Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF) is proud to announce that Unvansız Gönüllüler Foundation, Support to Life, MAYA Foundation, and World Human Relief has been selected as the third round of grant recipients of TPF’s Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund.

As of September 14th, 2021, Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF) has raised over $220K in its Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund. The fund was created on July 30, 2021, to help individuals and families impacted by current and future wildfires throughout Turkey. The grants will support vetted nonprofit organizations assisting with relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts for individuals affected by the fires in Turkey.

With the Wildfire Relief Fund, TPF sees its role as being the bridge that helps our partners and our community get the help to obtain the resources they need during this time. Accordingly, TPF has decided to fund the following projects:

• Unvansız Gönüllüler Foundation – With the grant amount of $21,000 the Keep the Bees Alive Project will support local beekeepers to ensure the reproduction of regional honey and maintain the necessary ecosystem in Antalya, Manavgat. The project will provide 30 beehives to 12 beekeepers.
• Support to Life – STL will assist 99 beekeepers in Muğla with new materials for bee harvesting. Due to the fires, the loss of pine needles has affected their normal harvest. The grant amount of $37,715.16 will provide 25 kg of bee bread, harvesting equipment, and transportation and distribution expenses. The amount will also cover five STL project personnel’s daily allowances for the five days they will be on the field making these distributions.
• Maya Foundation – Maya with the help of the Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Services identified the villages of Çamlıbe and Nebiler located in the Mentese District. With their grant of $10,809.52, Maya Foundation will provide trauma-focused PSS (Psycho-Social Support) and PFA (Psychological First Aid) programs that will reach out to 200-250 children (ages 5-18), 50 women, and the elderly. The grant amount will cover the cost of supplies which include two thermoboxes, refreshments, tents, and PSS kits for 380 people and 250 kids.
• World Human Relief (WHR) – WHR team will analyze the needs for long and short-term psychosocial support through a 4-week long project. They will establish Urgent Trauma Support Desks for trauma-focused psycho-social support will be provided by psychologists and psychiatrists to the affected locals, the local authorities, and civil societies that were involved in rescue and search efforts. Based on people’s needs, the length of the project can be extended. The grant amount of $8,313.60 will cover the travel, food, and accommodation expenses of 18 WHR team members for a week.

The breakdown of areas supported is as follows:

– 34% of the raised amount ($71,358) toward fire-fighting efforts.

– 51% of the raised amount ($107,784.93) toward the recovery of livelihoods.

– 9% of the raised amount ($19,123.12) toward psychosocial support for the affected communities.

Thank you to everyone for taking immediate action to support those affected by wildfires during this time. We are beyond grateful for the trust you have bestowed in TPF.

Our goal is to disburse the remaining funds from the Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund as quickly as possible following the same criteria and approach.

Team TPF

To learn more on the first-round grant recipients visit here.

To learn more on the second round of grant recipients here.

At Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF), we see our role as filling the gaps between emergency relief and long-term development programs that can revive disaster-stricken areas both socially and economically, and give new opportunities to the survivors and regions in general. Our selection criteria in general grants have been implementation capability, efficiency, financial strength, and transparency. Additionally, we analyze each disaster separately and identify other criteria to make sure our grants have the most impact.

We understand that local NGOs are the first on the scene when disasters occur and that they know best what assistance is needed and understand the complex financial, social, and cultural context of a disaster. TPF has been working with vetted organizations on the ground in Turkey providing social services, helping communities cope with disasters, and educating the future generation since 2007. In 2020, we have joined Afet Platformu, an umbrella initiative, established to increase the efficiency and impactfulness of the response to disasters in Turkey, and have been working closely with other member organizations to provide support to the most needed areas. Currently, our focus on the “Three Rs” – Recovery, Rebuilding, and Resilience – is an example of the strategic way we work on issues crucial to our communities after a disaster. Your help ensures a fourth: Results.

Trusted and Reliable
TPF is the most reliable and trustworthy foundation serving the Turkish-American community in philanthropy. We are committed to transparency and low overhead. Transparency is our top value with our disaster relief funds. We regularly share social media, e-mail, and website updates with detailed information regarding the provided grants from our disaster relief funds.

When disasters strike, TPF quickly organizes a relief fund, raises funds, and delivers these to its partners on the ground that are best suited to provide relief and long-term recovery. Our disaster relief funds have been recommended by many international organizations as well as local Turkish-American organizations.

TPF’s Track Record in Disaster Relief
TPF has been responding to disasters and supporting emergency aid and long-term relief programs since 2011. We have facilitated approximately $2M in disaster donations towards relief funds.

How we’ve responded to disasters:

• Van Earthquake Relief Fund in 2011
• Soma Relief Fund 2011
• Elazig Earthquake Relief Fund in 2020
• Covid-19 Relief Fund 2020
• Izmir Earthquake Relief Fund 2020
• Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund

You may also contribute to by sending a check to:

WeWork

c/o Turkish Philanthropy Funds

4th Floor

Re: Karadeniz Flood Relief

1460 Broadway

New York, NY 10036

Please make your checks payable to Turkish Philanthropy Funds and indicate “Karadeniz Flood Relief” on the check.

You can also wire checks to TPF to support the campaign. For wire instructions please email Pinar Ozyurek (pinar@tpfund.org)

TPF Disaster Relief Fund

Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF) is proud to announce Ahbap Association, Support to Life, and NEF Foundation working together with NeedsMap have been selected as the second round of grant recipients from TPF’s Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund. The Relief Fund was created on July 30, 2021, to help individuals and families impacted by current and future wildfires throughout Turkey.

Grants from this special purpose fund will support nonprofit organizations assisting with relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts for individuals and organizations affected by the fires in Turkey. The grant guidelines are subject to change in order to be flexible and responsive to needs as they arise.

With the Relief Fund, TPF sees its role as being the bridge that helps our partners and our community get the help to obtain the resources they need during this time. Accordingly, TPF has decided to fund the following project:

• Ahbap Association (Ahbap Derneği): Ahdap will use the grant amount of $58,720.25 to cover the cost of a one-day helicopter rental in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to extinguish fires and deploy cooling works in the Aegean Region.
• Nef Foundation & NeedsMap (Nef Vakfı ve İhtiyaç Haritası): $20,000 grant amount will support their project BirDestekBirYuva. With the project, families who lost their properties and sources of income (greenhouses, barns, etc) will be supported to rebuild their properties to regenerate their income. During the project, the affected areas will be determined through a mapping portal and a field study will be carried out by NeedsMap and Afet Platformu. NEF Foundation will transfer the funds to BirDestekBirYuva.
• Support to Life (Hayata Destek Derneği): The grant amount of $29,069.77 will support cash assistance for early recovery to families who partially/fully lost their livelihoods. First, a rapid survey will be conducted with local authorities for the beneficiary selection. During the selection, the most vulnerable families will be prioritized based on the extent of the damage and the size of households. Second, 40 families will be given around $580 of cash assistance and $2,906.98 of in-kind support (animal sheltering tents, expenses of their food, cattle, and other related costs). In addition, $581.40 will be given as a daily allowance of 5 STL staff and $2,325.59 will cover the logistics and administrative costs of the project.

Thank you to everyone for taking immediate action to support those affected by wildfires during this time. We are beyond grateful for the trust you have bestowed in TPF.

Turkish Philanthropy Funds continues its search for new projects to support.

Team TPF

See first-round grant recipients, here.

On July 28 and 29 more than 60 fires started in 21 cities in Turkey. As of July 30th, 14 of these fires (in Adana, Osmaniye, Mersin, Antalya, Mugla, Kayseri, and Manisa) are still not under control. The massive fires have been spreading due to high temperatures and winds. The fires are unprecedented in scope and impact.

All donations to this fund will support wildfire relief and recovery efforts in Turkey. Your donation will go to TPF vetted nonprofits at Afet Platformu providing food, water, and shelter to people and animals in need. The Turkey Wildfire Relief Fund will remain open through the fire season and beyond to support recovery and preparedness programs in communities most impacted by fires.

Challenge

People in Turkey battle wildfires on an ongoing basis. Small fires have been burning across the country throughout the summer. The recent start of large fires in highly populated areas at the same time has tightened the resources to respond. Strong winds have caused the fires to spread quickly, prompting mass evacuations in many areas. Currently, there has not been any need-analysis done since all of the resources are geared towards putting out the fires. TPF’s partners at Afet Platformu are closely following the developments and getting ready to respond to survivors’ immediate needs as soon as the fires are under control.

Solution

All donations to this fund will support wildfire relief and recovery efforts in Turkey. We monitor the impact on affected communities and work with partners at Afet Platformu to allocate funds to where they’re needed most. Initially, the fund helps first responders meet survivors’ immediate needs for food, fuel, clean water, medicine, and shelter. As needs emerge, we will support longer-term recovery efforts run by local, vetted partner organizations in the impacted area(s).

How Your Donation Will Be Used

When you donate to TPF’s Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund, your donation will be used to:

• Provide food and emergency medical supplies to people and animals
• Support temporary relief and emergency supplies for displaced families
• Provide support to front-line workers, like volunteers of our partner organizations
• Meet other needs that emerge

TPF will post reports about how funds have been used and will email these reports to donors.

Trusted and Reliable

TPF is the most reliable and trustworthy foundation serving the Turkish-American community. We are committed to transparency and low overhead.

When disasters strike, TPF quickly delivers funds to its partners on the ground that are best suited to provide relief and long-term recovery. Our disaster relief funds have been recommended by many international organizations as well as local Turkish-American organizations.

TPF’s Track Record in Disaster Relief

TPF has been responding to disasters and supporting emergency aid and long-term relief programs since 2011. We have facilitated close to $2M in disaster donations to funds just like this one.

See how we’ve responded to similar disasters like this, including:

• Van Earthquake Relief Fund in 2011
• Soma Relief Fund
• Elazıg Earthquake Relief Fund in 2020
• Covid-19 Relief Fund
• Izmir Earthquake Relief Fund

See the first-round grant recipient here.

See the second-round grant recipients here.

See the third-round grant recipients here.

Donate Now | TPF's Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund

Apply for a Grant from Turkey 2021 Wildfire Relief Fund

“Across the world, frontline medical staff are clamoring for face masks and other personal protective equipment.

In these unprecedented times, PAYDA is stepping up to provide the medical gears and equipment needed by our doctors and healthcare workers in the frontlines.

We are asking for your support to make this happen! We will update our donors and community on where the resources have gone and how they are helping. “

TO HELP THEIR CAUSE, PLEASE CLICK BELOW:

Donate to PAYDA

Darüşşafaka Society is one of our partners that have taken the needed precautions in response to COVID-19. They  have implemented a remote learning plan. Below is their message:

“Darüşşafaka Society, has made decisions due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the whole world lately. Now that we have received a more definitive guidance from the Ministry of Education (MEB), we have decided to start online/remote classes for all of our students for safety purposes. Making sure they have all safely returned to their homes across 71 provinces of Turkey, our effort is to make them feel as if they are studying together in the classrooms of Darüşşafaka, with the same enthusiasm they always feel. You can support their online education by donating $50.00 USD for our “Remote Learning Package,” a package we have designed taking full account of the importance of continuous education. We would like to express our gratitude for our dear donors, who have been supporting our mission for 157 years now. Thanks to you, we have been raising conscious individuals who are to create a better world.”

TO DONATE AND HELP SUPPORT THE EDUCATION OF THESE STUDENTS, PLEASE CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW:

Donate to Darüşşafaka Society

That’s what Ibrahim Betil, founding CEO and President of Sen-De-Gel Dernegi, believes. And that focus on creating equal opportunity for all, be it in income, education, or access to clean water, is what’s propelled him forward for the past fifteen years.

After working in the banking industry for many years and trying his hand in politics, Betil decided that the only way to make an impactful and long-term change in society is through philanthropy. With this determination, he founded the Volunteers in Education Foundation (TEGV) and had also been actively involved with the establishment of Community Volunteers Foundation (TOG) and many other NGOs in Turkey. Seeing how effective use of resources can create a lasting impact for future generations, Betil turned to other countries when he met two Gambians who came to visit TOG in the hopes of future collaboration. Traveling to The Gambia made him realize he “had two choices – doing nothing and going back to Turkey or doing something.” He chose the latter and established Sen De Gel Dernegi in 2012 in Istanbul.

Sen de Gel fights poverty in the least developed countries. Since inception, they helped 360,000 people in Gambia and Senegal get access to clean water, started an animal husbandry project, built solar panels and provided rice mills and water wells. These long-term projects are designed to create and maintain a sustainable society where the basic needs are fulfilled.

With a recent donation from a US donor through TPF, the organization built two wells in two different villages serving 950 people.  During the opening ceremony “villagers were ecstatic,” Betil notes.  One of the villages’ chief expressed thanks on behalf of all villagers, “We need two things to have a happy and healthy livelihood- first is air, we need it to breathe. Second, water, we need it for our bodies to be nourished and sanitation.  And you gave it to us, we are forever thankful. ” Betil shared his interaction with one of the women who had twins, “a woman who had two babies in her hand approached me and said, ‘Today is the happiest day of my life. Now, I will be able to see my twins grow up thanks to this well you have built in my village. Before I walked a long distance to reach water. Now, my twins are yours.” In the other village, another woman approached him and said, “I almost walked close to 10km to get to the water with two small buckets in my hand, now all I need is to come to this well. Thank you, we owe you our livelihood.”

Donors increasingly see themselves as part of the local community, part of a national landscape, and part of a global landscape. They care about what’s going on down the street, across the country, and around the world. They want their community foundation to respond to the entirety of their philanthropic interests, not just one slice. At Turkish Philanthropy Funds, we are happy to be helping donors make a difference locally and globally. As our community grows, our reach grows as well.  We are delighted that we get a chance to tackle more challenges and reach more… with the support of our community…

We’re a place where the entirety of the community can meet. You can meet to help people and to receive help. We’re all givers and we’re all recipients of the work we do.

Support Sen De Gel Dernegi in fighting poverty!

of the evening’s food and beverage revenues will be donated by Pera Soho to AKUT USA in support of our disaster preparedness, search, rescue and relief efforts.

Immediately after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in November of 2013, TPF reacted and started a Relief Fund to aid the victims of the disaster. With the funds raised, TPF collaborated with Turkish Coalition of America, who sponsored a national Turkish American donation drive and donated $100,000 to help with the Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts after the typhoon hit the Philippines in November 2013. Four $25,000 grants were given to Filipino American organizations in the United States—the Philippine Cultural Foundation of Maryland, March 7; the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu, Hawaii, March 20; the Filipino Community of Seattle, April 23; and the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce Texas, July 1.

Read more about the grants on TCA’s website:

Grant to Philippine Cultural Foundation of Maryland

Grant to Filipino Community Center in Waipahu, Hawaii

Grant to Filipino Community of Seattle

Grant to Philippine American Chamber of Commerce Texas