My friend Terrance blogged (“Feed a Kid, Change the World“) about the “Nineteen cents a day” campaign of the McGovern-Dole program, and how one can click-though to help and so forth. Here’s a letter Terrance links in the Washington Post by the former senators who headline the organization.
I’m assuming that my readers understand that there are hundreds of millions of undernourished people in the world, that a high proportion of these are children, and that undernourished children have a diminished future — if any future at all. This program is the conceptual extension of the school lunch program we know works to prepare kids for learning. We all get that, right?
Now there’s the question if this is the right kind of organization to support. Many of us have experience running and raising money (and consciousness) for not-for-profits, and we know that money follows trust and recognition. Is this the kind of outfit I can trust and want to recognize? The answer: yes.
I’ve researched the United Nations World Food Programme, Friends of the World Food Program (the US charitable “front end” to whom Americans donate, and yes, the spelling is different) and the mission. I liked what I saw and gave $35. You should too. (I took out the link to the online giving site because it fouled up my XHTML.)
Here’s some more about it.
- As a charity, the Friends of the World Food Program seems well managed and is an efficient organization. See this Guidestar report and this Charity Navigator report.
- I like how the Programme appeals to bloggers to link to them. That’s cost-effective leverage. I think it is a good idea and so I’ll have the banner link up for two weeks. Maybe longer. Other bloggers can get a banner here. (Go to the bottom of the page.)
- I approve of a good work that brings elder politicians bipartisanly. A smidgeon of hope, there.
You know what you need to do.