December 2, 2014

Today is Giving Tuesday — the national day of giving founded in 2012 as a response to the consumerism of other post-Thanskgiving holidays. In honor of this day, TIEs would like to shine a spotlight on three organizations that we believe are doing great work. Consider celebrating “Giving Tuesday” by giving to one of them!

Next Generation Nepal

Website: nextgenerationnepal.org

Donations Page: nextgenerationnepal.org/Donate_Online

Next Generation Nepal is an organization that works to unite trafficked children in Nepal with their families. They provide temporary care and education for the children while seeking the families. Once the children return, they continue to monitor the situation to provide support and prevent re-trafficking. An exciting thing about this organization is that they actively speak out against voluntourism in orphanages, as it can cause psychological problems for the children and it may actually promote further child trafficking. They have written an amazing set of guidelines for ethical volunteering, which TIEs aims to follow when establishing our own volunteer placements.

Moving Worlds

Website: movingworlds.org

Moving Worlds is an organization dedicated to connecting skilled volunteers with social impact organizations that could benefit from their particular skill set. They call this type of volunteering “Experteering”, and you can find out more about how it works in their video. TIEs is a big fan of “Experteering”, as we utilize expert volunteers ourselves to improve education in the U.S. and Nepal. Why not celebrate this “Giving Tuesday” by making a plan to give your expertise somewhere — and do it with Moving Worlds!

Mindful Life Project

Website: mindfullifeproject.org

Donations Page: mindfullifeproject.org/support-our-work

Mindful Life Project is an organization in Richmond, California that works to empower at-risk students through mindfulness activities such therapeutic yoga, art, and performing arts. They conduct programs in schools in low-income communities to help students build confidence, self-awareness, and self-control. TIEs is particularly interested in this type of work because mindfulness is a founding principle of our partner school in Nepal, and we hope for our American teacher participants to gain new ideas about mindfulness that they can apply back in their own classrooms.

If someone on your gift list this holiday season doesn’t need more “stuff” in their life, consider making a donation in their name instead! Happy “Giving Tuesday” everyone!

-TIEs team