Dear Friends,

This month marks the end of our seventh year in operation. Each summer we take time to reflect on the successes and challenges our program has experienced, and this year we are also reflecting on the many remarkable changes that have occurred since our inception. When I first started PeacePal, I was volunteering at my son’s elementary school and was struck by the speed with which the world was becoming an interconnected global community, and how quickly children were becoming integrated into daily access to the internet and technology. At the same time, I saw that families, schools and communities were not equipped to keep pace with these changes, and were not preparing children to function effectively in a world where major influences in their lives such as the economy and politics were globally interconnected. It felt more essential than ever for children to learn about other countries and cultures at an early age, and cultivate intercultural communications skills. Little did I know how powerful the response to such a simple idea would be: in our first seven years, nearly 12,000 students in over 23 countries have participated in our program.

Our many successes extend beyond the sheer number of participants and include the profound impact that students experience with our unique one-to-one letter exchange, as illustrated in the following pages of this report. As an Executive Director what keeps me awake at night are the challenges our program—and our country—are experiencing. Our education system is near its breaking point, with burned out and overwhelmed teachers trying desperately to meet the demands imposed upon them through testing and educational requirements. And our children—their students—are left feeling unengaged and unprepared for life. For PeacePal, this manifests as a challenge to make the program as simple and easy as possible for teachers to implement, and as engaging as possible to inspire students to write thoughtful and legible letters. It sounds simple—but is in fact surprisingly difficult.

The other major challenge our program experiences is the lack of adequate and consistent funding. The “economic recovery” is leaving many nonprofits behind. Funders are inundated with an unprecedented volume of applicants. Individual donors lack confidence that the recovery is sustainable and continue to be conservative with donations. Community fundraising events are not as well attended as in the past. In a recent survey of U.S. nonprofits conducted by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, 41% of nonprofits surveyed named “achieving long-term financial stability” as a top challenge, 55% of nonprofits reported having 3 months or less cash-on-hand, and 28% ended their 2013 fiscal year with a deficit. Many report daunting financial situations, and are now looking to new models of funding which has proved challenging as there are not many alternative models of funding that are not impacted by the global economic recession.

Good programs require good staff to prepare and implement the program, and this requires adequate and consistent funding. We challenge ourselves each year to trim our budget, improve our program, add to our Common Core Standards-based curriculum, and keep up with the demands in education and the limitations of the current economy. “The struggles nonprofits face are not the short-term result of an economic cycle, they are the results of fundamental flaws in the way we finance social good.” (Anthony Bugg-Levine, CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund).

PeacePal prepares youth with skills and competence in areas that will be essential to functioning in an increasingly globalized world. Our future leaders must have authentic knowledge of intercultural communication to effectively address and resolve the global issues of the day. With your help today, we can continue to prepare the leaders of tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Sarah Wilkinson Founder and Executive Director

What is PeacePal?

3

Local Youth. Global Connections.

Our Program The international pen pal letter exchange is the foundation of our global skills and competency program. Students learn about the country and culture of their pen pal, write thoughtful hand-written letters sharing details of their lives, expand intercultural understanding, enhance critical thinking skills, and further develop their writing skills. Through unique one-on-one student connections in school classrooms across the world, students learn how to communicate effectively with peers and develop global awareness, appreciation, and empathy. Through these person to person relationships, across borders and over time, students begin to see themselves as engaged global citizens.

Top left to right: Drawings in letters from Afghanistan, Nepal, U.S. (Highland HS), and Spain

Bottom left to right: PeacePal students from Uganda, Afghanistan, and U.S. (Highland HS, and Taos MS)

Program Locations 2013-2014

4

A total of 1,306 students participated in the program this year: half in the U.S. and half internationally.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

U.S. Partner Locations and Participants

0

50

100

150

200

250

International Partner Locations and Participants

Challenges & Successes

5

What educators are saying:

“I wish my students could do more letters. It was one of their favorite activities of the year. They write so intensely as soon as they are handed their reply letters. It's immediate! It's hard to get students to be that excited about school work! And the project-based, real-world, engaging assignment is what teachers are encouraged to have students do more of.”

- Teacher at Highland High School

“The kids took pride in reading their letters out loud in class. They took pride in them! And it led to discussions in class about learning English, and why it is important to write by hand vs. typing on the computer! Thanks for the opportunity!”

-Teacher at La Cueva High School

“Students were asking questions about the culture of Kenya. The letters and cultural differences have added to the social studies curriculum.”

- Teacher at La Cueva High School

Areas of Success:

All educators who completed our survey believe the program positively impacted their students’ openness to different beliefs and cultures.

The number of student respondents who felt they knew a lot about the country and culture of their PeacePal doubled by the end of the program year.

A majority of educators believe the letter-writing program had a significant impact on their students’ curiosity about the world and other people.

Areas for Improvement:

Several educators noted that students were most excited about their second reply letter, and that these letters increased their students’ interest in the project. This was the one letter of the program year which was shipped rather than emailed. In the past all letters were shipped, but due to funding shortages this was cut back to one shipment per program year.

Educators and students would like to exchange videos or Skype with their pen pals. PeacePal would like to support these exchanges in the future.

PeacePal has had to turn away several new partners, including Liberia and Sierra Leone, because we do not currently have the capacity to expand our program.

Financial Data

6

Revenue 2013-2014 Program Year

Grants ($10,973)

Individual Donations ($10,722)

Wage Reimbursement ($11,319)

Special Events ($6,873)

Other Revenue ($4,214)

Total: $44,101

Grants Revenue

Bernalillo CountyGrant ($4,973)

NM Educator's FederalCredit Union ($4,000)

Charlotte L. Kiser Trust($2,000)

Total: $10,973

Other Revenue

School Contributions($1,842)

Student Program Fees($1,030)

Fiscal Sponsor Fees($1,144)

Merchandise Sales($170)

Memberships ($28)

Total: $4,214

Financial Data

7

*PeacePal’s starting balance at the beginning of the 2013-2014 program year was $6,194. This starting balance offset the difference between expenses and revenue.

** PeacePal has had many cutbacks in our program and staffing in order to keep our program operating. The large amount of in-kind donations is an indicator of the abundant community support for our program.

Expenses 2013-2014 Program Year

Program ($34,243)

Management & General ($7,163)

Fundraising ($5,820)

Total: $47,226

**

In-Kind Donations 2013-2014 Program Year

Teachers ($9,246)

Volunteers ($43,010)

Student Volunteers ($4,980)

Community Partners ($1,800)

Item Donations ($2,651)

Total: $61,687

PeacePal Youth Summit

8

The 3rd annual PeacePal Youth Summit was held on September 20-21, 2013, on the weekend of the International Day of Peace. Students met on Friday evening and Saturday to complete team-building exercises at the UNM ropes course, and hear presentations on “You Are Not Alone,” bullying prevention, and the promotion of peace.

Compelled by the idea of educating others on the escalation of aggression and how it affects everyone, students began to develop ideas for how to get this message out to promote peace and understanding.

Students worked as a group to develop projects to implement over the spring including a poetry slam at Warehouse 508 and an event that educated teens about self-harm reduction and alternatives.

Student Highlight:

Danisha Romero, a UNM student and staff member at PeacePal,

worked hard to plan and implement the Summit and the follow up

events. She met regularly with the Summit students to organize

projects and participation in events.

Thank you, Danisha!

The annual Youth Summit gathers high school students from around Albuquerque and provides training in leadership development, community organizing, and global awareness. Each year, students interested in taking an active role in positive change gather and learn how to empower each other, strengthen their communities, and create solutions addressing challenges facing the world today.

For each Summit, students select a topic and develop projects to raise awareness and expand understanding. The topic for the upcoming 2014 Summit is global competence: expanding students’ knowledge of world regions, cultures, and global issues, and how to engage respectfully and effectively in a global environment.

UNM PeacePal Group

9

Student Highlight:

Leah Lucero has been the President of the UNM PeacePal Club for two years. She came to PeacePal as a volunteer and decided she wanted to do more. Leah has done a wonderful job organizing the student group and planning Pace for Peace. She also participated on a KOB-TV interview about PeacePal and the UNM student group.

Leah graduated in May 2014 and is continuing her studies at the UNM Medical School on a full scholarship she received.

Congratulations, Leah, and thank you!

The UNM PeacePal Student Group held their second annual Pace for Peace. This year it was held at Johnson Field on UNM Campus.

The UNM student group also had bake sales and info tables in the Student Union Building in order to raise funds and awareness about PeacePal. Funds raised were donated to PeacePal to support the international letter-exchange program.

Student Quotes From Letters

10

“A large problem in this world right now is war and why human kind must always fight

each other. I don’t see why everyone can’t just get along. I feel that PeacePal is a brilliant

invention. It just goes to show this world is not really that big. We are all more or less the

same.” -From a student at La Cueva High School to his pen pal in Kenya

“It was very nice to get your reply letter… I liked that we both enjoy the same subjects in

school like Math, Science, and Computer. One thing that I thought was amazing is that

your village is a 5 day travel to get to. My house is not even an hour away from school.”

- From a student at Highland High School to his pen pal in Nepal

“I hope in the future the whole world can be as kind and accepting to different religions.

That is a world that I would like to live in and also have my children live in.”

- From a student at Wellsboro Area High School to her pen pal in Senegal

“The main problem facing the world is terrorist attacks. It has been a big threat to the

world. When nations unite they will get rid of it.”

- From a student in Kenya to his pen pal at Sandia Prep

“It has been great to get to know you, and I am thankful that we were able to

have this open line of communication. I think that by simply communicating, our

world would be able to handle situations in a much more humane and peaceful

way.”

-From a student at Cottonwood Classical School to her pen pal in Nigeria

“I showed your letter to my family, they were fascinated and they were surprised

because PeacePal sends letters to Nepal. They were wondering if Nepal was a big

country, I told them that it was big enough to have amazing people to live there.”

-From a student at Highland High School to her pen pal in Nepal

“In the future I am worried about finding a good job because my country doesn’t have enough jobs for all, and I have seen many jobless.”

-From a student in Senegal to her pen pal at Wellsboro Area High School “One thing I am worried about for the future is that technology will take over, and we

will use technology to do things we should be doing on our own. Some of the biggest

problems in the world right now are bullying and drug abuse. What we can do to solve

these problems is be kind and tell people they are worth it.”

-From a student at Cottonwood Classical School to her pen pal in Kenya

Thank You!

11

INDIVIDUAL DONORS

Gerald Baca Gerri Barnhart Roger Barnhart Stephanie Bishop Teresa Cutler Broyles Robin Brule Clayta Campbell Lauren Erdman Julie Ferguson Jamie Fitzgerald Robert Fuselier Paige Gerling Kim Greco Kellie Green Charles Greer Debra Gonzales Jill Henderson Paul Ingles Carolyn Jeffries Carolyn Kenney Rebecca Leeman Vanessa Lucero Mary Martinez Caite Mathius Kimberly McClain Steven Meilleur Glenn & Tomoko Parry Johanne Riddick Stacey Scherer Nisch Silverman Barbara & John Stroud Tania Ivanova Sullivan Yosuf Taraki David Tichnell Lynn Trojahn David & Marilyn Wilkinson Lorand Wilkinson Lou Wollrab

UNM STUDENT GROUP

Leah Lucero Anmol Arora Clint Brayfield Kalen Chao Armin Day Brittany Deangelo Siddhartha Dhawan Di-Linh Hoang Zoe Howell Victoria Lopez Katarina Pacheco Yousuf Qaseem Danisha Romero Arinea Salas Sara Tuzel Karissa Vasquez VOLUNTEERS

Eliza Ennis Jenn Peppin Katie Amershek Clayta Campbell Priyanka Chellappa Antonio Minitrez Maia Rodriguez YOUTH SUMMIT STUDENTS

Evan Aguilar Daniel Ohiri Yuridia Loera Daniel Lucero Danisha Romero Brandon Zamora

TEACHERS

Gerri Barnhart Martha Bedeaux Anthony Benavidez Lionel Betsch Lara Groff Kate Jensen Lucy Kozikowsky Tim Leyba Peter Lukes Lara Miller Eric Playe Elsie Scott David Tichnell Dana Van Tilborg Scott Virtue Kent Wall

Thank you, also, to the program coordinators who volunteer in our international locations—you make our program possible. We could not do it without you!

BUSINESSES & GROUPS & SCHOOLS

Amgen B2B Bistronomy Barnes & Noble Charlotte L. Kiser Trust Cottonwood Classical Prep Electric Horseman ETDS Franken Brothers Home Instead La Cueva High School La Montanita Co-op Marble Brewery McCune Charitable Foundation New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union Pizza 9 Sandia Preparatory School StanCorp Investment Advisers Tim’s Place Whole Foods

Board of Directors

12

David Wheeler, President Sandia National Laboratories

David Culp, Vice President PNM

Garth Scrivner, Treasurer StanCorp Investment Advisers

Dr. Steve Bishop University of New Mexico

Joey Keefe Strategies 360

Dr. Natasha Kolchevska University of New Mexico, Retired

Stephanie C.W. Telles Wells Fargo

Claire Wilkinson King County Library System Foundation

Sarah Wilkinson Founder and Executive Director

Lacey Nagar

Program Manager

CONTACT US:

(505) 255-2042 Project PeacePal

P.O. Box 6691 Albuquerque, NM 87197

www.peacepal.org info@peacepal.org