Top Canyonlands 2002 Grand Canyon 2001 SSN FAQ Geneology

Charitable organizations

These organizations are all 501(c)3:

• The Institute for Justice is a non-profit legal foundation that pursues cases "with the aim of empowering individuals, particularly those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder, with greater control over their own lives as free and responsible members of society."

  I've now been giving them money for a while, and I'm quite impressed. They focus on underrepresented groups who are being shut out of jobs or other opportunities by government licensing requirements or other red tape. Some examples include minorities wanting to offer unregulated taxi (jitney) service in New York City and Las Vegas, and people who want to charge to do interesting braiding of hair. Both are prohibited or highly restricted, preventing people from offering services which are manifestly desired by real customers.

  I've followed the Institute for quite some time, and though they've expanded their areas of interest significantly, they've never pursued a case or taken a stance that I've disagreed with. Their work on qualified immunity, civil forfeiture, and against restrictions on speech and people's ability to work have been path breaking. I find the people at IJ and their work very inspiring.

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• The Advocates for Self Government is a non-profit educational organization. Their purpose statement says they 'present the freedom philosophy honestly and persuasively to opinion-makers so that they can encounter, evaluate, and when ready, embrace the ideals of self-government.' They do good work discovering libertarians and introducing them to the movement.

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• FEAR (Forfeiture Endangers American Rights) works to stop the terror of government forfeiture, a practice in which law enforcement agents seize property as punishment. They can often do this with much less evidence than is required for a criminal conviction, and seldom have to take their evidence to court, since they have taken away the assets with which one might have paid a lawyer to fight them.

  (1) forfeiture assets should go to a general fund and not to agencies that seize them, (2) civil forfeiture cases should regard the suspect as innocent until proven guilty, and (3) penalties should be commensurate with the crime.

  
  Address   265 Miller Avenue
            Mill Valley, CA  94941
  Voice     (415) 388-8128
  
  

  I haven't donated to the following organizations recently

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• The Trickle Up Program is an international nonprofit organization which helps the poorest of the poor create and build their own small businesses. Trickle Up has helped create more than 42,000 businesses in 108 countries in the past 15 years, creating income and self-employment for more than 250,000 small family-sized businesses.

  It works by providing a $100 conditional grant in two $50 installments to families or groups to start a business. The first $50 is given to a group which completes a Business Plan, agrees to invest 1,000 hours of work in 3 months, and reinvests 20% of their profit in the enterprise. The group receives the second $50 after completing a Business Report showing that the conditions of the grant have been met.

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• The Nature Conservancy buys land that has significant ecological value, and then manages it. They manage many preserves and parks around the world, many of which members or the public have access to. They occasionally give land to a government unit :-( when they think it will be able to do a better (or more cost effective) job of preserving it.

  I stopped donating to the Nature Conservancy when they transferred land to government organizations, claiming that they would do a good enough job, and the Nature Conservancy had more important priorities. I concede that this is a defensible choice and one they don't make very often. Still, it happened to a preserve I was paying attention to, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.

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• The Pacific Legal Foundation describes itself as

  a voice for mainstream America before the courts. Its chief client is the average American who believes in and supports individual and economic freedoms, including concepts of private property rights, limited government, and the free enterprise system. PLF's objective is to ensure that balance and common sense form the basis upon which laws and regulations are administered and interpreted.

  The PLF has litigated and won many cases concerning regulatory takings of private property.

  I stopped donating to the PLF when they took a position I disagrreed with on some drug cases. I contacted them directly at the time and asked whether they would accept directed donations to particular projects, but they said no. I have recently heard from acitvist libertarians that PLF has a new president and new direction, and that their projects are consistently libertarian again.

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• I worked on privacy issues with Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for several years.

  Please look at my FAQ on Social Security Numbers.

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  hibbert@mydruthers.com