The Malcolm Potts Memorial Fund

To give through a donor-advised fund, please direct your grant to EIN 30-0037857

Organizing to Advance Solutions in the Sahel (OASIS) was born out of a decade-long preoccupation the late Dr. Malcolm Potts had for the West African Sahel: a region deeply impacted by climate change, population pressure, and instability. Malcolm used the Bixby Center at UC Berkeley to test the promise of safe spaces for girls to address the root causes of persistently high fertility and maternal mortality. The evaluation results were, as Malcolm said, “stunningly successful.” Safe Spaces delayed child marriage and child bearing by more than 2.5 years, improved girls’ secondary graduation rates 20-fold and dramatically improved the agency and voice of some of the most marginalized and disempowered girls and women in the world. This was just the spark he needed. Malcolm co-founded OASIS with the mission to advance education and choice for women and girls in the region. 

His care and concern for the women and girls of the Sahel was where Malcolm put his final energy at the end of a long, storied career with seminal contributions to the fields of international development and reproductive health. To honor Malcolm’s legacy, OASIS is establishing the Malcolm Potts Memorial Fund. Just as Malcolm always wanted, this fund will be applied with urgency to expanding our proven programs or to dare to try new things for - and with - women and girls in the Sahel.  

Prefer to give via check? Checks can be made payable to OASIS and sent to:

PO Box 10144

Berkeley, CA 94709