It may seem odd that a nonprofit named Rise Up Belize! would be based out of Sacramento, California. But spend some time with founder Joey Garcia, and it’ll all make sense.

Founded by UC Davis students in 1992, and located at Loaves and Fishes in Sacramento, the Mercer Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless serves not only animals, but the people who love them and the community as a whole.

Thanks to the Active 20-30 Club of Greater Sacramento No. 1032, a little crab means a lot of dough for two local charities.

Danielle Whitmore, YoloArts’ executive director, tells a story about a student named Diana. When Diana — a pseudonym — was a student in a local continuation school, she wouldn’t even get out of bed to attend classes.

Bright bursts of yellow flowers amid a sea of rolling green grass are an easy find in April at Mather Field. But just months ago, these dramatic swathes were completely swamped with water, and later this summer their beds will be bone-dry and baking hot.

If the recent history of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera has felt like a symphony — with cresting highs, plunging lows and, as was the case last year, overwhelming silence — then this past season reached a long-overdue crescendo.

Since 1953, Sacramento’s Society for the Blind has been serving employees and employers who have been affected by vision impairment. As one of their services, the Society’s trainers will come to an office or workplace to assess how circumstances can best be adapted for a visually impaired employee.

Saint John’s Program for Real Change is part of a growing national movement of nonprofits designing programs that include new ways to monitor outcomes and quantify success for those they serve.

Since 2010, the Sacramento-based Gender Health Center has been providing a unique service sought by people in need from throughout more than 25 counties. “We are a community mental health organization,” explains executive director Ben Hudson, “and though we serve anyone seeking mental health services, we specialize in gender identity and assisting transgender individuals

While studying abroad at the London School of Economics, UC Davis grad Alex Aguiar befriended a young homeless girl. He found her sleeping beneath an overpass, using folded cardboard to keep the cold concrete from chilling her body. Aguiar could not get the girl’s plight out of his mind. To understand his market, Aguiar spent the night with the homeless community, learning their stories and about what might help them. That’s when the idea for Tent Pals was born