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Meet the Board
Meet the Board
MARA CONSERVATION
encouraging empathy for other life
MLP Team in Morocco
Advisors in Morocco
Celebrating 2024, building together for 2025
This has been a transformative year! We hope you'll join us to keep it going and growing.
So much has happened this year! Our Women's Work Center in the Maasai Mara has blossomed, with women expanding their skills, earning an income for the first time in their lives, keeping their kids in school, and even making sanitary kits to keep over 1000 girls in school.
You can see and feel the change in the happiness and confidence of these women, with the knowledge that they're supporting their families with meaningful work. We are so grateful for your support that makes this possible. Also this year... we built another library for a disadvantaged rural school in the Mara and another children's library; as well as three solar-pumped water systems providing clean water to communities, improving health, and relieving women of the burden of carrying heavy water on their backs.
In Morocco, our Short Story Competition for youth became truly national this year, and we just published the 3rd anthology, giving voice to young people so rarely heard from. We held an Essay Competition for youth at 9 schools in both Morocco and Kenya, asking the question, "What are the main challenges facing your generation?" Were their essays ever eye-opening. We hope to publish books from their essays in 2025. Young people deserve to be heard, and I believe there's no better way to inspire literacy than to give them the chance to put their thoughts in writing.
All of that (and more) in 12 months! We're a small, passionate, frugal organization. I give my time, and our other team members are grassroots on location. Our work is funded entirely by donations, and at our scale your gift makes a huge difference. We hope you'll be inspired to join us with your support this season, spreading love and bringing hope and true generational change to a world in need.
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With heartfelt gratitude & warm holiday wishes from all of us,
~ Barb Mackraz, Founder & Executive Director
A word from Hellen Nchoko, manager of the Oliveseed Women's Work Center
"The impact of the Women's Center extends beyond individual growth, it cultivates a movement of empowered women ready to challenge societal norms. We are learning to advocate for ourselves and each other, breaking down barriers that have historically held us back. The center is not just a physical space. It is a symbol of hope and change. It reminds us that together, we can create a world where women are celebrated and empowered."
Why put your trust in us?
We know there are many ways you can invest in positive change, and we are so grateful for your support. Over the past 11 years, we've earned the trust of our donors and the teachers, communities, and elders whose close engagement is a vital ingredient of everything we do. We're a small hardworking team with minimal overhead.
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We have earned the Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid GuideStar (their highest rating); have collaborated with the Peace Corps multiple times by invitation; have been vetted by Benevity, Bright Funds, and other corporate giving programs; and have earned grants from Rotary, Kiwanis, Africa Publishing Innovation Fund (for grassroots African organizations), and twice from the U.S. Embassy in Morocco. Oliveseed was founded in 2014 first as Morocco Library Project, as a collaboration with teachers all over the country.
If you'd prefer to give by check, kindly make it out to Oliveseed Foundation and mail to: Oliveseed, PO Box 60713, Palo Alto, CA 94306.
We're also set up to receive stock donations, and that's one of the most tax-efficient ways to give. The process is easy, and we can guide you through.
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We are a 501(c)(3) public charity nonprofit (EIN 82-1693564), and your gift is tax-deductible in the U.S. to the extent allowed by law.
If you have questions, please write us.