Search results for: solar

By Cathleen O’Grady, director of special projects, and AJ Chalom, Humanist Giving Program coordinator

Foundation Beyond Belief’s Humanist Giving Program is bringing back some of the beneficiaries we’ve supported in the past as encore beneficiaries. Our first-quarter Challenge the Gap encore beneficiary was Buddhist Global Relief, and our current second-quarter encore Human Rights beneficiary is Innocence Project of Texas.

Our next encore will be in the Natural World category, and we want your help. Please fill out this survey to voice your opinion on who you think should be our Q3 2013 beneficiaries. The survey will be active until May 19. The survey also asks for your vote on the charities nominated for our Education category. Currently, our grant totals average $8,200 per beneficiary.

Natural World Encore Beneficiary Criteria:

Here were our basic criteria for choosing our encore beneficiary nominees:

1. They were beneficiaries in 2010 or 2011
2. They have been featured only once previously
3. They meet our current and more detailed vetting requirements

There are three previously featured Natural World charities up for consideration as encore beneficiaries. We will use this survey to determine member preference to help the board make an informed decision between the finalists:

• EcoHealth Alliance (formerly Wildlife Trust), first featured in Q1 2010
• Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, first featured in Q1 2011
• Global Green USA, first featured in Q1 2010

EcoHealth Alliance uses science-based solutions and partnerships to protect global health and safeguard ecosystems. Their projects include preventing infectious disease pandemics, the illegal wildlife trade and exotic pets, conservation medicine, and focused conservation on certain species (elephants, bats, amphibians).

This charity was selected because of its rigorous basis in science, its strong connection with the Millennium Development Goals, and the fact that it draws the link between environmental protection and helping humans.
EcoHealth Alliance (formerly Wildlife Trust) received a $1,145 grant from Foundation Beyond Belief. They have a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator and an annual budget of $8.7 million.

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is dedicated to the conservation and protection of gorillas and their habitats in Africa, through research on gorillas and education initiatives. Programs include working against poaching and other threats, supporting national parks, building awareness and education, rehabilitating rescued gorillas, and studying gorillas to gain a better understanding of habitat and biodiversity, behavior and ecology, and the effect of the human landscape. They also argue that helping local human populations helps gorillas, so they are involved in educational projects (at all levels of education) and health projects, such as health clinics, clean water programs, intestinal parasite prevention, hygiene education, and protein access.

This organization has the ability to build a strong connection through its stories, and it has an innovative approach in extending its reach to surrounding communities and getting involved in educational and health projects, as well as a science-based approach to gorilla conservation.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund received a $2,500 grant from Foundation Beyond Belief. They have a 3-star rating on Charity Navigator and an annual budget of $4.5 million.

Global Green USA is the American affiliate of Green Cross International, founded by former Soviet Union President Gorbachev, to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future. Programs include green homes, green schools, recycling, energy efficiency and solar power, and weapons elimination. They have worked toward rebuilding New Orleans in a sustainable fashion.

Global Green USA is a candidate because of their multi-faceted approach to environmentalism, inclusion of social justice issues, global spread, and cohesion with Millennium Development Goals. They also have many achievements mentioned in their annual report.

Global Green USA received a grant of $1,275 from Foundation Beyond Belief. They have a 4-star rating on Charity Navigator and a budget of approximately $5 million.

Education Beneficiary Nominations:

Women’s Global Education Project works in Senegal and Kenya addressing education, literacy, health, and human rights issues. Their programs have impacted at least 4,000 individuals and their families. They provide scholarships for students to attend school, support adult literacy, and have made a significant effort encouraging girls and women to say no to female genital mutilation in their communities.

They have a strong correlation to Millennium Development Goals, impacting four high-priority MDGs and two lower priority MDGs based on Foundation Beyond Belief’s analysis. They also have a proven track record of success.

Women’s Global Education Project was a finalist for Q1 of 2013. They are too small for a Charity Navigator rating, but have been thoroughly vetted by FBB staff. They have an annual budget of $205,000.

Equal Education is a collection of educators, activists, community members, and students working to improve the quality and equality of South Africa’s education system. Using evidence-based techniques for improving education in the nation’s most impoverished schools, Equal Education focuses on building infrastructure, teacher competency, and education materials. Their campaigns include creating minimum standards for school infrastructure, creating an on-time program for high schools, and creating a generation of activists working toward equality in the education system.

Equal Education is a registered charity in a foreign country, and is not rated by US charity evaluators. However, it has been thoroughly vetted by FBB staff, including audited financial statements. Their annual budget is approximately the equivalent of $1 million.

Remember to go to the survey now and choose your preferred beneficiaries. Thanks!

By Ed Brayton

Foundation Beyond Belief is proud to be supporting Trees, Water & People, a nonprofit organization that works to “improve people’s lives by helping communities protect, conserve, and manage the natural resources upon which their long-term well-being depends.”

In the United States, TWP works with Native American tribes to develop environmentally sustainable practices on their reservations. Part of that effort was the establishment of the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, which provides training to Native Americans all over the country in how to install and use solar and wind power systems. More than 175 Native Americans have received training at the Center that they have taken back to their own tribal communities to make them more energy efficient. As the TWP website notes:

“In addition to demonstrating the benefits of renewable energy, RCREC’s training is creating green jobs for residents of Pine Ridge and trainees from other tribes. As tribal leaders learn how to incorporate sustainable technology into their housing, employment training, and energy strategies, the impact will increase exponentially. By harnessing renewable energy, we can significantly improve the lives of Native Americans living on reservations across the United States.”

Founded by Stuart Conway and Richard Fox in 1998, TWP works actively with local communities to help them better manage the natural environment they live in. This work earned Conway the 2010 Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service.

The organization was also awarded the 2009-10 Sasakawa Prize from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) for their work distributing fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly cooking stoves in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Haiti.

We are proud to be contributing to the vital work they are doing to help preserve the natural environment and create sustainable practices across the United States and the world.

MADRE, our current Human Rights beneficiary, recently released their 2011 annual report, outlining an array of endeavors undertaken last year through which, alongside their partner organizations, they were able to reach out to upwards of 100,000 people in struggling regions.

A significant portion of their 2011 resources was devoted to Central America, particularly Guatemala, Haiti, and Nicaragua. March saw MADRE bring their project Farming for the Future to the indigenous Mayan women of Guatemala. The project trains women in farming, human rights, and civic participation—providing for them a source of food, income, and expanding their position in their local societies. MADRE’s empowerment efforts were carried out in Haiti primarily through their partnership with KOFAVIV (Commission of Women Victims for Victims), in response to the endemic sexual violence across the country’s many displacement camps. Distributing safety whistles and solar flashlights and bringing in sexual violence educators enhanced nighttime security in dangerous camps. And in Nicaragua, MADRE worked with Engineers Beyond Borders and the Liwa Mairin Women Waterkeepers to improve local access to clean water.

Across the Atlantic, in regions marred by sectarian violence and oppression, MADRE identified an outbreak of sexual assault amid pro-democracy protests in Iraq and the ever-present threat of tainted water in the Gaza Strip. They worked with the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) to ensure that they were able to continue organizing both in spite of and to combat the sexual harassment by security forces on protesters. Working with local Palestinian groups, MADRE installed water filters around Gaza City, particularly near schools—giving hundreds of children access to clean drinking water during their school day. Both Iraq and Palestine are in a period of extraordinary transition, and as transition breeds tension, the freedoms of women and other oppressed peoples must be upheld and protected.

Finally, in the African theatre, MADRE worked to relieve famine in Sudan, Somalia, and Kenya, particularly through supporting the Women Farmers Union and local Kenyan organizations like Womankind Kenya to “identify trusted leaders to facilitate equitable food distribution and make sure that [existing] relief efforts protected the rights of women and girls.”

MADRE continues to support women worldwide into this year, and upcoming features will explore what they’re doing in the here and now. To learn more about MADRE and how you can support them directly, visit their website. And as always, consider supporting them through FBB!