Deserving organizations benefit from strong Q3 2014 giving results
By AdministratorThe grants we provide to our featured beneficiaries each quarter are funded by our monthly giving members. Each quarter we see a steady increase in total member giving, and therefore an increase in the support we can give to our beneficiaries.
This quarter, our Natural World beneficiary was Rainforest Foundation US. Their techniques are to utilize policy initiatives both in the US and foreign countries, then build community-led and -designed projects to increase the leadership strengths of indigenous people. Furthermore, they help develop sustainable alternatives for land development, natural resource protection, and energy production within these communities. One community that has successfully benefited from their actions is Casa Blanca in Panama. Rainforest Foundation US will receive $10,675 from Foundation Beyond Belief.
Our Poverty and Health beneficiary, SOIL, is one of those organizations that makes you think think, “Did they really do that?” SOIL has a fascinating model—not only have they created a new waste diversion stream to keep waste out of waterways and local areas in Haiti, but they also created a micro industry that employs local residents who run every aspect of this waste diversion stream. They will receive a grant of $11,095 from Foundation Beyond Belief to further support these efforts.
Footsteps, our Human Rights beneficiary, works diligently to improve the lives of people in a community that is foreign to most people. Within the ultra-Orthodox community, the lives of children and young adults are often prescribed. Education is often focused on religion. Many children end school at 8th grade to help in the home or apprentice for a trade. Even those who continue in their education are functionally and culturally illiterate. When a person wants to leave this community, they face a world of difficulty, including lack of community, education, income, and child custody rights. Footsteps’ grant of $10,785 will strengthen their community support program in New York.
Washington Women’s Education and Employment (now named Courage360), our Education beneficiary, has worked for decades to give women a second chance in their careers. They give support services, educational retraining, and job search assistance to people starting new careers or moving into the workforce for the first time. Courage360 will receive a grant of $11,590.
The Night Ministry will receive a grant of $10,260 as our Challenge the Gap beneficiary. Working in Chicago, TNM is a reliable provider of needed services, offering assistance to those experiencing homelessness. Their “health bus” program is in line with best practice programs in its field; other programs include housing for homeless youth and support for teenage mothers. The Night Ministry was also the focus of one of the volunteer projects at the first Foundation Beyond Belief conference, Humanism at Work, in Chicago last July—hygiene kits were assembled by attendees for distribution by The Night Ministry.
In Q3 of 2014, in conjunction with the American Humanist Association and Be Secular, we held a crisis drive focused on unattended refugee children arriving in the US. This issue was front and center in the US news, and the humanist community was eager to support these children. Our research found that we could best help by raising funds to provide legal aid to the more than 50,000 child refugees who have fled poverty and violence. Unfortunately, the 24-hour news cycle has moved on, but our crisis beneficiaries are continuing to work on these issues. Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project will receive a $5,000 grant, and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) will receive a $7,450 grant.
Including support directed to Foundation Beyond Belief, our total grants for Q3 total $73,710. Thanks to our members for their generous support of Foundation Beyond Belief and our featured beneficiaries.