Profiles in this archive may become incorrect over time.
Spotlight On
October 1, 2004
Organization name: CARE
Founded: 1945
Address: (headquarters) 151 Ellis Street, Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: 404-681-2552
Fax: 404-589-2651
E-mail: info@care.org
URL: www.careusa.org
Mission: Our mission is to serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. Drawing strength
from our global diversity, resources and experience, we promote innovative solutions and are advocates for global
responsibility. We facilitate lasting change by:
- Strengthening capacity for self-help
- Providing economic opportunity
- Delivering relief in emergencies
- Influencing policy decisions at all levels
- Addressing discrimination in all its forms
Guided by the aspirations of local communities, we pursue our mission with both excellence and compassion because the people whom we serve deserve nothing less.
Background:
CARE is one of the world's largest private international humanitarian organizations, committed to helping families in poor
communities improve their lives and achieve lasting victories over poverty. The scope of our mission has changed
considerably since our founding in 1945, when 22 American organizations came together to rush lifesaving CARE Packages to
survivors of World War II. Over the years, our work has expanded as we've addressed the world's most threatening problems.
In the 1950s, we expanded into emerging nations and used U.S. surplus food to feed the hungry. In the 1960s, we pioneered
primary health care programs. In the 1970s, CARE responded to massive famines in Africa with both emergency relief and
long-term agroforestry projects, integrating environmentally sound tree- and land-management practices with farming programs.
We've always been known by the acronym "CARE," but the meaning behind the letters has changed as our mission has
broadened. When we were founded, CARE stood for "Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe." Today, with projects in
more than 60 countries around the world, CARE stands for "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc." Please
visit CARE’s
Web site to learn more about its history.
Current programs: CARE operates 664 active programs in 73 countries. General program areas are summarized below;
please visit CARE’s
Web site to read more about each of these areas and to search its project database.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
CARE helps families produce more food and increase their income while managing their natural resources and preserving the
environment for future generations. CARE works with farmers to increase their crop and livestock yields through activities
such as planting new seed varieties, animal husbandry, home gardening and irrigation.
Education
Our projects promote and facilitate discussion between parents, teachers and other members of the community to overcome
barriers to education that help keep families mired in poverty. CARE also provides economic incentives to help parents
cover the cost of keeping their children in school.
Emergency Relief
Our projects directly assist survivors of natural disasters and conflict through both immediate relief and longer-term
community rehabilitation, including food, temporary shelter, clean water, sanitation services, medical care, family planning
and reproductive health services, and seeds and tools. CARE also is increasingly focused on post-conflict rehabilitation
programming in places such as Angola, Bosnia and El Salvador. Our Special Reports give detailed information about CARE's
emergency work around the world, including India, Afghanistan and El Salvador.
Health
CARE's health projects focus on mothers and children, who often are the most vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. We are
particularly interested in increasing the capacity of our local partners to deliver quality health services. This includes
training local health volunteers as counselors, mentors and monitors of community health. CARE is focused on interventions
ranging from nutrition and education to birth spacing and clinical services. Our reproductive health projects encompass
family planning, prenatal care, labor and delivery services, and the prevention, detection and treatment of STDs, including
HIV/AIDS.
Nutrition
Our projects focus on teaching techniques and practices that help prevent malnutrition. These include demonstrating proper
breast feeding; educating families and communities about how to cultivate and prepare nutritious food; providing food as
part of emergency relief efforts; and managing food-for-work projects to help communities improve infrastructure.
Small Economic Activity Development
The Small Economic Activity Development (SEAD) Unit assists impoverished families by supporting moneymaking activities,
especially those operated by women. Through SEAD, CARE initiates community savings-and-loan programs and provides technical
training to help people begin or expand small businesses that will increase family income.
Water, Sanitation and Environmental Health
CARE helps communities build and maintain clean water systems and latrines. Both directly and through local organizations,
CARE provides training and subsidizes construction, but communities make significant contributions in cash and labor, and
pay the cost of operation and maintenance. The goal of these projects is to reduce the health risks of water-related
diseases and to increase the earning potential of households by saving time otherwise spent gathering water. Projects also
include educating people about good hygiene habits to reduce the risk of illnesses.
The Foundation Center-Atlanta asked Marshall Burke, Vice President for External Relations, some additional questions
about CARE:
FC: Which of CARE’s programs, achievements or accomplishments do you find especially noteworthy and why?
MB: Our work in women’s micro-credit, education, HIV/AIDS and emergencies. While CARE provides a broad array of
services in agriculture, health and commerce, these interventions save lives and offer economic opportunity to some of the
most marginalized communities on earth.
FC: What is the biggest challenge that your organization faces in the U.S.?
MB: Awareness of CARE’s mission and work.
FC: What is the biggest challenge that your organization faces in other countries?
MB: Addressing the underlying causes of poverty so the solutions we provide are sustainable and manageable by the
communities we serve.
FC: What is the greatest unmet need in international humanitarian work?
MB: Awareness and action on the issues that drive poverty – and of our responsibility and ability to help address
them.
FC: What would you advise for small or grassroot nonprofit organizations that want to work in the field of
international relief?
MB: Develop a small niche and become excellent at it. Always, always report back and fulfill donors. Engage
locally – do not provide solutions from “on top”. Partner with a larger more established organization.
Every month, the "Spotlight On" highlights the activities of a different 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving the
Southeast region defined as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Tennessee, with a special emphasis on Georgia. The selection of organizations for the "Spotlight On" is based
on criteria such as programmatic interests, geographic focus, and size, to ensure the broadest possible representation of
the region's nonprofit sector.
If you'd like to see your NPO in the "Spotlight,"
e-mail a description of your organization, following
the above format, to atweb@foundationcenter.org,
with "Spotlight Submission" in the subject line.
|
