MEMBER POLL RESULTS: Poverty category funds going to Nepal

The Mountain Fund, our Poverty beneficiary for the current quarter, supports projects in mountain regions around the world. Our August 14 email poll of members asked which of the following Mountain Fund projects should receive our support:  

1. Ward 9 Pokhara, Nepal (improving a daycare center for homeless children); 
2. Aynikuy Microfinance, Peru (providing small loans to businesses run by Peruvian families in need); 
3. Benefit El Salvador (providing equipment and supplies for rural health care clinics serving 40,000 Salvadorans); 
4. Mount Everest Foundation (funding vocational training, school supplies, and health clinic supplies in the Okhaldhunga District of Nepal). 

After one week of voting, the results are in: 35 percent of the 146 poll respondents chose the Mount Everest Foundation project, with each of the other worthy projects netting 20-23 percent of the vote.

Our estimated contribution will provide a year of school supplies for 20 children, vocational training for 10 adults, and medical supplies for the local health clinic for five full years.

A few members emailed in response to the poll, including one who was incredulous at the distance our donation (currently projected at $2200-2500) will go in the Nepalese economy.

“Even if it funded the clinic for a year or so I would have been astonished,” she said. “But five years?? I hope we’ll continue to fund these projects where a little goes a long way. Better than pouring our money into one of the big buckets.”

Watch for more member polls in the coming weeks.

Learn more about the Mount Everest Foundation