Help us start an Alumni Foundation
Donation protected
Hey Everyone,
If you are from Venezuela (and live in another country) or have a friend from Venezuela you know that the country is in pretty bad shape (economically):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/08/05/venezuela-is-basically-bankrupt-again/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-27/harvard-professor-now-says-venezuela-won-t-escape-default-in-16
As a Venezuelan it is hard to see my country suffering from those issues, me and some colleagues want to make a difference and we want to aid our alma mater, the Simon Bolivar University.
In Venezuela the biggest and best ranked universities are public, which means that almost all their income comes from the national government. Since more than a decade ago, public Universities have been granted the same funding year after year (disregarding inflation and other economic parameters), as an example the materials and supplies needed for teaching laboratories (for examples) had not been replaced in a long time. In a recent news coverage (in spanish) you can see that for next year the amount of money given to the University is only 14% of the budget required (http://usbnoticias.info/post/42959).
We want to do our part in helping raise funds and sending educational material to our university. I have organized a little crowdfunding for an introductory biology laboratory beore (http://www.gofundme.com/a7zr70) and it was so successful that I immediately saw that with a non-profit organization a greater positive impact can be made.
That’s where my colleagues come in, we have been meeting and discussing how to create a non-profit organization from scratch and we are ready to go, we just need the money to pay the fees to: Apply for federal income tax exemption 501(c), Registration for Charitable Solicitation / Fundraising, Hiring a Registered Agent, among other fees.
We are asking help to do our bits toward a better education and a better Venezuela; as Simon Bolivar said “an ignorant nation is the blind instrument of their own destruction”.
If you are from Venezuela (and live in another country) or have a friend from Venezuela you know that the country is in pretty bad shape (economically):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/08/05/venezuela-is-basically-bankrupt-again/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-27/harvard-professor-now-says-venezuela-won-t-escape-default-in-16
As a Venezuelan it is hard to see my country suffering from those issues, me and some colleagues want to make a difference and we want to aid our alma mater, the Simon Bolivar University.
In Venezuela the biggest and best ranked universities are public, which means that almost all their income comes from the national government. Since more than a decade ago, public Universities have been granted the same funding year after year (disregarding inflation and other economic parameters), as an example the materials and supplies needed for teaching laboratories (for examples) had not been replaced in a long time. In a recent news coverage (in spanish) you can see that for next year the amount of money given to the University is only 14% of the budget required (http://usbnoticias.info/post/42959).
We want to do our part in helping raise funds and sending educational material to our university. I have organized a little crowdfunding for an introductory biology laboratory beore (http://www.gofundme.com/a7zr70) and it was so successful that I immediately saw that with a non-profit organization a greater positive impact can be made.
That’s where my colleagues come in, we have been meeting and discussing how to create a non-profit organization from scratch and we are ready to go, we just need the money to pay the fees to: Apply for federal income tax exemption 501(c), Registration for Charitable Solicitation / Fundraising, Hiring a Registered Agent, among other fees.
We are asking help to do our bits toward a better education and a better Venezuela; as Simon Bolivar said “an ignorant nation is the blind instrument of their own destruction”.
Organizer
Gabriel Alejandro Golczer Gatti
Organizer
Melrose, MA
