St Marcellin Children's Village in Harare, one of the projects supported by ZimArt, provides a caring home to 60+ orphans.
ZimArt-in-Trust and Mama Africa jointly funded and supervised the building of two chicken houses and provided all the inputs for a small egg producing business. Revenue generated from egg sales supports the Chiedza orphan feeding program.
Students at Nyachuru celebrate the 2010 harvest. ZimArt-in-Trust has provided agricultural inputs for the school since 2006. They grow sufficient food to provide one meal a day for all students and staff throughout the school year.
ZimArt's Fundraising Initiatives
ZimArt has donated and raised funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation since 2003. It continues to support the Foundation’s excellent work through soliciting donations at its exhibitions, and donating sculptures to community fundraisers.
Since 2006 ZimArt has also been working on the ground in Zimbabwe to identify and fund worthwhile grassroots projects supporting HIV/AIDS orphans. We are now committed to taking a personal interest, over the long term, in helping to sustain the children associated with the HIV/AIDS Club at the Nyachuru Secondary School, the Chiedza Community Based Orphan Welfare Organizationand the St. Marcellin Children’s Village. To see slideshow click here.
ZimArt has a small school sponsorship program. Orphans are selected by their school as being exceptional students in need of support. ZimArt pays school fees, buys uniforms, school supplies and if needed medication, food and other basic necessities.
In November of 2006, in partnership with the Government of Canada, ZimArt curated an exhibition in the sculpture gardens at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. The sculptures purchased by ZimArt were auctioned at a reception hosted by the Canadian Embassy, with all the funds going to HIV/AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe. A second fund-raising exhibition in partnership with the Canadian Embassy in Zimbabwe was held in April 2008 at the Rainbow Towers in Harare.
ZimArt continues to donate sculptures to various other fund raising organizations, which have included the University of Toronto’s Legal Initiatives for Tomorrow fundraiser for Zimbabwe’s Girl Child Network; Millennium Park in Peterborough’s Community Fundraiser for HIV/AIDS; Suitcases for Africa; the Peterborough, Cobourg and Toronto Chapters of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign; Peterborough AIDS in Africa Coalition; AMREF; Mission Zimbabwe, 60 Million Girls, and Canada Africa Partnership AIDS.
All funds donated to ZimArt are held In Trust, and are directed to identified, worthwhile projects, with no administration fees or other deductions. Funds are never simply handed over to a recipient, but rather the materials or other resources needed are purchased and personally delivered.
ZimArt In Trust has a dedicated Canadian bank account. However, ZimArt has chosen not to seek charitable status. The bureaucracy and officialdom involved in operating with such a designation substantially reduces the amount of the original donation. ZimArt hopes that the importance of seeing every dollar donated go directly to the intended cause compensates for the lack of a personal tax benefit.
Since 2008 ZimArt-in-Trust has collaborated with a Montreal based charity MAMA Africa Foundation. Find out how you can help a joint initiative by donating much needed items to be shipped to Zimbabwe in the fall of 2010.
Organizers of fundraisers for “Grandmothers to Grandmothers,” and other events supporting the Stephen Lewis Foundation, are invited to contact zimart@sympatico.ca to request a sculpture donation for auction or sale.
ZimArt also supports other organizations raising funds for HIV/AIDS orphans and other worthwhile projects in Zimbabwe. Please contact us at zimart@sympatico.ca to outline your request and the nature of your event and where the funds will go.