WSU launched a philanthropic website on March 24 that may be the first of its kind developed by a college or university.
Designed to provide direct aid to impoverished citizens in Malawi, Africa, Ripple Effect (https://rippleeffect.wsu.edu) lets students, alumni and interested contributors of all ages and abilities leverage WSU’s agricultural, engineering, veterinary science and economic development research and worldwide outreach with gifts ranging from $16 to tens of thousands.
“Everyone, from school-age kids to major individual donors and foundations, can make an immediate and direct impact by contributing through Ripple Effect,” said Chris Pannkuk, director of International Research and Development at WSU.
“We are working alongside Malawians to reduce poverty through food security, income generation and environmental conservation using technologies, innovations and best practices developed at Washington State University,” he said. “We aren’t handing out anything. We are enabling them to be self-sufficient.”
“We are very proud of this new initiative,” said WSU President Elson S. Floyd. “We are excited that Ripple Effect will allow WSU to bring even more of its life-saving research and development to impoverished communities in sub-Saharan Africa and, eventually, beyond.
“Ripple Effect allows every contributor to see who they are helping and how they are making a very real difference in the lives of struggling people half a world away.”
WSU has been at work since 1986 in Malawi, where per-capita income is among of the lowest in the world. WSU brings technological, agricultural and veterinary innovations developed by university researchers and students directly to the communities.
WSU partners with Total Land Care (TLC), a Malawian non-governmental organization that grew out of WSU’s research in the region. TLC works with rural communities to provide sustainable community-based natural resource management programming.
WSU guarantees that each gift item purchased through Ripple Effect will be delivered to a community in Malawi.
“If one goat kit and two tree-seedling kits are purchased, then one goat kit and two tree-seedling kits will go exactly where they are most needed in Malawi,” said Scott Garrepy, director of development for International Programs at WSU.
“Through Ripple Effect, WSU is the first major U.S. university to take an online ‘retail philanthropy’ approach to securing donations to support our work in developing countries.”
Initially, Ripple Effect will focus its efforts on people and communities in Malawi. As the endeavor takes hold, WSU researchers plan to expand the project to other high-need regions of Africa and eventually around the world.
WSU’s International Research and Development unit works in more than a dozen countries in Asia, Africa and South America.
The unit is involved in a number of initiatives throughout Malawi, including infrastructure development for primary schools, introduction of low-cost methods to provide safe water and sanitation, improved crop irrigation and reforestation efforts, and enhanced use and management of natural resources to promote economic development and sustainability. In all, more than 6,000 villages and 500,000 people in Malawi have directly benefited from WSU’s partnership with TLC and the university’s research and outreach in the region.
For more information about Ripple Effect, visit https://rippleeffect.wsu.edu. For more information about WSU’s International Research and Development projects in Malawi and other regions of the world, visit www.ip.wsu.edu/ird.
