FBB’s Crisis Response merges with American Humanist Association (AHA)

Crisis AHALogo1

About Humanist Charities

Humanist Charities was established in 2005 as a response to outpouring generosity from American Humanist Association (AHA) members and other humanists who wanted to help in the aftermath of major disasters around the world. The program, an adjunct of AHA, specialized in benevolent aid and action to further the health and welfare of humankind. It applied uniquely humanist approaches to those in need and directed the generosity of American humanists to worthy disaster relief and development projects around the world. With the formation of Humanist Charities, AHA gave humanists in the United States a way to ensure that donations for disaster relief and other programs would be directed to effective projects while putting humanist ideals into practice for the benefit of humanity. In 2014, Humanist Charities merged with Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanist Crisis Response program in order to combine the resources of the two organizations and strengthen the charitable giving of the humanist community.

Humanist Charities Timeline

Since its founding in 2005, Humanist Charities has raised approximately $275,000 to assist individuals across the globe in times of need. Now, under the combined leadership of the American Humanist Association and Foundation Beyond Belief, the jointly branded Humanist Crisis Response will continue to advance humanist generosity and the well-being of people around the world. Below is a timeline of worthy causes that Humanist Charities has supported:

2005-2006

  • In response to the 2005 South Asian Tsunami, Humanist Charities raised $12,000 to donate to an allied humanist organization in India.
    Humanist Charities sent $13,000 in relief funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
    Humanist Charities provided aid to a humanist organization in Pakistan following the Kashmir earthquake.

2007-2008

  • In July, Humanist Charities partnered with the Dominican Republic Schools Project to raise over $2,000, which supported the construction of a library building as an addition to a free, non-discriminatory, secular school in El Mogote, Dominican Republic.
  • Thanks to the generosity of members and other donors, Humanist Charities provided over $1,000 to assist the International School of Humanitarian Thoughts and Practices in its relief efforts in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh after devastating August monsoon rains.

2008-2009

  • In May, after the Cyclone Nargis ravaged communities across Asia, Humanist Charities worked with a U.S.-based nongovernment organization (NGO), Planet Care/Global health Access Program, to deliver aid to Myanmar (Burma).
  • In September, Humanist Charities supported the Children of the Border Project, a program of humanist Sebastián Vélez of Harvard University. Humanist Charities raised over $2,500, which allowed the program to expand emergency medical services and healthcare for expectant mothers in the Haitian border region of the Dominican Republic.
  • In response to a shortage of medical textbooks in Afghanistan as a result of their destruction under Taliban rule, Humanist Charities coordinated a medical textbook drive with the Las Vegas area teachers’ sorority, Alpha Delta Kappa, and American Humanist Association members David and Sandra Clapsaddle. As a result of these efforts, over 160 medical textbooks were sent to students in Afghanistan.

2010-2011

  • In January, as a response to a massive earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that left many dead and even more homeless, Humanist Charities, in partnership with Sebastián Vélez, created the Haiti Earthquake Fund. Thanks to the outpouring of generosity from humanists across the country, the fund raised over $50,000, which provided food and medicine to people in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and the surrounding areas.
  • Because of heavy monsoon rains, over 20 million people in Pakistan lost their homes, crops and farm animals. But thanks to many generous donors, Humanist Charities supported relief efforts to assist families affected by the flooding.

2011-2012

  • In February, in the wake of destruction left by an earthquake near the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, Humanist Charities mobilized the humanist community to take action and raise funds for aid. Donations were sent to the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists, who contributed to relief efforts.
  • In the spring of 2011, over 70 members and supporters rallied together to donate over $5,000 for Humanist Charities’ Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.
  • Humanist Charities again partnered with Sebastián Vélez and his Children of the Border Project, this time to send humanist volunteers to the town of Fond-Jeanette in Haiti to work with local communities to build latrines. These latrines improved the sanitation and quality of life for residents in the town and nearby villages, as well as halted the spread of cholera.

2012-2013

  • In March, Humanist Charities organized its members to raise money for relief after destructive tornadoes hit the U.S. South and Midwest.
  • With help from Humanist Charities, Rebecca Hale, current president of the American Humanist Association, organized a food and water drive for firefighters combatting the Colorado wildfires.
  • Humanist Charities raised funds for Responsible Charity, a secular organization dedicated to alleviating poverty in the Indian slums of Calcutta.
  • Humanist Charities contributed to Hurricane Sandy relief through the American Red Cross.
  • Through generous member donations, Humanist Charities also provided computers to children at the Kids’ Kingdom Un-Orphanage, part of the International School of Humanitarian Thoughts and Practices.

2013-2104

  • In May, Humanist Charities’ supporters raised over $30,000 to assist Rebecca Vitsmun, who proudly admitted to being an atheist on CNN during an interview about the destruction of her family’s home as a result of the Oklahoma City Tornado.
  • In November, Humanist Charities contributed nearly $26,000 for Philippine Typhoon relief, which aided the Cebu Chapter of the Philippine Atheist and Agnostic Society (PATAS) in distributing over 700 boxes of food, water and supplies to victims in the town of Bantayan on Hilotongan Island. These funds also supported long-term rebuilding efforts, led by Marissa Longseth, director of the Humanist Alliance Philippines International (HAPI), and other local humanists, to renovate classrooms at the Hilotongan International School.
  • Humanist Charities also again proudly partnered with Sebastian Velez’s Children of the Border Project. Because of the generosity of members and supporters, the project was able to build even more latrines and stop the spread of cholera in more Haitian communities.
  • Humanist Charities raised funds for InstitutionalStove Solutions (InStove). InStove, a humanitarian, nonprofit organization founded by Fred Colgan, used over $11,000 in funds provided by Humanist Charities’ donors to ensure that families in the developing world have access to safe, low-cost, easy-to-use cookstoves. By providing families with cookstoves, InStove is able to give them sustainable access to clean water and sterilized medical equipment, as well as prevent diseases caused by indoor smoke.
  • In June 2014, Humanist Charities became part of Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanist Crisis Response. Under the joint leadership of AHA and Foundation Beyond Belief, the program will continue to fund secular projects that better the living conditions of people around the world and prove that humanists are good without a god.