Nourish Bangladesh: Minecraft Creative Tournament

Thank you for participating in the Nourish Bangladesh Minecraft Creative Tournament. All donations made here will be added to for our Food & Cash Transfer Fund (also known as the "Portfolio") which is periodically distributed among a number of Nourish Bangladesh vetted NGOs and grassroots volunteers. Donations to the Portfolio is currently being used for cash transfers and dry food distributions among the economically disadvantaged all across Bangladesh. 

What is the Nourish Bangladesh Minecraft Creative Tournament? The Nourish Bangladesh Minecraft Creative Tournament is a Minecraft competition and a fundraising initiative to help the economically disadvantaged Bangladeshis with dry food and cash support. All funds raised by participants of this competition will be used for the mentioned purpose. To learn more about participating in the competition click here.

What does Nourish Bangladesh do? Nourish Bangladesh is a multinational charity operating in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Bangladesh. The two main goals of Nourish Bangladesh are to (a) research and vet nonprofits and grassroots volunteers that help economically disadvantaged communities in Bangladesh, and (b) fundraise and disburse donations to these vetted NGOs and volunteers. Nourish Bangladesh was formed in June 2020 and is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit. To learn more please visit our website.

What is the Portfolio? The Portfolio is a list of NGOs and grassroots volunteer groups that have been vetted by Nourish Bangladesh. It includes both non-profit organizations and local grassroots volunteer groups that spontaneously come together during disasters to fundraise and help those in need. Grassroots volunteers are usually convened and led by a team leader working as an independent unit but sometimes work as contractors for established NGOs. Most successful volunteer groups in Bangladesh, also more likely to be vetted by us, have a history of helping out during disasters - coming together during disasters and disbanding afterwards. The volunteers are a diverse mixture of youth and adults from different occupations. They tend to have very little overhead costs compared to established NGOs although it is usually not zero. We have so far vetted the following NGOs and volunteer groups:

Non-Profit Organizations: BRAC, JAAGO, B Desh, Thrive, Bidyanondo, Manusher Jonno Foundation, Action Against Hunger, Al Zahoor Welfare Foundation
Grassroots Volunteers led by: Mithun Das, Azdani N Bari, Muhtasim A Zisan 

Why invest in the Portfolio instead of the best NGO and/or Volunteer Group? Our research suggests that there is no such thing as the best NGO or volunteer group. Trust that we have a healthy appetite for generating quantitative scales that reduces multidimensional measures into a single rank ordered scale. But we strongly believe that such an attempt would be misguided. Every rank reducing algorithm has certain assumptions about reducibility which we are quite certain does not apply here. In simple terms, we believe that all NGOs and volunteers have their strengths and weaknesses. Based on our preliminary research, we have reached the conclusion that given our objective of fighting hunger amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, bigger NGOs tend to be low risk, low pay-off options while the smaller NGOs and grassroots volunteer groups tend to be higher risk, higher pay-off options. Thus, after vetting each organization, we intend to split your donations between the different NGOs and grassroots volunteer groups. 

What is the timeline for disbursing funds? We make disbursements from the portfolio approximately every 2 months unless there is an emergency that requires urgent funding. 

How will the funds be spent? The funds will be used for cash transfers and dry food distribution to help the economically disadvantaged all across Bangladesh.