2021 Annual Report PWP.
Annual Report F I S C A L Y E A R 2 0 2 1
For People & Planet Plant With Purpose is a global development organization reversing rural poverty and deforestation through environmental restoration, economic empowerment, and spiritual renewal. Guided by our biblical call to environmental stewardship and care for those in need, Plant With Purpose seeks to address the root causes of poverty and stand with the world’s most vulnerable people to restore the life-giving ecosystems created by God. Plant With Purpose families have 2.5 months of savings on average, compared 2.5 to 1 month for non-participants. Months Savings Purpose Group participants have 2.5 months of savings on average, compared to 1 month for nonparticipants. 2
Partners Not Projects The heart of our mission is restoring relationships—between people and planet, between people and one another, and between people and God. Often, oppression and inequality are at the root of poverty. At Plant With Purpose, we believe in the inherent value, equality, and agency of all people. We believe that the rural farmers we work with can solve the problems of poverty and environmental damage in their region with the right tools and support. That’s why every Plant With Purpose program is locally-led and community-based. We don’t have projects, we have partners. This sense of mutual respect and collaboration is at the core of our work and reflected in everything we do. 37% 2.7% 6 70% Tonnes Food Security Tree Cover Restoration Agency Crop yields are Tree cover is increasing or stable Partnering families sequester an 70% of program participants believe increased by 37% in all areas where we work. We average of 6 tonnes of CO2e each their work is a good use of their through regenerative estimate that over 3 years, tree year. Carbon is removed from the talents, demonstrating a sense cover diverged from national atmosphere, soil is enriched, agriculture. trends by 2.7%, representing crop yields are increased, of personal value and agency, 2.2 million acres of land and biodiversity compared to nonparticipants protected or restored. is enhanced. (58%). 3
GlobalImpact haiti 539 PURPOSE GROUPS DOMINICAN 77,985 REPUBLIC mexico PEOPLE SERVED 254 177 104 PURPOSE GROUPS PURPOSE GROUPS CHURCH PARTNERS 37,474 11,949 500,979 PEOPLE SERVED PEOPLE SERVED TREES PLANTED 137 69 CHURCH PARTNERS CHURCH PARTNERS 1,708,290 58,779 TREES PLANTED TREES PLANTED Because of the generous support of our U.S. partners during this fiscal year, our programs across the globe surpassed projected growth goals, in spite of the pandemic. The restoration of watersheds, ecosystems, and the building of economic resources creates resilience, enabling these vulnerable communities to continue to grow out of poverty even in the face of natural disasters, political unrest, local conflict and the growing impacts of climate change. 4
tanzania 444 PURPOSE GROUPS BURUNDI 54,163 425 PEOPLE SERVED PURPOSE GROUPS 261 61,981 CHURCH PARTNERS PEOPLE SERVED 1,578,360 152 TREES PLANTED CHURCH PARTNERS thailand 846,921 TREES PLANTED 29 ethiopia PURPOSE GROUPS 48 3,302 PURPOSE GROUPS PEOPLE SERVED DR Congo 4,565 47 PEOPLE SERVED CHURCH PARTNERS 241 27 107,190 PURPOSE GROUPS CHURCH PARTNERS TREES PLANTED 56,040 300,778 PEOPLE SERVED TREES PLANTED 72 CHURCH PARTNERS 900,704 TREES PLANTED Through savings and loans, restoring Through God, we can do everything. the environment, and respecting God There are things we can do with our and His creation, I am able to improve little trees and our projects that will my journey toward sustainable shape the future of our families. _ development. Maria Luisa, partner farmer, Burundi _ Mugere, partner farmer, Burundi 5
Global Program Expansion THRIVE 25 Re:Vision Triennial Impact Evaluation In fiscal year 2021, we exceeded our original revenue goal of $6.2 Every three years, our team conducts an in-depth impact million by more than $1.2 million. As a result, just 12 months into our evaluation applying monitoring and evaluation best practices. five-year THRIVE 25 strategic plan, we determined that the 2025 goal of Our latest study (2018-2020) was completed in fiscal year 2021 doubling our annual revenue to $10 million was far too conservative. and can be viewed at plantwithpurpose.org/impact. The Plant With Purpose Board of Directors has now approved a Re:Vision of the THRIVE 25 strategic plan, creating a new 2025 goal We are very pleased with the results of this study, which of $20 million in annual revenue, supporting the expansion of our further validates our prior triennial analysis (2015-2017). This program goals. is a comprehensive and significant undertaking every three years, and we are committed to verifying and optimizing the We now plan to scale our poverty alleviation work to impact nearly impact and efficacy of our program activities. 900,000 people and regenerate watersheds that represent 6,700 sq miles, an area of land larger than Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Joshua Tree national parks combined! Since our founding in 1984, we’ve planted over 43 million trees, and we plan to double that number by the end of 2025. We will also partner with hundreds more local churches, fueling spiritual renewal and discipleship. * Chart reflects total cumulative activity as reported at the end of the respective fiscal year. FY2010 FY2000 5,583,866 FY2018 FY2019 1,663,437 63 27,653,871 32,649,884 0 45,946 FY2017 1,346 1,465 8,260 43 23,060,534 189,382 200,185 0 1,242 683 601 193,776 535 6
FY2025 Goals 89,000,000 6,700 880,000 2,000 FY2021 43,376,455 2,157 307,460 869 FY2020 GROUPS PEOPLE CHURCH PARTNERS 37,374,454 TREES Trees are a critical part Purpose Groups are the Plant With Purpose We come alongside local 1,647 of our environmental core component of our participant families are churches with training and 221,937 restoration activities. holistic empowerment truly partners and agents support to encourage Trees can prevent erosion, model. Integrating of their own success. As a community members to 745 increase soil health, purify savings groups, farmer result of our interventions, grow in their love and care water, and improve crop field schools, and spiritual families are able to reduce for their neighbors and production through encouragement, Purpose their poverty by more than creation, reflecting God’s agroforestry techniques. Groups are foundational half and become catalysts love. One of the wonderful In addition, trees sequester to the efficacy of the for the economic, results of our work is the carbon and contribute to Plant With Purpose model environmental, and spiritual increased sense of purpose the renewal of entire (see page 9). advancement of their and value experienced by ecosystems. entire community. our participants. 7
The Plant With Purpose Watershed Model Watershed Model A watershed is an area of land defined by hydrological boundaries where water flows downhill along natural contours to a river or common body of water. Within the watershed, life is interconnected and interdependent. That’s why the Plant With Purpose Watershed Model is so uniquely effective. By working with just over half the families in a watershed, the entire watershed experiences environmental restoration and poverty is cut by more than half. When we work in harmony with creation, the land and its people can heal. The Plant With Purpose Watershed Model is making that possible. 8
Regenerative Agriculture Training Spiritual Support P u r p o s e G r o ups Purpose Groups are dynamic communities of local families committed to mutual support. Each group includes these four facets. Farmers improve their own land, work together to develop the community, and share what they learn with their neighbors. Church partnerships provide hope and change the way that entire communities think about their role in caring for the environment, their community, and one another. Savings and Loan Groups Tree Planting and Growing 9 9
United in Purpose Global Partners Healing relationships with self, others, God, and creation Vista Hermosa Foundation has partnered with Plant with Purpose in U.S. Partners Mexico consistently since 2008 and more recently in Haiti. As a family foundation that has its roots in family farming, we are stewards of a legacy Plant With Purpose Team “to bear fruit that will last,” coming alongside communities in context. Plant With Purpose’s work in holistic community development, utilizing watersheds as a central organizing space and providing both material and spiritual support, aligns well with the foundation’s Theory of Change which centers healing relationships with self, others, God, and creation. At a time when the impacts of climate change are making headlines, Plant With Purpose is on the ground with farming communities on the front lines, complementing their existing resources to foster resilience. Susan Dobkins Managing Director Vista Hermosa Foundation 10
We think of ourselves as a family What I thought was impossible, has become possible! In fiscal year 2021, we launched THRIVE 25, our new strategic plan, with My name is Francine, I am 28 years old. I always dreamed that one day what felt like the ambitious goal of doubling our impact over the next I would be financially independent and well regarded. But life didn’t start five years. By God’s grace, and with your support, we exceeded our out that way. I was married at 18 to a young man who was unemployed. first-year stretch goal by 25% and, realizing that our five-year goal was in We couldn’t produce enough crops to meet our family’s needs. We ate reach by year two, updated the plan, nearly doubling our 2025 objectives. only one, poor meal a day. Life was so hard I even tried to run away. We continue to learn how to operate against the background of COVID-19 In 2014 a friend told me that she had also gone through difficult and to better understand how our integrated program contributes times, but benefited from joining a Purpose Group. After convincing significantly to resilience and hope in the communities we serve. Despite my husband, we also joined a group. We began to save money and the pandemic, we were able to meet or exceed all of our program goals for the training led me to develop a passion and love for agriculture. the year, planting over six million trees for the first time. We also completed We expanded our farm and planted forest trees and fruit trees. our triennial impact evaluation which demonstrated that the impact of Applying regenerative techniques, our production tripled. our work was widespread and significant, extending beyond our direct participants to their neighbors, and all who live within our key watersheds. I began to train others in these techniques and was chosen to be a Village Agent. I now supervise eight Purpose Groups. Because my Of course, there have been challenges as well. Here, we suffered the loss family has been transformed in front of everyone, others easily follow of a beloved colleague, Kirstie Hibbard, in a tragic accident. Internationally, and apply the training. in addition to the pandemic, several of our partners have been dealing with civil unrest. Their perseverance, despite the threat of violence has I have seen 45 members significantly improve their standard of living been inspiring. _ following my example and technical advice this is a great source of We enter the new fiscal year, excited about rapidly increasing opportuni- pride for me. In addition to our expanding farm, we were also able to ties, largely due to growing interest around tree planting and nature-based build a house and open a small shop that my husband manages, and solutions to climate change. I am thrilled by the opportunity to do more for recently a bakery. We can now hire workers for our farm. both people and planet. Today, we eat three meals a day. My children are well dressed and We think of ourselves as a family which includes not only our team in I can easily pay school fees. My goal is to see at least 80% of the the United States, but our local partners who are working in each of our people in my groups change their behavior and improve their standard program countries. Crucially, it also includes the farming families we serve, of living. I feel respected in my community and in my family. I also as well as the donors and supporters who make that work possible. We know that the work I am doing benefits the whole planet. It feels good have the unique privilege of connecting those disparate groups, and it has to be part of the Plant With Purpose global community. been a blessing to see how this connection continues to deepen and grow. Francine Thank you so much for your partnership. Village Agent Scott Sabin Burundi CEO 11
Program RESILIENCE COMMUNITY FOREST MANAGEMENT Impact While the world continues to A key aspect of environmental restoration grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, partners and the Watershed Model is the way in Ethiopia and Haiti also face natural disasters, communities work together to create and civil unrest, and government instability. manage shared forest space. “Thanks to the Expansion Amidst Conflict in Ethiopia Preserving native ecology in Tanzania techniques we’ve In Ethiopia, where 84% of the population lives in poverty, In Tanzania, many partner farmers received seed there are concerns that unrest could lead to civil war. harvesting training this year. As a result, participants learned, we are Despite this backdrop, Plant With Purpose completed harvested a total of 156kg of seeds from 24 different empowered to its two-year pilot program and is ready to scale. Most native tree species. This is especially important as importantly, all local stakeholders have extended the most watersheds are found in and around the respond to the invitation to expand our work ecologically important Mt. Kilimanjaro region. needs of our families.” Moving forward undaunted: Haiti Refugees in Thailand treated as partners In Haiti, Plant With Purpose has been working with In Thailand, ethnic minority farmers—who are often _ Loriana local farming families since 1997. This year, the nation marginalized and not able to become citizens—are Haitian partner farmer experienced a terrible series of civil and natural disasters. empowered to work alongside government agencies Gang activity, inflation, and political crisis have affected to restore community forests: “Since partnering with our team. However, program participants have shown Plant With Purpose, people in the community see the extraordinary resilience. importance of forests and maintaining our watersheds. Having a healthy environment can positively impact Ethiopia everything in life.” _ Eair, Thai farmer Thailand 12
PANDEMIC RESILIENCE RECONCILIATION THE COURAGE TO SCALE Through savings, training, and small Spiritual renewal is one of Plant With Plant With Purpose experienced business, communities and partner Purpose’s three core program unprecedented growth this year, even farmers were able to build resilience components. And while this can be with additional challenges and restrictions to face crises, even including a global difficult to measure with numbers and due to the pandemic. God is faithful, and pandemic. graphs, it is made evident through a we have seen Him work. change in attitudes and actions. Self-reliance in Oaxaca, Mexico Overcoming differences in the DR Congo The Dominican Republic continues to scale In our first international trip in almost two years, In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two Plant With Purpose began in 1984 in the we visited Don Carlos and Epifania, the family feuding neighbors joined the same Purpose Group. Dominican Republic. This year, we were able featured in our 2021 Global Impact Video. Through “After prayer, and before starting the savings to dramatically scale impact by starting 83 new their Purpose Group, Don Carlos and Epifania activities, we would go through this inspirational Purpose Groups and planting 1.7 million trees, were able to build a chicken coop. Their hens slogan: ‘TUUDUMISHE UPENDO, MUSHIKAMANO the most of any program. “Why now?” we asked started laying eggs around the NA NIZAMU,’ which means ‘let us strengthen Durbel Lora Brito, Country Director. “Because beginning of the pandemic, and love, solidarity, and discipline.’ We were touched we are not afraid,” he said. The team recently they didn’t need to buy a single by these words and so decided to reconcile and participated in an identity and vocation workshop egg to feed their family. reestablish our friendship as it was before.” and described themselves with the word, Scan to watch their inspiring story. Forgiveness for a Burundian family “courageous.” Durbel went on to explain that the In Burundi, Purpose Group member Olivier team has the confidence and capacity to scale. Mexico transformed his land through regenerative Increased giving from partners in the U.S. helped agriculture, and his spirit was transformed as well. fund ambitious goals like those of our Dominican “After attending a Theology of Work discussion, Republic team. We thank God for the courage of I decided to reconcile with a family member, our partners in the U.S. and abroad. Sylvestre. Not long afterwards, his house caught fire. I took a risk in order to stop the fire and Dominican Republic wound up saving his house. The things I’ve learned from Plant With Purpose have helped me understand mutual love and forgiveness. Now we live in harmony.” DR Congo 13
i nancials Financials 2021 STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES TOTAL 2 0 2 0 TOTAL REVENUES AND SUPPORT Contributions and Grants $7,422,728 $4,832,566 Interest and Dividend Income 26,100 23,192 TOTAL REVENUES $7,448,828 $4,855,758 EXPENSES BY REGION PROGRAM ACTIVITIES Africa $2,513,978 $1,605,454 Latin America and Caribbean 1,816,362 1,711,898 Asia 228,348 213,349 U.S. Awareness & Education 520,928 687,759 TOTAL PROGRAM ACTIVITIES $5,079,616 $4,218,460 SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES Fundraising 929,283 645,162 General and Administrative 542,282 467,013 TOTAL SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES $1,471,565 $1,112,175 TOTAL EXPENSES $6,551,181 $5,330,635 NET ASSETS Net Assets, Beginning of the Year $4,651,534 $5,126,411 Change in Net Assets 897,647 -474,877 Net Assets, End of the Year $5,549,181 $4,651,534 2021 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 1 2 0 2 0 ASSETS LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS Unreserved Cash & Cash Equivalents $558,554 $345,181 Accounts Payable/Accrued Expenses $200,385 $116,766 Operating Reserves - Cash 217,288 691,207 Notes Payable 0 31,247 TOTAL CASH & EQUIVALENTS $775,842 $1,036,388 TOTAL LIABILITIES $200,385 $148,013 Operating Reserves - Investments 2,801,736 1,324,881 Net Assets Unconditional Promises to Give 1,962,700 2,270,884 Unrestricted 3,114,618 2,294,099 Prepaid Expenses 61,436 41,641 Restricted 2,434,563 2,357,435 Property and Equipment 36,271 31,093 TOTAL NET ASSETS $5,549,181 $4,651,534 Investments 28,307 28,307 Endowment Investments 83,274 66,353 TOTAL LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS $5,749,566 $4,799,547 14 TOTAL ASSETS $5,749,566 $4,799,547 14
FUNDING SOURCES Board of directors* 46% Jeff Busby Individuals Cindy Chen 1% Steve Dhanens, Treasurer Earned Revenue 1% Judy Enns, Secretary Government Janet Farley 2% Jeff Kahler Corporations 4% Eric Kaiser Churches Ted Law 46% Cathi Lundy Foundations Scott Sabin, CEO Darrell Shrader WHERE WE WORK John Steel, Chair Haiti $587,111 FY2021 * $625,258 FY2020 Executive Team Dominican Republic $574,482 Scott Sabin $611,968 Chief Executive Officer Burundi $659,668 $541,445 Paul Thompson Tanzania $609,471 Chief Operating Officer $531,219 $654,769 Kristen Kreitzer Mexico $474,672 Director of Finance and Administration Ethiopia $317,558 Christi Huizenga Renaud $298,790 Director of Development and Marketing DR Congo $927,281 Doug Satre $234,000 $228,348 Director of Strategic Partnerships Thailand $213,349 Bob Morikawa Director of International Programs SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES ______________________________________________ *Staff and board for fiscal year 2021. Fundraising $929,283 $645,162 General and Admin. $542, 282 $467,013 15 15
The need is great. Our approach works. Together, we’re doing even more. We are proud to be endorsed by leading nonprofit review organizations that help individuals find trustworthy partners who keep their promises and faithfully steward resources. © 2021 Plant With Purpose | plantwithpurpose.org On the cover: The daughter of Don 4747 Morena Blvd., Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92117 Carlos and Epifania from Oaxaca, Mexico, featured in our 2021 Global Impact Video. She enjoys an apple, grown on their farm. There is no better indicator of the success of your work through Plant With Purpose than a thriving child.