Our Board of Directors is matching your gift to TPF up to $60,000 until December 31st, 2022! You can double your impact and make a big difference in so many lives by empowering TPF and our capacity of providing strategic philanthropy for our community members. You can even triple the impact of your support by utilizing your company’s matching gifts. Ask your company if they have any matching gift options or any year end  specific gift to charity.

DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT TODAY!

DONATE TO OUR PARTNERS’ CAMPAIGNS BY CLICKING THE IMAGES BELOW. 

New York, NY (June 23, 2022) – Turkish Philanthropy Funds is proud to announce the recipients of the 2022 Educ8 Program: Duygu Göksoy, Sena Altun, Büşra Gül Murat, and İpek Hanife Yılmaz. These young women have great potential, and we’re honored that with your help, we will be helping them unlock it.

In 2014, with the leadership of TPF donor Günay Aksoy, TPF embarked on a journey to support young women to realize their potential despite their background, economic status, and gender. In partnership with Çağdaş Yaşamı Destekleme Derneği (ÇYDD), the initiative provides scholarships to 4-5 students to attend a month-long program in London or New York every year. During the program, the students learn English, engage with mentors in their field of studies, and meet role models in companies such as Google, Facebook, and Chobani. The program will take place in London this year.

This year we are excited to see five more talented young women embark on this journey. The impact of the program is beyond English language education. Program’s leader at ÇYDD, Güldal Ebeoğlu, remarks, “We have chosen Duygu, Sena, Büşra, and İpek among 459 applicants to participate in the EDUC8 2022 program in London this summer. The program will improve their English speaking skills. Yet, the program’s impact is beyond English education. During their one month in London, these women will spend time with mentors, practice English with native speakers, and leverage the cultural atmosphere of London from visiting museums to going to concerts and shows.” This approach transforms the lives of bright and incredible young women immensely.

“Educ8 fundamentally addresses women’s empowerment. It may look like an opportunity to study English with native speakers, but it really is a program to empower these young women to realize their full potential. When we help train, prepare and support young women to thrive in different ways, they foster a value that can simultaneously promote economic success and social progress. We are grateful to Günay for her leadership and to our partner, ÇYDD, for contributing to a different narrative about how we can address women empowerment,” says Senay Ataselim Yılmaz, TPF’s Executive Director.

About The Educ8 Program:
In 2014, we embarked on a journey to help young women realize their potential despite their background, economic status, and gender. After seeing several young women from Turkey with financial difficulties complete the Educ8 Program for a month in NY or London, we realized the program’s impact was beyond English language education. Together, we were able to transform the lives of bright and unique young women and touched the lives of many others involved in this program. During the month-long program, these women studied English, spent time with mentors in their fields of study, practiced English with native speakers, and participated in field trips organized by our volunteers from different cultures and backgrounds. Everyone involved in this program made a huge difference in these young women’s lives and helped expand their horizons and realize their potential.

About Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF):
Turkish Philanthropy Funds (TPF) is the leading U.S. community foundation for high-impact social investments dedicated to Turkish and Turkish-American communities. Since 2007, TPF has mobilized over $50M and invested over $26M in grants with partners focused on addressing economic, education, gender equality, and social and environmental needs in Turkey and worldwide. TPF donors and partners have reached thousands of families and directly funded over 300 projects by providing support to realize the philanthropic vision of individuals, families, and corporations.

Learn More about the Educ8 Program

View Educ8 2021 Impact Report

Thanks to your contributions we are able to make great impacts in the lives of many across Turkey. Please join Turkish Philanthropy Funds once again to support the wonderful work our partners are doing on the ground.

Thank You for Your Continued Support to TPF & TPF Partners!

SUPPORT YGA

SUPPORT KODA

SUPPORT MAYA

SUPPORT CEMRE FUND

SUPPORT ILKYAR

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Turkey Deep Poverty Fund

Although Turkey has made great strides in poverty alleviation over the last 20 years, the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent developments in the Turkish economy threaten to reverse years of progress in the fight against poverty and income inequality. The current state jeopardizes the future of a generation of children.

Poverty is often discussed in terms of dollar amount, yet quality of life should be at the center of the conversation. Living in poverty means a life of struggle and deprivation. It means no job, limited shelter, and often little to no food on the table. It entails not being able to afford a doctor or medical treatment. For young children, it means malnutrition that permanently impacts mental and physical development and lack of access to a quality education because parents cannot afford school fees or because impoverished families need their children to work. 

TPF works with partners on the ground to deal with this multi-layered prevalent problem. All donations to this fund will support efforts to address and eliminate extreme poverty in Turkey. Your donations will go to TPF vetted nonprofits such as Cemre Fund and Derin Yoksulluk Ağı to provide food, shelter, job training, cash assistance, and educational support. 

Challenge

The poverty rate in Turkey more than halved between 2002 and 2015, and extreme poverty fell even greater. However, COVID-19 has driven an additional 1.6 million people into extreme poverty in 2020. When you add the 4 million refugees currently residing in the country that rely on the informal sector, the need becomes even direr. Almost two years into the pandemic, we still don’t know how it has impacted poverty in 2021.

Retail, accommodation and food, transport and construction sectors, where low-income households comprise a significant workforce, are hit hardest. Loss of employment and income are the main transmission mechanisms of the crisis for low-income households. The income gap between the richest 5% and the poorest 5% of the population widened by 7 points in 2020, with the former earning 30 times more than the latter. Although the full extent of the crisis is still unknown and subject to considerable uncertainty, there is a real risk of a significant setback in the fight against poverty.

Solution

All donations to this fund will support efforts addressing extreme poverty in Turkey. We monitor the impact on affected communities and work with partners to allocate funds. As TPF we are happy to take part in the fight against extreme poverty in Turkey along with other global leaders as part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

How Your Donation Will Be Used?

When you donate to TPF’s Deep Poverty Fund, your donation will be used to:

• Provide food and cash support to people 
• Transition people into a sustainable livelihood

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

Trusted and Reliable

We are committed to transparency and low overhead. You can read our audit reports here.

TPF quickly delivers funds to its eligible partners on the ground that are best suited to provide support. Our relief funds have been recommended by many international organizations as well as local Turkish-American organizations.

TPF’s Track Record in Relief

TPF has been responding to disasters and supporting emergency aid and long-term relief programs since 2011. We have facilitated more than $2M in donations to relief 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
• Elazig Earthquake Relief Fund in 2020
• Covid-19 Relief Fund
• Izmir Earthquake Relief Fund
• 2021 Wild Fires Relief Fund

The grant application is now open! To apply, please fill out this form.

Grants from this special purpose will support nonprofit organizations assisting individuals living in extreme poverty. The grant guidelines are subject to change in order to be flexible and responsive to needs as they arise.

Grant Criteria:

Target population. The extremely poor are the people in the bottom half of those living below nationally defined poverty lines. At the global level, the extreme poor are generally understood for an upper-middle-income country like Turkey to be living on less than $5.50 per day. This population tends to be food insecure, have poor health, lack education, own few or no assets of even a non-durable nature (e.g., livestock), have limited livelihood prospects, and be socially isolated.

At this time, grants from the fund will be considered for the following types of activities.

Increase Food Consumption

The top priority is to increase household food consumption. This prioritization holds promise for breaking the seemingly intractable, multi-generational nature of extreme poverty since child malnutrition in particular causes serious problems such as lower IQ, stunting, and mineral deficiencies, which adversely affect the development of both the individual and thus society.

Funds will be provided to organizations providing direct food and cash support. 

Sustainable Livelihood

Once the consumption needs have been sufficiently addressed, to move individuals to a sustainable livelihood, the following activities can be supported:

1. Support in saving money 
2. Technical skills training 
3. Asset transfers (generally in-kind assets such as livestock),
4. Intensive life skills coaching.
5. Psychotherapy

Grant Awards

Grants are expected to range between $1,000 to $10,000. We expect the needs to exceed the available funds. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis while funds are available as this fund is intended to be responsive to the community’s ongoing needs. Applications will be reviewed by TPF staff for approval by the Board of Directors. Grantmaking decisions will typically be made within two to four weeks of receipt of the proposal.

Eligibility

Grants are open to TPF approved partners in Turkey. Afet Platformu members who have not yet approved partners of TPF are encouraged to apply. 

Businesses and individuals are not eligible for application.

SUPPORT TPF'S TURKEY DEEP POVERTY FUND

What is Trauma-Free World for Children Project?

The Trauma-Free World for Children Project provides a healing and protective center for children who have suffered from psychological trauma due to natural disasters, migration, the pandemic, family loss, and bullying.

Maya Vakfı (Foundation) established the Child and Youth Center in the Balat district of İstanbul to help vulnerable children with traumatized experiences. The project aims to support children in coping with traumatic stress and to heal through creative art therapy methods. This healing center also serves as a child protection center for at-risk children and their caregivers to help them access basic services and learn their rights. The main goal of the project is to improve the psychosocial wellbeing and resilience of children by focusing on groups under protection threats and to create a “Trauma-Free World for Children”

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Maya Vakfı as an NGO is a pioneer in the mental health field in Turkey with its unique approach to MHPSS. Maya Vakfı is the first in the world to combine the Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) model, a trauma-sensitive approach, for vulnerable children in combination with innovative art therapy methodologies, including the use of photography, drawing, music, and dance as therapeutic mediums.

HEALING

Sadly, children witness and experience traumatized events including violence, abuse, war, multiple displacements, migration, loss of family, inadequate parenting, extreme poverty, social discrimination, and last but not least the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The most prevalent childhood mental health conditions are depression, prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic stress, and anxiety disorders. No child should feel this way. To remedy this, we want to improve the psychosocial wellbeing and resilience of children through arts-based MHPSS (Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) interventions.

With the project, we provide access to quality art-based mental health care during individual and group sessions. The content of each session is adapted to the needs of the group following a clinical assessment. As children’s wellbeing is closely linked with their caretakers, we also offer positive parenting sessions for caregivers, with individual counseling available to help them offer better parenting to their own children. In addition to art therapy, we also use ecotherapy in our work at the center. Nature has been proven to heal and a large urban center like Istanbul has little green public space. Giving the children access to the garden at the center is often the only natural environment they have. The use of nature and the environment as a therapeutic intervention medium promotes the mental and physical wellbeing of children through outdoor activities in a green environment.

PROTECTION

Children also face a myriad of other protection issues such as obstacles to accessing basic services i.e., education, food security, and healthcare primarily caused by not having proper status registration documents, or more serious protection threats such as being forced into labor and early marriage. This project offers protection services to vulnerable children and their caregivers to help them access basic services and rights.

Project implementation:

1. We reach children and their families in and around the region where the center is located.
2. After the children are registered at the Centre, we include them in art therapy-based group sessions. During the pandemic, we conduct sessions both at the center and remotely.
3. If our psychologists identify children with special needs, we conduct one-on-one sessions
with them.
4. The number of sessions can be determined according to the needs of the children. Children who complete the sessions can continue to come to the center and spend time there, doing homework and playing games.
5. We refer the applications received through our Remote Psychological Counseling Service to the center. If the beneficiary is not able to come to the center, we start the remote counseling process.
6. Through our ongoing protocol with the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), we also work within the public schools and we refer children who are in need of psychosocial support to Balat Child and Youth Center.

*Due to the pandemic, Maya Vakfı utilizes online platforms and provides remote counseling and online sessions.

Impact of Trauma-Free World for Children Project

All children and youth have the right to happy and healthy lives and deserve access to effective care to prevent or treat any mental health problems that they may develop.

Mental health — an essential part of children’s overall health — has a complex interactive relationship with their physical health and their ability to succeed in school, their communities, and in society. Both physical and mental health affects how we think, feel and act on the inside and outside.

Developing social-emotional skills such as flexibility in thinking, social problem-solving skills, solidarity, and dedication, and self-control brings an advantage to the children for possible challenging life events. Even if the level of anxiety increases, it remains at a more controllable level and makes it easier to cope with challenges and find innovative solutions.

At Balat Child and Youth Center, we help children to develop the social and emotional skills that will enable them to cope with similar challenges in the future at the individual, school, and community levels. Through the sessions we carry out at the center, children learn to cope with negative emotions and difficulties, develop positive attitudes and behaviors, produce effective solutions to the problems they face in everyday life, self-expression, and build healthy relationships.

Main impacts:
1. Reducing symptoms associated with mental and psychosocial distress in children
2. Increasing children’s skills for psychological recovery
3. Increasing the knowledge of families about psychological trauma and enabling them to gain positive parenting skills
4. Ensuring children’s access to basic rights such as education and health

From a child’s perspective:

“Before I came to the center in Balat, I was having nightmares. Because I saw monster faces, I used to be afraid of the dark. I’m not afraid of monsters and have beautiful dreams since I hung my shield and dreamcatcher, which I made in the workshops here, on my wall. I believe they are protecting me.”

Ayşe, 8 years old.

Bring the center to life! Create a Trauma-Free World for Children!

By the end of 2022, we are aiming to reach out to 55 children.

$360 covers one child’s support.

Donations for each child will be used for:

– Implementation: 86%

– Human Resources 8%

– Administrative Costs 6%

SUPPORT MAYA'S TRAUMA-FREE WORLD FOR CHILDREN PROJECT

#GivingTuesday is the international day of generosity established in 2012. This global movement continues to unleash the power of giving around the world and inspire hundreds of millions of people in spreading their generosity, sharing, and collaborating. We invite you to join us this year for #GivingTuesday! Let’s unleash our generosity and make a lasting impact!

TPF has teamed up with Turkish American Ladies League (TALL) in CA, which has partnered with Van Yuzuncu Yil University to get scholarship funds into the hands of young women who need them the most.

We think of extraordinary students at Van Yuzuncu Yil University who are closer to their dreams of becoming scientists, architects, artists, and more.

And, we think of our community and generous donors like you. None of this work is possible without your outpouring support!

So, on this Giving Tuesday, let’s join forces one more time. Give a gift tomorrow in support of these young women and let’s continue to help those who need it the most. For every dollar you give, TPF will match it — up to $5,000. The match starts at 8 AM EST tomorrow and will last until midnight! 

This spirit of cooperation and collaboration has always been at the heart of what we do here at TPF. We are proud and grateful to have you as part of our community.

With Gratitude, 

Team TPF

SUPPORT GENDER EQUALITY ON GIVING TUESDAY

Eliminating poverty in Turkey requires solutions through innovation, cooperation, and policy change. It requires all of us to work hand in hand.

We have seen the poverty rate go down in Turkey. It has more than halved between 2002 and 2015, and extreme poverty fell even faster. However, during the pandemic poverty rates have increased by as much as 2.1% to 12.2% in 2020 – equivalent to 1.6 million newly poor. Poverty entails more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure basic human needs such as food, shelter, clean drinking water, and sanitation. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination, and exclusion. TPF works with partners on the ground to deal with this multi-layered prevalent problem.

TPF’S ACTION

While progress in eradicating extreme poverty has been incremental and widespread, the persistence of poverty, including extreme poverty remains a major concern in Turkey. TPF joins the Cemre Fund to address extreme poverty and provide cash transfers and in-kind support to increase access to services such as education, health, and nutrition for all.

The Cemre Fund finds and funds organizations such as Temel Ihtiyac Dernegi (TIDER, Basic Needs Association) and provides capacity-building support to these organizations. Their impact in the last year includes:

• increasing the number of people benefiting from DYA’s network by 50 percent (from2,000 to 3,000 people monthly) by matching them with new donors, and
• supporting TIDER’s eight food banks in various cities and increasing the number of beneficiaries by 20 percent (+13,500 additional people).

We want to reach out to more people. 

To that end, we are partnering with Cemre Fund to identify more families in remote places and increase food donations. The goal is to support at least 300 more families by the end of 2021 with food and other basic needs through the Mobile Food Bank in the following neighborhoods of Istanbul: Ataşehir, Çekmeköy, Ümraniye, Sancaktepe, Pendik, Şişli, Beyoğlu, Fatih, and Esenyurt.

Each $85 donation will provide food and the basic needs of a family for 10 months. 

Any support will have a tremendous impact on our fight against extreme poverty in Turkey and will help us to establish a sustainable ecosystem.

JOIN US to help deliver the urgent needs of these families during these most challenging times!

SUPPORT CEMRE FUND

What is Science Movement Project?

Since 2018, Science Movement Project provides each secondary school with five Twin Science Kits and an online learning platform for teachers. These kits allow teachers to implement S.T.E.M subjects into the curriculum and make experiments an integral part of classes. Usage of the kits in classes helps students develop projects, improve their problem-solving skills, and become tech-savvy team players.

How does it work? 

In partnership with the Ministry of Education of Turkey, every year we identify 500 socio-economically disadvantaged schools all around Turkey. Each of these schools receives five Twin Science Kits to be used by secondary school students aged between 12 to 15 years olds with the guidance of their teachers in classes.

These easy-to-use kits consist of easily combined electronic blocks to teach students how technological devices actually work by assembling the pieces. With each kit, students explore a new subject in S.T.E.M such as coding, robotics, A.I. in a fun way. Students use various modules and sensors to understand crucial concepts to be implemented in dozens of different projects.

In addition to the kits, each school receives the project-integrated curriculum for 100+ weeks and teachers are given access to the Science Movement Workplace online platform that offers rich experimental content to be used in class. The platform also allows teachers to connect and brainstorm with each other.

Impact of Science Movement: 

In just three years, Science Movement Project has reached out to 1,153+ underprivileged schools and 461,200 students.  Since the establishment of the Science Movement Workplace Platform in 2020, more than 200 teachers have been trained, some students have developed autonomous irrigation systems, electric cars, and earthquake safety systems.

Twin Science Kits received the Smart Toys Award from The World Economic Forum and The Bett Award from Bett, a global community for education technology.

Recent research conducted by a global research and public opinion company measured the outcome of the project. Research shows that according to the teachers;

● while 97% of them are seeing the positive effect of science kits on students’ academic success, 89% of them have found the application of science kits compatible with their academic approach.

●while 100% of them are considering science kits’ general effects as positive, approximately three-quarters of them state that it positively impacts the academic achievement of students.

●100% of them think that the project creates awareness in the daily life of students.

● 97% of them favor the subject of science kits being part of the curriculum.

You can read the rest of the impact report here.

Help us reach the hidden gems of tomorrow! 

–By the Fall 2021 Academic Year, the project aims to provide 85 schools with science kits and reach out to 34,000 students.

–By the end of 2023, the project aims to reach 2 million students.

Support Science Movement Project to equip students with the necessary tools and knowledge they need to overcome tomorrow’s challenges.

Supporting one school requires $1,200 and benefits 400 students on average.

Donations for each school will be used for:

%75 Science Kits

%10 Volunteer & Teacher Training

%10 Logistics & Operation

%5 Scholarship

Support YGA's Science Movement Project

From the students’ perspectives:

“My name is Semih and I’m 14 years old,  a freshman in high school. Since the science kits came to my school and we started making projects with them, I realized that there was no such thing as impossible; this thought could derive from only our lack of self-confidence. With the necessary determination, effort, and patience, I learned that how easily everything we call ‘impossible’ can turn into actuality. I learned to not fall into pessimism. This year, I won Denizli Aydem Science High School by being in the 0.79% at the national high school entrance exam.”

-Semih Kose, Cameli Kalinkoz Village, Denizli.

“I’m Hayrunnisa and am 12 years old. I live in Bilgi Village of Catak district of Van. I am an 8th-grade student. Science kits came to our school when I was in 6th grade. Our teacher, Ms. Aysel, wanted us to create a project that makes people’s lives easier with science kits. A semester before that, Ms. Aysel had a broken leg. Me and my friend, Muhammed, thinking of our teacher, made our “Barrier-Free Ladder” project. Our project got accepted and we traveled to the exhibition in Istanbul. We presented the project to a lot of people there and made interviews, appeared on the news on TV. It was an honor to represent our village, and our families, friends, and teachers to follow us. The projects we have done maybe models, they may be cardboard, but I believe, one day it will be used in real life. When we decide to do something, many obstacles may arise, but the important thing is not to give up despite all those difficulties as we overcame ours.”

-Hayrunnisa Berge, Bilgi Village, Van.

From a teacher’s perspective:

“I’m Aysel. When we were dreaming big with my students in my tiny village hidden amongst the mountains of Van, we received a phone call that sparked our hopes. I remember the days I couldn’t sleep because of the news we got that we were going to receive science kits as part of the Science Movement Project. I can never forget the happiness in my students’ eyes while opening those boxes, their discovery of the sensors, their excitement when they heard the sounds of different modules. Muhammet and Hayrunnisa,  who produced projects and were invited to Istanbul, said in a completely different environment, despite their hesitation and embarrassment, ‘We came to represent our village, district, and city!’ It was very important for them to hold their heads upright. Science Movement Project, which allows my students to look for solutions to every problem around them and put project ideas on paper before coming into life, makes everything possible that they previously thought impossible… We are so glad to have you!”

-Aysel Ince, Van.