Dear Bill and Melinda Gates,
My name is Steve Willis and we share a common interest. You and I care about the less fortunate in the society and especially the poverty-stricken from the African continent. I am certain that you desire to change the statistics that in one in every three persons in the world lives in poverty (World Bank 3). For the past 5 years, I have dedicated my life to fight poverty in the African continent and especially in Kenya. I have a PhD in social work and minor in nursing care from the Oregon University. I grew up in Canada and visited Kenya with my parents after my high school graduation. During my stay, I came across a young mother my age with six children following her. The sight of a young girl my age already with children and begging from the streets was an unfathomable sight I had ever encountered.
The sight of the children moved me to study more about Kenyan economic background other than the glorified tourism sector at the coast that we commonly visited. My studies revealed high poverty rates in Kenya and the African continent (World Bankb 1). I resorted to work something that would change the life of at least one child. The high number of street families along the streets of Kisumu town compelled me to focus on the western region of Kenya that has been economically marginalized from the national resources. Together with my family members and friends, we decided to donate our savings through an organization that would ensure that the lives of the street families and poverty-stricken families are changed. This marked the establishment of Care-Kenya, where we ensure that we reach to the root levels and support children from humble backgrounds acquire formal education, better health care, and improved lifestyle.
I have seen your commitment and closely monitored your gracious donations in fighting poverty by assisting children during their developmental years. According to your mission on ‘transformative philanthropy’, Bill and Melinda Gates recently offered $30 billion from their personal funds to eradicate poverty in a global basis through technology. We are certain that with the assistance from your Foundation, Care-Kenya will be able to support families living below poverty level educate their children, acquire better health care, and improve their living standards. We are requesting for a $5,000,000 fulfill our ambition in the western region of Kenya.
Care-Kenya is determined to change the poverty statistic by mobilizing people against poverty. The strategy we presently focus on is to offer formal education, better health care, and improve lifestyle. We have so far visited 15 ethnic groups in Uganda and collaborated with women in coming up with income generating activities. In one community in Buganda Kingdom, we have assisted more than 1,000 women learn how to make affordable eco-friendly stoves which they could sell and support their families. This was after we came to realize that due to poverty levels, women were unable to cater for their families, and still used firewood for cooking. This is irrespective of the fact global warming is an international crisis and that solar energy is the fairest way of cooking. We focus on visiting Kenya and start up similar projects to women on the western region who are still facing cultural barriers that prevent them from accessing better education and health services (World Bank 4). The statistics of the educated population is included in Appendix A. We hope that through such initiatives, women, and children’s lives in the African continent will be changed positively and that the local people will rise to become economically independent. Below I have a detailed illustration of the objectives we hope to accomplish in the western region in Kenya in five year’s time.
| Funding Categories | costs |
| Conducting of a pilot study | January 2018 |
| Employing workers | March 2018 |
| Admitting children to schools | May 2018 |
| Training Adults | August 2018– December 2019 |
| Assisting participants establish income-generating projects | January 2019- June 2019 |
| Educating the public on improved healthy living | September 2018- December 2022 |
Timeline for Funding the Organization
To ensure there is proper disbursement of funds, the organization shall ensure there is an efficient administration, which will be responsible for implementing the steps of the plan. The organization shall ensure that there is a continuous flow of information to all the participants for compliance with the grant requirements (GFOA 1). The grant provided to the organization is expected to be used in the following manner:
| Timeline | January 2018 | March 2018 | May 2018 | August 2018– December 2019 | January 2019- June 2019 | September 2018- December 2022 | Costs of operations | ||
| Funding ($) | 50,000
|
1,000,000
|
3,000,000 | 100,000
|
730,000 | 100,000 | 20,000 | ||
Thank you for considering this request. Please let me know if you need any additional information that may influence your decision to approve funding.
Yours sincerely,
Steve Willis.
Managing Director- Care-Kenya
Works Cited
GFOA. Administering Grants Effectively. 2013.
World Banka. Kenya Economic Update. 2010.
wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2014/07/08/000016351_20140708091208/Rendered/PDF/892690WP0P14810ssue0100Final0June14.pdf
World Bankb. Small Area Poverty Map of Kenya. 2016.