Last chance to distribute your donations to these great organizations

By Cathleen O’Grady, Director of Special Projects

The first quarter of 2013 is drawing swiftly to a close, and it’s your last chance to distribute your donations among our five beneficiaries. To help you make your decision, take a look at this video for a summary of what our beneficiaries have been up to. Don’t forget to share this video (and your love for FBB) with a friend to help us reach our goal of doubling our membership!

Here’s a quick look at what our remarkable beneficiaries have been up to these past few months:

The Citizens Foundation, our current Education beneficiary, is a Pakistani educational organization that is a powerful answer to the religiously motivated movement against women’s education and liberty in Pakistan. TCF has an astounding 830 schools across five provinces, 115,000 students, and an all-female faculty of 5,800. The schools operate on a “pay-as-you-can” basis, allowing even the poorest of parents to afford a quality education for their children – and with a 90% pass rate in the Secondary Board Examination, a quality education is exactly what TCF provides. Because of the all-female faculty, conservative parents are more likely to allow their daughters to attend school, and TCF maintains a strict 50-50 gender ratio. It also combats the ways in which poverty can affect a child’s education, creating jobs and providing opportunities for mothers to work for TCF in a variety of roles, mentoring students in their career development, and providing health education.

Men Can Stop Rape, our current Human Rights beneficiary, has been fighting rape culture by educating and mobilizing men as allies. Their Strength Campaign encourages young men to start “Men of Strength” clubs at their schools and colleges; these are places that provide a safe, supportive space in which to discuss healthy models of masculinity. Their Healthy Masculinity campaign intends to illuminate the link between masculinity and violence in our culture by bringing together some of the foremost organizations and leaders examining the environment in which men are raised and taught to behave. MCSR’s work explores how a traditional definition of masculinity ties in with violent behavior and is creating an opportunity for the next generation of men to be unconstrained by restricting societal pressures.

LightHawk, our current Natural World beneficiary, partners with a wide variety of organizations to help with conservation and preservation. This year, LightHawk has been involved in rescuing endangered turtles who, unable to navigate their way out of Cape Cod Bay, end up stranded and vulnerable to hypothermia, dehydration, and a host of infections; and they have protected the first-ever harpy eagle nest discovered in Honduras, gathering information about the nest from the air. They have also flown an injured Yucatan black howler monkey (an endangered species) to the Wildtracks Primate Rehabilitation Center in Sarteneja, Belize, after she was hit by a car. After the wildfires in Colorado in 2012, LightHawk was involved in restoration efforts, flying leaders over the burned area to inform their planning efforts.

Buddhist Global Relief (BGR), our encore Challenge the Gap beneficiary, partners with organizations in Asia, Africa, and the United States to combat hunger, focusing on grassroots projects that address underlying causes of hunger and poverty in a sustainable manner. They train farmers in Cambodia and Thailand in the Rice Intensification system, which greatly enhances productivity at lower costs; promote proper breastfeeding techniques in Niger; and empower women by helping them to escape the sex trade and by making provisions for women’s education and support. BGR’s goal in furthering the position of women, supporting farmers, and promoting education is to empower people in need to overcome hunger on their own.

Modest Needs, our current Poverty and Health beneficiary, is a charity that is dedicated to making small differences that mean a lot. Modest Needs raises funds for those who are scraping by, whether to help them pay for repairs to a car, medical expenses, or even just one month’s rent. By doing so, the organization aims to help people avoid the cycle of poverty and remain self-sufficient, by giving them a relatively small boost that allows them to retain their independence. In 67% of cases, those who were funded by Modest Needs go on to become donors to the program, indicating not only financial stability, but also a desire to pay it forward.

The Science Cubed Project of the Black Atheists of America (BAAm), one of Foundation Beyond Belief’s small grant recipients, furthers BAAm’s vision to support a stronger and more diverse atheist community while also supporting individuals in that community. BAAm understands the importance of supporting their community by “improving education through the promotion of critical thinking and science” and “participating in community service efforts in lower income areas.” Science Cubed is an initiative to work with motivated teachers and donate science school supplies and educational modules for learning at the high school level. The modules “are designed to teach the students critical thinking and the scientific process.” The goal of Science Cubed is to provide equal access to scientific education for all high school students.

FBB’s other small grant recipient this quarter is the “First in the Family” Scholarship Fund from Black Skeptics of LA, which will be awarded in June 2013 to up to ten South Los Angeles high school students of color who will be the first in their immediate family to attend a two- or four-year college. Scholarships will range from $200 to $500. These scholarships will allow historically underserved youth a greater opportunity to achieve what was not possible for their parents or grandparents, but what we at Foundation Beyond Belief feel should be possible for everyone—to have better opportunities through education. To donate to Science Cubed or the First in the Family Scholarship Fund, go to our Small Grants pages and make an additional donation, or assign your quarterly donation to “greatest need/small grants.”

Don’t forget to log in to the site and visit the “Manage Donation” area under “Manage Account.” For more information, visit our beneficiary pages for links to their websites and social media.

View a video summary of our Q1 charities