MOTHERS SELECT GRASSROOTS PROJECTS FOR GRANTS
Unbound Unveils $500K Innovation Fund Fueling Bold Solutions from Frontlines of Poverty
Kansas City, Kan., July 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the first time in its history, the international nonprofit Unbound has empowered a collective of mothers in Africa, Asia and Latin America who are participating in the Unbound program to review and select grant proposals funded by a new $500,000 Innovation Fund.
This milestone places trusted community leaders — women who know their local challenges and opportunities best — at the forefront of shaping solutions. Their voices will directly determine how funds are allocated to support bold, community-driven ideas designed to improve lives and break the cycle of poverty across communities served by Unbound.
“With this new Innovation Fund, Unbound is once again demonstrating our approach to eliminating poverty by putting decision-making power directly in the hands of the people we serve,” Ashley Hufft, president and CEO of Unbound, said. “Mothers are the backbone of families and the champions of resilience. Investing in their leadership and in projects they support is the most effective and efficient way to eliminate poverty and build lasting change.”
In addition to its effective direct cash transfer model of delivering aid through child and elder sponsorship, Unbound challenges poverty with a decentralized approach empowering families to make the decisions that improve their situations. The Kansas City-based organization, a leader in creating sustainable solutions to poverty for more than four decades, has committed $500,000 in funding to support innovative, locally driven projects in underserved communities around the world.
Through its latest initiative, Unbound will award approximately 10-12 grants ranging from $20,000 to $60,000, focused on addressing urgent needs identified by the very people experiencing them.
What sets this initiative apart from more traditional aid is its community-powered decision making. Grant proposals are reviewed and decided upon by women who are a part of their local mothers groups, small self-help groups of 15-30 members, primarily mothers. This ensures aid is not only effective but also directly aligned with community priorities and needs.
Grant submissions closed at the end of May, all selected proposals were finalized mid-June, and the funds were disbursed on July 1. The mothers group participants involved in the decisions have been meeting virtually and corresponding via group chats, creating relationships rooted in compassion and hope. Funded projects are expected to launch shortly and will span a range of focus areas within Unbound’s five strategic program pillars: eliminate poverty, empower women, advance education, build community and improve well-being for all ages.
Proposals were required to address a new need in a currently underserved population, offer a new or innovative response to a significant or growing need, tackle a problem in which there is available expertise or partner with an organization that can provide it, and include a solid evaluation plan, clear theory of change and outcome indicators.
A few of the approved proposals include:
- "Agricultural School Cultivating Hope"
Presented by the Santa Ana program in El Salvador, this project aims to strengthen the productive, organizational and environmental capacities of 100 subsistence farmers across five rural communities through a participatory, educational approach grounded in agroecology, climate resilience and popular education.
- “Sustainable and Accessible Water Supply System: Source of Life”
Developed in the village of Villa Hermosa in the municipality of Esquipulas Palo Gordo, San Marcos, Guatemala, this project aims to provide access to clean water for 600 families, including 26 families participating in the Unbound program. The project addresses a critical need in the community, which currently lacks a water distribution system, forcing families to carry water or purchase it from trucks.
- “Sowing Opportunities: Empower Yourself Today, Woman”
Developed in Ecuador, this project aims to support 30 mothers in vulnerable economic situations, who have not completed their secondary education, through a flexible, virtual education model, full scholarships, digital training, psychosocial support and community support networks.
- “Empower HER: Skill Development and Certification for Marginalized Women and Unorganized Workforce”
Created in Tamil Nadu, India, this project aims to assist 300 mothers who face challenges including low income or wage exploitation, long working hours, no time off, lack of social security, harassment and more.
- “Equality on Water Distribution and Access to Cultivators Among Farmers”
Impacting 400 sponsored and non-sponsored families, this project from the Quezon program in the Philippines will provide 350 farmers a reduced cost to rent cultivators and water pumps.
- “Disability Is Not Inability”
Developed in Tanzania, this project, which includes equipping a technical center for children with special needs, will positively impact 100 sponsored and non-sponsored students with special needs who are enrolled on an annual basis.
“Trusting individuals, families and communities to lead the way and make the decisions that most impact them is critical in our mission to support families and communities on their self-directed paths out of poverty,” said Dan Pearson, chief international program officer at Unbound. “These grants represent more than financial support. They are another step toward real partnership driven by local insight and sustained by the strength of empowered families.”
ABOUT UNBOUND
Unbound is an international nonprofit founded in 1981 that delivers more than $100 million in personalized support annually for children, elders and their families living in poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Supporting families and communities worldwide on their self-directed paths out of poverty, Unbound utilizes a decentralized approach to provide individuals, families and communities access to resources, support and the ability to make decisions that improve their lives and uphold human dignity. Unbound leans into its core values of respect, authenticity, innovation and optimism to offer a practical way for sponsors, donors and volunteers to make a personal and direct impact as partners in our global community. To learn more, please visit www.Unbound.org.
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Tammy Marino Unbound 913-827-4175 TammyM@unbound.org
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