Causes That Earned Support From the Draper Richards Foundation

Little Kids Rock

Courtesy of Little Kids Rock

Mission:

Little Kids Rock provides weekly music-education classes to 86,000 public-school students in 25 cities. It also trains teachers and volunteers to use its innovative popular-music curriculum.

When the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation identified it in 2005 as a charity that could become a potential game changer it served just 8,000 students.

VisionSpring

Courtesy of VisionSpring

Mission

The group makes eyeglasses available in developing countries by helping people set up small businesses to sell them.

Impact

VisionSpring sold 15,000 pairs of glasses in 2005, the year it received the Draper Richards Kaplan grant. Now the organization has 9,000 entrepreneurs in its network, and they have sold nearly a million pairs. An assessment by the University of Michigan found that the people who bought the glasses improved their productivity by an average of 35 percent.

One Acre Fund

Courtesy of The One Acre Fund

Mission:

The fund helps farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi increase their crop yields and get their produce to market.

Impact:

The charity worked with 125 farm families in 2006, the year it won a Draper Richards Kaplan grant. Now the group serves 130,000. Farmers who participate in the group’s programs have been able to double the profit they earn on each acre of land they plant.