CARD MRI initiates online crowdsourcing for education programs

CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI) launched on June 2016 an online initiative to further advance its advocacy on poverty eradication through education.

“This time, we decided to maximize what the Web 2.0 can offer us especially in reaching potential donors,” shared Pauline Landicho, deputy director of CARD MRI Resource Mobilization Unit, adding that the initiative can help them in reaching more financially challenged families in the country.

The Zero Dropout Program

According to Deputy Director Landicho, the Zero Dropout Program will the only beneficiary of the initiative. The Zero Dropout Program is one of the education programs of CARD MRI that would give parents elementary-aged children access to affordable loans to acquire basic education.

The program is anchored in the 2012 data of Philippine Statistics Authority on the magnitude of poor families in the Philippines. The data reveals that there are still more than 80,000 poor families in the country. Through the grants and donations given by its supporters, the Zero Dropout Program was conceptualized in 2011. To date, the program has supported at least 250,000 children in their journey towards a better future.

“Achieving a Zero Dropout Rate in education is a challenging task though a necessary one. While the Philippines enjoys strong economic growth, many Filipinos still suffer from immense poverty,” Mr. Washington SyCip, W.S. Family Foundation founder, once said. He also helped CARD MRI in conceptualizing the program.

Further, CARD MRI realized that there are still a lot more to do to uplift the lives of these families. “With a decent and disaster-resilient home, a family can move even closer to development,” added Deputy Director Landicho. At present, the program not only supports education loan program but also housing loan.

To make both ends meet, CARD MRI has been collaborating with similar organizations and individuals that, according to Deputy Director Landicho, “share the same development goals”.

“With our offline initiative, we were able to encourage individuals and organizations, thus strengthening our effort,” added Deputy Director Landicho.

Online initiative

According to Marilyn Manila, director for CARD MRI Community Development Group, the offline initiative of the program has been successful, however, they realized that there might be individuals, especially those who are not reached by their offline initiative, who are interested to support this kind of advocacy.

“The program has had individual supporters already, but we believe there are still more people out there who wanted to become part of our advocacy. We wanted to engage the general public on this effort and the best way to do it is online,” Director Manila added.

How it works

The crowdsourcing site, www.cardmri.com/zerodropout, is like any other crowdsourcing site where one is required to register or create an account. However, a personal account registration is optional for those who want to donate once.

The initiative requires the potential donor to also have an online bank account for fast and easy donation. If none, the donor can deposit through bank or directly contact the key person found at the contact us page to discuss the donor’s most convenient way of contributing.

“The account registration and donation processes are simple. It takes the donor at least five minutes to do so,” said Director Manila.

The minimum donation amount is PhP 1,000.00 and the maximum is PhP 50,000.00. Amount lower than the minimum and higher than the maximum are possible provided that the donor directly contacts the Resource Mobilization Unit through Deputy Director Landicho.

Donors also have the options to include their names on the program’s site or not and to choose a preferred province to allot the donation.

“I am thrilled since this is our first online fund drive so far and we hope that this will attract more donors,” shared Dr. Jaime Aristotle B. Alip, founder and managing director of CARD MRI.

The Zero Dropout Program is also part of the CARD MRI One Family, One Graduate Program. It is an effort of CARD MRI to ensure that for every family it serves, one will graduate from college, leading to an enhanced economic situation of the whole family.

CARD MRI is a social development organization that is in the business of poverty eradication in the country.