Nourish Bangladesh: Thrive

Thrive  is one of several non-profits we have vetted for our donors if they are interested in availing tax deductions in the US for their charitable giving (Thrive is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) organization). Any donations made here will be directly transferred to Thrive. Nourish Bangladesh does not receive the funds donated here.


Who is Thrive? Thrive was founded in 2012 by three expatriated moms living in Bangladesh. They saw children starving on the streets and needed to take action. Their mission is to provide nutritious food to school children and their families living in Bangladesh (they also have an operation in the Philippines, which Nourish Bangladesh is not a part of). Their primary expertise in Bangladesh is providing daily healthy meals for children at 10 different schools in the slums of Dhaka and the surrounding areas. To this end, Thrive partners with local farms and a nutrition bar company called Hashi Khushi. As Bangladesh faces the pandemic and widespread flooding, Thrive has started a dry food distribution operation. 

Highlights: Thrive maintains low overhead costs, and ensures that all money donated by Nourish Bangladesh will go directly towards their dry food package distribution efforts in schools. Thrive is the only tax-deductible non-profit that Nourish Bangladesh is working with, that works directly in schools. Thrive plans to customize their relief efforts with guidance from us. Nutrition is one of their top priorities in every package, and they do this while maintaining low costs. They are a Global Giving awardee.


Responses to Vetting Questions: These are the responses we were provided by Ms. Priscilla Heffelfinger, the co-founder and CEO of Thrive, with regard to Thrive's general activities and their plans for using the funds donated through our fundraising campaign. We researched and asked the same set of standard questions to the other NGOs we vetted as well. 


Question: With our donation, what is the geographical spread of the relief recipient (e.g. Dhaka city, rural Mymensingh, etc.)?
Response: Thrive feeds children in Dhaka and remote areas of Bangladesh. We currently feed 13 schools (8 in Dhaka slums and 5 outside the city).

Question: With our donation, which groups will be helped (e.g. LGBTQ community, Transgender community, street children, Garo indigenous population, sex workers, gypsy community)?
Response: Children who live or work on the streets of Dhaka or remote areas of Bangladesh.

Question: With our donation, will you reach out to the Rohingyas?
Response: Thrive has fed Rohingya children, but is currently not working in the camps.  
 
Question: Can you give us a price breakdown of how much money is spent towards food relief (e.g. with 1000 taka we offer lentils, rice, onions, and potato for a family of 4 for two weeks) or how much cash is handed to each household (e.g. 1800 taka for each adult in a household)?
Response: In response to Covid-19, we shifted from daily healthy meals at schools to monthly dry food packs to the students and their families. The Thrive Dry Food packs are 1300 BD/$15 which includes 10 kg of rice, 1 kg of dal (lentils), 5 kg of ahi, 3 kg of onions, 4 pieces of lemons, 850 grams of garlic/mustard/soybeans.
 
Question: We prefer our donations be used for cash transfers or food relief. Nonetheless, what type of other services, if any, other than food relief or cash transfer will be provided with our donations?
Response: The donation will be used for food relief only, and we are distributing dry food.

Question: Can you ensure our donation money is spent only on food relief or cash transfer? If not, can you provide a list of services our fund will be used for?
Response: Yes.
 
Question: Are you able to customize your food relief or cash transfer efforts based on what we want the donation to be used for?
Response: We are. In fact, each month, we ask the families for input on our food packs and tweak to reflect their needs.
 
Question: Do you have any mechanism to ensure transparency of exactly where our money is going?
Response: Thrive has delivered food to schoolchildren since 2012. To ensure transparency, we require all of our partner schools to sign an annual contract that includes the requirement to send photos and videos. We have volunteers who conduct random monthly spot checks on our work. We have a paperwork flow that monitors food deliveries for quantity and quality. Most importantly, we develop close and trusting relationships with our school directors and teachers that encourage open communication and honest sharing.
 
Question: Can you give us an estimate of what percentage of our donation is used up in overhead cost i.e. if we donate 1000 USD, what fraction of that will go directly to the poor?
Response: More than 85%. We can also target for Nourish Bangladesh donation to be 100% food relief directed and have overhead costs come from other allocated sources.
 
Question: Is your organization secular or religiously-affiliated? Does this affect who you serve?
Response: Thrive is non-religious and non-political. Thrive is a US nonprofit 501c3 and Registered Bangladesh Trust.
 
Question: Can you give us a very brief history of your relevant past efforts that makes you uniquely suited to carry out relief efforts in the face of Covid-19?
Response: Thrive's mission is to feed hungry children living in the poorest areas of the world. Since 2012, Thrive has remained steadfast to our mission and fine-tuned our delivery model to ensure it is cost-effective, accurate, fully transparent. Typically, we partner with Direct Fresh to deliver nutritious meals every school day to over 3,000 students at 13 schools and two community programs. When the schools closed, we maintained our delivery system but pivoted to monthly dry food packs. That shift was nearly seamless due to our long-term work focused exclusively on food distribution.
 
Question: Do you have any mechanism in place to ensure that you are aware of which households are getting help from the government, so as to avoid overlapping coverage with government efforts?
Response: The schools we work with are not government supported. Thrive requires schools to apply for our services through a survey, several visits, and a short-term trial contract prior to committing to partnership. Through those steps we determine if there is duplication of services.
 
Question: Do you have any results from non-profit assessment organizations (i.e. Givewell)?
Response: We are a Global Giving awardee.