2024
From 2014 through 2024, Light My Fire has funded over 70 projects for women and girls in developing countries. In that period, Light My Fire grants have totaled more than $500,000.
In 2024, we received over 40 proposals but were able to fund only three projects due to diminishing funds available. We supported manufacture of menstrual pads in Uganda, labor and delivery assistance in South Sudan, and reproductive health care in Guatemala, for a total of $14,550.
As a small, volunteer organization, Light My Fire needs to revise and refine its proposal submission process to focus its resources on one general area of activity. In 2025, the grant submission procedure will be limited to one month – March, 2025 – and projects will be limited to reproductive health and education. The new procedure is described on both the Home Page and Projects Page of the LMF website.
Light My Fire is also pleased that Board Member Kim Weichel has accepted the position of Vice President of our organization.
We look forward to making 2025 a more efficient and productive year in providing assistance to women and children in the developing world.
2023
In 2023, Light My Fire celebrated its tenth year of operations. Twenty-three grant proposals were considered out of over thirty proposals received.
Grantmaking focused on small grants ($5000 or less) made to four African countries – Kenya (3), Congo (2), Rwanda (1), South Sudan (1). Grants totaled $31,750.
Awards were made for establishment of a community health center and building smoke-free stoves in rural Congo (2); developing a yoga/counseling center and teaching hairdressing in a Nairobi slum (2); halting female genital mutilation in South Sudan (1); growing mushrooms in Rwanda (1) and training for bakery business in Kenya (1).
All funded projects will provide semi-annual and annual assessments. Light My Fire will dig deeper into project accomplishments in order to upgrade our assessment process.
2022
The year 2022 marked the ninth year of Light My Fire operations.
2021 and 2022 were particularly difficult years for women and girls in the developing world due to the Covid pandemic. Schools, businesses, and community services shut down and women and girls were forced into desperate straits (early marriage, work in bars, sex work) in order to survive and sustain their families.
On a positive note, 2022 was a rewarding year for Light My Fire operations due to a generous bequest from the Carol P. Christ Estate.
The bequest allowed Light My Fire to make three grants, larger in size than our previous grants, which were restricted by a $5000 maximum. The large grants all went to previous grantees whose work we admire. In May, 2022, we made our largest grant ($50,000) to A Breeze of Hope, a nonprofit in Bolivia that provides therapeutic and legal assistance to sexually abused girls. Our other two large grants ($25,000 each) went to Daraja Academy, a girls’ boarding school in Kenya, and to Mayan Families in Guatemala, a nonprofit that offers training and entrepreneurial skills to indigenous women.
In addition, Light My Fire made ten grants (at or below $5000) to small, grass roots women’s organizations predominantly in Africa. Please see the Projects page of www.lightmyfirefund.org for specifics.
Light My Fire grants for 2022 came close to $150,000.
In 2023, Light My Fire will assess its large grants program. In addition, we will continue our small grants program. Because so many of our small grants have been to Uganda, we will put Uganda funding on hold and will make small grants for women and girls in alternative locations in the developing world.
As always, we thank our volunteer officers and board members, web designer, and donors for helping to make Light My Fire a continuing success.
2020
Light My Fire‘s Annual Report for2020 marked the seventh year of operations for Light My Fire. In the past, we described our grant-making work on the Web, www.lightmyfirefund.org. We presented an annual report in 2020 in order to briefly highlight our activities.
Our first grant-making session for 2020 was in June. The second session was in November. We awarded grants to the following organizations and groups:
June, 2020
Training women and children refugees in Juarez, Mexico
Tailoring projects for Ugandan single mothers
Briquette-making by women in Uganda
Teaching girls salon management in Bolivia
Education for orphans of fisherfolk in Uganda
Helping women traders in Uganda
Fistula assistance in Tanzania
November, 2020
Bar-soap manufacturing in Uganda
Manufacture of sanitary kits and face masks in Congo
Caesareans in Uganda
Menstrual pad manufacture in Uganda/Congo refugee camp
Pig-rearing in Uganda
Training in modern vegetable farming in Uganda
Housing for homeless women in Washington, D.C.
The total amount of grant funding for 2020 was $57,092.
Light My Fire is grateful for support from its Officers, Board of Directors and generous individual donors.
Note: Light My Fire receives a large number of grant proposals from Uganda because the NGO network there has recommended our nonprofit as a source of funds.
Note: The total amount of funding in 2020 was comparable to previous years.