iEARN
Country: USA, New York, NY
Funding Amount: $300,000 (Matching Challenge Grant)
Goals: Unrestricted operating support, provided especially to build the fundraising capacity of the organization.
iEARN has facilitated international educational and development projects since 1988. The group has been a pioneer in applying educational technology for global education using a project-based learning approach. iEARN projects engage students in collaborating online with peers across the globe and accomplishing real-world projects that “make a difference” in their own communities. Their initial programs in the U.S. and former Soviet Union demonstrated that telecommunications technology could both enhance learning and create on-line global communities. Today the organization has more than 350,000 participants in its network from 92 countries and holds an annual international conference for its teacher and student members. To support its projects abroad, iEARN teachers create local organizations in their own country, often in conjunction with the national Ministry of Education or other education or youth-service organizations.