.

Amazon Watch

OLM compile's clothing, food, spiritual and material assistance for mission trips to poor countries and those most marginalized.


Our Lady's Ministry is a non-profit organization 501(c)(3) that brings spiritual and material assistance to the poor, to countries that have suffered natural disasters, to inmates, seminaries and institutions that are most in need.  Private benefactors support us financially, materially or by offering their voluntary help.  This Ministry started in 1994 and received its nonprofit status in 1999.  The Ministry and its lay missionaries evangelize by means of the Word of God and carry out the teachings, doctrines and works of charity that are in conformity with the Catholic Church.

For additional information about Our Lady's Ministry and all the good works they do visit us. https://OurLadysMinistry.org

Our Lady's Ministry

A nonprofit that creates & sustains a beautiful, clean, green, litter-free Oakland via education, engagement, & volunteer action.

**Keep Oakland Beautiful Mission and Objectives:**

Our mission is to create and sustain a beautiful, clean, green, litter-free Oakland through education, community engagement, and volunteer action.

[Keep Oakland Beautiful](https://www.instagram.com/keepoaklandbeautiful/) achieves our mission following two core pillars:

1. **Education** - We partner with the City of Oakland and local on-profits aligned with our mission to disseminate helpful information with the community regarding best practices on recycling, sustainability and "Zero Litter" through our digital channels including social media, our newsletter, and our website. We also table at [farmers markets](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6T_NR4xoyj/)!
2. **Community engagement/volunteering** - We organize and support city-wide cleanups throughout the year, activating direct community involvement and action. We track our volunteers and pounds of trash collected, and also provide their cleaning supplies. In addition, we support community engagement and volunteering through our annual [Community Grants](https://www.instagram.com/p/C7E9us0tbHu/) program where we fund Oakland Adopt-A-Spot beautification projects, an annual Daffodil Days bulb giveaway, as well as Earth Day beautification events and Creek to Bay Day activities. 

We had two incredibly beautiful public mural projects launch, one of them at the historic Marcus Books in Oakland. And this year, we're proud to announce our partnerships with Blue Shield of CA and The [Oakland Ballers](https://www.instagram.com/p/C-Y4sQNS0dc/) to [plant trees](https://www.instagram.com/p/DAmuVA3vU0C/) and beautify the stadium respectively.

We're one of the first volunteer run organizations to hold a Youth Advisory Committee, and this year, our interns worked state wide to help create Keep California Beautiful's first youth led committee!

We are 100% a volunteer working board and rely on private donations grants to do our work. Thank you for thinking of and supporting[ Keep Oakland Beautiful](https://www.keepoaklandbeautiful.org/about.html)!

=================

Below is a recap of some of our community work over the past 2 years:

**2024 (to date)**

- [Blue dragon mural by 333 Arts at 1745 International Blvd (Turbo Tires)](https://mailchi.mp/3df1d615423c/2024) 
- [Board Chair Christina featured on Keep America Beautiful: Do Beautiful Things podcast](https://mailchi.mp/9f583896c60d/2024-17363866)
- [We were featured in the Blue Shield employee engagement article](https://mailchi.mp/9f583896c60d/2024-17363866) 
- [100+ volunteers and 50 bags of litter removed at Lake Merritt cleanup](https://mailchi.mp/bb7b9b294a82/2024-17367614)
- [Biggest community appreciation event to date](https://mailchi.mp/bb7b9b294a82/2024-17367614)
- [100+ volunteers and 1,000lbs of litter removed at Inaugural Oakland Ballers Litter League](https://mailchi.mp/6b7ecdfac470/2024-17393541)
- [70+ volunteers and 85 trees planted at KOB x Blue Shield of CA corporate engagement event ](https://mailchi.mp/6b7ecdfac470/2024-17393541)
- [We awarded over $14,000 in awards to 15 projects across diverse Oakland neighborhoods through the Community Grant program](https://www.keepoaklandbeautiful.org/our-impact)
- [Our Youth Advisory interns helps launch the Keep California Beautiful youth led committee](https://www.instagram.com/p/C77L6JjvQCE/)
- [Gave away over 3,000 daffodil bulbs to Oakland residents and community groups to plant in their public spaces.](https://www.instagram.com/p/DA4nzeiymqg/)

**2023**

- **100+ attendees** at our annual [Earth Day event](https://www.instagram.com/p/CrwhZMSLtQO/) celebrating the community
- **$7,000+** **for 13 projects** distributed in our Community Grants program
- **3,200 [daffodils](https://www.instagram.com/p/CxHQIMDrhM8/)** planted to delight Oakland neighborhoods
- **1.8 tons** of litter [cleaned up from Grove Shafter Park](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz0RZ3jOd6y/)
- **One new mural** commissioned at the historic [Marcus Books](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4TZLLBTVu/?img_index=1)
- **Media coverage & [a feature](https://keepoaklandbeautiful.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e37d45bb18b0c375106595c81&id=52c869f39f&e=c5a0e91699)** from parent organization Keep America Beautiful

Keep Oakland Beautiful

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