Monthly Updates – November
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It’s been a busy and productive month of November for Pidola.  The team has primarily been focused on one key area, which is fundraising.  This includes development of our new, October campaign (hopefully you have seen the posts!), as well as starting to really hone in on potential corporate sponsors and foundations & grants.  

The donations have been remarkable over the last year or so.  They have helped Michelle and Lou really push their efforts forward, both in Bolivia and in the US.  As many of you understand, it takes a lot of up-front financial support to get a company off the ground, and Pidola wouldn’t have gotten this far without our individual donors… thank you!

In 2019, we’re going to take our three-pronged approach to fundraising, and that will allow us to take Pidola to the next level.  Fundraising will be our focal point for the rest of 2018, but we also have other things going on as well!

  • We’re continuing to work on how Pidola is incorporated, both in the US and in Bolivia.  Pidola is of course a non-profit in the US, but we also have for-profit entities in both countries.  Working with our legal advisors in both countries, is looks like we’ll be establishing a new non-profit organization in Bolivia!  Which is good, but on average, that process takes two (2) years… no bueno.
  • Michelle, Nick and Lou all have uncovered some fun accounting regulations when you own entities outside of the US.  We won’t go into the gory details, but lets just say… holy cow.  We miss the days when you can just use TurboTax.  
  • Pidola was also awarded perpetual pro-bono work from our legal team in Bolivia.  The team from Guevara and Gutierrez, SC (a.k.a. GG Lex) has been instrumental in our efforts, and we whole-heartedly appreciate their assistance.
  • The Pidola Team is hosting an event on January 8th at the REI in Denver, which includes a presentation from Lou surrounding his first six (6) months in Bolivia.  More information will be provided as we move closer to January, so keep the date!
  • In Bolivia, we have a support team that includes not only legal and accounting activities, but we’ve also unofficially partnered with a Public Relations (PR) firm in La Paz.  This will help us amplify our activities in Bolivia for when we launch our up-coming projects.

That’s it for now.  Please make sure you check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for more weekly updates!

Monthly Updates – October
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The Solar + Storage + Internet Program for rural Bolivian schools is structured to support communities that are experiencing impacts of poor health, inadequate access to clean water, lack of tools to remain sustainable, and is providing access to resources to be able to grow, succeed, and continue to thrive in a modern world.

With electricity, schoolchildren have access to better learning facilities and curriculum, teachers have access to better tools and platforms, and adults have the opportunity for economic growth via improved market delivery of goods and services. Communities can communicate with the outside world, and PIDOLA’s solutions can increase economic security within each individual location.  

A key component of our approach is to ensure that each project PIDOLA completes is holistically adopted by each community and has the construct in place to ensure sustainability of our systems. With our partnerships at federal-level ministries, as well as connections to non-profits and private corporations working on similar efforts, PIDOLA is positively impacting lives not only in Bolivia, but across all Latin America.

That’s the update for now and we’ll be sending additional details about the next sites on our list and timing for installation of solar and internet in each of these villages!

“Since the beginning of the implementation of Internet computing in our Educational Unit, we saw positive improvements and achievements in students who had their first contact with technology…

“I must tell you that the internet has facilitated us in our educational practices in a great way.” – Edwin, local school teacher