Archive for Steven Ketchpel (author of "Giving Back")

Mission-Related Investing for the Rest of Us (part 2 of 5)

June 15, 2012 / / No comments

In my first post of this series, Mission-Related Investing for the Rest of Us, I contemplated the challenge of how my personal investments could better reflect my values.  Some recent classes and books have encouraged me to think about the “social returns” my investments could be earning instead of focusing exclusively on financial returns.

To show how my thinking is changing, I need to start with what it was before.

My Background

I’m a “rational” and somewhat informed investor.  I was part of the Investment Club learning about the stock market in middle school, have subscribed to BusinessWeek nearly continuously and Forbes occasionally.  I took a course on investment strategies as part of my Masters in Industrial Engineering / Engineering Management.  I have friends who work in finance and occasionally recommend books or share ideas (I’d heard of CDO’s well before they became mainstream media news.)  I spent a year learning about microfinance and talking with bankers and non-profits about their operations.

I’m more of a do-it-yourself investor.  Although I’m not prepared to spend much of my time managing investments, I’m also leery of paying the high rates for someone else to manage my money for me, knowing that most advisors  fail to match the averages, especially when fees are included.  This combination translates into making me a “Buy and Hold” investor.  One of the dangers of this investing style is that you have to be committed about holding, and not bail out because “everything is dropping!”  That’s a sure-fire way to “Sell Low.”  Friends cited the Warren Buffett advice:   “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” (from his 2007 Annual Shareholders Letter)  If you don’t have the temperament to follow your disciplined strategy, then having a manager do it for you can be a solution.  But that’s a very different style manager than an active trader or one who calls you up with a “hot tip.”

My career as a high-tech entrepreneur and consultant tends to have more earnings volatility than average, so I compensate by being more conservative in my investments.  (Or maybe I’m just more risk-averse than I like to admit.)

Efficient Markets

To a first approximation, I believe in the Efficient Market Hypothesis:  that is, people (especially investing professionals) have access to the same (or more) information, and have done the analysis, so if there were a serious mis-pricing (stock being under- or over-valued) they would buy and sell it to make the profit, and drive the stock to its “correct” price.  So, although there is random variation in prices (e.g., due to unexpected events in the market place), as new information becomes available, it gets absorbed quickly, with the prices adjusting accordingly.  A small, part-time, retail investor like myself is not going to get rich off seeing something that the full-time experts missed.

Blending Stocks with Bonds

Just as individual stocks are subject to random variation, the stock market also has a random component to it, and there are some years where the value will be down, say, 20%.  People with a strong stomach, investing over a long time horizon, can ride that out and wait until things come back, but people with a shorter time horizon can’t, and keeping a portion of your investment portfolio in a more stable investment, like bonds, yields greater stability at a (small) cost in total return.

Secure “Emergency Fund”

There’s also the need to have an emergency fund (6 months of expenses, at least) in a secure, liquid source should one have an unexpected change in job situation, health, etc.

Putting it all together

So, recapping, at a high level we have:

  • Stable, secure, liquid source for necessary living expenses:   savings / checking account, money market account, CD’s
  • Invested broadly in the stock market:  stocks, equity mutual funds or ETFs
  • Fixed income/bonds:  individual bonds, bond mutual funds or ETFs

[Note:  I’m not a home-owner, but for many people, their house is their most significant investment.   It shares characteristics of an equity investment:  expected appreciation over the long term, subject to dips and potentially long stretches to recover value if purchased at the top of a bubble.]

The mix that you have of these 3 asset classes (stocks, bonds, cash) determine the amount of risk you are taking (the higher the percentage of stocks, the more risk), and also the rate of return you are hoping to achieve.  The next 3 posts will deal with each of these asset classes, and how you can find alternatives that provide a mission-related return as well as the financial one.

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Starting your own Nonprofit

June 11, 2012 / / One comment

Bottom Line:   You probably don’t need to start your own non-profit organization.  It’s easier and more productive to work informally or under the supporting umbrella of another organization.  If you decide that won’t work for you, it’s not *that* hard or expensive, and there are useful books to help you out, but don’t go it alone!  Find some committed people to help you.

I had someone ask today about starting a nonprofit organization to support building solar greenhouses in Nepal.  Since I can’t (yet) just suggest that he read it in my book, I’ve included an excerpt of Giving Back that deals with the topic here.

Appendix B: Starting Your Own Nonprofit

When you’re excited about advancing a cause you care about, you might find it tempting to create a new organization to administer the project, collect donations, and recruit volunteers. While setting up a new organization isn’t particularly hard or expensive, it does saddle you with a long-term commitment, and may take away time and energy from working directly on your cause. If you can pursue your plan, at least the initial stages of it, before formalizing your operations with an official organization, you’re wise to do so. You can ensure that your project will be a sustaining interest, and that you truly have the necessary skills to lead, recruit, and fund the operation before getting too deeply committed.

Before you start your own nonprofit organization, here are some things to consider.

  1. Check twice to make sure there isn’t an existing group already doing what you propose.
  2. Review your own prior commitments and leadership experience. Do you have experience leading organizations through challenges for years at a stretch? Do you lose interest and move on to the next thing when you run into hardship? Check with your spouse, close coworkers, or good friends, who can also vouch for your ability to stick with it when things get hard.
  3. Consider the alternatives: Is there a way around setting up another organization? You may be taking on a significant amount of new work that isn’t really necessary. For example:
  • Could you do the work without an official organization? If you don’t need to receive tax-deductible donations to run your operations, you may not need a formal organization at all.
  • Could you locate a fiscal agent to act as a sponsor for your organization, receiving your donations but letting you operate as a largely independent entity?
  • Could you offer to start your program within an existing organization?

If starting a new organization still seems the best way to proceed, I recommend starting two different tasks in parallel:

  1. Start doing the work your organization will do. Make sure you can do the work (or at least as close to the real work as possible), make sure that you enjoy it, and make sure that it’s truly helpful to the intended beneficiaries.
  2. Start developing the legal, financial, and human resources you need for the new organization.
    1. Clearly articulate what you plan to do, and how you’ll be different from existing agencies.
    2. Test out your message on prospective volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries. Do other people get as excited as you are? Do the prospective beneficiaries agree that the service is needed? Are there other people who will help you fund and run the organization?
    3. Find other people who will serve as officers and directors for your organization. Together, they should be willing to commit to giving a significant amount (for example, $3,000 per year) for the basic operating expenses, as well as participating in fundraising at the goal level you’ll need to carry out your plans.
    4. Find an attorney and a CPA who can help you set up the organization and submit the needed forms (like the 990) to the government. Ideally, these professional service providers are so convinced about the cause and potential for this new organization that they agree to work pro bono, without charging you for their time, though you’ll still need to pay filing fees. Nolo Press publishes a great do-it-yourself guide to incorporating a nonprofit (Mancuso, How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation, 2011) with a special version for California residents (Mancuso, How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation in California, 2011). Nolo Press also offers a useful tax guide for nonprofits (Fishman, 2010), among other resources.
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Mission-Related Investing for the rest of us (First of a series…)

June 7, 2012 / / 2 comments

Mission Related Investing for the Rest of Us series:

  1. Part 1:  Motivation  (Using your investments to earn a “social,” values-based, return as well as a financial one)
  2. Part 2:  Background & Investing Theory (Where I’m coming from, and how I used to think about investing)
  3. Part 3:  Banking and Cash Alternatives
  4. Part 4:  Bond-like Alternatives
  5. Part 5:  Stock-like Alternatives

“Mission Related Investment (MRI)” is where a foundation invests some or all of its endowment in ways that not only provide a financial return, but also advance the organization’s mission.  For example:

  • Providing loans for affordable housing that wouldn’t otherwise be built
  • Providing capital for microfinance loans

By using the whole (or a large chunk) of their endowment on projects related to their mission, they can have a larger impact than just using the interest that is paid out (even if non-MRI investments earn a slightly higher return.)

This made sense to me in the context of a foundation, but I was stopped short recently when I was asked why I don’t do it personally.   Part of my mission is offering the least well off people around the world conditions that enable them to improve their lot.  Economic opportunity through microcredit is one of the key tools to make that happen.  I support some microfinance projects with my donations, but I never really considered making “mission related investments” to use the money I have to greater effect.   This has started me off on a new direction of reading and research, and my thinking is slowly starting to crystallize.

If I waited until I got it all sorted out, I would probably never finish the post, and it would be too long for anyone to read, so I’ll aim to publish shorter pieces (which will probably still be too long), get them out there more quickly (I’ve been sitting on this one in draft form for more than 2 weeks already), and edit as my understanding is refined further.

 

 

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Review of Amy Cortese’s Locavesting

June 4, 2012 / / No comments

Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit from ItLocavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit from It by Amy Cortese

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a thought-provoking book. I tended to think about maximizing the financial return from my investments, and using a portion of that to support the causes that I care about. This book challenges you to think more about the investments themselves. “Locavesting” by analogy to “Locavore” is about investing in your own community. Amy Cortese makes the case for why it’s a good thing (supports jobs in your community, and local patronage keeps money in the community more than chain-store purchases) and tells a number of stories about communities (and leading citizens within them) who have stepped up to make these changes. She talks about cooperatives, credit unions, and some of the more esoteric alternatives like direct public offerings and local exchanges.

Although many of the current investing alternatives are restricted to “accredited investors” (net worth excluding home of $1M+) some of that is starting to change. Companies are now permitted to raise up to $1M from “crowdfunding” scenarios of regular investors.

My slight disappointments with the book were what I felt was the over-reliance on a small number of case studies/anecdotes. I guess these are newer topics that are not widely available, but I’d liked to have seen a broader range of examples. It’s also a fast-changing area, so even though it’s a recent book, some of the descriptions are of things that “will happen” in 2011, and I’m curious to see whether they really did. I hope that she revises/updates the material to keep this book current.

View all my reviews

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Budgeting for Piggy Bank Savers

May 8, 2012 / / No comments

When should a commitment to financial giving start?

I think that giving back financially is a good discipline that, done correctly, increases the appreciation for what you have, and helps you feel empowered in your ability to help others.

My friend Peggy Duvette was recently telling me about her daughter Suada, who last year, at 8 years old was choosing to support her school with a donation. Suada had taken some of her money to her school fair to play games and buy things. When she finished the day and had some money left over, she spontaneously told her mom that she wanted to give the rest as a donation to the school. I was impressed by Suada’s generosity and even her awareness that her school might need to be supported. Peggy said that her own role as Executive Director (which also means “head fund raiser”) for a non-profit (Wiser.org., The Social Network for Sustainability) meant that Suada has had more exposure to the notion of giving, but Peggy has also set up a system 3 years ago that helps Suada budget her money between current needs and future ones, for herself and others.

Teaching good financial habits is something that parents can start early with their children: the gift of a piggy bank at age 6 (or so, kids do develop the concept of money at different rates) is also an opportunity to talk about money being divided into that you might spend today and that money that you save for future needs. Peggy had gotten a piggy bank for Suada, where every time she received money, she would automatically split it between spending and saving. A year later, she incorporated the concept of donating.

Basic budgeting is a critical skill for keeping your financial house in order, and starting early makes it seem more natural later.  Dave Ramsey, the popular financial guru, recommends an “envelope system” to budget the monthly expenses for key categories.

While your kindergartner might not have “rent”, “clothing”, and “gas” expense categories, setting aside money to “save” separate from what they may “spend” is a good start.  To get them started thinking about giving early on, how about encouraging them to put a dime into the “giving” envelope every time they put a dollar in one of the other categories?

Of course, what gives the “envelope system” part of its power is its tangibility.  The money for the month for the category is in the envelope, and when you’ve spent it, it’s gone.  That tangibility is great for kids, too.  Only they get to watch their money grow, not disappear.  If you would like to buy one,

http://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/2007/11/six-piggy-banks-that-can-help-teach-kids-money-management-skills/  lists 6 different ones.

But making one can mean there’s more money to put in it.  It can also be a fun family project, and needn’t be complex:
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Thrown into the Lions’ Den (Literally!) and other Volunteer Vacations

April 15, 2012 / / One comment

I recently  had dinner with a friend who mentioned she was considering spending her vacation volunteering with a wildlife conservation program in Zambia, Africa.  She was excited about the idea of working with lions or elephants, and this program promised both:

http://www.amanzitravel.co.uk/product/volunteer_africa/wildlife_conservation_volunteer/zambia_lion_project_volunteer_av029/

You are paying for the privilege of working (including cleaning up after the animals or preparing food for them), and it’s not cheap:  about $600/week for 2-4 weeks, not counting airfare to Africa, but you do get meals and accommodations (basic) and some of your fee is supporting the project as well.  The reviews on the site were glowing, but you should look for independent reviews as well.  Although some of the  sites I found with reviews of Amanzi Travel and the lion release program pointed back to the Amanzi site itself, there were a few on sites like www.TripAdvisor.com, and a Facebook presence that seemed robust with happy customers writing about their experience.  The Amanzi site was reasonably informative and descriptive about what was actually included.  All in all, it seems an organization that has a good reputation, meriting further consideration.

Here’s an excerpt of Giving Back about volunteer vacations:

Typically, volunteering is something you do in your own community, and you find the time to work it in around the other commitments in your family’s life. If you’re able to take a bigger chunk of time out to focus on a volunteer experience, it can be a memorable and very fulfilling experience. One possibility is to take a volunteering vacation, where your family devotes a week (or more, for most international programs) to serving others. There are many organizations that offer such mission trips and take care of making the arrangements for you. Relying on their experience is a good way to go, unless you have a very specific project in mind and are willing to do extra legwork to handle the coordination, food, housing, and local transportation arrangements. Unless you have previous ties to a project and a specific invitation to come, showing up on your own is unlikely to lead to a rewarding experience.

The first steps in planning your volunteering vacation are determining the amount of time you have available, the type of work you’d like to do, and what part of the country or world you’d like to visit. The ages of children participating in the trip will also affect your options. With this basic information in hand, there are several websites listing organizations that offer trips:

  • Volunteer Guide (www.volunteerguide.org) does a nice job of offering a selection of different organizations within each cause and approach.
  • Abroad Reviews (www.abroadreviews.com) offers reviews from past travelers. They have dozens of candid reviews for the most prominent organizations, some of which warn you away from particular trips because of issues of safety, organization, or inflated cost.
  • The International Volunteer Programs Association (www.VolunteerInternational.org) is a portal site permitting search by region, country, cause, and duration.

There are also books dedicated to volunteer vacations, and given the expense and prospect of a miserable (or unsafe!) week or two, checking out one or more is a good investment. Highly rated guides include:

  • Frommer’s 500 Places Where You Can Make a Difference by Andrew Mersmann (2009).
  • Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others by Bill McMillon and Doug Cutchins (2009, 10th edition).
  • Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation: A Workbook by Jane Stanfield (2009)
  • The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life by Pam Grout (2009).

Going as part of a team from your religious group or local service organization can add to the excitement. Plus, when you return you have a built-in base of collaborators, if you decide to continue your involvement through fundraising or awareness building, as many international volunteers do.

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AMENDS (American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford)

April 12, 2012 / / No comments

AMENDS delegates 2012

This convocation of 40 youth leaders from 20 countries (mostly Middle East and North Africa) is a remarkable effort from the Stanford student community. The youth are at Stanford for 5 days, and as part of the time, are giving talks which are free and open to the public. For more information, see: http://amends.stanford.edu/

Rawan Da’as from Jordan: Photographic Skills for Little Wonders

Using photography classes as a way to reach children in refugee camps, helping them think about apprenticeship / job training, relating to other people and the environment. Building their creative thinking and artistic skills and empowerment. Also train photographers to consider creating a career from their art by selling photos.

Need to invest in youth, and help them to be the change.

Aymen Abderrahman from Tunisia: Karari.org (mydecision)

A few days before election (first free elections) in Tunisia, only 55% said they planned to vote. As a stunt to shock people into action, a group raised a banner of deposed dictator Ben Ali. The citizens did take action, tearing it down, revealing a second, hidden banner, reading “Dictatorship can come back: Vote on ….)” See the YouTube version that Aymen played. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu-WjbD9NbE

Growing up, he was not permitted to speak out on political issues. 1/14/2011: The start of the Arab Spring with the deposing of dictator Ben Ali.

Karari.org is a web 2.0 website to maximize participative democracy. Allows user to interact with each other on political issues–be not just consumers but creators as well. (Available in English, French, Arabic). “Expert” tagged comments pinned to the top for people to learn from. Collective “like” votes determines ordering of comments. Supports social media features like: friends, sharing of links, articles, and status updates.

Political Rights Tools:

  1. Voices
  2. Petitions
  3. (yet to come) chat

Lists constitutions of 46 countries of the world.

Stats:

  • 30% of Tunisians user internet
  • 2.8M FB accounts, hope to get 10% as users of Karari

Need creation of jobs (40% of college grads unable to find jobs). Seeking full-time webmaster, a data server & 4 computers & budget for a marketing campaign.

Heather Libbe from US (studied in Israel, West Bank, Jordan for 3 months): Euphrates Institute

Peace & Sustainability focus of her study

1) Complexity of conflict

2) Religious fundamentalism

3) Peace & Sustainability (intertwined)

Passion for peace building: Building bridges between Middle East & West through educational programs

1) Travel studies (adult trips & study abroad)

2) Fellows program (research)

Euphrates Institute: Energy, Security, and Religion: “Prepare for Peace” (founded by Iraq analyst from CIA for 2 years)

End the clash of civilizations (Muslim and west) in our life time:

Reach 20% of people (Everett Rogers, of Stanford) social change tipping point.

“Inform. Inspire. Transform.”

Fellows Program: based at Principia College (open to US undergrad & grad students): Campus activities on their own campuses.

13 students with individual research projects (e.g. water in Israel/Palestine, Islamic art, role of Turkey as mediator)

Goal to triple fellows program, expanded to other locations. http://www.euphratesinstitute.org

Brian Pellot: Free Speech Debate in the Digital Age

10 principles for global free speech posted at http://www.freespeechdebate.com

Naguib Sawairis

Coptic Christian in Egypt. Arrested for tweeting picture of Mickey & Minnie with beard & veil

IDF whistleblower who leaked documents

Placed on house arrest, super injunction (can’t even cover the
fact that there is an episode/injunction in the media)

2 billion users of the internet and social networks. Opportunities and challenges for free speech.

Countries no longer control, companies do (Google, Twitter, FB)

Religion, national security, privacy, SOPA

30 grad students running the site, translate principles, case studies.

Sonya Kassis : Watch your Waste e-Museum: Bridging Middle School Students through Art, Science and Technology in the United States and Jordan

Helping to compensate for the cuts in education budgets. Arab American National Museum:

Using environmental issues to connect students between (US, Jordan) on art, culture, advocacy.

Students connect using FB, YouTube, Flickr, hope to have in-person visits (but challenge, since they are middle school students)

Example of project:

Raising awareness of Water issue: The typical American uses 1.6 gallons per flush, which is greater than the daily access to water for cleaning, drinking, and washing in parts of Africa.

Looking at the omnipresent 500ml plastic water bottle: Americans dispose of 50 billion of them per year or 140 million per day. Producing each 500ml bottle takes 1.5 liters of water (not counting the contents) and 125 ml of petroleum. And of course, tap water is perfectly good to drink in nearly all of the country.

250M tons of trash per year from US: (4,837 Titanics worth each year)

Elizabeth Harmon from US: BabSharqi.org (Eastern Gate: Student gateway for planning study abroad in Middle East)

Elizabeth studied for a year in Syria (moved to Jordan after Arab Spring in Mar 2011) as time-off during her undergraduate studies.

The BabSharqi.org web site (under development) will feature:

  • Comprehensive list of program, with user reviews and Q&A forums
  • Info about scholarships and connections with previous scholars
  • Plans / backup plans for travel advisories
  • Visas, residency permits information
  • Info about housing and homestays
  • Q&A on transportation, money, tap water, books & libraries, health needs, banks, and the like
  • Recommendations for tutors and language exchange partners

Next steps: Western Gate (Arabs -> US), more languages, financial support

Need: funding, developers

Ifrah Magan from US, Chicago: Path to Peace: Story Telling in Somali Communities around the World

Ifrah was born in Mogadishu Somalia, fled from the war to Egypt for 10 years, resettled to Michigan, then went to Chicago for college.

“Look beyond the pirates and famine, to see the stories and culture,” she asked.

She is working to put together a book of stories of resettlement of Somalis around the world. “Coming from a lawless state, living in a dictatorship for 10 years, now seeing privilege of living in US” Highlight the voices, collaborate with NGO in Chicago (Davis Peace Project) $10K for purchasing library materials for literacy groups and peace workshops. Met for 6 weekly sessions (cultures of Peace, 2 state solution in Sudan, Iraqi history) chance to learn from each other, listen to the individuals tell their stories (to claim their stories and have a sense of ownership). Collaborate with different organizations in US in Diaspora, get the stories of resettlement from Somali refugees (effect of conflict, what peace means to them). In Somalia, people share the same language, are primarily Muslim, yet have had 2 decades of conflict. This is a way to bring voices together of Somali people. There have been 15 transitional federal governments since war started (20 years ago). Something is clearly not working. Let’s hear the people, humanize each story, it’s important for all of us.

Sam Adelsberg from Yale Law: Lowest Common Denominators: Microloans and Economic Opportunity in the West Bank

Although he had been part of a friendship “building bridges” delegation trip to New Orleans, he found that many of his contemporaries on both sides who were not “crossing checkpoints” or “in zones where rockets might fall” were assuming intractable positions. They were shouting slogans or joining Facebook groups, not doing something constructive, perhaps because they were feeling guilty for “not being there”. That degree of remove, Sam said, reinforces inability to see the “gray area.”

So, as a concrete action, he started www.lendforpeace.org a microcredit site for people to make loans to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Launched 2 years ago, it has raised tens of thousands of dollars–and he now wonders how could it be used or applied more broadly.

Lack of jobs (25% unemployment rate): entrepreneurship as a way to spur job growth.

Belief in human right to control your economic destiny.

Giving individuals the power to chase their dreams. Arab Spring showed the power of grass-roots political organizing. Now let’s see the power of crowd sourced fund raising for microcredit.

Sam faced a tough question from a Palestinian woman in the audience who said that the issue is not the economic hardship that Palestinians face. Money is the last thing on her mind. Her consuming thought is freedom. He gracefully acknowledged that his project is not a panacea, or even a direct route to solve the conundrum, but he believes it is something that he can do (with help) to improve the situation and help to build trust through peaceful interaction.

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Back after 3 months….

April 12, 2012 / / No comments

It’s been a while since my last post.  Just over 3 months, in fact.

I have a decent excuse for much of that delay.  January 8th, just after my last blog post, I was involved in a car accident that totaled my car, and landed me in the hospital with a broken right wrist and a gash in my head requiring staples to close it up.  Overall, I was very lucky things weren’t worse, but dealing with the fall-out did take a lot of time and energy, and the broken wrist meant I needed to limit my keyboard time to critical things.

Ironically, the nominal amount of my hospital bill for the 5 hours I spent in the ER (with x-rays, CT scans, but *not* counting the ambulance ride or the time billed by the doctors) was just over $20,000, the amount that UM Healthcare is looking to raise to fund *one year* of salaries for 2 doctors and 4 medical assistants.

Not all of the delay was bad, though.  I was also revising my book draft based on comments from my editor.  (Yes, I was kicking myself that I hadn’t kept to my original deadline which meant I would have been done *before* the accident.)  I also took a much anticipated and very enjoyable three-week trip to Europe.

Granada, Spain, viewed from the Alhambra

Granada, Spain, viewed from the Alhambra

At any rate, I’m back from vacation now, am doing a final review of the “copy edited” manuscript, and finishing off the therapy for my wrist.

While finishing my taxes, the editing process, and a few other unusual time drains may impact my rate of blog posts for the near future, I’m looking forward to getting re-started, and hope to resume a more regular series of articles and book excerpts.

Thanks for bearing with me through the silence, and Happy Spring!

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Serving patients for $2 each in Pakistan

January 7, 2012 / / One comment

Bottom Line:  UM Healthcare is an incredibly cost-effective clinic treating people in rural Pakistan.  An additional $20K/year would let them double their medical staff to serve more patients (from ~40,000/year to ~80,000).  I’m in, let me know if you want to help.

Through my connection with the Reuters Digital Vision Program, I got to know some pretty remarkable people.  I had dinner tonight with Atif Mumtaz, one of the fellows from the 2005-2006 year.

Atif has created UM Healthcare, which provides health care to a region of 180,000 people–it’s the sole facility there.  I was moved by the difference that he has made, and how cheaply he has done it:

  • Served 150,000 patients since launching in mid-2008 (about 40,000/year)
  • Annual budget of about $80,000 (that’s not the executive director’s six-month salary, that’s the FULL ANNUAL BUDGET)
  • Provide free medicine to patients, which they need to purchase (aside from a few in-kind donations, no mass pharmaceutical corporate gifts).  They do get a discount of about 35% off retail.
  • Charge patients a fee for service (about 50 cents) to ensure that they take it seriously and don’t abuse it
  • Have 2 doctors on staff, annual salaries about $6K each, paramedics make between $1,200 – $1,800.
  • Top management is all volunteer
  • Are a paperless operation!  They have electronic medical records, accessed by mobile phones, with Google Maps data showing where patients are coming from.
  • They bring in specialists for “remote consultations” (via technology) in the 5% or so of the challenging cases that their local staff can’t handle.
Doctor treating patient at UM Healthcare

Doctor treating patient at UM Healthcare

Atif listed matter-of-factly the key patient groups they’d seen:

2009:  War victims
2010:  Flood victims
2011:  Flood victims  (I’d remembered the horrendous floods of 2010, but had to ask about 2011.  “Yep, and the infrastructure to handle the water hadn’t been rebuilt in time…”)

He expected to start seeing war refugees and victims returning in May.  No one fights during the winter, but when things start to thaw, hostilities will heat up as well…

They mostly keep their heads down, working, but they have gotten some international publicity:

Atif said that an additional $20,000/year would let them double their medical staff (adding 2 additional doctors and corresponding staff), which would also mean doubling their capacity to serve patients (the facilities are adequate to handle the additional demand.  They would need to cover additional medication cost, but the patient fees would help to defray that.)  Another significant boost for them would be the construction of a maternity facility, at a one-time capital cost of $100,000.

I’m considering adding UM Health in a significant way to my giving, and wonder if there’s anyone out there who would like to join me in helping to expand the number of people that they can treat.  Atif will be in the San Francisco Bay Area through January 22nd, 2012.  If you would like to talk with him, I can arrange an introduction.

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“Saving AmeriCorps” and Gap Year Volunteering

December 20, 2011 / / No comments

I recently saw that the House Budget for 2012 eliminates AmeriCorps.  The AmeriCorps Alumni posted this YouTube video arguing for the importance of saving it.

When I was writing the book, I was aware that some things would change, and tried to include web sites that I thought would be more “stable” and reliable, and less likely to be defunct in a year or two.  Somehow, I didn’t expect that I’d need to worry about AmeriCorps.  AmeriCorps is one of the largest domestic, government-sponsored volunteering programs that engages people for assignments of approximately a year.

[Excerpt from Giving Back]

The Peace Corps (http://www.peacecorps.gov) is the archetype of the life-changing volunteer program. Idealistic young college graduates (mostly, although other demographics can participate) take 27 months to work in another country, gaining experience with the culture and sharing their skills in teaching, agriculture, information technology, or health. The Americorps program (http://www.americorps.gov) was launched to provide a similar experience, but for those people who preferred to do their work domestically (and for 10-12 months). The success of these programs, especially as measured by the impact on the volunteers, is substantial. Many Peace Corps alumni speak of their experience as the most meaningful period of their whole lives. It is often a convenient time to make an extended commitment, before starting a family, buying a home, or even being deeply involved in working for an employer in their chosen field.

Many high school students are considering the “gap year” as well, choosing to defer college admissions for a year after their senior year in high school. They may be looking for a change of pace before launching into another four or more years of rigorous study, or perhaps they’re not entirely convinced that college is the right next step in their life journey. Increasingly, colleges are supporting the students’ decisions to take some time before matriculating, especially if they do something that will be meaningful in the long run, increasing the student’s maturity and perspective. If a student is prepared to commit to a full year of volunteering with a single assignment, there are organizations that can offer placements overseas, teaching English, helping with community development, or interning in a non-profit office.

Here are some Web sites offering advice for those intending to spend a full year at a volunteer project.

  • Volunteer Guide (http://www.volunteerguide.org) does a nice job of offering a selection of different organizations within each cause and approach.
  • Abroad Reviews (http://www.abroadreviews.com) offers reviews from past travelers. They have dozens of candid reviews for the most prominent organizations, some of which warn you away based on issues of safety, organization, or inflated cost.
  • The International Volunteer Programs Association (http://www.InternationalVolunteer.org) is a portal site which allows you to search by region, country, cause and duration

There are also books appealing to specifically this group of young adults. See, for example:

The last book on this list points out that “gap years” aren’t exclusively for young adults: people changing careers, starting retirement, or taking a sabbatical could also make an extended commitment to volunteer before starting the next phase of their life.

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