A group of US high school students recently funded a project to restore clean drinking water in a small Lithuanian town more than 4,000 miles from their school. They found the project on the Internet-based Virtual Foundation and donated $365 through the Foundation. The funds were matched by the Virtual Foundation and will start a river monitoring and clean-up campaign. The Virtual Foundation uses a World Wide Web Internet site, http://www.virtualfoundation.org/ to allow individuals and organizations pick a project they care about and want to support. The site allows potential donors to select a specific project and target their contribution precisely and, if they wish, strike up a relationship with the group they funded in a distant country, a group that has now become their global neighbor. Donors can easily follow the progress of a project through personal communications or through updates on the Virtual Foundation website. Giving through the Virtual Foundation is highly personal, adventurous and it is risk free. Proposals are screened and recommended for posting by "Consortium Partners" in the region who have extensive grantmaking experience. The proposals stem mostly from groups in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. The environment, human health and sustainable development are the target areas. The amount of money needed for the projects is usually extremely modest and the outcomes are specific, concrete and observable.

The Virtual Foundation is the brainchild of ECOLOGIA, a small international environmental organization working primarily in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. It was born out of the recognition that private western funders and institutions such as USAID are reducing their financial support of NGOs in Central and Eastern Europe. Randy Kritkausky, President of ECOLOGIA says: "For those of us who are familiar with the tremendous environmental degradation that occurred during decades of communist rule, it was very rewarding to see hundreds of small NGOs grow strong and begin to work at the state and federal level as well as within their communities."

Everyone, but especially young people and future generations living in the 21st century, will be touched by a range of global environmental, related health and developmental problems, regardless of where they live on the planet. The communications medium of the 21st century, the Internet, may well become the best tool to learn about and help solve some of these problems in a pragmatic, personal and effective way.

Contact: ECOLOGIA, Harford, PA Lydia Thompson or Randy Kritkausky; Tel: +1 717/434-9588, fax: +1 717/434-9589; ecologia@ecologia.org; in Washington, DC: Irmgard Hunt; tel/fax: +1 202/362-3622

From the NEWW Online Bulletin, Version 1.0.3, August 1997. Reproduced by permission.