User:Valis55/sandbox/Foundation Beyond Belief

The Foundation Beyond Belief is a charitable organization which funds a global selection of secular and non-proselytizing religious charities, as well as conducting their own humanitarian projects.

Founded in 2009, the Foundation Beyond Belief was established as a way for secular individuals to incorporate regular charitable giving into their lifestyles. The Foundation primarily serves as a conduit to other charities. Unless a donor specifies funds go to support the Foundation directly, all monies received by the FBB are passed on to recipient charities.

A different set of charitable organizations is chosen every quarter in five different areas. Donors can designate percentages of their donations which go to each area, depending on their own priorities.

History
Dale McGowan came up with the idea for the Foundation Beyond Belief in 2005, when taking his three children to church in Minneapolis. He was impressed to learn that the church held weekly dinners for the homeless, and noticed the people putting money in the offering plate at each service. He realized that the secular community lacked a similar structure to promote charitable giving. As Samuel G. Freedman put it in a New York Times article, McGowan set out to "create the atheist's collection plate." When the Foundation launched in January, 2010, they chose charities in ten target areas: environment, education, health, human rights, peace, poverty, children, animals, "big bang" (small charity, big impact) and the operations of the foundation itself. The Foundation had a goal of $500,000 and 4,000 members for its first year. By the end of the 2010 the Foundation had 700 regular donors and had distributed over $83,000 to 37 different charities.