Disclaimer for context/purpose:
This is not to say Americans are better then others in generosity in foreign aide for they are still 6th not number 1 in foreign aide when counting in other then governmental aide but rather this is to be viewed as a response to American criticism that we are dead last in foreign aide. It is to balance out some of the media negativity with some interesting points on the otherside of the issue. Also, this is not to say religious people are more generous then non religious people but rather to respond to unbalanced negativity toward religious people from the media pointing out the sex scandals/evils done in the name of organized religion and TV evangelist abuse of money and so forth. Here is the other side rarely reported on in the media and in some cases never or if it is as you will see only in the context of a liberal bias:
The US is not as stingy as media/world opinion may have you think:
Letter to the editor to the New York Times: United States Is Not "Stingy" on Foreign Aid-"U.N. official Jan Egeland recently criticized the U.S. for being "stingy" in its foreign aid to the Tsunami catastrophe, and in general. Yesterday's New York Times editorial entitled "Are We Stingy? Yes" cites only U.S. government aid figures. Yet, its news story entitled "Tsunami Followed by Another Kind of Flood: U.S. Citizens' Dollars" cites the outpouring of donations for victims from American charities, churches, foundations, and individuals. No, Americans are not stingy. We are generous -- not only through our government but primarily through our private charities. Using the right measures...Americans help people abroad the same way they help people at home -- primarily through their churches, philanthropies, foundations, universities, and corporations. They prefer people-to-people programs over government-to-government programs, since they are more direct, nimble and quick. This type of people-to-people giving was more than three and one-half times U.S. government giving abroad in 2002 (the last year comparable figures are available). Private foreign giving reached more than $35 billion. Even this is a low estimate, for a number of reasons explained in the full presentation of this research, conducted by Hudson Institute and published in Foreign Affairs ("The Privatization of Foreign Aid" by Carol C. Adelman, November/December 2003) and the Wall Street Journal, ("America's Helping Hand," by Carol C. Adelman, August 21, 2002.) Each year the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) measures countries' generosity by comparing each country's official foreign aid as a percentage of GNP. The U.S. ranks last in this because this measure does not encompass the huge amount of international private giving by Americans. Each year, this OECD report results in press releases and statements disparaging America's "stinginess." But using only government foreign aid is a limited, outdated and inaccurate way of measuring Americans' generosity. Given the enormous growth in private giving around the world, donors and commentators should re-evaluate the measure. And the New York Times editorial writers should read -- and heed -- news stories of impressive American generosity in their own newspaper."-Dr Carol Adelman December 31, 2004. Notice the left bias here. New York Times has an article that is positive about American generosity but is not mentioned as a fair response to the negative article of American governmental ungenerosity. Interesting way of bias to lean left in a view condemning conservative government and yet missing the conservative argument for conservative government in their own paper because of a non conservative bias. This is interesting for this shows that even though a paper like the New York Times may do an article that can be used to support conservative values but because of the liberal bias is completely missed so a liberal paper can report on something that conservatives would complain about not being reported on but still always and forever with a bias overall of left/progressive/liberal politics. Maybe I am reaching for something here that isn't there but just thought I would comment anyways on how a paper can report on something that is complained about missing because of bias but then at the same time is crammed into this overarching liberal point of view and thus loses any conservative value at all when there is a perfectly ligitimate understanding of those same facts that would actually support conservative government. Now both conservatives and liberals do the same thing to each other I am sure. It works on both sides but just because a paper that has a liberal/conservative slant does a report that may seemingly not favour its own point of view doesn't mean that the paper is presenting those facts in an overall context that doesn't already favour their conservative/liberal point of view. Maybe I am stating the obvious...
Private Sector Drives Growth in U.S. Assistance to Poor Nations-"While American assistance far outpaces support from other countries when calculated in total dollars, other nations equal or surpass the United States when donations are considered in relation to the size of national economies and populations. When measured as a percentage of gross national income, Sweden is the most generous source of official aid, followed by Norway and Luxembourg. The United States ranks 21st in official government aid as a percentage of national income. But when private and official aid is combined, U.S. contributions in 2006 climbed to sixth as a percentage of national income. In a per capita basis, Norway ranks first, with $768 in total (official and private) aid per person in 2006. The United States is fourth among OECD nations, with $434 in total public and private donations for every American."-This is off of http://www.america.gov/ which appears to be an excellent resource for "Telling America's Story" without left media bias (not without American governmental bias of course). Check out this section of that web site under American Giving many videos and interactivity with online quizes and such for educational purposes on what America is doing about foreign aide and such.-05/14/2008
The Index of Global Philanthropy 2008-Here is the 80 page study that supports above article but much more. I would suggest reading page 2 for main purpose of paper which is not to show US better then anyone else and check out some of the statistics as to where US stands in comparison to other countries when the private sector and non profit aide are included on page 20 and 21. And check out page 40 detailing Religious organizations and page 50 titled Stories of Success and Hope. Just a wealth if information....This study is not just about US but all the success stories of the private and nonprofit means of aiding poor countries as opposed to just governmental measures (See page 2). Basically US lags behind in government aide because US is stronger in private aide which largely makes up for the lack of governmental aide. Just a different philosophy in governship. But largely missed by world opinionators and media.
Foreign Policy Association and PBS Great Decisions Television Series: Philanthropy and the Rise of Global Giving-Dr Carol Adelman appears on PBS and BBC World News here at Transcript: BBC World News:Interview by BBC Phillipa Hudson with Hudson Institute's Carol Adelman
The Religious, both American and non-American, are not as corrupt as media/atheist would portray:
Religious Americans are generous-"people of faith in America have a huge heart in terms of giving to Third World countries...Carol Adelman of the Hudson Institute cites the information in a study done with Notre Dame University. "We didn't realize it would be as large as it was, and we came out with a number of $8.8 billion worth of goods and services that churches are giving overseas to developing countries," she points out....That figure represents nearly 40 percent of the foreign aid provided by the United States to the same region..."Well, I think with $8.8 billion going directly to the organizations with very little expensive overhead or administrative costs, I think this is having a huge impact," she maintains..."
Below are just 4 large christian ministries and there are ample more not to mention all the local church aide around the world:
World Vision-"World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice...Since 1950.." Here on the 2007 Financial Highlights page you can see over 900 million each year for the past 3 years in contributions 23% which are governmental and an 86% of that money going to humanitarian efforts.
Compassion International-"Founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952, Compassion began providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training. Today, Compassion helps more than 1 million children in 24 countries." Check out their financials here for 2006-2007 83.5% funds goes to help children. I added from this link the prior 4 years and a total of 880 million dollars in support for those 4 years.
Operation Blessing International: "Over 98.7% of OBI's spending goes toward humanitarian programs...Operation Blessing International is ranked as one of the top 75 charities in the USA by the NonProfit Times....For every $10 you give, it helps us secure more than $100 of donated food and relief supplies (10 to 1 return on your charitable investment)...Since 1978" Their financial statement of contributions/expenses are listed here. I added up in overall contributions just under a Billion dollars for the past 5 years.
Samaritans Purse-"For over 35 years, Samaritan's Purse has done our utmost to follow Christ's command by going to the aid of the world's poor, sick, and suffering. We are an effective means of reaching hurting people in countries around the world with food, medicine, and other assistance in the Name of Jesus Christ. This, in turn, earns us a hearing for the Gospel, the Good News of eternal life through Jesus Christ." Here is their 2006 financial statement of which includes 2005. I added up the overall contributions for those 2 years to be about 600 million dollars with 90% going to humanitarian efforts.
Teens give to Romanian missions-"Most recently, nearly $170,000 dollars were raised for an orphanage for abandoned children in Romania and to help mothers to prevent abandonment....This year, the fund will assist Rich and Sandy Farthing who have a children's ministry in Bolivia, the poorest country in South America...The children certainly need food, medical care, a roof over their heads and an education, but they will also receive instruction on Christianity which, Tolbert says, will provide them with true hope."
Pastor bikes for African health-"North Country Alliance Church in Plattsburgh, New York, has constructed a hospital in the West African country of Mali, specifically to help pregnant women and their babies."
Big Business generousity stories even after being taxed more then others:
Again, this is not to say there is no corruption but rather to bring balance and to show forth a side that hasn't received alot of attention for whatever reason:
Big Box Retailers, Not FEMA, May Be First Line Of Defense-"Hurricane season is just around the corner, so consumers should know where to turn to if disaster strikes. No, not the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A new study suggests Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's would be a lot more helpful. The study, from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, stresses that successful disaster relief depends upon responders having detailed knowledge of a local area and the right incentives to act on that knowledge. Examining federal and private responses to Hurricane Katrina, the study by St. Lawrence University Professor of Economics Steven Horwitz shows why FEMA was destined to fail, and why for-profit firms succeeded at disaster recovery."
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-"American businessman Warren Buffett (GEICO) gives more than $31 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, doubling the foundation's endowment from $29 billion to nearly $60 billion and making it by far the world's largest charitable foundation."
U.S. Companies Step Up the Business of Giving Overseas-"America has a tradition of corporate philanthropy. In the early 20th century, business tycoons like Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller started charities that focused on domestic problems...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports $566 million donated by American businesses in 2005 to help communities suffering after the South Asia tsunami....U.S. companies donated almost $5 billion to developing countries in 2004...The amount equals one-fourth of U.S. government foreign aid."
Lastly here is an interesting poll on http://www.onenewsnow.com/ (a conservative news media) titled:
Given that the American people have a proven record of extreme generosity to others less fortunate around the world, why is the U.S. so often the target of much condemnation?-Participate yourself in this poll and find out what many onenewsnow.com subscribers feel the reason why is....
Sign up for http://www.onenewsnow.com/ daily email list here to sample this media. This is where my search on this story began. Where would we be without such news medium, still last in foreign aide!!!
Yanking Back the Balance/Filling in the Gaps/Emphasizing the Missing Headlines
"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."-Benjamin Franklin (Source: James Madison, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 450-452, June 28, 1787.)
