Center for Global Initiatives

Training and Doing

The Center (CenterforGlobalInitiatives.org) offers various training opportunities. The newest is MENTOR. This is a very special and unique new program that provides individualized mentorship for people wanting to learn how to conduct their own project(s). Upon acceptance into the MENTOR Program, we help awardees gain project funding; we provide skills training along with the contacts and tools to actualize their plans. In some instances, undergraduate and graduate credits or Continuing Education Units for some licensed healthcare professionals are able to also be provided. Our motto for this is "Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? We can make it happen."


It has always been CGI’s philosophy to not “own” projects but to support, augment, and incubate them, it made perfect sense to meld with the University Model. For example, a colleague has the desire to take early retirement and in some of his free time, to create music education projects for needy children in developing countries. Problem is, he does not have the time or money to build his own 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization, he just wants to do the work. An additional problem is that while he already has donors who want to contribute both funds and instruments to support his work, they also want to be able to gain a tax-deduction for doing so. Which is totally understandable, who wouldn’t? But, they cannot donate AND gain the tax deduction as my colleague is “just” an individual. So, no donations, no project, no children being given instruments and educated on how to use them, and thus no music, and no benefit to these children.

But, the CGI (University) Model allows my colleague to develop his project within the structure of CGI, a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization as one of its projects. We provide him with the tools and infrastructure he needs for organizing his project. We connect him with contacts we have in the geographic regions he plans on working in. We conduct research for him that is needed in order to operationalize the project. We help structure a budget, we purchase air-fare and hotel stay for his site-scouting in South America, and we help design his fund-raising and awareness-raising efforts. We also provide him with a website for his project along with the ability to process credit card donations or mailed in checks. The purchases he needs to make will be tax-free, and all donations would be tax-deductable for the contributors. We even do the year end tax reporting, filing, and auditing. Our business model then is like that of a University–25% of the donations go to support these project efforts and the Center. It costs him nothing—financially, time-wise, or hassle-wise. The Center gets to be involved and support more projects and talented individuals get to accomplish their dream project(s)— much sooner that if they built their own 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization—if at all.