Monday, December 14th, 2009

The Rowell Fund for Tibet announced today it was awarding $42,000 to 7 Tibetan grassroots organizations and projects. The Fund strives to support environmental, conservation and research projects as well as innovative aid work in India, Nepal and Tibet. Funding decisions are made by the Fund’s Advisory Board and it is managed by the International Campaign for Tibet.

This year’s application pool of over 67 applicants came from 10 different countries. The seven selected projects will receive grants ranging from $3,150 to $6,750. Four are led by women.

Much of this year’s grants were funded by a benefit climb of the Grand Teton in 2009 with world famous mountaineers Conrad Anker, David Breashears and Jimmy Chin.

Mountaineer Conrad Anker praised the fund, stating that “the RFT is a meaningful way to foster greater civil society activity particularly to help Tibet's environment. As funding is even more difficult from within Tibet, we need to support those dedicated to environmental and educational issues in Tibet as well.”

Some of this year’s grant recipients include:*

Tenzin Yangchen’s work with the Tibet Oral History Project to record and translate the personal histories of Tibetan elders in Tibetan settlements. ($6,570) www.tibetoralhistory.org
Yosay Wangdi’s academic research project constructing a portrait of early Tibetans on the Himalayan frontier. ($3,150)
Ju Amnyi Trulchung Rinpoche’s art and cultural education project for Tibetan nomads. ($5,715) www.vistaproject.org
Tsering Yangkey’s work with the Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement to set up 50 monastery Eco-TEAMS. ($6,750) www.ecotibet.org
*Not all projects have been listed due to their confidential nature.

The Fund is named after lifelong Tibet supporters, Galen and Barbara Rowell, who died in a plane crash in 2002. As avid mountaineers and outdoor photographers, Galen and Barbara Rowell helped bring Tibet and the Himalayas into the public eye. Their fund continues this legacy, providing small grants to Tibetan writers, academics, photographers, and conservationists. To learn more about Galen and Barbara Rowell and the background of the Rowell Fund, click here. (http://www.savetibet.org/support-tibet/donate-rowell-fund)

ICT and the Rowell Fund also wishes to congratulate last year's grant recipients, whose final written reports provided concrete evidence of impact the Rowell Fund continues to have among Tibetan communities. The advisory board, made up of friends and family of Galen & Barbara, is made up of John Ackerly, Conrad Anker, David Breashears, Jimmy Chin, Bob and Beth Cushman, John Jancik and Terri Baker, Bob Palais, Tony Rowell and Ray and Nicole Rowell Ryan. The Fund is managed by the International Campaign for Tibet.