About Us
Mission
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Vision Builders is a U.S. based organization that carefully selects partners from around the world who are native to and living in their regions and who have already started small humanitarian projects in the fields of health care, children's education, and job training for women. We work with these proven leaders to plan and fund next-step expansion of their efforts to better meet the overwhelming needs of extremely impoverished communities.
Where We Work
Over the past decade, Vision Builders has established partnerships with projects in remote locations in northern India and rural China, as well as in the densely populated urban slum in Varanasi, India. At the heart of our mission is the drive to assist visionary local leaders of outstanding character and proven ability wherever they are found.
Who We Are
Vision Builders is a nonpolitical helping agency. We provide assistance to those in need regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, nationality or caste.
Founders, Stuart Kirkpatrick and Katie Kirkpatrick (Board President), have spent more than 20 years initiating charity efforts in America and abroad. In 2001, they created “The Pemakö Project”, which is now a subset of Vision Builders. It was inspired by the desire to help children marginalized by poverty to access education and the possibility it creates.
The Kirkpatricks believe that service to others is the obligation of anyone who has the means to help, and that education and access to resources and information are essential to bringing long-term benefit to people in impoverished and unstable regions.
Our Volunteer Staff
Board President, Education and Curriculum Advisor, Katie Kirkpatrick, B.A. Kenyon College, Education Degree, Concordia College
Board Treasurer, Business and Finance Director, A. Poppy Goudsmit, J.D., LLM (Corporate Finance), Wayne State University Law
Board Vice President, Director for Medical Initiatives, Jane Klaes, DO, Michigan State University
Board Secretary, Miriam Rahl, B.A. University of Michigan
Board Member, Pilar Horner, MSW, Ph.D., University of Michigan
Board Member, Sarah Messer, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, MFA, University of Michigan
Board Member, Technology Development Director, Shawn Rahl, Computer Systems/Network Administrator and Engineer
Administrative Director, Tammy Koupal, MSW (Social Welfare Administration), University of Michigan
Financial Information:
Vision Builders is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. We strive to use every donated dollar with care so that it may be of the greatest benefit to the people we serve.
Annual Report
Our 2009 Annual Report will be available for download June 30, 2010.