National Nonprofit Day: Four Reasons Why Your Support to WOLA Matters 

Both across the region and at home, WOLA has been tracking how a growing number of governments are using legislation to impede everyday nonprofit operations, including their ability to maintain legal status, access funding from domestic and international sources, and express themselves freely. 

In this context, WOLA’s advocacy, research, and storytelling efforts, which center the voices of those targeted, are more critical than ever—and they only happen because of supporters like you.  

So today, in honor of National Nonprofit Day, here are some of the tangible ways that your gift to WOLA translates into real impact. 

1. Advocacy Alongside Our Partners 

Since our founding, WOLA has served as a trusted connector between decision-makers in Washington and the communities most impacted by their policies in Latin America. Rather than speak on behalf of our partners, our role has always been to bring them physically, virtually, and/or through their own words into the halls of power designed to exclude them. 

Your gift enables delegations of human rights defenders and activists, including Indigenous and Afrodescendent leaders, to come speak directly with U.S. members of Congress and their staff. It fuels the meetings that our Program Directors hold to educate U.S. policymakers and foreign officials on developments in the region. It supports WOLA’s engagement with international and regional bodies like the United Nations and the Organization for American States, pressing for accountability after documented human rights abuses. 

Every coordinating email, every memo to Congressional offices, every phone call with partners: it all adds up—in cost but also in impact. Your contribution makes the not-always-glamorous but essential elements of advocacy possible. 

Example: WOLA Organizes Meeting Between Senator Van Hollen and the Family of Wrongfully Imprisoned Human Rights Lawyer, Ruth Lopez (x) 

2. Research on the Region’s Most Pressing Issues 

WOLA’s advocacy is backed by rigorous research produced by our Program Directors in collaboration with civil society partners. 

Their diverse expertise, deep relationships, and unique perspectives inform the incisive questions they ask. But it’s your gift to WOLA that powers our work to find the answers. 

From direct interviews with service providers at the southern border to hours spent mapping extractive activities in the Amazon, you help us generate the knowledge and tools that are foundational to policy change. 

Example: Kidnapping of Migrants and Asylum Seekers at the Texas-Tamaulipas Border Reaches Intolerable Levels 

3. Shedding Light on Hidden Stories 

WOLA’s communications team makes sure that the insights derived from our research are accessible and wide-reaching. We highlight the individual stories behind the data, increasing awareness through social media, interviews with major news outlets, and targeted outreach to policymakers.  

Unrestricted donations allow us to remain flexible and publish urgent actions in response to time-sensitive issues, such as the unlawful arrests of human rights defenders. Our podcast episodes, social media campaigns, and webinars are both a magnifying glass and a prism: exposing hidden stories and clarifying complex topics. 

WOLA’s reputation for professional, accurate, and approachable content is thanks to a team that tirelessly pours their time, energy, and creativity into everything they produce. And their ability to maintain those standards is thanks to donors like you. 

Example: In Catatumbo, Colombia, over 80 people have been killed, and 36,000 have fled their homes amid confrontations between rival insurgent groups. 

4. Designing the Blueprint for a Better Future  

WOLA doesn’t only denounce harm and advocate for change. Through thoughtful collaboration, we imagine new futures informed and led by those closest to the problem.  

What does this look like?  

It’s facilitating a dialogue with civil society leaders from 13 different countries to coordinate a response to growing authoritarianism through our community of practice; it’s interviewing security experts from across the hemisphere to learn about how they’re keeping their communities safe without violating individual liberties; it’s WhatsApp voice notes and late-night video calls that turn dreams of a democratic future into an actionable 10-point plan. 

The groundwork for a democratic, rights-respecting region is being laid today by WOLA and our allies. Your investment in this work turns those plans into reality. 

Example: Venezuelan Civil Society and International Human Rights Organizations Present Ten Urgent Demands for a Genuine Democratic Transition 

Whether this is your first time giving or you’re a long-time supporter, we’re deeply grateful for your solidarity. Thank you for helping WOLA advocate alongside our partners, uncover the truth through methodical research, and elevate stories from the region that deserve to be heard.