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Pathfinders Project is a yearlong humanist service trip that will be evaluating programs for a future Humanist Action: Ghana.

Since April, we have shared our growing excitement about Pathfinders Project, a yearlong international service and research trip sponsored by Foundation Beyond Belief. Pathfinders Project will not only continue Foundation Beyond Belief’s efforts to demonstrate humanist generosity and compassion through its clean water and human rights projects, it will also promote reason through its education projects.

In these education projects, the Pathfinders will draw upon the resources and expertise of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), whose mission is to promote critical thinking and provide the public with the tools needed to reliably examine paranormal, supernatural, and pseudoscientific claims. JREF has developed engaging online modules and classroom curricula to teach the value of inquiry by allowing students to test the effectiveness of “Divination with Dowsing Rods and Pendulums,” see behind the wizard’s curtain with “The Psychic’s Tools of the Trade,” explore the importance of evidence in “Skepticism 101,” come to their own conclusions in “Do You Have ESP?” and many more.

The Pathfinders were already planning on making use of the free online resources from the James Randi Educational Foundation. Some of the online modules guide students through the process of designing controlled experiments, collecting data, and evaluating the significance of the results. Others use historical examples of hoaxes and pseudoscientific claims to allow students to compare the reliability of different kinds of evidence. All of them are well suited to the work the Pathfinders will be doing with the Kasese Humanist Primary School and the Mustard Seed Secondary School in Uganda (part of the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust), given that both schools are guided by the principles of humanism and place an emphasis on cultivating critical thinking in their students.

When JREF heard about what we wanted to do, they offered to donate the classroom kits used to run JREF workshops. These classroom kits take the online modules to the next instructional level with handouts, materials, lesson plans, and manipulatives, and they can of course still be supplemented with the online modules for extended learning. This arrangement will allow JREF to expand its reach and Pathfinders Project to more effectively promote critical thinking. JREF will get to see its powerful curricula in action internationally, and Pathfinders Project will have a strong educational counterbalance to its clean water and human rights projects.

Want to know more? Conor Robinson, the director of Pathfinders Project, will be attending The Amazing Meeting (TAM), the annual conference for skeptics put on by the James Randi Educational Foundation each year. Find Conor at the Foundation Beyond Belief table and say hi!

If you are not able to attend TAM but would still like to contact Conor, feel free to email your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Please support our effort to promote reason and compassion through service by making a donation here.

By Conor Robinson. Click here to lend your support to the Pathfinders Project fund drive.

When we announced the Pathfinders Project, we shared our excitement for its potential to demonstrate humanism at its best and serve as the launching pad for the Humanist Action: Ghana. We are also eager to build synergy among humanists and humanist groups and strengthen the connection Foundation Beyond Belief has developed since its inception.

At Foundation Beyond Belief, we engage in a thorough vetting process for selecting beneficiaries. Through this process we come to know and value the people of these organizations and their amazing work. When Foundation Beyond Belief selects an organization as a beneficiary, it marks the beginning of a relationship with that organization, not the end. Foundation Beyond Belief is proud that Pathfinders Project will strengthen its relationships with some of its beneficiary organizations even further, while exploring relationships with organizations that may very well become beneficiaries in the future.

For their first project, the Pathfinders will work with Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), one of Foundation Beyond Belief’s inaugural beneficiaries from 2010. In addition to providing meals to all those who are hungry, TASK provides adult education services to encourage self-sufficiency, informs the wider community about the needs of the hungry, advocates for resources to meet these needs, and offers educational extracurricular activities for needy children on days when local schools are not in session.

The Pathfinders will be working with two former education beneficiaries when they get to Uganda, where there is a promising profusion of humanist schools. One such school is the Kasese Humanist Primary School, a beneficiary from 2012. Another is the Mustard Seed Secondary School, one of the institutions supported by the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust, a beneficiary from 2010 and an Encore Beneficiary in 2011. The Kasese Humanist Primary School and the Uganda Humanist Schools Trust develop lifelong learners who care for each other and for their communities. The schools encourage students to be open minded and questioning, to respect evidence, and to appreciate shared human values. We wish we saw more of this approach to education in the United States!

During part of their stay in Ghana, the Pathfinders will visit some of the witch camps where Leo Igwe is currently conducting his research. Leo Igwe’s field study into witchcraft accusations in Ghana is currently being supported by Foundation Beyond Belief in collaboration with the James Randi Educational Foundation and the Institute for Science and Human Values. Igwe is one of the most prominent and acclaimed humanists on the African continent, and his work raises awareness of the deplorable living situation for the many Ghanaian women who have been accused of witchcraft and expelled from their villages. The Pathfinders will help identify the needs of these women, needs that Foundation Beyond Belief is committed to helping address in the future.

During one of their months in Guatemala, the Pathfinders will work with Avivara, one of Foundation Beyond Belief’s 2012 small grant beneficiaries. Avivara is a small organization with a big impact—its multifaceted approach to improving educational access and outcomes for impoverished youth in Guatemala has yielded tangible results for many students, schools, and communities. 

With your help over the past three years, we have been hard at work putting our money where our mouth is in support of some incredible beneficiaries. Now, with your continued help, we will put our young humanist leaders to work furthering the exemplary efforts of our beneficiaries and the principles of humanism on the ground. If you’d like to contribute, please visit the Pathfinders Project fundraiser on IndieGoGo.

Pathfinders Project is a yearlong international service and research trip sponsored by Foundation Beyond Belief. From July 2013 to July 2014, four humanists will complete clean water, education, and human rights projects in collaboration with local nonprofits and NGOs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As they complete these projects, the Pathfinders will collect data on each country and partner organization with the ultimate goal of evaluating sites for the forthcoming Humanist Action: Ghana.

Pathfinders Project and the Humanist Action: Ghana will enable humanists to put their values into action, thereby demonstrating those values to the world. Pathfinders Project has been described by Hemant Mehta as “the ultimate service project for Humanists” and by James Croft as “a life-changing opportunity.” Certainly, Pathfinders Project will have a meaningful impact on each of the communities visited and a profound effect on each of the Pathfinders. Furthermore, Pathfinders Project will shape the humanist movement for years to come. In taking the first step toward launching the Humanist Action: Ghana, the Pathfinders are building the structure of a flagship program not just for Foundation Beyond Belief, but for the entire humanist movement.

Foundation Beyond Belief has some very exciting news: We’re extremely proud to sponsor the Pathfinders Project, a yearlong humanist service trip.

Our mission, a mission we value very deeply, is to encourage secular humanists to make a difference in the world. The Pathfinders Project, which will bring humanists together and take them around the world, exemplifies that mission. We couldn’t not support it!

Pathfinders will travel to Asia, Latin America, and Africa, working to build sustainably, educate, and develop clean water projects. In fact, you may recognize one of the stops: Kasese Humanist Primary School, one of our beneficiaries last year. Furthermore, one of the goals of the trip is to access possible partners in setting up a Humanist Action: Ghana—a long-term agenda for Pathfinders Project and Foundation Beyond Belief. Conor Robinson, director of Pathfinders, explains his goals:

“With both Pathfinders Project and the Humanist Action: Ghana, my goal is to develop projects that maximize our contribution as non-specialist volunteers, allow us to work directly with the community, and have a sustainable impact through the incorporation of community education and empowerment at every stage of planning and implementation.”

The project is open to adults who speak a foreign language—particularly Spanish or French—and applicants are encouraged to have prior service experience. Applications are due February 1, 2013. More information can be found here.

2012 has been an exhilarating year, characterized by inspiration, heartbreak, and revolution. At Foundation Beyond Belief, we sought to navigate the year’s tragedies with our Crisis Response program, offering relief where it is most needed. We instigated a promising new partnership with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to educate the public and fund research in the fight against cancer through their Light the Night program. Our Volunteers Beyond Belief teams continued to support their local communities through important service endeavors. We continued our staple Humanist Giving program, facilitating the transfer of your donations to an outstanding charity slate working on many fronts to build a better world. Our dedicated community helped us secure a tremendous grant from the Chase Giving Foundation, which will enable us to expand our efforts.

Humanist Giving

This year, our members donated more than $203,000 to our beneficiaries, small grant recipients, and Foundation Beyond Belief through the Humanist Giving program. In its third year of existence, the program changed formats this year, now supporting five charities instead of 10 each quarter. By reducing the number of beneficiaries each quarter, we are able to make a larger impact to each of our grantees, streamline our own processes, and better tell the stories of our beneficiaries. Each quarter we offer support in the areas of Poverty and Health, Education, Human Rights, The Natural World, Challenge the Gap, and Small Grants.

Our Humanist Giving program is most of all about our 2012 grant recipients. They are inspiring and extraordinary. In Q1 2012, our Challenge the Gap program entered its second year, supporting the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, which used our grant to support their gender equality work in the United States and Guatemala. Our Human Rights beneficiary in Q2 was the It Gets Better Project; find out how the project got started. Our Q2 Poverty and Health beneficiary Shoulder to Shoulder shared with us stories from their work in Honduras. In Q3, we launched our small grant program, supporting the Igwe Witch Project. Another highlight of Q3 is the work of our Education beneficiary Kasese Humanist Primary School, whose motto “With science, we can progress” made it an immediate favorite among our staff and supporters! During the quarter, they focused on creating sustainability on their campus through their food programs. In Q4, we supported an inner-city program in our Natural World category: DC Greenworks builds green roofs, installs rain barrels to divert storm water, and provides jobs in the Washington, DC, area.

Volunteers Beyond Belief

This year, our Volunteers Beyond Belief teams worked to be an integral part of their communities. They volunteered at food banks, worked with Habitat for Humanity, and contributed to relief efforts. We made great leaps in the program, adding new teams with a total of 2,200 volunteers in 23 states. The Harvard Humanists worked to pack a whopping forty thousand meals. After Superstorm Sandy, the Freethought Society reached out to help form the Hurricane Sandy Emergency Relief Fund Committee to raise and distribute funds, an action recognized by the Washington Post. To end the year, VBB and the FBB Partners Program merged to create the Beyond Belief Groups Network.

Crisis Response

Our Crisis Response program sprang into action twice this year. Supporters raised $4,500 to support volunteer firefighter departments in Colorado whose resources were depleted by wildfires. In October, Hurricane Sandy slammed Haiti and then converged with a major weather system in the northeast creating Superstorm Sandy. Our Crisis Response program raised more than $18,000 to support the International Medical Corps’ effort to bring disaster relief to Haiti and Team Rubicon, which showed determination and compassion as it deployed a thousand veterans to aid in the cleanup in the northeast. The generous support of FBB members supported these organizations in their efforts to aid those in need.

Light the Night

FBB’s inaugural campaign as a national partner of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has been an emphatic success. Over the course of the year, more than 1,300 walkers from almost 150 local teams coordinated their fundraising efforts in support of medical research and compassionate patient care. Thanks to a generous matching grant from the Stiefel family, our national community of humanists has raised close to half a million dollars for this extraordinary cause. We appreciate the endeavors of all of our team members and look forward to building upon our achievements in 2013.

All of these programs are made possible by your generous donations and support throughout the year, and we’re so proud to have such a dedicated base driving our efforts. If you’re interested in making a one-time donation to help us continue being able to offer these programs, and to expand our efforts in the future, visit our one-time donation page. And as always, thank you for your continued support—we look forward to another exciting year serving humanity when in need, and improving the world that we share.

Brittany Shoots-Reinhard has a PhD in social psychology with a specialization in attitudes and persuasion and judgment and decision making.  She is also the Foundation Beyond Belief director of special projects.

Rather than charities simply explaining their cause, they often emphasize telling the stories of the people they help and showing their pictures. Charities have learned that people are more likely to give money when they can see who they’re helping and find out more about them. In fact, research shows that people are more motivated to give money to save a single victim than to potentially save thousands. This inconsistency in the way that we value lives is called the identifiable victim effect.

Although it seems cruel that people would be less willing to save thousands of lives than to save a single life, there are a number of reasons why we would do so. The first is that an individual person is more vivid than a boring statistic about number of lives being saved. The person’s picture and story are more likely to engage our emotions and influence our decisions and behavior (Nisbett & Ross, 1980).

Additionally, when giving to a specific person, we can be assured that person will be saved. For example, if we give money to sponsor a single student to attend school (e.g., through a program run by our past beneficiary Kasese Humanist Primary School), we will have helped 100% of the children we set out to send to school. If instead we gave the same amount of money to a charity that helps send hundreds of children to school, our donation only helped a fraction of the needy children, which is less psychologically satisfying than helping one particular child (Jenni & Loewenstein, 1997).
 
Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, teaching people about the identifiable victim effect reduces giving toward identifiable victims, but does not increase giving to statistical victims, thus making analytical thinking incompatible with charitable giving (Small, Loewenstein, & Slovic, 2007). Because charity often involves sympathy and empathy, reducing reliance on emotions would be expected to reduce charity as well.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society makes great use of the identifiable victim effect by choosing “Honored Patients” each year and sharing their stories on their website, like Linnea’s (pictured here), and the FBB LLS team has encouraged each of our FBB Light the Night walkers to choose their own Honored Heroes.

So what should we do in our own fundraising efforts? We should follow the example set by successful charities and choose a “poster child” to put a face to our charity (and only one; see Kogut & Ritov, 2005). We can use the empathy people feel for identifiable victims to benefit statistical victims as well.

References

Jenni, K. E., & Loewenstein, G. (1997). Explaining the “Identifiable Victim Effect.” Journal of Risk & Uncertainty, 14(3), 235-257.

Kogut, T., , & Ritov, I. (2005). The “identified victim” effect: an identified group, or just a single individual? Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 18(3), 157 – 167. doi:10.1002/bdm.492

Nisbett, Richard, and Lee Ross (1980). Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Small, D. A., Loewenstein, G., & Slovic, P. (2007). Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102(2), 143-153. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.01.005

THANK YOU!

As a result of all your help in voting and getting the word out, we were ultimately able to secure 3,429 votes, qualifying Foundation Beyond Belief for a $20,000 grant from the Chase Community Giving program! With this funding we’ll be able to tremendously expand our membership, partnership, and Volunteers Beyond Belief programs.

But we weren’t the only secular charity that met success through the program: Secular Student Alliance finished in 27th place, securing a $50,000 grant, and Camp Quest in 69th, also receiving $20,000.

Special thanks to Jessica Kirsner, Amanda Metskas, PZ Myers, Hemant Mehta, Greta Christina, The Atheist Rabbi, David Niose, Greg Epstein, Chris Stedman, Ingo Soeding, Darrel Ray, Rebekah Bennetch, Zach Moore, JT Eberhard, Kara Long, Kiersten Brown, Margaret Downey, all the FBB members and partners, the VBB teams, all the interns and staff of FBB and SSA, Responsible Charity, European Humanists Atheists and Agnostics, the Mothers Beyond Belief board, the Society for Humanistic Judaism, the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard, Kasese Humanist Primary School, Minnesota Atheists, Fargo-Moorehead Atheists, Malta Humanist Association, the American Humanist Association, and—of course—Chase Community Giving.

With the help of these inspired individuals and organizations, as well as everyone who worked with us to make these grants possible, the secular movement will now see extraordinary change in its philanthropy, student activism, and youth education. The future of humanist giving is on the horizon, and now we have the resources to help us on our journey.

UPDATE: Here’s a big THANK YOU from members of FBB, Camp Quest, and the Secular Student Alliance, Gangnam Style:

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Our 1,157 contributing humanist members have concluded another strong quarter of support for five outstanding non-profits. We will announce the grant totals in the coming week. Now let’s meet the five new beneficiaries for third quarter 2012:

Education  | Kasese Humanist Primary School

Kasese Humanist Primary School is a secular school offering Nursery and Primary education to young people ages 4-13 in the communities around Kasese Municipality in Uganda. The school is the first primary school in Uganda grounded in humanist values and ethics. In all subjects taught at school, the emphasis is on application of scientific and humanist principles in an effort to realize a child’s full potential.

At the end of the term in 2011, Kasese school had enrolled 191 students and had 12 teachers. Just $44 covers one teacher’s monthly salary, and $90 sponsors one student for a full year.

The school is grounded in humanism but importantly does not indoctrinate, instead encouraging free inquiry. From the website: “No form of indoctrination is undertaken at the school – there is a strong emphasis on critical thinking so that pupils can rationally assess evidence and differing points of view on any topic.” They also include a comprehensive Religious Education curriculum.

Challenge the Gap  | Hindu American Seva Charities

Hindu American Seva Charities (HASC) is a progressive American organization advancing seva (community service), interfaith collaboration, pluralism, social justice, and sustainable civic engagement to ignite grassroots social change and build healthy communities. The organization was formed in response to President Obama’s Call to Serve with the support of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and is a service partner with the Corporation for National and Community Service.

In the short time since its 2009 launch, HASC has become one of the premier Hindu service organizations. Like FBB, it was founded in part to increase the engagement of those in their own worldview with humanitarian charitable efforts.

HASC seeks to mobilize communities through service and community-building at local and national levels to affect development. Its website notes that HASC seeks to “bridge the gap between US government and Hindu and Dharmic people, and between places of worship and secular organizations,” a perfect fit for Challenge the Gap.

Though not a deciding factor, this represents the fifth of the five major world religions to be featured in CTG.

(See additional information from the Huffington Post and the White House.)

The Natural World  | Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF)

The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) fights to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. Founded in 1979 by attorneys active in shaping the emerging field of animal law, ALDF has blazed the trail for stronger enforcement of anti-cruelty laws and more humane treatment of animals in every corner of American life. Today, ALDF’s groundbreaking efforts to push the U.S. legal system to end the suffering of abused animals are supported by hundreds of dedicated attorneys and more than 100,000 members.

ALDF files groundbreaking lawsuits to stop animal abuse; provides free legal assistance to prosecutors handling cruelty cases; works to strengthen anti-cruelty statutes; encourages federal enforcement of existing animal protection laws; nurtures the future of animal law; and provides public education.

Human Rights  | Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) 

The Equal Justice Initiative is a private nonprofit organization that provides legal representation to indigent defendants and prisoners who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system. They litigate on behalf of condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders, people wrongly convicted or charged with violent crimes, poor people denied effective representation, and others whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct.

EJI focuses its work on communities that have been systematically marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment.

(Learn more in an outstanding TED talk by EJI executive director Bryan Stevenson)

Poverty and Health  | Nourishing USA

Nourishing USA is an innovative organization that goes beyond feeding the hungry to improve nutrition and encourage healthy eating in communities across the U.S. NUSA began providing meals to the hungry in New York City free of charge several years ago and has now expanded to several U.S.-national programs. They encourage bodegas to include fresh produce and facilitate the creation of “green carts” (public produce stands), and their blog includes tips for including more healthy foods, healthy recipes, and urban gardening advice. NUSA also runs a junior chefs program, which is open to underprivileged kids aged 5-10 and includes kitchen and garden skills.

We look forward to bringing you the stories of these great organizations and those who benefit from their work in the coming months.



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