Dear Friend of Our Clinic,
The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic is a model nonprofit that serves thousands of families in a poor, rural, coastal area of southern Nicaragua.
And these families have experienced a quadruple hit of catastrophes this past year: COVID-19, on top of back-to-back devastating hurricanes, on top of a collapsing economy.
Families live on dirt roads and share two-room tin shacks. They live in dusty and muddy conditions and are often without clean water. And some individuals also have chronic problems – like diabetes, heart conditions, obesity, asthma and preventive diseases – on top of significant additional concerns, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Clinic has come a long way over the past decade, helping more than 30,000 patients each year with urgent care in this beautiful, agricultural and seaside region of Central America. The Clinic goes beyond providing care to the community with our education and outreach services, providing clean water, nutritional and medical packs, and back-to-school supplies.
But today, it’s not all about the challenges we face. I want to share with you some great news about new developments for our team and our finances.
A Renowned Financial Educator and Analyst Is Our Newly Appointed Board Member
I’m pleased to announce that Lou Basenese is now a member of our Board of Directors.
Lou is the founder and chief analyst of Disruptive Tech Research, an independent equity research and advisory firm…
Lou has always felt a strong calling to support the Clinic. He’s been part of our Padrino Program for years and a top donor and fundraiser.
Years ago, during one of his trips to Nicaragua (for a work retreat at Rancho Santana), Lou saved the life of a colleague who had a body surfing accident and was paralyzed under the water and drowning in the Pacific.
I have known Lou for decades. He’s a top tech sector financial analyst, entrepreneur, writer, educator and speaker. We are fortunate to have his dedication to our Clinic team, our Board and the local communities we serve.
The Clinic Gets a Second Off-Road Ambulance!
Lou recently had a record-setting fundraising campaign for the Clinic, challenging his subscribers to donate to the Clinic. It worked… and as a result, we were able to use some of the raised funds to help get a badly needed second off-road ambulance for the Clinic.
Our vehicles are always in need of many repairs, as we have to drive in remote areas on bad roads to get to emergencies in remote locations. The community has come to depend on us, as we provide the only emergency response service to much of this region. Now we will be able to do better with a more modern, well-equipped ambulance. We will always be thankful for what Lou was able to accomplish for the Clinic with a single fundraising effort.
Welcome to our Board, Lou!
A New Exciting Way to Donate: We Accept Cryptocurrency!
If you own Bitcoin, congratulations! Keep in mind, when you go to sell it, there is a tax consequence, just like when you sell stocks. And just like with stock, you can avoid capital gains taxes on your appreciated cryptocurrency by donating it to a qualified charity that can accept it.
As a financial publisher and educator for my “day job,” I was an “early adopter/speculator” in Bitcoin. So I noticed in 2017 that Coinbase, one of the major crypto exchanges, had a refer-a-friend incentive. The company gives $10 in Bitcoin to its account holders for every new contact referral. So I created a Coinbase account for the Clinic and promoted the use of that referral link to any financial editor I knew who was starting to write about cryptocurrency.
I think this makes us one of the first nonprofits in the country, maybe the world, to get donations in the form of cryptocurrency! (Although Coinbase may call it a referral, not a donation.) While $10 in Bitcoin brought the Clinic more Bitcoin back then than it does today, the referral program continues. And it really adds up as a major benefit for our charity… tens of thousands of dollars have been received in crypto over these past few years!
If you are going to set up an account on Coinbase, you can still use this referral link to benefit the Clinic. But you can also donate crypto directly to the Clinic’s Coinbase account from any exchange or wallet where you trade crypto.
Contact us for wallet exchange instructions!
Here’s perhaps an easier way: Recently, the Clinic signed up for another crypto donation platform. The Giving Block, a startup based in Alexandria, Virginia, helps educate donors and charities alike on cryptocurrency donations. Working in partnership with the Gemini crypto exchange, for a small fee, The Giving Block is a user-friendly conduit platform for anyone who wants to donate their crypto to charity. It facilitates these donations for many top charities, including The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic. To make it easy, we now have a Giving Block box on our donation page here.
Now more than ever, thousands of Nicaraguans rely on the quality and affordability of our services – especially with the four crises that have hit local families this past year. They have dealt with no potable water, flooded homes, devastated gardens and farms, little work, and a pandemic. Without your continuing donations, free to low-cost quality healthcare, food and water, and back-to-school supplies wouldn’t be available for so many in the village of Limón or for any of the 27 surrounding communities.
The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit registered in Maryland, so all donations are tax-deductible. We accept funds through PayPal, where you can also donate with your credit card. You can also mail a check, transfer stock to our Schwab account or, as we described above, donate cryptocurrency.
Thank you so much for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Julia C. Guth
Chair of the Board
The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic
www.nicaclinic.org