Patty Ivins and Chris Specht are like many young couples that reach a point in their professional careers where they want to give back.

For Patty and Chris, this path has led them to Drop In The Bucket, a non-profit based in Los Angeles that builds water wells and improves sanitary conditions in Africa. In order to provide a permanent, sustainable way to support Drop In The Bucket, they turned to Hope Equity’s Micro-Endowment® program.

“We are a young working couple that is starting to have disposable income that doesn’t need to go to new TV or a new car,” Patty said. “We believe this is achievable and attainable and feels like something direct. Hope Equity is for real people that don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to donate to charity.”

Patty and Chris both work in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. Patty is a television producer and her husband Chris is a marketing producer that works in product placement. Their jobs have taken them all over the world. About 10 years ago, the couple first visited Africa on a trip to Zimbabwe and was immediately taken with all aspects of the continent.

“We are interested in everything in Africa, from the wildlife to the plant life to the people,” Patty said.

When the couple learned about Drop In The Bucket, it reinforced their desire to help improve conditions in Africa in any way they could.

“The simplicity of the idea makes it so brilliant,” Patty said. “They revolutionize how people can introduce and provide water to areas where people don’t have access to it. “

Drop In The Bucket was formed in 2006 by a group of friends in Los Angeles who felt they had the tools and resources to make a difference in Africa. Their goal was to provide a clean, easily accessed water supply for villages and schools. Within six months, they had built their first wells before they had held their first fundraiser.

Drop In The Bucket spends very little money on operating costs, with all of its volunteers and board members paying for their own traveling costs and expenses. It is the same basic principle that attracted Patty and Chris to Hope Equity, who’s administrative costs are funded through a separate endowment so that any gift made is never touched or used for any purposes other than what the donor designates.

“So little you give actually gets to the non-profit,” Patty said. “This type of giving is particularly powerful because you really feel people receive it and it’s not being lost to overhead. It feels a lot more direct to give through Hope Equity.”

As Patty and Chris have become more involved with Drop In The Bucket and witnessed the organization raising more and more money, they realized there also needed to be a more long-term way to provide support for the projects.

“At first, it never occurred to me that organizations would have the access to these kinds of resources to do something that is more sustainable,” Patty said.

Patty said she sees Hope Equity as a way to fund her favorite charities every year.

“This year we are able to donate to Drop In The Bucket, but, who knows, next year we might not be in the same position to donate,” she said. “Through Hope Equity, Drop In The Bucket can work off the assets that come off that initial capital.” But for Patty, the most exciting part of being involved with Hope Equity is simply watching their Micro-Endowment® grow.

“To be able to watch money grow at Hope Equity will be very gratifying,” she said. “It’s the same way people get excited about watching their investments grow.”

Patty and Chris are also supporters of Kiva and other microfinance tools. They hope to use their Micro-Endowment® to provide additional funding to microfinance organizations.

For more information on Drop In The Bucket, visit www.dropinthebucket.org.