Imtiaz Sooliman, a medical doctor practising in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, visited a Shaikh in Istanbul in 1992. The Sufi teacher gave him a message that would dramatically change the lives of countless people.

‘To my absolute astonishment he told me I would help people for the rest of my life. He then instructed me to form a humanitarian organisation called the “Gift of the Givers”, and repeated the phrase “the best among people are those who benefit mankind”.’

Almost 30 years later Gift of the Givers, Africa’s largest humanitarian and disaster agency, has a reputation for speedy responses to floods, war, famine, fires, tsunamis, kidnapping and earthquakes. Well known for their interventions in South African and international disasters, teams of volunteers have undertaken missions to places such as Bosnia, Palestine, Japan, Haiti, Indonesia, Malawi and Mozambique. In the last few years they have turned their attention to the poorest South Africans - they have put up hospitals, run clinics, dug wells, drilled boreholes, built houses, offered scholarships and provided shelter, food and psychological succour to millions.

Originally published in 2014, the book has been brought up to date to continue the extraordinary tale of an organisation that has become a South African legend – the first to intervene in so many devastating situations and bring hope to those who have lost everything. Gift of the Givers’ reputation for direct, honest and non-partisan solution-finding has become a beacon of hope in South Africa.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the United States was growing by fits and starts into its new role as a global power. Unlike European empires, it sought to distinguish itself as a new kind of power. Corporations and media outlets were spreading American brands, ideas, and commodities worldwide, increasing we would today call soft power. Meanwhile, American citizens and government officials grappled with their nation's rising prominence and debated how best to engage with the wider world. One of those ways was to use foreign aid to define the nation's new role and responsibilities with regards to the international community. This first book narrates the early history of American foreign relief and assistance as a way of guiding the international community in peaceful cooperation and modernization towards greater stability and democracy. It tells the story of how the United States government came to realize the value of overseas aid as a tool of statecraft. A prime case in point is the American Red Cross, a quasi-private, quasi-state organization. Established in 1882, the ARC was a privately funded and staffed organization, primarily dependent on volunteer labor. However, it shared a special relationship with the U.S. government, formalized by Congressional charters, which made it the "official voluntary" aid association of the United States in times of war and natural disaster. Together, international-minded American progressives-a generation of American health professionals, social scientists, and public intellectuals-made the ARC into a vehicle for the global dissemination of their ideas about health, social welfare, and education. They urged their fellow citizens to reject their traditional attachments to isolationism and non-entanglement and to commit to "humanitarian internationalism." Their international activities included feeding, housing, and anti-epidemic projects in wartime France, Italy, Russia, and Serbia; the development of playgrounds, education initiatives, and child health clinics in postwar Poland and Czechoslovakia; correspondence programs to unite American children and their international peers; and the extension of all of these efforts to U.S. territories, sites where the conceptual lines between foreign and domestic blurred in the U.S. imagination. This history calls attention to the ways that private organizations have served the diplomatic needs of the U.S. state, as well as been an institutional space for Americans who wanted to participate in international affairs in ways that deviated from official state agendas. By the mid-1920s, voluntary humanitarian interventionism had become the basis for a new set of American civic and political obligations to the world community.

So long as large segments of humanity are suffering chronic poverty and are dying from treatable diseases, organized giving can save or enhance millions of lives. With the law providing little guidance, ethics has a crucial role to play in ensuring that the philanthropic practices of individuals, foundations, NGOs, governments, and international agencies are morally sound and effective. In Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy, an accomplished trio of editors bring together an international group of distinguished philosophers, social scientists, lawyers and practitioners to identify and address the most urgent moral questions arising today in the practice of philanthropy. The topics discussed include the psychology of giving, the reasons for and against a duty to give, the accountability of NGOs and foundations, the questionable marketing practices of some NGOs, the moral priorities that should inform NGO decisions about how to target and design their projects, the good and bad effects of aid, and the charitable tax deduction along with the water's edge policy now limiting its reach. This ground-breaking volume can help bring our practice of charity closer to meeting the vital needs of the millions worldwide who depend on voluntary contributions for their very lives.

Calling all change-makers! Open your mind, and buckle up for a bumpy ride through a truth-telling journey about the dysfunctional relationship between foundations and non-profits. We all know that its broken. So why haven't we fixed it? Enter the Unicorns. Join unicorns Jane Leu, Vu Le, and Jessamyn Shams-Lau for a nitty-gritty, inside look at how foundations and non-profits relate today, and why we're stuck in the status quo. Next, get ready for a rocket-ship ride to a future filled with EPIC Partnerships grounded in equality, trust, and creativity; partnerships to help us think bigger, bolder, and better about social change. Finally, make it happen! Roll up your sleeves and dive into a series of fun and thought-provoking exercises for you to do and discuss with your team, your partners, and your board. This is a whimsical journey through a challenging conversation that could hold the key to slaying the dragons of injustice and inequity once and for all.

What motivates "ordinary people" to support refugees emotionally and financially? This is a timely question considering the number of displaced people in today's world is at an all-time high. To help counter this crisis, it is imperative for the Canadian government to determine which policies encourage volunteers to welcome asylum seekers, and which ones must be reviewed. Ordinary People, Extraordinary Actions relates the story of the St. Joseph's Parish Refugee Outreach Committee over its thirty years in action, revealing how seemingly small decisions and actions have led to significant changes in policies and in people's lives-and how they can do so again in the future. By helping readers-young and old, secular and faith-oriented-understand what drives individuals and communities to welcome refugees with open hearts and open arms, the authors hope to inspire people across Canada and beyond its borders to strengthen our collective willingness and ability to offer refuge as a lifesaving protection for those who need it.

In Come Hell or High Water: Feminism and the Legacy of Armed Conflict in Central America, Tine Destrooper analyzes the political projects of feminist activists in light of their experience as former revolutionaries. She compares the Guatemalan and Nicaraguan experience to underline the importance of ethnicity for women's activism during and after the civil conflict. The first part of the book traces the influence of armed conflict on contemporary women's activism, by combining an analysis of women's personal histories with an analysis of structural and contextual factors. This critical analysis forms the basis of the second part of the book, which discusses several alternative forms of women's activism rooted in indigenous practices The book thereby combines a micro- and macro-level analysis to present a sound understanding of post-conflict women's activism.

The Politics of Expertise offers a challenging new interpretation of politics in contemporary Britain, through an examination of non-governmental organisations. Using specific case studies of the homelessness, environment, and international aid and development sectors, it demonstrates how politics and political activism has changed over the last half century. NGOs have contributed enormously to a professionalization and a privatization of politics, emerging as a new form of expert knowledge and political participation. They have been led by a new breed of non-party politician, working in collaboration and in competition with government. Skilful navigators of the modern technocratic state, they have brought expertise to expertise and, in so doing, have changed the nature of grassroots activism. As affluent citizens have felt marginalised by the increasingly complex nature of many policy solutions, they have made the rational calculation to support NGOs, the professionalism and resources of which make them better able to tackle complex problems. Yet in doing so, support rather than participation becomes the more appropriate way to describe the relationship of the public to NGOs. As voter turnout has declined, membership and trust in NGOs has increased. But NGOs are very different types of organisations from the classic democratic institutions of political parties and the labour movement. They maintain different and varied relationships with the publics they seek to represent. Attracting mass support has provided them with the resources and the legitimacy to speak to power on a bewildering range of issues, yet perhaps the ultimate victors in this new form of politics are the NGOs themselves.

The Nonprofit Sector in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia (EERCA), edited by David Horton Smith, Alisa V. Moldavanova, and Svitlana Krasynska, uniquely provides a research overview of the nonprofit sector and nonprofit organizations in eleven former Soviet republics, with each central chapter written by local experts. Such chapters, with our editorial introductions, present up-to-date versions of works previously published in EERCA native languages. With a Foreword by Susan Rose-Ackerman (Yale University), introductory and concluding chapters also explain the editors' theoretical approach, setting the whole volume in several, relevant, larger intellectual contexts, and summarize briefly the gist of the book. The many post-Soviet countries show much variety in their current situation, ranging from democratic to totalitarian regimes.

"Weaving Transnational Solidarity from the Catskills to Chiapas and Beyond" analyzes the grassroots, economic justice work (1998-2009) of three groups-two Mexican organizations, Jolom Mayaetik, Mayan women's weaving cooperative, and K inal Antzetik, NGO in the highlands of Chiapas, and an informal, international solidarity network. The book provides scholar-activist, ethnographic case study data which contributes to understanding collective organization, indigenous rights, and the solidarity process within transnational social movements and critically reflects on Fair Trade, health, and education solidarity efforts as well as the class, ethnic, and gender dimensions of neoliberal globalization. Central themes include solidarity, human rights, and social justice. Indigenous women s voices are featured in the book as powerful in transnational justice organizing-in the global south and north. "Critical Global Studies," vol. 2

Education and NGOs discusses the role of sectors outside the mainstream in relation to improving access to education, with particular focus on the underprivileged. International case study examples offer insights into the work of non-governmental organizations, which play a crucial role in UNESCO's global Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) effort, by providing alternative forms of education and improving educational access. Including a discussion of the work of organizations such as Africa Educational Trust, Kids Company, FIDAL Foundation and many others, the volume explores the role of NGOs in the UK, the USA, India, Nepal, the Gaza Strip, Ecuador, Philippines and South Africa. Each chapter contains contemporary questions to encourage active engagement with the material and an annotated list of suggested reading to support further exploration.

The Syrian war has been an example of the abuse and insufficient delivery of humanitarian assistance. According to international practice, humanitarian aid should be channelled through a state government that bears a particular responsibility for its population. Yet in Syria, the bulk of relief went through Damascus while the regime caused the vast majority of civilian deaths. Should the UN have severed its cooperation with the government and neglected its humanitarian duty to help all people in need? Decision-makers face these tough policy dilemmas, and often the "neutrality trap" snaps shut. This book discusses the political and moral considerations of how to respond to a brutal and complex crisis while adhering to international law and practice. The author, a scholar and senior diplomat involved in the UN peace talks in Geneva, draws from first-hand diplomatic, practitioner and UN sources. He sheds light on the UN's credibility crisis and the wider implications for the development of international humanitarian and human rights law. This includes covering the key questions asked by Western diplomats, NGOs and international organizations, such as: Why did the UN not confront the Syrian government more boldly? Was it not only legally correct but also morally justifiable to deliver humanitarian aid to regime areas where rockets were launched and warplanes started? Why was it so difficult to render cross-border aid possible where it was badly needed? The meticulous account of current international practice is both insightful and disturbing. It tackles the painful lessons learnt and provides recommendations for future challenges where politics fails and humanitarians fill the moral void.

RACE, POWER & POLITICS is the only book about ACORN ever written by authentic ACORN insiders-National Board Members. It is a must read for all concerned citizens, journalists and advocates, whether Tea Party, conservatives, civil libertarians or fairminded liberals; anyone interested in-and not afraid of learning the unvarnished truth about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. RACE, POWER & POLITICS is a cautionary tale of corruption and deceit within ACORN. Learn the unsettling truth from true believers who refused to be brainwashed by the "Jones Town" cult-like association or drink the Rathke family "Kool-Aid" and who challenged the entire ACORN establishment, including Wade Rathke a "Jim Jones" like figure, Senator Barack Obama an ACORN man seeking the White House and a Democrat controlled Congress; all while fighting management corruption within ACORN before its inevitable collapse. RACE, POWER & POLITICS is an inspirational journey and a cautionary tale for all non-profits, community organizations and public charities dedicated to supporting human rights and social justice. This powerful first person narrative gives an insiders perspective on ACORN, its senior management and exposes their corrupt practices. A compelling story about the courageous true believers who once loved ACORN and its mission to empower the underserved and marginalized members of American society, but soon discovered the unsettling truth about fraud and deceit within ACORN, and how they battled against insurmountable odds to reform the once venerable association.

In this book, Julia Berger examines internal meaning-making structures and processes driving NGO behavior, identifying constructs from within a religious tradition that forge new ways of pursuing social change. She evaluates the operation of a distinct rationality, arguing that action is guided not simply by beliefs and values, but also by a combination of elements so intrinsic as to constitute an “organizational DNA.” These hidden structures and rationalities manifest themselves in new modes of engagement and agency; they help us to see the pivotal role of religion in shaping notions of peace, progress, and modernity. To demonstrate the operation and salience of such a rationality, Berger draws on the example of the worldwide Baha’i community. Emerging in 19th century Iran, the community’s theological engagement with questions of justice, the unity of humankind, and the emerging global order, constitute one of the most distinct and compelling, yet least-researched examples of religious engagement with the pressing questions of our time. Analyzing events spanning a 75-year period from 1945-2020, this book provides a unique historical and contemporary perspective on the evolving role of religion and civil society in the modern world.

This publication provides a fresh perspective on the litigation of the European Court of Human Rights by focusing upon the role that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play in it. The inspiration for this work was the growing literature that points to human rights as the outcome of political and social struggles. The role that NGOs play in these struggles is well-documented in the context of other international and regional human rights tribunals, but has been less widely written about in the context of the European Court of Human Rights. The Court is typically subject to legalistic, as opposed to socio-political, scrutiny. In this book, the Court's litigation is re-cast as a site where politically motivated actors attempt to affect the meaning that is given to the language of the European Convention on Human Rights and to use the Convention as a mechanism that can contribute to social change. For the purposes of this research, a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research techniques is adopted. These methods facilitate the author's desire to obtain both a de-centered perspective of the Court's functions and a systematic picture of the scale of NGO involvement in the Court's litigation. The core of this work is primarily based on data obtained from a sample of cases in which the Court had delivered judgment, and a plethora of associated materials, including extensive interviews with NGOs that were involved in those cases. Ultimately, this book challenges the idea that the litigation of the Court is bound to the idea of achieving individual justice and highlights the meaningful impact that NGOs have on certain important sections of the Court's litigation.

Despite the sustained scholarly attention that the United Nations and international NGOs have received in the twenty-first century, they still remain under-researched from a management studies perspective. This volume brings together rich analyses of these organizations' functioning, arguing that they are best understood as intermediaries between international decision-making and funding bodies in the developed world and initiatives that take place on the ground, primarily in the Global South. Based on current management research, this follow-up to Rethinking International Organizations (Berghahn, 2002) provides a wealth of both empirical and theoretical insights, along with practical recommendations how these organizations can function more effectively.

This book contains Open Access chapters. As complex, intractable social problems continue to intensify, organizations respond with novel approaches that bridge multiple institutional spheres and combine forms, identities, and logics that would conventionally not go together, creating hybridity. Scholarly research on this phenomenon has expanded in tandem, drawing on varied theoretical lenses and exploring a widening array of empirical contexts.This edited volume takes stock of recent developments in the literature and sets a foundation for the next generation of research on organizational hybridity. It offers a multi-level, dynamic approach for capturing and explaining heterogeneity in how hybridity manifests and evolves within organizations and fields over time. The chapters included in the volume cover institutional logics, organizational identity, social categories, and paradox approaches to hybridity, and they examine settings ranging from social enterprise, microfinance, and impact investing to business sustainability, health care, and government. Taken as a whole, the volume provides both inspiration and analytical tools for developing timely and relevant insights to address pressing societal challenges. It is essential reading for organizational scholars, as well as leaders in business, non-profit, and public sector organizations.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become ubiquitous in the development sector in Africa and attracting more academic attention. However, the fact that NGOs are an integral part of the everyday lives of men and women on the continent has been overlooked thus far. In Africa, NGOs are not remote, but familiar players, situated in the midst of cities and communities. By taking a radical empirical stance, this book studies NGOs as a vital part of the lifeworlds of Africans. Its contributions are immersed in the pasts, presents and futures of personal encounters, memories, decision-making and politics.

A half century after its founding in London in 1844, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) became the first NGO to effectively push a modernization agenda around the globe. Soon followed by a sister organization, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), founded in 1855, the Y-movement defined its global mission in 1889. Although their agendas have been characterized as predominantly religious, both the YMCA and YWCA were also known for their new vision of a global civil society and became major agents in the world-wide dissemination of modern "Western" bodies of knowledge. The YMCA's and YWCA's "secular" social work was partly rooted in the Anglo-American notions of the "social gospel" that became popular during the 1890s. The Christian lay organizations' vision of a "Protestant Modernity" increasingly globalized their "secular" social work that transformed notions of science, humanitarianism, sports, urban citizenship, agriculture, and gender relations. Spreading Protestant Modernity shows how the YMCA and YWCA became crucial in circulating various forms of knowledge and practices that were related to this vision, and how their work was coopted by governments and rival NGOs eager to achieve similar ends. The studies assembled in this collection explore the influence of the YMCA's and YWCA's work on highly diverse societies in South, Southeast, and East Asia, North America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Focusing on two of the most prominent representative groups within the Protestant youth, social service, and missionary societies (the so-called "Protestant International"), the book provides new insights into the evolution of global civil society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and its multifarious, seemingly secular, legacies for today's world. Spreading Protestant Modernity offers a compelling read for those interested in global history, the history of colonialism and decolonization, the history of Protestant internationalism, and the trajectories of global civil society. While each study is based on rigorous scholarship, the discussion and analyses are in accessible language that allows everyone from undergraduate students to advanced academics to appreciate the Y-movement's role in social transformations across the world.

Security concerns increasingly influence foreign aid: how Western countries give aid, to whom and why. With contributions from experts in the field, this book examines the impact of security issues on six of the world's largest aid donors, as well as on key crosscutting issues such as gender equality and climate change.

Knowing what deep participation is, and how it works, can make a critical difference in solving 21st century economic, political, and social problems. This book provides a new approach to hands-on change and begins formulation of a participatory social theory promising greater prosperity and justice for all.