International
Aid and Our Global Responsibility
A Perspective on Poverty and Wealth
It's been said that charity begins in our own backyard. The question is if it should end there.
Philanthropy in the United States tends to maintain an exclusively local orientation. International funding barely makes it onto philanthropy's radar screen.
Only about 10% of the U.S. foundation grants, and less than 2% of all U.S. philanthropy --2 cents on the dollar-- goes overseas. And very little gets down to the grassroots, to the people in need.
--Grant Montgomery, co-founder of FCF, a California-based 501c3
Philanthropy in the United States tends to maintain an exclusively local orientation. International funding barely makes it onto philanthropy's radar screen.
Only about 10% of the U.S. foundation grants, and less than 2% of all U.S. philanthropy --2 cents on the dollar-- goes overseas. And very little gets down to the grassroots, to the people in need.
--Grant Montgomery, co-founder of FCF, a California-based 501c3
"Poor depends on where you are", writes Davan
Maharaj in the Los Angeles Times.In the
An annual household income of $42,200 --the
In the United States
An annual household income of $42,200 --the U.S.
For the developing world, the World Bank sets its poverty line at $730 a year
($2 a day). Living on two dollars a day sounds like incredibly little. --Until you
compare this to parts of Africa which gets by
on 1/3 of that! Half of sub-Saharan Africa 's
600 million people live on about 65 cents a day -- a fraction of what an
average American might spend on a cup of coffee – translating into an annual income of just over
$237 a year.
Roughly half of the world’s
children live in poverty, even though their parents, as well as many of the children themselves, slave away each day even
just to maintain a living.
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