Philanthropy

Philanthropy is an important component of Rotunda's mission. That's why we are committed to serving the non-profit sector. Also, we make regular donations to non-profit organizations with a history of affecting positive change.

As of 2013, the major recipients of Rotunda Software's charitable donations include the following orgnaizations.

Room to Read

Room to Read believes that World Change Starts with Educated Children.® They envision a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their community and the world. Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in Africa and Asia by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

Room to Read focuses its efforts on developing reading skills and the habit of reading in primary school-aged children because literacy is the foundation for all future learning. We do this by establishing school libraries, publishing original children’s books in local languages, constructing child-friendly classrooms and supporting educators with training and resources to teach reading, writing and active listening more effectively.

Fabretto

Fabretto is a nonprofit based in Nicaragua with offices in the US & Spain, founded to carry on the work started by Father Fabretto more than fifty years ago. The foundation today supports more than 10,000 children and youth in Nicaragua and empowers them to break the cycle of poverty through programs in education and nutrition. Fabretto is supported by an international network of supporters and volunteers. Fabretto's mission is to empower underserved children and their families in Nicaragua to reach their full potential, improve their livelihoods, and take advantage of economic opportunity through education and nutrition.

Child Aid

Child Aid works with indigenous people in some of Latin America's poorest communities to create opportunity and alleviate poverty. Its Reading for Life literacy program serves over 8,500 children in more than 40 villages in Guatemala. Child Aid delivers thousands of books to rural schools and libraries, and offers scholarships to children who need them most. It provides extensive training for teachers and librarians and brings reading into the lives of thousands of poor children. Reading for Life is effective because it is multifaceted. It is sustainable because it's an investment in local people. It is empowering because it gives children the greatest resource they can possess to lift themselves from poverty: literacy.

IDEX International

IDEX International promotes lasting solutions to poverty by providing grants to locally run organizations in developing countries. The unique approach that IDEX takes to development work has proved very effective.

The standard approach to development is to set specific goals (e.g. build schools, provide health education, etc.), create plans to achieve those goals, and to seek out communities in which to implement those plans. A common challenge with this approach is that the goals of the organization do not match the immediate goals of the community, and without the community's full support, the goals of the organization are difficult to realize, or may have a limited long term impact on the welfare of the community.

The approach IDEX uses, in contrast, begins with investigating the goals of a particular community, and then providing support to local organizations that are devoted to helping the community achieve it's particular goals, whatever those goals may be. Please see IDEX's web site for more information.

Common Hope

Since 1986, Common Hope has partnered with impoverished children and families in Guatemala who want to improve their lives through education, health care, and housing. Today, the organization benefits more than 8,000 children and adults in 19 communities outside Antigua and Guatemala City.

By covering all costs associated with school and providing access to health care and housing opportunities, Common Hope makes it possible for 3,000 children to attend school each year and provides family members opportunities to earn better housing. Before Common Hope, these children would likely have dropped out of grade school to earn money for their family picking coffee or selling tortillas. Instead, Common Hope students are staying in school significantly longer than their peers. An increasing number are graduating from high school with the skills to begin professional careers in fields like teaching, accounting, and mechanics. Common Hope requires active participation from families; each family develops a long-term relationship with a local specialist, with whom they set their own unique development plan to work toward improving living conditions and expanding opportunities.

Kiva

Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals send money directly to people in need in an effort to help create opportunity around the world.

Kiva works with microfinance institutions on five continents to provide loans to people without access to traditional banking systems. One hundred percent of each and every loan is sent to these microfinance institutions, called Field Partners, who administer the loans in the field. The loans fund local entrepreneurship in areas as diverse as weaving, pig farming and solar charging stations in off-grid communities.

Media Enterprise Alliance

Media Enterprise Alliance (MEA) provides inner-city high school students in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) with a year-long opportunity to study media, particularly video production. A carefully structured media arts curriculum, aligned with state and district arts education standards, teaches students artistic and technical skills that will give them a voice to effect social change within their community. Students develop essential skills necessary for college admission and successful job placement. While producing informational films and features for television news, students are exposed first-hand to community problems and become an active part of the solutions. MEA strengthens communities, retains youth in high school through graduation, enhances the arts and cultural experience for students, and prepares underserved youth for higher education.

At Rotunda, we believe that the most efficient charity is a charity which helps people help themselves. Because all four of these organizations have a strong commitment to their communities, and to empowering those who they aim to help for sustainable growth, Rotunda happily donates to each of these non-profits.