Kyle Miller

about me

How I GO Further

When Bart and I founded GO in a Berkeley coffee shop just 3 years ago, we had little idea what we were getting ourselves into. After listening to a BBC Radio show about living on $1 per day in Kenya, our original plan was to collect money to buy mosquito nets and distribute them around Ghana. We soon realized that we needed a 501(c)3 certification to bring in the big bucks, so we drafted a set of bylaws and were incorporated the following month. Our first event featured appetizers cooked by Bart and a silent auction thrown together by door to door solicitations. We raised $13,000 that night, and decided that instead of mosquito nets we were going to build a primary school and send a doctor to medical school.

For the next 3 years we strived to redefine charity for our generation, to keep it meaningful, to make it sexy: We give 100% to cause when 70% is considered above average. We volunteer our nights and weekends (after working full-time jobs to pay the bills) when some directors make $100K a year. We design our own websites, plan our own events, file our own taxes, all while managing 8 projects across 6 countries and impacting 10,000 people per day. But what I am most proud about, what keeps me passionate, is that I can tell you exactly how every donation has helped someone in the developing world. For $10 I can send you a photo of a child with a new set of school books in Ghana. For $50 I can mail you 400 letters from patients who received malaria medication in Sudan. We offer full transparency because, well, it's your money and you should see how far it is going.

So why did I decide to start a personal fundraising campaign for Uganda? Because I am constantly inspired by the generosity of our incredible supporters. A couple I have never met is giving up wedding gifts to raise money for Cambodia. People are donating their birthdays, running 10K's, climbing mountains, all in the name of charity. I am proud to be a part of this movement and want to give back to one of the projects that first inspired me to get involved in charity, back in 2007. I first met Peter (our project partner for Uganda) in Kampala and was immediately brought on as lead grantwriter for his organization. Together we cultivated banana plantations, picked passion fruits, and talked about how the people of Uganda needed to reconnect with their farming roots. This, he promised me, was the ticket to a brighter future. 3 years later that banana plantation has become a community center that trains 400 farmers per day. The passion fruit grove has become a grain mill that helps 600 farmers per day sell their maize at the market. Pretty impressive, huh?

At GO we talk about The Power of Their Ideas and Our Support. Sure it is a catchy saying, but it is also 100% true. Ideas in the developing world are extremely powerful. They have the power to instill hope, build communities, and lift people out of poverty. All they need is our support. I am here to make that happen.

Yours in Progress,

Kyle Miller