Africa, Agriculture, Blog, Charity, Economic Empowerment, featured, Gender Equality, nonprofits, Poverty, Products With a Purpose

Nonprofit Works to Eradicate Poverty Through Business, Not Charity

I have had the pleasure of reporting from low-income countries in east Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean many times and have seen a multitude of poverty eradication efforts from organizations that are created by social entrepreneurs to those that are funded by foundations, corporations and countries’ developmental aid. No matter the organizations’ efforts, there are key poverty eradication tenets they all subscribe to: community buy-in (financial inclusion), women-based business opportunities, educational programs, and increased access to food, clean water and quality health care. When all of these aspects are combined they tend to gradually reduce community and familial poverty.

Jennifer JamesNovember 15, 2022November 16, 2022Leave a comment

Anti-hate, Empowerment, featured, nonprofits

Holocaust Remembrance Day Marks Increase in Antisemitism in the United States

On this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Hashoah, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) marks an all-time high in antisemitism in the United States. In its 2021 Audit of Antisemitism, 2717 incidents were recorded last year including assaults, vandalism, and harassment. 2021’s antisemitic incidents are up 34 percent. It is the highest number on record since the ADL began recording antisemitic incidents in 1979.

Antisemitic harassments were up 42 percent, vandalism by 14 percent, and assaults increased by 167 percent. Additionally, most of the incidents occurred in May 2021 and coincided with the military conflict between Isreal and Hamas. The previous highest month on record was November 2018 (300 incidents) which was the month after the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh, PA. The states with the highest number of incidents were New York (416), New Jersey (370), California (367), Florida (190), Michigan (112), and Texas (112). Combined, these states account for 58% of the total incidents.

Jennifer JamesApril 27, 2022April 27, 2022Leave a comment

Blog, Charity, nonprofits, philanthropy, United States

Remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Today By Donating to His Historic Sites In Atlanta and Montgomery

A few years ago I traveled through Alabama on its Civil Rights trail with the Alabama Tourism Board. I am so glad I went on that trip. I learned so much about the Civil Rights movement that I didn’t know and visited poignant historic sites that really brought the movement to life. Today on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day I want to share some … Continue reading Remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Today By Donating to His Historic Sites In Atlanta and Montgomery

Jennifer JamesJanuary 20, 2020Leave a comment

Blog, featured, nonprofits, philanthropy, Poverty, Refugees

IKEA Foundation Grants $53 Million to Support Children’s Right to Play

War and conflict. Poverty. Gender discrimination. Growing up too fast. These are just some of the reasons children in some of the poorest countries around the world are not allowed to play. Play makes children healthier and more resilient. It heals some of their greatest wounds and helps them remain kids without growing up too soon. Additionally, play is every child’s fundamental right according to … Continue reading IKEA Foundation Grants $53 Million to Support Children’s Right to Play

Jennifer JamesNovember 3, 2017November 3, 2017Leave a comment

Blog, Charity, nonprofits, philanthropy

Microloans Are Not Charity

Today’s guest post is from Seeds, a tech startup with a female founder working to build social good through microlending into every app that exists.

Most of us know what microloans are, right? They’re small loans — say $5 or $25 — given to people in need. These people can use the loans to buy livestock or supplies for their small businesses, and then pay back the loans with their proceeds.

What usually comes to everyone’s mind when they think about microloans is Kiva, the highly successful microlending nonprofit. (Fun fact: Bill Draper, one of Kiva’s investors, and Sam Birney, Kiva’s former Director of Engineering are investors in Seeds!) Kiva is awesome, but there’s actually a lot more to the world of microfinance than just what they do. We wanted to shed some light on this broader landscape today.

1. Microloans are not a type of nonprofit.

Because Kiva is a nonprofit, what seems to be a big misconception has propagated: that microlending is a category of nonprofit. In fact, it’s a type of lending and finance that happens to do a lot of social good. We think the “social good” part is what confuses people. People often don’t realize that social good doesn’t just come from nonprofits — it can also come from financial institutions, businesses and startups (like Seeds!)

Continue reading “Microloans Are Not Charity”

Social Good Moms ContributorMay 1, 2017Leave a comment

Blog, child health, Giving Tuesday, Insight Trips, Maternal Health, newborn health, newborns, nonprofits, philanthropy

Double Your Donation Today By Giving to World Vision #GivingTuesday

When I travel to low-income countries I am most interested in learning about and reporting on maternal and newborn health. As a mother of two daughters it is my biggest passion. Today on Giving Tuesday I am proud to work with one of my favorite international nonprofit organizations: World Vision USA. I had the distinct opportunity to travel with them to the Philippines a few years … Continue reading Double Your Donation Today By Giving to World Vision #GivingTuesday

Jennifer JamesNovember 29, 2016Leave a comment

Blog, Book Reviews, Books, Charity, Economic Empowerment, Empowerment, Food Security, Haiti, nonprofits, Women, Women's Rights

Book Review: To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life

To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life by Steven Werlin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Helping families lift themselves out of poverty means helping them build income and wealth, but it is a social phenomenon as well,” wrote Steve Werlin, the author of To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life. “And one of the social change we try to effect involves working on the way members look at themselves.”

It is quite impressive how someone’s mind and attitude can alter and reset the course of one’s life. However, in order to eventually arrive at that mind reset some people require a substantive hand out, constant observation and follow-up; not simply a prescriptive hand up. When looking at the lowest income countries in the world like Haiti a vast array of NGOs work to alleviate some of its inherent problems with programs that address the root of poverty. Some provide work programs, educational programs, health care, or even microloan programs. But some of Haiti’s families are so extremely poor they cannot dream of qualifying for many of these programs because they have virtually nothing. In fact, they live in such cyclical poverty they cannot feed themselves on a daily basis, or even every other day. In Haiti’s deepest far reaches and unfathomable rural areas are families who live in abject poverty far away from roads and towns. They require the most cumulative social programs designed by worldwide NGOs that specialize in the nuances of poverty reduction and eradication.

In Haiti, for example, one of those social programs is called “Chemen lavi miyo (CLM)” in Creole or a Pathway to a Better Life that is run by Fonkoze, Haiti’s largest microfinance organization. Even as a microfinance enterprise Fonkoze realized that to reach the poorest Haitian families means to provide overarching programs that teach rural women who qualify for their CLM program financial and entrepreneurial skills as well as life and relationship skills.

Continue reading “Book Review: To Fool the Rain: Haiti’s Poor and Their Pathway to a Better Life”

Jennifer JamesOctober 5, 2016April 23, 2017Leave a comment

Asia, Blog, Disaster Relief, featured, Nepal, Nepal, Nepal Reporting Trip, nonprofits, Women

After Earthquake, Nepal Sees NGO Paradigm Shift

This article originally appeared on Huffington Post.

The world of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is vast and growing if you live in Nepal. Some experts estimate there is a whopping 50,000 registered NGOs (PDF) in the country, a steep increase since an NGO registration change in 1992. With that change, groups of individuals joined together in droves to create organizations to fight the languishing poverty in Nepal, a country that has been classified by the United Nations as one of the world’s least developed countries since 1971. Experts also attribute the increase of Nepalese NGOs to the country’s small private enterprise sector. Most Nepalis believe the only way they can make money is through civil society where tens of millions of dollars flow through Nepal’s civil sector every year.

While many organizations follow the safe blueprint of how NGOs should operate, there are some that are devising innovative ways in which to help communities at their most basic level, especially after the earthquakes that rocked the landlocked country caused nearly 9,000 fatalities nationwide last year. The earthquakes shocked the country and exposed immense disaster relief vulnerabilities of the government as well as the throngs of NGOs that were not prepared to handle a major natural disaster.

Continue reading “After Earthquake, Nepal Sees NGO Paradigm Shift”

Jennifer JamesSeptember 22, 2016September 23, 20162 Comments

Blog, Charity, giving, nonprofits

Meet Three Start-Ups that are Making Giving Easy

Now that the giving season is officially over it is also important to set your wheels in motion to give not just at the end of the year when the appeals are loudest, but throughout the year. Giving throughout the year helps space your giving and organize it. It also allows you to easily give to several different charities (for example, a different charity per month) as opposed to hastily finding charities to support in November and December.

There are three start-ups that caught my eye that are making giving easier in this fast-paced environment. One allows you to be a true Slactivist, but also donate real dollars (not your own) to charities. Another allows you to schedule your giving and watch its impact. And the other provides a daily list of charities to support for those who have trouble finding the exact charities that speak to them.

Continue reading “Meet Three Start-Ups that are Making Giving Easy”