Category Archives: Uncategorized

98% of Donations went directly to help Bolivians in 2020

An important question for many donors is “what percentage of donations to Bolivians Without disAbilities is going to support disabled Bolivians?“.  On May 15th, we completed our 990 tax report for 2020 (Due May 15th) and we have achieved our goal of using 98% of donations to help disabled Bolivian amputees. If you have ever investigated how much charities typically spend directly on their mission, vs salaries and other overhead, you will find that our 98% of spending on Bolivia programs is an extraordinarily low figure.  

We achieve this super low overhead by having:

• zero salaries
• zero travel expenses
• zero facility expenses
• zero postal marketing costs

as well as other, what would be “typical” expenses, that we are able to avoid. We can do this because we are run by an all volunteer staff and use exclusively electronic communication, like this newsletter.  Our largest expense is bank fees (mostly PayPal, which charges us 2.9% for each dollar collected – but this is also EXCELLENTLY low), and web site hosting.  

In contrast:

• American Red Cross does a pretty good job by using 91% of their funds on their intended benefit programs. 
• World Vision also does a relatively decent job by using 85% of their donations on their programs
• But Americans Painting Houses for the Blind does a pretty dismal job by spending only 61% of their income on their programs.

You will soon find our tax return on Guide Star, which has a free login.

March 2017 Fundraising results

Our March campaign is now over and your generosity has launched us way over our first goal of getting more then 40 donors.  We also closed out the campaign with a little over $5500 which will allow us to provide limbs to one additional patient then the eight that we had initially targeted.

In case you’re curious how we apply these funds, here is a quick peek into a typical day at the clinic:

Last week we had a crazy busy day in the clinic. It felt like more and more patients just kept coming, and I wondered how we were going to handle all six patients.  

• Two of the patients have been coming in for the past few weeks to do physical therapy and prepare for their new prosthetic legs. Christian, our volunteer physical therapist from Germany, has been working hard with these two patients.  Their physical abilities have improved dramatically.
• One of these patients, who had been wheelchair-bound up until this point, finally strapped on her prosthetic leg and walked for 10 minutes. This was the first time this patient has walked since she lost her leg.  She was ecstatic!
• We also had two other previous patients back for repairs. Minor weight gain (or loss) can render their sockets very uncomfortable, and we have to make adjustments. No prosthetic leg lasts forever; a major part of our job is to maintain all previous 325 patients. 
• We also served a new patient today. He was from a city in the Amazon basin, and he was having a very difficult time with the altitude here in La Paz at 13,000 feet. The patient had to return to his hotel to rest, and he will return tomorrow.
• The last patient was missing his right arm below the elbow. Pieter, our volunteer 3D printer engineer from Belgium, eagerly measured the patient for a prosthetic arm.
• Costis, our other volunteer engineer, has been working hard to master 3D printed hands. Costis was busy today trying to invent a new mechanism to allow the hand to flex in a more useful manner.
• Last, but not least, our newest volunteer, Jacob (USA) joined us in the clinic today. Jacob’s specialty is photography, and he is working on producing a new video of the center’s work.  I will report back on the video project, as soon as it is completed.

I hope this helps you to understand how critical your donations are to our work. We are so grateful for your support!

National disabled protest to demand more rights and support

This summer, Bolivia experienced another sad, yet passionate annual protest, orchestrated by thousands of disabled people. People in wheelchairs, amputees on crutches, and many other heartbreaking disabled souls staged a courageous, yet peaceful protest this past summer. Disabled activists “marched” 100s of miles to the capital using their crutches and wheelchairs, and even just limping along. They camped in central La Paz for more then a month, calling for a five-fold increase in disability benefits. They are asking for a stipend of $75/month to help them survive without jobs, due to their tragic disabilities, but the government has rejected their demands.

The prosthetic foundation is politically impartial and so does not try to take sides. But this gathering of people brought a lot of Bolivians out of their homes, who otherwise would be hiding, in pure shame, due to their disabilities. It has given us a chance to take flyers, cards and just talk with people about the charity, its values and what we hope to offer these people. We have already provided prosthetic legs for some of the protesters and we are working on more.
These individuals might not have come across to La Paz, without the protest. We hope to do as much as we can for people in this situation so they can go back to work –and ultimately provide for their families. After all, that is the fundamental vision for Bolivians Without disAbilities.

This is just one example of the very low level of support that disabled Bolivians can rely on, and why our work to provide free prosthetic limbs to these same low-income disabled amputees is so necessary.

Leslie Calhoun is our new Treasurer

Leslie, Treasurer

Bolivians Without disAbilities is proud to announce our new treasurer, Leslie Calhoun.  Leslie will replace Luana Connor, who proudly served for the first two years of BWD’s existance.  Luana will continue to support BWD as a major champion of our work, and we greatly appreciate her contributions to our cause.

Leslie Calhoun currently works in an SEC registered investment advisor office, Optivest, Inc., where she manages, with her business partner, over $230 million in assets. Leslie serves as the Chief Investment Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and she manages the entire office staff.   Leslie is a registered representative of a broker/dealer called Gramercy Securities.

Prior to Optivest, Leslie worked as an institutional sales trader and market maker for several broker/dealers.  She also has knowledge of both capital markets, insider and restricted shares, and IPOs. Leslie holds various NASD licenses including NASD Series 7, Series 24, Series 63 and Series 65.   When she is not managing assets and fundraising for BWD, you’ll find Leslie running, skiing, hiking and spending time with her two rescued dogs.