by Dale McGowan

Executive Director, Foundation Beyond Belief

Sure, it's just a number. But this morning, when our member contributions rolled over $50,000 for the year, I allowed myself a private little woohoo!

It's been so gratifying to watch this experiment in humanist philanthropy come together. Members write in to tell me how good it feels to finally link their compassionate actions to their worldview. We know how fortunate we are to be in a position to give. And without a supernatural caretaker, we know that any progress -- in social justice, human rights, the quality of human and other animal life, and the health of our one and only world -- is up to us.

I've heard from many members that the Foundation's giving model and humanistic focus have increased the level of their charitable giving this year. Others have been drawn into a closer connection with charitable efforts around the world by learning about our featured beneficiaries each quarter.

You can see in the reports from our beneficiaries how our contributions are making a difference. But I'm also interested in how Foundation membership has made a difference for you, the members.

So click here and tell me: Why is membership in Foundation Beyond Belief important to you? Has it made you think differently about what it is to be a humanist? Raised your awareness of a particular issue? We'll include some of your responses on the home page.

Thanks as always for being a vital part of this adventure in active humanism!

For the first six months of our existence, membership in Foundation Beyond Belief included a $9 annual fee. This provided a small, reliable income stream to see us through the early days. Those of you who joined under that system helped provide that extra support we needed, and we thank you.

We've now decided to drop the membership fee entirely. New members can now sign up for our charitable giving program with no additional fee.

We still have operational costs, of course, but it's now entirely up to each member whether to contribute to the running of the Foundation. We hope this organization is valuable enough for members to designate a small percentage of their monthly donation to the care and feeding of the Foundation itself. If you'd like to do so, just log in, then click here to change your distribution.

by Dale McGowan

Executive Director, Foundation Beyond Belief

I'll spare you the tired cat-herding simile, but it's true that nontheists are a famously divergent bunch. We choose different labels, express ourselves at different volumes and with different degrees of heat, and favor a hundred different strategies for how best to move forward. This Foundation was created to allow every type of nontheist to engage in charitable giving as an expression of worldview and to tailor that expression as he or she sees fit.

Our donation distribution system makes that possible. Members distribute their donations across ten cause areas by percentage. See a group you like? Up your percentage for the quarter. See one you don't like? Zero it out.

This quarter, that unique system is earning its keep.

As most of you know, the Foundation has always welcomed nominations of organizations founded in any worldview so long as they do not proselytize. Our first quarter featured the Bergen County Sanctuary Committee, a consortium of humanist and religious communities aiding political asylees in Greater New York City.

by Dale McGowan

Executive Director, Foundation Beyond Belief

There's a strong and growing consensus in philanthropy that aid directed to women, especially in developing countries, has a greater positive impact overall than aid directed to men. It's no surprise, then, that three of our beneficiaries for the current quarter—Equality Now, Circle of Women, and the Haitian Health Foundation—have programs focused primarily or entirely on women and girls.

A little history

In the 1970s and '80s, a "Women and Development" movement brought the issue of gender-specific aid to the forefront. But many women’s advocates and development experts felt that it was the right idea delivered in the wrong way—that in addition to being patronizing, it was often ineffective, since resources were too often simply poured into local communities with no attempt to address the larger systemic and cultural issues that put women in that position in the first place.