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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social work > Charities & voluntary services
Finally, a comprehensive resource for Friends of the Library groups
to use to design programming intended to invite ALL segments of the
community into the library. Inside, you'll find information about
advertising, overcoming obstacles, setting up a Teen Council, as
well as 201+ "recipes" for programs, series, library exposure and
fundraising. The ideas and plans presented can be scaled up, scaled
down, or modified to suit individual needs. They can also be
utilized by civic organizations, schools, churches, community
centers, or anyone else seeking to get people together for fun,
entertainment and education.
IRS oversight of charitable organisations helps to ensure they
abide by the purposes that justify their tax exemption and protects
the sector from potential abuses and loss of confidence by the
donor community. In recent years, reductions in IRS's budget have
raised concerns about the adequacy of IRS oversight. This book
describes the charitable organisation sector; describes IRS
oversight activities; determines how IRS assesses its oversight
efforts; and determines how IRS collaborates with state charity
regulators and U.S. Attorneys to identify and prosecute
organisations suspected of engaging in fraudulent (or other
criminal) activity. This book also provides an overview of recent
changes affecting tax-exempt and charitable organisations, while
also discussing issues that may be of legislative interest in the
future.
For much of its post-contact history, Guatemala was a colonial
state, in which kingdoms and the church were the sole sources of
legitimate power. The compensation for colonial administrators was
in the form of land grants and control over the people living on
those lands. Colonial administrators were expected to collect taxes
on behalf of kingdoms, and the expectation was that a portion of
the taxes collected would be used by the administrator for personal
expenses. Guatemala gained independence from Spanish colonial rule
on September 15, 1821. During the second half of the 20th century,
Guatemala experienced a variety of military and civilian
governments, as well as a 36-year guerrilla war, which led to the
massacre of more than 200,000 people and created approximately 1
million refugees. Ninety-two percent of the deaths were attributed
to the Guatemalan military. In 1996, the government signed a peace
agreement formally ending the conflict. Although the signing of the
peace accord ended the internal armed conflict, the causes of the
war are deeply rooted and tenaciously resistant. Former combatants
and perpetrators of the massacres often live side by side with the
victims and their families. A continued high level of violence and
crime is an unfortunate part of the ongoing struggle of all
Guatemalans to recover from the trauma of war. Guatemala is a
constitutional, democratic republic. The current constitution
became effective in January 1986. It was suspended by President
Jorge Serrano from May 1993 until his ousting in June of that year.
The executive branch consists of the president and vice president,
elected through a popular vote every four years, and cabinet
members appointed by the president. There is a unicameral congress;
members are elected by popular vote every four years. Supreme Court
members, who serve five-year terms, are appointed by the president
of Guatemala and the outgoing president of the court. Suffrage is
universal for Guatemalans over the age of 18, excluding soldiers on
active duty in the armed services. The country is divided into 22
departments. Guatemala held general elections in November of 2011
and chose a new president, congress, and municipal authorities. The
election process was carried out peacefully and transparently and
President Otto Perez Molina took office on January 14, 2012. New
municipal governments have also taken office at the local level.
This is the inspirational story of how an older Australian couple,
Trish Clark and Iain Finlay...both authors in their seventies...
built a proper road to a remote and impoverished village in
Northern Laos. While working on an internet project of their own in
Luang Prabang, the World Heritage-Listed former Royal Capital of
Laos, they befriended a young waiter, Chanthy, who was studying at
night school. They began helping him, first with his English, then
with his college fees and accommodation. His parents, relatively
poor subsistence rice famers, pleased at this unexpected boost for
their son, asked Trish and Iain to visit their village, NaLin,
about three hours south of Luang Prabang, down the Mekong River, or
four hours by dirt road. After a brief weekend stay in the village,
during which they were treated to a traditional baci ceremony in
their honor, they came away wondering what they could do to help
the villagers, whose average daily earnings were little more than
three dollars. At the time there was no electricity, no running
water...except for that from a mountain stream to three or four
outlets in the village, no health facilities, no proper sewerage
system and a fairly under-resourced primary school. But worst of
all, a shocking five kilometer quagmire of a track was all that
provided the only connection to the outside world in the rainy
season, either to the Mekong River, or to another dirt road in
slightly better condition, leading to the District Center of Muang
Nan. So Trish and Iain decided to try to tackle something in which
they had absolutely no knowledge or expertise. They decided to
build a proper road to the village of NaLin. This book traces more
than two years of the trials and tribulations experienced in their
efforts to raise funds in Australia and elsewhere in order to build
the road...of the setbacks and disappointments as expected sources
of funding did not eventuate or dropped away...of elation when
generous donors came up with substantial, no-strings-attached
contributions...of optimism as they engaged a Lao senior Roads
Engineer to carry out a preliminary GPS-based assessment and a
survey of the road...but also of caution as they made first contact
with Lao government bureaucracy in the form of the Department of
Public Works and Transportation, as well as with a road building
contractor who undertook to build the road into, through and beyond
NaLin village. Throughout all of this, as Trish and Iain shuttled
back and forth between Australia and Laos, the young Chanthy, now
working as a salesmen in a Luang Prabang handicraft shop...his
English improving all the while...became the linch-pin of the whole
project, working with his father, as well as the village
headmen...not only of NaLin village but of two other even poorer
villages, Houayhe and Phujong, further up the track, which were
keen to benefit from the planned improvements to the road. Then, in
early May 2013, they finally had enough money in their fund to do
the job, and a contractor who could do it. So on May 9th, after a
flight to Laos and an all-day session signing contracts in the
Department of Public Works in Muang Nan, the big equipment; an
excavator, a grader, two 10-ton trucks and a water truck rolled out
on to the road to NaLin and began work. But there was drama
developing, as a replacement for a broken part on another piece of
equipment, the heavy roller, did not arrive and all the work done
on the road was threatened by the fast approaching wet season
rains. But when a replacement roller is found and leased from
another company, the work resumes and the road is finished on time,
just before the rains set in. With a traditional baci ceremony to
thank the spirits of the netherworld, there are celebrations all
round, as smiling villagers take in their new road and the changes
it will bring for them. A small project... a world of difference.
The age of international philanthropy is upon us. Today, many of
America's most prominent foundations support institutions or
programs abroad, but few have been active on the global stage for
as long as Carnegie Corporation of New York. A World of Giving
provides a thorough, objective examination of the international
activities of Carnegie Corporation, one of America's oldest and
most respected philanthropic institutions, which was created by
steel baron Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support the advancement and
diffusion of knowledge and understanding." The book explains in
detail the grantmaking process aimed at promoting understanding
across cultures and research in many nations across the world. A
World of Giving highlights the vital importance of Carnegie
Corporation's mission in guiding its work, and the role of
foundation presidents as thought and action leaders. The
presidents, trustees, and later on, staff members, are the human
element that drives philanthropy and they are the lens through
which to view the inner workings of philanthropic institutions,
with all of their accompanying strengths and limitations,
especially when embarking on international activities. It also does
not shy away from controversy, including early missteps in Canada,
race and poverty issues in the 1930s and 1980s related to South
Africa, promotion of area studies affected by the McCarthy Era, the
critique of technical assistance in developing countries, the
century-long failure to achieve international understanding on the
part of Americans, and recent critiques by Australian historians of
the Corporation's nation-transforming work there.This is a
comprehensive review of one foundation's work on the international
stage as well as a model for how philanthropy can be practiced in a
deeply interconnected world where conflicts abound, but progress
can be spurred by thoughtful, forward-looking institutions
following humanistic principles.
Select students and teachers worked the room at a fundraising event
for a New York City public high school Amy Brown calls College
Preparatory Academy. It was their job to convince wealthy
attendants that College Prep, with its largely minority and
disadvantaged student body and its unusually high rate of
graduation and college acceptance, was a worthy investment. To this
end, students and teachers tried to seem needy and deserving,
hoping to make supporters feel generous, important, and not
threatened. How much, Brown asks, does competition for financing in
urban public schools depend on marketing and perpetuating poverty
in order to thrive? And are the actors in this drama deliberately
playing up stereotypes of race and class? A Good Investment? offers
a firsthand look behind the scenes of the philanthropic approach to
funding public education-a process in which social change in
education policy and practice is aligned with social
entrepreneurship. The appearance of success, equity, or justice in
education, Brown argues, might actually serve to maintain stark
inequalities and inhibit democracy. Her book shows that models of
corporate or philanthropic charity in education can in fact
reinforce the race and class hierarchies that they purport to
alleviate. As their voices reveal, the teachers and students on the
receiving end of such a system can be critically conscious and
ambivalent participants in a school's racialized marketing and
image management. Timely and provocative, this nuanced work exposes
the unintended consequences of an education marketplace where
charity masquerades as justice.
Since 1962, more than 3,000 Volunteers have served in the Dominican
Republic. These Volunteers have contributed to technical skills
transfer and institutional capacity-building in a wide range of
fields, including agriculture, urban and rural community
development, forestry, conservation, environmental education,
community health and child survival, nursing, small business
development, fisheries, water and sanitation, teacher education,
university education, youth development, and information
technology. Over the years, Peace Corps Volunteers have contributed
significantly to the establishment and development of many of the
country's leading nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and have
worked hand-in-hand with the various administrations that have
governed the Dominican Republic. In keeping with its commitment to
peace and development, the Peace Corps remained in the Dominican
Republic throughout its civil war in the 1960s. Our commitment to
service has been highlighted through the good work of Volunteers
and their project partners in the recovery efforts following two of
the most severe hurricanes to hit the country's shores (David in
1979 and George in 1998).
Every year people all over the world donate money to charity or
volunteertheir time to help the needy. These selfless acts are
wonderful and their donations are highly valued...further to this
as giving evolves, it moves from well-intentioned involvement to
commitment and that commitment becomes philanthropy.You may be
asking yourself, "What's the difference? I give money and I lend a
hand...".but that is just the beginning of the philanthropic
journey. Philanthropy; an INSPIRED Process is an important guide
for those seeking to grow from their involved giving to truly
committed philanthropy.Through inspiring stories of global
philanthropic icons, you'll be lead through an INSPIRED Process.
This book is a must read and a valuable resource for anyone who
wants to take their giving to the next level. Once you read it
you'll be INSPIRED to do the same.www.theinspiredprocess.com
'This is the definitive book on philanthropy - its history,
contradictions and future' - John Gray, Emeritus Professor of
European Thought, London School of Economics 'Good books lay out
the lie of the land. Important books change it. This book is both'
- Giles Fraser, priest, journalist and broadcaster The super-rich
are silently and secretly shaping our world. In this groundbreaking
exploration of historical and contemporary philanthropy,
bestselling author Paul Vallely reveals how this far-reaching
change came about. Vivid with anecdote and scholarly insight, this
magisterial survey - from the ancient Greeks to today's high-tech
geeks - provides an original take on the history of philanthropy.
It shows how giving has, variously, been a matter of honour,
altruism, religious injunction, political control, moral activism,
enlightened self-interest, public good, personal fulfilment and
plutocratic manipulation. Its narrative moves from the Greek man of
honour and Roman patron, via the Jewish prophet and Christian
scholastic - through the Elizabethan machiavel, Puritan
proto-capitalist, Enlightenment activist and Victorian moralist -
to the robber-baron philanthropist, the welfare socialist, the
celebrity activist and today's wealthy mega-giver. In the process
it discovers that philanthropy lost an essential element as it
entered the modern era. The book then embarks on a journey to
determine where today's philanthropists come closest to recovering
that missing dimension. Philanthropy explores the successes and
failures of philanthrocapitalism, examines its claims and
contradictions, and asks tough questions of top philanthropists and
leading thinkers - among them Richard Branson, Eliza
Manningham-Buller, Jonathan Ruffer, David Sainsbury, John
Studzinski, Bob Geldof, Naser Haghamed, Lenny Henry, Jonathan
Sacks, Rowan Williams, Ngaire Woods, and the presidents of the
Rockefeller and Soros foundations, Rajiv Shah and Patrick Gaspard.
In extended conversations they explore the relationship between
philanthropy and family, faith, society, art, politics, and the
creation and distribution of wealth. Highly engaging and
meticulously researched, Paul Vallely's authoritative account of
philanthropy then and now critiques the excessive utilitarianism of
much modern philanthrocapitalism and points to how philanthropy can
rediscover its soul.
The Power of Philanthropy is a collection of stories that represent
the most extraordinary individuals who are contributing at the
highest levels in making a bold difference in the world. It
includes stories of non-profit organizations, corporations,
entrepreneurs and more who all have one thing in common: their
commitment to being of service to others has made a measurable
difference in the lives of many.
This book is about the invaluable contribution of charities and
humanitarians in our world, the benevolence of the majority, and
the atrocities of a (very small) minority. Mankind's difficulties
often stem from natural disasters, including terrible weather
conditions creating human misery. The tsunami and the famine in
Ethiopia are typical examples. The other difficulties that have
beset humanity from time immemorial are man-made, like wars,
slavery, and pogroms. We also have dictatorships, pariah states,
and police states, which do not seek to serve their people and
alienate the international community. The people in these places
become outcasts, despite genuine and determined efforts by others
to bring them into the fold. In any society, we see the destructive
effects of misunderstanding, greed, envy, hatred, and
discrimination. Senseless acts of individual barbarism also pose a
problem. Governments, democratic or otherwise, are installed with
all the natural and human resources, as well as the goodwill of the
global community, to serve and, where necessary, manage the
difficulties of the people. History and current affairs indicate
that no government is capable of delivering utopia to its people -
even those unhampered by ideology, political sensitivities,
self-interest, and retribution. Mankind's difficulties are ever so
complex. Invariably, the void left has to be managed for mankind to
have a life worth living. "Nature abhors a vacuum," so says the
adage. Political stalwarts like Abraham Lincoln and courageous
clergymen William Wilberforce rise to the fore. This pious hegemony
is ably supported by charities, humanitarians, and ordinary
individuals who have shown courage and compassion and the
willingness to save and improve lives. Charities continue to make
the difference. The courage and compassion of Lincoln, Wilberforce,
Nightingale, and Mother Teresa may be unsurpassed, but Providence
will continue to provide heroes and heroines for humanity.
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