ORANT CHARITIES
Empowering Women, Inspiring Hope, Improving Lives
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Known as the Warm Heart of Africa, Malawi is peaceful and spiritual. However, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the International Monetary Fund, 50% of the population lives below the poverty line. In other words, for 9 million people, hunger is both a threat and a reality. Floods and droughts impede the reliability of crops. Illness is not simply inconvenient; it is life-threatening. The closest health center is often a two hour walk away. The closest clean water source might be an hour. Each of these factors works together to create a poverty trap. Getting ahead is nearly impossible.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Healthcare
Orant Charities operates a permanent rural health center and a mobile outreach clinic. The outreach clinic travels to rural villages to treat those that would otherwise not be able to reach a healthcare facility. Our health center has an Outpatient Department, Maternity Ward and 24-hour Children's Ward. We host regular HIV/AIDS clinics, cervical cancer screenings, and eye-clinics.
In 2023, we treated 68,031 patients.
The vast majority of our patients are unable to access any other healthcare due to lack of stable government facilities and rural living. Orant's Healthcare programs bridge the gap by bringing reliable access to medicine and medical care to the poorest areas of Central Malawi.
Water & Sanitation
While clean water access has improved significantly since our work began in 2007, over 25% of Malawians still do not have regular access to safe and clean drinking water and are forced to drink unsafe surface water. Many Malawians who do have access to clean water must walk 30 minutes or more to get it. Orant works to make safe clean drinking water more accessible for Central Malawi.
Orant Charities maintains over 270 water wells and drills at least 15 new wells a year. We construct latrines at local schools and community centers, and train communities on water well maintenance and management.
Orant is currently working on developing plans for large-scale piped water projects in our area of operations to supply more sustainable long-term water access to our community.
Agriculture
Orant Charities Agriculture program focuses on empowering individuals to professionalize their farming practices. Each year Orant Charities distributes farm input microloans to over 400 farmers which are paid back at 0% interest.
Orant works with a number of Irrigation Clubs each year. Through microloans and assistance in irrigation, the groups are able to harvest a second crop every year.
Orant operates a demonstration farm that we use to teach local farmers sustainable agriculture techniques, and the importance of good seed and fertilizer usage. Our agriculture extension program utilizes our own staff and more than 80 lead farmers to teach and distribute this knowledge across our service area.
Education
Education is the single most powerful tool to break the poverty cycle and provide students with a brighter future. At Orant we create a supportive environment as well as provide the resources to help students with their studies. We ensure that every opportunity is given to the students in our program to complete schooling to the best of their ability.
Orant currently sponsors 170 secondary school students at 25 partner schools. Orant also provides school uniforms, textbooks, hygiene supplies, and more. Orant Charities focuses this program on girls because male education is prioritized in Malawi thus leaving the girls the most vulnerable. About 85% of our sponsor students are female.
In 2021, Orant began the Orant University Fund and the Ulemu Scholarship. The Orant Ulemu Scholarship program was established primarily to enable young Malawians to take up studies in different sectors at tertiary level. It offers tuition costs, food, accommodation and book allowance.
Business Development
We know that a woman's success and financial independence can be the key to her family's survival. Orant's Financially Empowering Microloans for Women (FEM for Women) provides no-interest microloans to female entrepreneurs in our cachement area. These women are able to invest in their small businesses, purchase goods to fuel their crafts, and offer a wider variety of items for sale in their work.
Currently, we have five groups of women operating their small businesses through Orant's FEM for Women program, with 68 women in total as beneficiaries. Women have an average profit of $357 per year, which in some cases is double their annual income.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Orant Charities Africa 2014
External reviews
Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients participating in educational programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Adolescents
Related Program
Education
Type of Metric
Context - describing the issue we work on
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The numbers are based on the number of students attending school in our scholarship program, both the number of students sponsored for a day school and those sponsored for a boarding school.
Number of patient visits
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, People with diseases and illnesses
Related Program
Healthcare
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Malaria infections were down this year, thankfully! We opened our new Maternity Ward in September 2023 which has begun serving mothers and babies. We anticipate serving over 40 mothers every month.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our vision is that all people in Malawi, including women, will have independent opportunities to learn, grow, and flourish in stable communities that meet their basic human needs.
We believe we can best serve the needs of Malawians by supporting them in bringing forth the change they need in their own way. Through our continued economic and strategic support, we aim to give the people of Malawi the tools and training to raise themselves out of poverty.
We see a future for Malawi where it will not be necessary to invest great amounts of fiscal support. Individuals will have what they need to support their families and communities with minimal financial aid. Businesses will flourish, agriculture will expand, water will be more accessible, and healthcare will be more easily accessed.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our strategy entails providing sustainable community development and medical support so that our community in Malawi can grow more stable and healthy. Our holistic approach through our four thematic programs: Healthcare, Water & Sanitation, Education, and Agriculture & Business means that most of the community is being impacted by more than one of our current programs.
We provide reliable healthcare to our immediate community and to other more rural communities around. This is the basis for establishing a healthy, reliable base in the community and to ensure that the population is healthy enough to focus on other activities.
Next, Orant ensures that water and sanitation standards are consistently and sustainably improving. We drill and repair wells, build latrines, and ensure that communities are able to care for their own water supply.
Orant invests tens of thousands of dollars in rotating microloans into our communities every year to help expand the rural economy. These loans help farmers grow more successful crops and local women entrepreneurs to invest in their budding businesses.
Our strategy of keeping girls in school will assist in bringing forth a more educated society and providing more opportunities for economic growth. Offering mentoring, internships, and college scholarships extends this pipeline for greater success.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Orant Charities has the capacity for meeting current and future expectations through the combination of goal alignment and organizational business skills. Orant’s success largely comes from our global-local partnership – from our international donors and professionals, to our local team in Malawi.
This is accomplished through effectively leveraging the diverse skills of our US and Malawian teams. Our US team of employees and Board of Directors is composed of business leaders, managers, technologists, educators, marketers, and fundraisers. We collaborate closely with our sister organization in Malawi, Orant Charities Africa, to organize, deploy, and manage our community-based programs in Central Malawi. Our Malawi-based team’s location and wonderful relationship with the local chiefs and stakeholders ensures that our programs are as effective and efficient as possible.
On the US side, Orant Charities has greatly expanded its fundraising capacity over the past few years by diversifying our income outside the board of directors. Now, by greatly increasing our marketing and fundraising efforts, we are able to more sustainably fundraise from the public.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Our rural clinic is the pillar of health in our community and is renowned over Central Malawi for good care and access to proper medication. Our mobile clinic visits the most rural communities 5 days a week where they offer both outpatient services and life-saving medical care. Our maternity ward delivers an average of 30 babies a month and hosts prenatal clinics twice a week. We have regular clinics for HIV/AIDS, eye treatment, and will soon have dental clinics.
Orant treated 77,000 patients in 2021.
Orant’s water program works with communities to repair wells and drill new ones to provide abundant and sanitary water points across our catchment area. We also provide extensive training in health and sanitation to all we serve.
Orant’s agriculture programs have greatly increased in size and scope since they began in 2016.. We sponsor over 700 farmers with loans and offer business classes and marketing to ensure their success. We continue to specialize in training farmers how to farm for profit instead of just subsistence.
Orant’s business program has gone from a minor pilot program in 2018 to doubling the number of participants in 2021 with another large expansion in 2022. It provides women-focused business classes and microloans that empower the community.
Orant is working to close the gender education gap in Malawi. We sponsor over 120 secondary school students, almost all of which are girls. In addition, we offer school supplies and mentorships for all our students.
In 2021, Orant started the Orant University Fund. This fund currently sponsors 7 students through the Orant Uleumu Scholarship.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
-
What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to get honest feedback from the people we serve, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback
Financials
Unlock nonprofit financial insights that will help you make more informed decisions. Try our monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights?
Learn more
about GuideStar Pro.
Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
ORANT CHARITIES
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2024
Tom Brennan
Scott Beathard
Michael Tenny
Lynda Baumgartner
John Dallas
John Tenny
Caroline Drake
Seth Morgan
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
-
Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 03/07/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.