Search results for: Dale McGowan

Foundation Beyond Belief Executive Director Dale McGowan was interviewed about FBB and a new project he’s working on, writing “Atheism for Dummies,” the first book about nontheists from the “Dummies” series of books. According to Dale: 

It’s only been about eight to 10 years since the freethought movement (atheists, agnostics, humanists and skeptics) began to move off the cultural margin in a significant way, and fewer since most of the public has become aware of atheism as an organized presence in the United States. Between the explosive growth of nonreligious self-identity and the more regular presence of the organized religious voice, people naturally have questions about what atheism is and what this growing presence means for them.

“Atheist” is one of those words that people first hear as a whispered accusation, like “communist” was when I was growing up. It was, and often still is, a label that captures their darkest fears. Knowledge is the antidote for fears of all kinds, and a book that sheds light on what atheism is (and what it isn’t) is likely to diminish the fear of it. Everybody wins when we’re less fearful of each other.

Click here to read the full interview. 

Staff Spotlight: Dale McGowan

Dale McGowan, a former college professor, currently serves as the Executive Director of Foundation Beyond Belief. Dale is editor and co-author of Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, the first comprehensive resources for nonreligious parents. Dale is regularly involved in teaching nonreligious parenting techniques via his blog The Meming of Life as well as holding seminars that impart secular parenting methods.

After being named the 2008 Harvard Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, Dale went on to incorporate the Foundation Beyond Belief in 2009, after identifying the need to demonstrate humanism at its best. This would be done by supporting efforts to improve this world and this life, and to challenge humanists to embody the highest principles of humanism, including mutual care and responsibility. The charitable giving program was launched in 2010.

In 2009, Dale served as U.S. Communications Coordinator for Nonviolent Peaceforce, a global civilian peacekeeping organization based in Brussels. While living in Minneapolis, he was a charter member of the Critical Thinking Club, Inc., and has taught critical thinking skills in the college classroom, the corporate boardroom, and public venues.

Dale holds degrees in physical anthropology and music theory from UC Berkeley as well as a Ph.D. in music composition and theory from the University of Minnesota.

Catch FBB Executive Director Dale McGowan on Secular.FM’s Podcast-a-Thon this weekend. According to Secular.FM:

Become a monthly patron of Secular.FM and 100% of all support received in the month of March will go to Foundation Beyond Belief. 25% of continued monthly support will go toward new charities each month. Support secular nonprofits making a real difference in this country by supporting secular radio on Secular.FM.

You can hear Dale in two time slots: 12:30 – 1:00 pm EST on Saturday, February 22, and 11:30 am – 12:00 pm EST on Sunday, February 23. Be sure to tune in for all the other great guests! 

If you’re a member of one of more than 90 Beyond Belief Network teams, remind your leaders to send us reports detailing all of the service projects you did in 2013. Better yet, volunteer to be your team’s official BBN liaison and submit the reports yourself! Even though it’s January, it’s not too late to “level up” and qualify for T-shirts, grants for service projects, and the 2nd annual Heart of Humanism Awards, which will be presented at Foundation Beyond Belief’s first ever conference, this July in Chicago. The deadline for submitting 2013 events is January 15, 2014, so act fast! In addition, any report for a 2013 event received by January 15, 2014, will also earn your team an entry in a drawing to win a signed copy of a book written by Dale McGowan or Chris Stedman.

Helping needy humanists in times of crisis: Humanist Crisis Responders and Helping Hands
Beyond Belief Network has big plans for growth in 2014, including the launch of a volunteer crisis response program, Humanist Crisis Responders. You can register as a Crisis Responder now and get updates and the opportunity to be deployed in the event of a domestic crisis. Using the same form, you can also indicate your ability and interest to help out needy humanists in your own community.

If you know of a needy humanist (or are one yourself), please nominate them for Helping Hands. While Foundation Beyond Belief will not provide Helping Hands nominees with direct monetary aid, we do provide them with lists of resources in their area (e.g., social services, support groups, community programs), put them in touch with a local BBN team (or contact humanist groups on their behalf if there is no BBN team), and assist any individuals or groups who would like to raise funds or hold a supply drive for them.

To ensure the success of our Helping Hands and Humanist Crisis Responders, we need to increase the number of BBN teams we have across the US. We are counting on our local teams to keep us informed of any natural disasters and secular humanists who need help. We are also planning on the local teams to assist us with the coordination of on-the-ground responses to crises. If you are a member of a local team who’d be willing to help in a crisis, please join Beyond Belief Network today.

By Brittany Shoots-Reinhard, Beyond Belief Network Coordinator

Beyond Belief Network team Flagstaff Freethinkers has been very busy in November and December organizing a Flagstaff, Arizona, MLK Service Day to be held Monday, January 20. They’ve involved more than twenty community organizations, including both secular and religious organizations, to organize an impressive schedule of service opportunities:

• Fundraiser for Sunnyside Neighborhood Association and Murdoch Community Center
• Supply drive (clothing, bedding, toiletries, and cleaning supplies) for Flagstaff Shelter Services
• Sorting food and donations for Flagstaff Food Bank
• Splitting and stacking firewood for Flagstaff Food Bank
• Food preparation and Children’s MLK Birthday Celebration at Flagstaff Family Food Center
• Filling sandbags for United Way of Northern Arizona
• Blood Drive for United Blood Services

The event will culminate in a march for any interested participants to Northern Arizona University to join the Black Student Union’s annual march on campus. Team Captain Brian Wallace says, “It’s going to be really exciting to have people of different backgrounds and economic and social positions—civic organizations, church congregations, schools, and more—come together and do meaningful work within the community we all share.”

Foundation Beyond Belief’s Beyond Belief Network was thrilled to provide Flagstaff Freethinkers a $500 grant to assist with advertising the event to the community and buying supplies for the service opportunities on site. In addition to our financial support of the event, we’d like to encourage humanists in the area to participate. For information and to RSVP for a service activity, visit the MLK Service Day Facebook page or the official MLK Service Day website, or contact flagstaff.freethinkers@gmail.com.

Beyond Belief Network offers grants of $250 or $500 to qualifying teams for service activities like the MLK Day of Service. To qualify, teams must join Beyond Belief Network, reach Level Two or Level Three, and submit a budget proposal and event outline. Existing teams can submit event reports for 2013 through January 15, 2014, to qualify for 2013 perks, including grants, which may be used for 2014 service activities. Any event report received by that date will also earn an entry in a drawing to win one of two signed books authored by Dale McGowan and Chris Stedman. Teams requalify for perks each calendar year. To find out more, visit our website or contact Beyond Belief Network Coordinator Brittany Shoots-Reinhard.

By Brittany Shoots-Reinhard, Beyond Belief Network Coordinator

2013 marked the beginning of the Beyond Belief Network, which merged the existing Volunteers Beyond Belief, Foundation Partners, and Light The Night programs. Since our official launch in May, we’ve grown to 90 teams! Our teams recorded 150 events, and we’re nearing an exciting milestone of 30,000 hours donated to date. We’ve been able to provide teams with free logo t-shirts, grants, and assistance finding service activities and promoting events. Additionally, in September, we announced the winners of our first annual Heart of Humanism Awards (for Volunteers Beyond Belief teams active in 2012).

Beginning in October, we started issuing themed service guides once a month. October’s guide was about Domestic Violence Awareness; November’s guide was Fighting Hunger; December’s was Safe Toy Drives; January’s guide covers Mentoring children and other groups.

We also started recognizing the most active teams with Team of the Month awards. In September, we recognized the Humanist Community of Ventura County for their large number and variety of service events (and great pictures). October’s winning team was Flagstaff Freethinkers, who have both a recurring monthly commitment at a food center and incredible fundraisers, including Seráh Blain’s Blistering at the Margins project, a birthday Crochet-a-thon, and a Family Dance Party. Fellowship of Freethought Dallas was November’s Team of the Month. They’ve been consistently one of our top teams, in Volunteers Beyond Belief, Foundation Partners Programs, and Light The Night. They especially shine with food-related service and fundraisers. December’s team is FreeOK, who joined following the Oklahoma Tornadoes and were very active in cleanup and recovering efforts. They’ve been successful with blood drives, food drives, and the Holiday Humanist Gifting project, a wonderful toy drive that collected nominations and wish lists from more than 100 children, all of whom were adopted by members of their community.

In 2014, thanks to support from members and the community at large (and it’s not too late to give to our Year-End Fund Drive!), we will be able to support more teams with event planning assistance and guides, award more grants and t-shirts, and recognize even more teams with the Team of the Month and Heart of Humanism awards. If you know a local or online atheist or humanist group who would be a good candidate to join Beyond Belief Network, please send them to our website. Teams that join by the end of the day today may submit backdated reports for any service activities from 2013 and will be eligible for Heart of Humanism awards, t-shirts and grants, and a drawing to win a signed book from Dale McGowan or Chris Stedman (one entry per event report received by January 15, 2014).

Are you a member of a humanist, atheist, or freethought group (or a podcast, blog, or online forum)? Are you interested in volunteering in your local community, helping others in the humanist community, joining the humanist response to a crisis, or fundraising for charities? Could you use help finding, planning, and funding service activities?

Join Beyond Belief Network today! We provide assistance and perks to encourage groups of humanists to serve their communities. For teams new to service, we offer advice, detailed event guides, and ideas for service. More experienced teams can join and receive grants, free T-shirts, awards, and recognition for the work they already do.

If your team joins by December 31, you will qualify for free T-shirts with your team’s logo and grants for service activities, and you’ll be eligible for the second annual Heart of Humanism awards, to be presented at FBB’s Humanism at Work conference in Chicago next July. Any teams, new or old, are also eligible for a bonus drawing to receive a signed book from Dale McGowan or Chris Stedman. Teams will receive one entry per event report submitted through January 15, 2014.

All you need to do to qualify is fill out the application, and when you receive the welcome email, you have until January 15, 2014, to submit reports detailing every service activity your group has done in 2013!

The Humanist Student Union from the University of North Georgia invited Foundation Beyond Belief Executive Director Dale McGowan to speak on campus as a fundraiser for FBB Crisis Response Beneficiary International Rescue Committee. The event resulted in more than $500 going to Syrian Crisis Response, with $200 of that collected from attendees at their event. We have been extremely impressed with this new BBN team, who put together a Hug an Atheist fundraiser with 24 hours’ notice that made an incredible $300 in four hours! It’s the can-do spirit of club president Devidyal Givens that sets them apart.

Devidyal explains her philosophy of philanthropy:

The most common excuse I hear when I encourage others to host events is “it’s too hard.” Either the average person has a completely different opinion of what the word “hard” means or they really don’t understand how easy it can be to set up an event, especially on a college campus. Campus groups may not realize it, but they commonly have access to ballrooms and meeting rooms free of charge. Community-centered off-campus groups can co-sponsor events with their local student groups, too.

Here are my top five suggestions:

1. Incorporate fundraising into your regular programming. Every event we host is a fundraiser for a cause. In this case, we wanted a lecture on Syria to benefit the refugees. We learn about interesting topics and raise money at the same time.
    
2. Ask your contacts for help. I put out my feelers to everyone I know that might be able to help. In this case, I contacted Foundation Beyond Belief to ask if they had anyone that could talk on Syria. I was told Dale would love to do it. That was that. We had our speaker. It took a total of one email typed in about 5 minutes and sent out to about 15 people I thought might be able to help me. All I had to do is ask. Not only that, but Beyond Belief Network staff took the text I had to advertise the event and made me a flyer.
    
3. Encourage, but don’t require, donations. I never charge money for admission to an event because I would never want to turn away a person due to lack of funds. Similarly, I never take money at the door because people that don’t have money may get that far then turn around and leave when they see money being collected. But, to remind people to bring cash, my fliers always read: “FREE ADMISSION but cash donations will be requested.” Sometimes I will put an actual amount that will be requested. I wait until they are in their seats, I have gotten their attention with some heart wrenching story and then “pass the hat.”
    
4. If you want people to come, you need them to hear about it, and not just once. The rule of thumb to always remember is that for every 50 people you invite you can expect 3 to show up. Post flyers everywhere: local businesses, bulletin boards, nearby campuses, etc. Email professors, teachers, interest groups, etc. who might send people to you. For example, for the talk on Syrian refugees, I emailed every sociology, history, psychology, Middle East studies, and political science teacher at 10 colleges and universities within an hour’s drive. I also searched the database of each of the 10 colleges for any clubs on their campus that may be interested in the event and I emailed the club’s president. Make event pages on Meetup, Facebook, and any other social media available. Advertise in your local university paper or Coalition of Reason website. Don’t stop there; you’ll need to remind people a few times before the day of the event. Make sure you make it seem like more people are going than not and that people who don’t come are missing out.
    
5. There are only so many hours in a day; you have to choose how to spend your time. I am a non-traditional student. I have 3 children and a husband at home, I work out at the gym every day, I take a full 18 credit hour course load and I have a 3.8 GPA. I am busier than almost everyone I know. The difference is what I choose to spend my time doing. Instead of hanging out with friends for a drink or watching a movie with my husband, I choose to spend my time getting people to come out to the events we host.

Putting your humanism to work takes a lot of time. It’s annoying at times and you’ll get frustrated but is it hard? Nope. It’s pretty darn easy. In the amount of time it’s taken me to type this blog post, I could have advertised enough to get 10 attendees for my next event. But it’s not difficult. It’s dedication. What are you dedicated to?

If you are dedicated to charitable service and philanthropy and would like to participate or plan events like Devidyal and the University of North Georgia Humanist Union, consider joining your local Beyond Belief Network team. If you’re already a member of a local humanist group, and would be interested in volunteering as a group, tell your group leaders about Beyond Belief Network. BBN teams can ask for FBB staff to speak at events, request our help promoting events and making flyers, and earn other perks.

By Cathleen O’Grady

If you’re heading to Skepticon this weekend, keep a lookout for a few friendly FBB faces who’ll be making an appearance.

Executive Director Dale McGowan will be appearing via Skype at 1 pm on Friday to discuss Foundation Beyond Belief’s crisis response program, and in particular the current response to Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the most powerful storm to make landfall in recorded history. He’ll be talking about FBB’s procedure for springing into action when a crisis arises and how we assess our beneficiaries, such as the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center. Dale will also discuss what we’ve learned about improving the response to a call for action when a crisis arises. (For those who aren’t attending Skepticon, you’ll be able to watch Dale’s talk live at Skepticon.org.)

Outside of the discussion rooms, keep an eye out for FBB staff members Sam Shore and Ellen Andrews and intern Elizabeth Dorssom, who will be running an outreach and sign-up table for the Foundation. Stop by and say hello! We always love to meet our members.

Finally, our Humanist Giving intern Micah Weiss is one of the organizers of Skepticon, so if you see him, he’s likely to be running in circles or tearing his hair out. Nonetheless, he’ll definitely appreciate a hello, and perhaps some chocolate.

As the Syrian civil war rages on, millions of Syrian refugees are displaced and in need of help, but humanitarian agencies have received less than half of the funding they need to provide basic refugee assistance. Foundation Beyond Belief has launched an urgent fund drive in response to the worsening Syrian refugee crisis.

Our staff evaluated several charities working to aid Syrian refugees and selected International Rescue Committee as the beneficiary of our crisis response drive. The IRC is working in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq to provide the following assistance:

• In Syria, more than 700,000 vulnerable people have been served to date with medical and emergency supplies. The IRC’s Emergency Response Team is at work in camps for the displaced, providing clean water and sanitation, education to primary students, and emergency supplies to families.
   
• In Jordan, the IRC provides reproductive health care, cash assistance, and social services to refugee families, as well as counseling and other support for survivors of sexual violence. In Jordan’s refugee camps, the IRC is providing technical support for refugee women and girls and helping to reunite children with their families.
   
• In Lebanon, the IRC operates four Women’s Centers for refugees and medical consultations. They are also helping hundreds of refugee families with cash assistance, enabling them to pay for rent, food, utilities, and other essentials.
   
• In Iraq, at the Domiz camp in the north, the IRC provides camp management and a safe space for women. They are also building a secondary school for refugee children. At Al Qaim camp, near the border with Syria, the IRC is providing free legal assistance, mobilizing community groups, and helping survivors of sexual violence.

A unique aspect of the IRC’s work is its emphasis on protecting women and preventing gender-based violence in situations of mass displacement. Click here for the IRC’s latest Syrian crisis updates.

“No matter what the military or political situation is, the human situation is catastrophic. The relief organizations on the ground are doing heroic work, and the humanist community is stepping up to help,” said Dale McGowan, FBB’s executive director.

What you need to know about the Syrian refugee crisis:

• More than 2 million people are now externally displaced and 4.5 million internally displaced by the violence, a total displacement of one-third of the population of Syria. Half are children.
   
• More than 3,500 children currently in Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq crossed Syria’s borders unaccompanied or became separated from their families, according to UNICEF.
   
• Half of all Syrians are now in need of humanitarian aid.
   
• 35% of Syrian hospitals are now non-functioning; 70% of medical professionals have fled, according to the WHO.
   
• The scale of this humanitarian disaster is “unparalleled in recent history,” according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Donations to this crisis response drive will be forwarded continuously to the IRC. FBB retains no portion of donations. All donations to and through Foundation Beyond Belief are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Click here to make a donation.