The Mission

Building a Base

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; there is where they should be. Now, put foundations under them."

- Henry David Thoreau

Although the age of Dusty Feet is relatively young, the organization has produced far greater results than nationwide statistics suggest for start-up nonprofit organizations. We are currently in the “Building a Base” phase. Our organizational model follows the age-old adage of quality over quantity. Our paradigm is designed to build a solid organization, a complete model for humanitarian work, and thorough understanding of social entrepreneurship. We believe if we are to have lasting results and sustainable projects, we should first build a base.

Currently, we are building Dusty Feet as a solid organization. This means we are soliciting funds, wisdom, and networking in order to create an organization built will last. We are developing creative and innovative ways to advance the nonprofit field.

We are also perfecting our model for humanitarian work. The only way to understand each micro-culture Dusty Feet is working in is to first understand the individual person living in that area. We have developed our model from day-to-day on the ground research learning from the individual in order to understand the micro-culture. We then incorporate the micro-culture (community) in an extensive process to finish the model. Our research and our model are complete for the first project in Nairobi, Kenya.

As we are constructing the first project, we are also developing the social entrepreneurial component of the model. Our attention has been focused on building small businesses aimed at improving the micro-economy and off setting the operational costs of the humanitarian project. The social entrepreneurship aspect of the model allows true sustainability to occur, thus fulfilling our overall goal.

We call this phase “Building a Base” because we have decided to remain stationary in Nairobi until our goals have been met and the model runs efficiently. Instead of moving from project to project, we will build a base, which will last. If we are based upon a foundation, which has stood the test of time and criticism, we will be much more successful in the future in developing numerous functioning projects and placing a foundation under our castles in the air.

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