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Contributor Guidelines

Submitting guest blogs is open to Global Washington’s members of the Atlas level and above. We value a diversity of opinions on a broad range of subjects of interest to the global health and development community.

Blog article submissions should be 500-1500 words. Photos, graphs, videos, and other art that supports the main themes are strongly encouraged.

You may not be the best writer, and that’s okay. We can help you shape and edit your contribution. The most important thing is that it furthers an important conversation in your field, and that it is relatively jargon-free. Anyone without a background in global development should still be able to engage with your ideas.

If you include statistics or reference current research, please hyperlink your sources in the text, wherever possible.

Have an idea of what you’d like to write about? Let’s continue the conversation! Email comms@globalWA.org and put “Blog Idea” in the subject line.


A Time of Opportunity and Crisis

25yearsNearly three billion people live in areas of the world where the rights of LGBTIQ individuals are abused. While LGBTIQ rights are gaining visibility and people in all walks of life are better understanding the importance of these rights, there is a battle to be fought and this is only the beginning.

OutRight Action International, a GlobalWA member, is on the frontlines of this fight. OutRight is dedicated to worldwide human rights advocacy for those who experience discrimination because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender or expression. Jessica Stern, OutRight’s Executive Director based out of the New York headquarters, led the April 28 GlobalWA Executive Director Roundtable. Amie Bishop, Co-Chair of OutRight’s board and a Seattle resident, joined her at the table, along with Ashton Giese, OutRight’s Development Associate. Continue Reading

Three Tactics for Small Scale Impact Investing

By Gwen Straley, Executive Director, 3rd Creek Foundation

3rdcreek-impact-investing-post

3CF made its first impact investment in Nam Thang Long, a company that manufactures life-jacket backpacks which prevent early childhood drowning during monsoon season in Vietnam.

3rd Creek Foundation (3CF) is a small organization, but at just 12% the asset size of the average U.S. private family foundation, it has a big vision: a world without poverty. Since its founding in 2007, 3CF has made grants to small organizations in developing countries around the world who are working to alleviate poverty in their communities. These grants follow the standard 5% annual payout rate mandated for perpetual foundations. To increase impact without spending down principal, 3CF has implemented a strategy to apply more funds toward mission related activity through impact investing. 3CF makes small-sized investments of up to $20K directly in early stage businesses in South Asia and East Africa. This outlay is important because there are roughly thousands of small social enterprises with sound business models that lack access to much needed capital. As mentioned by Capria, early stage enterprises make up the “missing middle,” and are unable to access capital from microfinance institutions, local banks, and most impact investors who make larger sized investments. Continue Reading