Santo Domingo.- Yspaniola Incorporated was founded as a non-profit in 2009 with the mission to end the marginalization of impoverished batey communities in the Dominican Republic. Yspaniola’s latest project to fund university scholarships for talented Dominican and Haitian youth seeks to empower young community leaders to make lasting change for their communities.

This month, Yspaniola has joined GlobalGiving’s Open Challenge, a fundraising challenge for non-profits who are doing impactful work around the world. If Yspaniola can successfully mobilize supporters to raise $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors, then the organization will receive a permanent spot on GlobalGiving’s website, www.globalgiving.org, the internationally recognized marketplace for philanthropy that connects individual donors to the causes they care most about.

“We are excited for the chance to tap into GlobalGiving’s network of committed donors and corporate sponsors who can support our efforts to provide needed scholarships to Haitian and Dominican students in the Dominican Republic,” said Cynthia So, founder of Yspaniola.

Yspaniola will raise funds through www.globalgiving.org from September 1 through September 30. The three projects that raise the most will receive awards of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000, respectively; the project receiving the most individual donations will receive an additional $3,000.

“Non-profits like Yspaniola are deeply important to the wellbeing of communities all around the world, especially when folks are struggling,” said Mari Kuraishi, President and Co-Founder of GlobalGiving. “Many of our donors are looking for new opportunities to give back and we want to do everything we can to match the demand with the unbelievable need around the world. It is especially the small, grassroots efforts and creative innovators that do not have the institutional support from bigger institutions that we hope to help.”