December 2018

This month, we’re catching up with Santa Monica resident and GO Campaign’s Founder and CEO, Scott Fifer. GO Campaign is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that invests in pioneering “Local Heroes” around the world to address the needs of vulnerable children. In addition to raising funds and granting money, GO Campaign supports and strengthens the ability of grassroots organizations to succeed in their mission and transform their communities. GO Campaign also works closely with donors, letting donors choose which projects resonate most with their passion. Donors are encouraged to adopt projects, and to visit and volunteer at any of their projects around the world. GO Campaign has been compared to a really good investment fund – they take your dollars and invest them in children and they do it wisely, in a diverse portfolio, for maximum results. But the common thread is those heroes, their proven track record, their commitment to serving children, where the money is accountable, and results are quantifiable. With the holidays upon us, it’s a time for giving, and Eden sat down with GO’s founder to talk about what inspires him to continue helping children around the world and to explain how we can all make a difference.

Last we spoke (in January ’17), GO Campaign was still celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Bring us to today: What has happened since then?

So much! When GO Campaign started in 2006, my goal was to help a group of 20 orphans in Tanzania. Now, 12 years later, we’ve helped over 125,000 children across 34 countries. Since I spoke to Eden readers at the start of 2017, we’ve been able to expand our work in the USA, especially in our own backyard of Los Angeles where we are now supporting programs for foster youth, girls empowerment, arts programming, tutoring, mentorship and more.

In addition, we’ve recently built a new campus in Tanzania for children with intellectual challenges such as autism, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and other special needs.

It will be a game-changer for special needs children and their families across East Africa.

Can you share more about what makes GO Campaign’s model so unique?

We think differently. Instead of going in and imposing our ideas on a community, we simply go in and listen. We identify pioneering local heroes in communities around the world and we listen to them. We offer them our resources and expertise, but we always rely on them to know what is best for children in their communities. And our “Local Heroes” range from the celebrated, like Nobel Prize Winner Kailash Satyarthi in India and CNN Superhero Pushpa Basnet in Nepal, to the quiet and unknown, like school principal Jessica Flores in Peru and youth activists Anja Thiessen and Bianca Zaharescu in rural Mississippi.

And on the donor side, we listen there too. We want our donors to feel connected to their giving, to choose projects that resonate with them. You care about the Middle East? We have projects where you can help. You care about protecting girls from sex-trafficking? We have projects that do that. You like growing businesses? We

have entrepreneurship and microloan programs that enable youth to become breadwinners for their families. We let our donors choose how they want to have an impact. From East L.A. to East Africa, from Compton to Cambodia, Harlem to Haiti, we’ve got a way for you to connect and make a difference.

How did GO Campaign get its start?

In 2006, I took a volunteer vacation to Africa and it completely changed my life. I came back to Los Angeles determined to help a small orphanage in Kilimanjaro where I volunteered. At first, it was just friends and family who helped me, but word quickly spread and I teamed up with some passionate women in Los Angeles who helped raise even more funds and raise even greater awareness and together we were able to grow the organization to one that helps children globally.

Tell us about one of GO Campaign’s current programs.

We’ve recently started helping children who have been separated from their families at the border. No matter what your thoughts on how to fix US immigration problems, I think we all can agree that children should not be the ones to suffer. We welcome donations for those who want to help reunite families and we can make sure it gets to where it is needed most. It’s a critical time for so many innocent children being held in detention centers across the country.

What are you most proud of?

There’s so much GO Campaign can be proud of, so many lives we’ve helped to save. They say if you save one life, you’ve made a difference, and so personally I am most proud of a young orphan from Tanzania named Leonce.

I first met him at an orphanage in 2008, and have been mentoring him and making sure he got a good education. Today he’s in high school in Hawaii, and next year I’ll be helping him apply to colleges. His life is so different now than it was before, and I know he will go on to do great things in the world. The ripple effect that will come from changing just this one life is something I know I can always be proud of.

Who’s your biggest inspiration?

I find inspiration in small, every day acts. Mostly from children. Children are naturally caring, naturally optimistic, naturally happy. That’s why it’s so important to nurture them from a young age. They inspire me to do the work I do because they really are our best hope for the future.

Think of what you want for your children, for your friend’s children, the lengths you rightfully go to make sure your children have access to the best opportunities – because you want the world for them – and you want them to make a better world – that’s what we want for kids everywhere.  Project by project we are leveling the playing field.  Whether it’s by providing education, medical care, vocational training, nutrition, we want kids to have a fair chance.

You have been practicing meditation and yoga for years. How has that affected your worldview?

I’m not so good with the meditation, but I do practice yoga and I find it beneficial to find the calm amidst the struggle. Some poses are so challenging, but you learn to find your breath and keep calm, and you realize you can do this in the outside world too. When things seem crazy around you and life throws unexpected turns your way, yoga helps you know that ‘this too shall pass’ and I have the ultimate control about how I am going to react to any given situation.

I also practice gratitude when I can. I don’t do it nearly enough, but I always find it helpful when I do. I think the universe reacts well to people who are grateful for their blessings.

How did GO Campaign get its start?

In 2006, I took a volunteer vacation to Africa and it completely changed my life. I came back to Los Angeles determined to help a small orphanage in Kilimanjaro where I volunteered. At first it was just friends and family who helped me, but word quickly spread and I teamed up with some passionate women in Los Angeles who helped raise even more funds and raise even greater awareness and together we were able to grow the organization to one that helps children globally.

Tell us about one of GO Campaign’s current programs.

We’ve recently started helping children who have been separated from their families at the border. No matter what your thoughts on how to fix US immigration problems, I think we all can agree that children should not be the ones to suffer. We welcome donations for those who want to help reunite families and we can make sure it gets to where it is needed most. It’s a critical time for so many innocent children being held in detention centers across the country.

What are you most proud of?

There’s so much GO Campaign can be proud of, so many lives we’ve helped to save. They say if you save one life, you’ve made a difference, and so personally I am most proud of a young orphan from Tanzania named Leonce.

I first met him at an orphanage in 2008, and have been mentoring him and making sure he got a good education. Today he’s in high school in Hawaii, and next year I’ll be helping him apply to colleges. His life is so different now than it was before, and I know he will go on to do great things in the world. The ripple effect that will come from changing just this one life is something I know I can always be proud of.

Who’s your biggest inspiration?

I find inspiration in small, every day acts. Mostly from children. Children are naturally caring, naturally optimistic, naturally happy. That’s why it’s so important to nurture them from a young age. They inspire me to do the work I do because they really are our best hope for the future.

Think of what you want for your children, for your friend’s children, the lengths you rightfully go to make sure your children have access to the best opportunities – because you want the world for them – and you want them to make a better world – that’s what we want for kids everywhere.  Project by project we are leveling the playing field.  Whether it’s by providing education, medical care, vocational training, nutrition, we want kids to have a fair chance.

You have been practicing meditation and yoga for years. How has that affected your worldview?

I’m not so good with the meditation, but I do practice yoga and I find it beneficial to find the calm amidst the struggle. Some poses are so challenging, but you learn to find your breath and keep calm, and you realize you can do

this in the outside world too. When things seem crazy around you and life throws unexpected turns your way, yoga helps you know that ‘this too shall pass’ and I have the ultimate control about how I am going to react to any given situation.

I also practice gratitude when I can. I don’t do it nearly enough, but I always find it helpful when I do. I think the universe reacts well to people who are grateful for their blessings.

We often hear how giving – or giving back – also has a powerfully positive effect on the person doing the giving. Do you believe that?

Giving back helps you live longer! There’s science behind it! It releases chemicals in your body, much like exercise. In a way, giving back is actually selfish, because many people do it because it makes them feel so good. And there’s nothing wrong with that. When I spent that first month volunteering at the orphanage in Africa, I got so much more from those kids than I could ever give to them.

What keeps you up at night?

Albert Einstein said  “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” So I try to make sure I am always doing something about it. I often wake up thinking of ways to make GO Campaign better.

Sometimes that means thinking up ways to raise more money, because money helps us reach more children in need. And children in need are what really keep me up at night. Refugee children from Syria, from Myanmar. Child soldiers in the Congo. Children being shot in Chicago. There are so many more children who need our help, who deserve our help.

Where do you see GO Campaign in another 10 years?

I probably shouldn’t even try to answer that question, because if you asked me that question 10 years ago, I never would have imagined the success we’ve achieved now. I never could have imagined we’d have helped change the lives of children across 34 countries.

I can only hope that in 10 years, we continue to identify and lift up the most pioneering and remarkable local heroes who are dedicating and often risking their lives to give the opportunity to children in their communities. That’s what GO stands for: Giving Opportunity.

In this political climate, many people are discouraged, angry, or simply don’t know where to start to fix things. What advice would you give on how to overcome this?

We need to start by listening to each other. Just like GO Campaign listens to the people on the ground, we all need to listen to each other and engage in more civil conversation. It also helps to divert your attention to helping others. Be part of the solution. Donate to a cause that inspires you. Find somewhere to volunteer. Focus on someone other than yourself. And you can start small. The smallest actions can have the greatest ripple effects.

Outro/Sidebar call-out: To donate, volunteer or get involved,

visit www.GOCampaign.org | Special Thank you to Scott Fifer for the interview | photography by Doria Anselmo – for the cover

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