Deepest thanks to the 125 contributors who donated to our drive through the ChipIn ($5265), the Facebook Cause page ($865), our website ($695) and our PO box ($380). That's a total of $7205 raised in just four weeks -- 78 percent of the total needed to wipe out our operational debt for 2010.

Your confidence in what we're doing means more than you know. And the ability to walk into 2011 with our financial house in order means a lot, too.

If you missed the drive and would still like to help out, we're always open. Click here for our secure donation page to get in under the wire for US tax deductibility in 2010.

The drive has ended, but who knows -- we just might polish off that remaining 22% by New Year's Eve!

Thanks again for your help and encouragement.

The Staff and Volunteers at FBB

by Trish Cowan
Sunday School director, Ethical Society of St. Louis
Board member, Foundation Beyond Belief

Watching the development of FBB has been a really exciting process for me. Within any Ethical Society, the common bond between members is the desire to make the world a better place. Our members have varying beliefs, but we can all come together in the name of service and commit to improving the lives of others.

In addition to hands-on service projects, we have small scale monetary collections in our Societies and our Sunday Schools – and those are really important for our members and kids to feel like they can make a difference in our world. But FBB gives us the opportunity to pool our donations and have a greater impact on several outstanding organizations at once.

Still, what I love about FBB isn’t just the impact we make when we financially support worthwhile organizations. I also really love the opportunity to take a stand for humanism and show how caring and giving humanists are. When you get right down to it, no matter what faith tradition one follows, we are ALL humanists; all religions teach about the importance of treating people with love and respect. Speaking out and giving through FBB gives humanists the chance to reach others – including those who subscribe to other religions – and walk the walk, while making a name for ourselves as kind and generous citizens of the world.

Hello! My name is Randall Bourquin. I’m currently a senior at the University of Georgia (UGA) where I study Marketing, Spanish, and International Business. I grew up in a mildly religious household in Forsyth County, Georgia, where I became an atheist in high school.

I remained quietly so until I arrived at University and founded the UGAtheists – the Secular Student Alliance affiliate at UGA. For the last year and a half, we've been working to build a community of secular students and to proactively combat the negative stereotype of non-believers through community service, interfaith work, and awareness efforts. Apart from learning how to knit, this has been the most rewarding effort of my life to date.

In November, I tricked Dale into bringing me onto the Foundation Beyond Belief team as the Membership Coordinator. I am extremely excited to combine my passion for marketing with my passion for the secular movement.

I can think of no more positive and progressive manifestation of our secularism and humanism than targeted charitable giving. Helping the Foundation to achieve success by encouraging enrollment -- and sharing the good news of that success with the world -- is a hugely worthwhile and important task.

Here's a challenge: let’s reach 2000 members in 2011. There are millions of great people out there, and the more of them that we can bring to understand and support the important mission of the Foundation, the greater our impact can be on the charities we help, the secular movement as a whole, and the world in which we live. I’m honored to be a part of Foundation Beyond Belief.