As part of our commitment to being a progressive company, ShareProgress donates one percent of our annual revenue to various progressive, nonprofit organizations. The organizations we support are selected by members of the ShareProgress staff (one organization per person), and the donations are equally divided between each selected organization. This year, we selected five different organizations to support. The organizations are listed below, along with a quick rundown of what each one does, and why our staff chose to support them.

Juma Ventures

Youth program participant working a job through Juma Ventures

What they do: Juma Ventures is a youth-centered nonprofit that builds college readiness by providing young people with jobs, helping them to open Individual Development Accounts (essentially, saving accounts earmarked for college), and providing preparation before college and guidance after entering college. In 2013, 97% of Juma’s youth graduated from high school, and 96% enrolled in higher education.

Why Cindy chose them: There are a lot of structural and financial barriers that prevent low-income students from accomplishing their life dreams and move toward improving their life conditions and subsequently those of their loved ones.  Juma Ventures offers a holistic and life-changing program to help these students not only get into college, but offer them the financial and life knowledge necessary to ensure that they succeed when they get into college and for life after.

Learn more: http://www.jumaventures.org

CODE2040

What they do: CODE2040 works to close the opportunity gap often encountered by Black and Latino/a technologist who have the skills but not the network to procure technology jobs. They do this by focusing on three areas: experience, connections, and skills building. They believe that by providing black and Latino/a talent access to these core elements, students will thrive (not just survive) in the tech industry. They provide those experiences, skills, and connections through their Fellows Program, Technical Applicant Prep, and Entrepreneur in Residence.  CODE2040’s flagship program is their summer Fellows Program, which places high performing Black and Latino/a software engineering students in internships with top tech companies.  While working in the internships, students receive leadership coaching and network-building guidance from CODE2040 staff and volunteers through workshops.

Why Jim chose them: There are so many exciting things happening in the tech world these days, but it’s frustrating to see the lack of diversity within the developer community. I’m inspired by the work that organizations like CODE2040 are doing to bring talent from under-represented communities into this space, which I believe will ultimately lead to a stronger and more socially-conscious technology sector.

Learn more: http://www.code2040.org

Olazul

President of community cooperative working with Olazul staff to put seaweed line in water

What they do: Olazul works to create sustainable ocean aquaculture livelihoods for vulnerable coastal communities that urgently need alternative revenue streams to fishing. Sixty-four percent of global fisheries are overfished, With nearly 3 billion people dependent upon oceans for their primary source of protein and livelihood, collapsing fisheries will jeopardize food security and livelihoods worldwide. Unfortunately many coastal communities find it impossible to reduce their fishing pressure because they are locked in a poverty trap and depend upon fishing for survival. Olazul is solving this problem through an “ecosystem approach to aquaculture,” and partner with fishing communities, researchers and seafood companies to make their vision come to life.

Why Justine chose them: For my ShareProgress’ yearly donation, I decided to donate to Olazul, a nonprofit whose mission is to innovate coastal livelihoods that drive marine ecosystem restoration. They are focused on not just saving marine life but on aligning the benefits of doing so with local communities, essentially making them stewards of their environment. They’re currently designing sustainable methods of producing seaweed, bivalves (such as oysters, clams and scallops) and aquarium fish for consumer markets. They’re also doing a lot to connect fishing-turned-farming communities to the global marketplace to further kickstart demand for responsibly sourced aquaculture products.

Learn more: http://www.olazul.org

Family Tree Clinic

What they do: Family Tree Clinic provides sliding-scale health services to folks in the Twin Cities. They focus on reproductive and sexual health services, but they’ve also recently expanded to include minor illness care, and are currently the only clinic in Minnesota offering Trans hormone care on a sliding-scale basis. They take a sex-positive and feminist approach to providing services and education across the Twin Cities metro area.

Why Anna chose them: I grew up and went to college just a few miles away from Family Tree Clinic, and I’ve been lucky to experience first-hand their compassionate, thoughtful approach to healthcare. They’re doing important work to provide services like minor illness care, and hormone therapy for trans folks, that are vitally important but often inaccessible to those who need it the most. I really admire their model, and I was thrilled to be able to support them through ShareProgress. 

Learn more: http://www.familytreeclinic.org

Helen Keller International

What they do: Helen Keller International is focused on a broad range of services, from helping people globally see (80% of people currently suffering from vision loss don’t have to be), eliminating diseases borne of poverty, and improving nutrition.

Why Andy chose them: Everyone knows Helen Keller for being blind and deaf, but it’s not as widely known that she was a progressive political activist and a complete badass.  She fought for women’s rights, workers’ rights and helped found the ACLU.  She also started Helen Keller International (HKI) which continues her legacy by fighting the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition across Asia, Africa, and in the United States.  HKI is able to correct blindness in some countries for less than $75 per patient; it’s hard to think of many better ways of spending seventy-five bucks.

Learn more: http://www.hki.org

We’re thrilled to be able to help support the work of such great organizations. In addition to the organizations selected by ShareProgress, we also support other progressive nonprofits through our referral program. If you’ve referred an organization to start using ShareProgress, let us know, and we’ll donate $50 to a progressive nonprofit of your choice.

Next year we’ll be choosing a new group of organizations. If you think your nonprofit would be a perfect fit for our giving program, let us know in the comments!