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Why Donate?

imageGIVE OPPORTUNITY
CREATE CHANGE



According to the artists, your investment in the Market…

EMPOWERS

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An impact of the organization is the social awareness and the opportunity provided to the women – to let them go out of the home and explore outside opportunities, ride on the bicycle, unveil their faces, and talk to the men. — Manjula Devi Maithil Bahun, Janakpur Women’s Development Center, Nepal

Manjula Devi Maithil Bahun from Nepal earned $10,242 and was able to pay for about ten months’ salary to the artists at the Janakpur Women’s Development Center.  The Center’s participation in the Folk Art Market has created economic opportunity of income and employment at an ‘office’ to the low income women.  The earnings have empowered the women and enabled them to send their children to school, pay for family’s medical expenses, buy food and in some cases purchase land.
> Learn more about art and women’s empowerment in Nepal

SAVES LIVES

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Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection (42%) and poverty. We are all either affected or infected.  When you buy a basket, you have helped me keep my family alive.  And this is true for all the women in our cooperative and community.—Nurse Thembeni Mdluli, Phez’kwemkhono Bomake-Ncheka, Swaziland

At the Market in 2009, Nurse Thembeni earned $12,148 in gross sales.  This was enough for members of her cooperative to buy shoes and school uniforms for their children.  She was appointed to a leadership position by the Chief for poverty alleviation projects and was also able to buy a week’s supply of food for the Magojela village soup kitchen that feeds orphaned and vulnerable children who are victims of the widespread AIDS epidemic in their country. 

SUSTAINS COMMUNITIES

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For me [the Market] is a lesson and an inspiration as an indigenous woman to return to Panama and to raise my children with pride and to make sure that I’m raising children who can basically claim their roots.—Lubisia Membache, Wounaan National Congress, Panama

Lubisia Membache represented the Wounaan National Congress, a group of indigenous people of about 8,000 based in the Darien rain forests of Panama who, for the first time, attended the Market as independent group without sponsorship from any outside organization.  They earned $30,150 at the 2009 Market and with their earnings they have been able to gain influence and capital to fight for their lands and make progress towards self-determination.

> Learn more about some of our success stories

What greater gift can you give folk artists than the gift of self-sufficiency?
Did you know that last year, close to $2 million in sales at the Market benefited hundreds of artists and 160,000 cooperative members? 

Did you also know?

  • Approximately 97% of Market artists come from developing countries.

  • Over half the artists are first-timers to the Market.

  • Market participants take home 90% of their sales revenue.

  • Last year the average participant earned $15,000 in sales.

  • The Market provides over $80,000 in financial support each year for first-time artists.

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