As 2015 begins to draw to a close, many of us start to reflect on the past year. As the days grow shorter and we start to wrap up the year, we think about what worked and what did not - making mental notes about what to adjust in the coming months, before, hopefully, turning our attention inward and spending a few days with friends and family.
Here at NetHope, we too are in a reflective mood. When we look back, we see a very, very busy year: whether Ebola or cyclones, mobile money or UAVs, from Syria to Copenhagen and Seattle to Kathmandu, NetHope and its members addressed countless challenges all across the globe as we collectively pursued our common mission to improve the world we share. What also strikes us is that we could not have done so without the support and encouragement of so many people - and we mean that! We are blessed with incredibly engaged and active members, who keep our membership vibrant and our organization responsive. We are also grateful for long-term partners and donors, who generously provide us with the financial support and technology resources that enable all of us to have greater impact in the communities we serve. And we are fortunate to collaborate with many members of the broader nonprofit community on a range of issues and opportunities that help us achieve our mission.
But we also realize that countless others have helped us in this transformative year in sometimes unseen, relatively quiet ways, and that each of these generosities has been incredibly important. Whatever was offered, it was just what we needed at just the right moment. For these small gifts, we are incredibly thankful, and want to take a moment to thank those individuals and organizations that have shared their time and resources freely with us this year and helped us serve more effectively:
Fell Swoop:
A top-notch design and digital strategy agency in Seattle, WA partnered with us on theNetHope website, donating weeks of work to help us launch our new online presence in a remarkably tight timeline. From the earliest conversations, the team at Fell Swoop has asked “how can we help” and then followed through without the slightest hiccup.
Wallingford Presbyterian Church:
NetHope is a virtual organization: dispersed geographically, we use Skype like the typical office hallway, popping in or out like you do in the physical world. But sometimes, we just need to get together and sit around a table to work. The Wallingford Presbyterian Church has generously shared their space, welcoming us when we needed meeting space and making us feel right at home.
The Frontier Project:
Frontier has been a partner on several different fronts, but their creativity in supporting NetHope knows no boundaries. Several members of the Frontier staff linked to NetHope donation pages from their “Out of Office” messages during the Summit. Due to their creativity, we received generous gifts to support our emergency response work, and got some free publicity to boot!
General Atlantic, Group Health, Pact, and Path donated meeting space without thinking twice. We asked, they provided, and good things happened.
Mercy Corps, Save the Children, Wildlife Conservation Society, Concern Worldwide, SOS-Children's Villages and Norwegian Refugee Council freely licensed images for use on our new website.
Sigurður Ólafur Sigurðsson, while working to provide connectivity along the refugee migration route, lent his additional talents as a professional photographer to capture the scenes first-hand.
