Our Mission
We believe that poverty, injustice, and inequality must be led by community insiders.
Therefore, Cultivate exists to empower & equip community insiders and their allies through capacity-building programs to transform their communities through community-led development.
We work with people domestically and internationally to help them launch and lead nonprofit organizations (or NGOs, INGOs, or charitable organizations) that address their community's struggles against poverty, oppression, racism, injustice & marginalization, so that they can be community changemakers.
Core Values
We champion the inherent value and potential in all people .
We believe that empowerment through education is the key to social transformation
We believe in equity, justice, and liberty for all people.
We prioritize accountability, transparency, humility, service to others, truthfulness, forgiveness, and second chances.
We seek to serve the greater good in communities and our world.
We believe passion to serve can fuel potential to change.
We lead with faith for a better world.
We believe in the importance of physical, spiritual, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.
We will not do anything for someone that they can do for themselves.
Our Team
Elaine Tymchak
Founder & Executive Director
Rebecca Morse
Programs & Organizational Manager
Join our board! Learn more here.
Need to chat with someone on our board?
We ask you reach out to our board members only with questions or concerns about Cultivate's governance, financial matters, or other board-level questions. Contact us at cultivateboard@gmail.com.
Our History
For several years, I was seeing that all the communities that I would visit and work in, there were always a few things in common.
I questioned these things. Why did communities that struggled with poverty and injustices have to wait for an outsider to come in with what they needed? How was this connected to a community's unfortunate history with oppression and colonialism? What prevented a community from taking the reins of its own growth and future? And if there were leaders that were ready and willing to do something, why did they see themselves as stuck or ill-equipped?
As time passed, the idea for Cultivate began to take form. I learned that for anyone to do something successfully, three things must be in place:
I began to see the potential that each community and each person has. Potential, that if fueled by passion, could accomplish more than anyone could imagine.
And this is how the idea for Cultivate was born - that if a passionate person could access skills, resources, and people, this person could accomplish so much. He or she could be the change-maker that their community needs.
Fast forward to 2015, and I now knew that Cultivate needed to become a reality. This was my passion that I could not contain. I started to build the skills and understanding that I needed, and surrounded myself with people who would help me access the resources and support that I knew were crucial. Within months, Cultivate International was a reality.
Since the very beginning, I have been able to take credit for very little of what Cultivate is becoming and the impact that we are having. People have given generously to Cultivate - of their resources, of their talents, of their networks, and of their encouragement. Almost always, our needs are filled unexpectedly in surprising and miraculous ways. There is a momentum to our mission that others are catching on, and it fills me with so much joy. I know that there is so much in store for our future, and I cannot wait to see what's around the corner!
Now the question is - how will you join this movement?
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