Open Up and Say “Ah!”

After doing my research on the newest addition (WFP) to the blogroll of suggested organizations, I realized that I should help people do research on something that they find on their own.  Of course, Wikipedia is not your source for reliable information, but it could be a start.  Thanks to the Internet, virtually every organization has a web site.  Any reputable organization will post nearly every shred of information they have in order to attract donors.  Look at information aimed at corporate recruitment.  Look at the organizational structure and financial disclosures.  LOOK AT EVERYTHING, no matter how uninteresting it may appear.  Google Scholar is a good place to look up information about programs published in professional journals.  Go to the library, especially a college library, and read up on the background issues in the most recent publications available.  I have put a link to the Christian Science Monitor in the blogroll as an additional source of current event information.  If the group is local, check by word of mouth, through the Better Business Bureau, or physically go there.

Guidestar and Charity Navigator are two sites that disclose and rate finances, have mission statements, and provide contact information for most organizations.  I will add them to the blogroll for easy reference.  If you want to contribute to a huge international organization such as a United Nations sponsored group, it most likely will not be listed.  Both services are free to use. 

You know enough about your organization when you can be an effective advertisement for that organization and can answer the questions or direct someone to information that you needed to research in order to become involved.  YOU WILL NOT STAY WITH SOMETHING YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN.  Invest in your investment!

World Food Programme

Here’s another link in the chain of helping to change the world.  For a $.25 (twenty five cents) donation to the World Food Programme of the United Nations, a cup will be filled with food for a starving school child.  Very simply, the idea behind this program is to attract children to school in order to get a meal, and in return give the child an education.  For people who are anti-terrorist, the bags of grain come printed with words stating that the food is from friends in the USA, and also attracts children away from terrorist recruiters that offer to feed its members as a benefit of joining.  This announcement on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. gives insight into the program.

We all know that the United Nations is a big lumbering beast with many faults.  In my search of WFP policy, there were promising statements of evaluation and accountability.  I could not find a breakdown of the percentage of how dollars were divvied, but I have heard that it is a very high ratio.  This program is the new media darling, but in fact has been around since 1963.  Having celebrity ties appears to help in this world, but then I think the 70+ million recipients in about 80 countries are just glad someone noticed and did something.  In the past, global efforts have crashed and burned because the goals were too high, too vague, or because someone forgot to ask if everyone was on the same page.  I’m glad this one is doing its job.  Read up!