Research for Week of Sept 14

Friends - Welcome to old and new people on the FV Research Team. You all play an important part in what we are doing. We've gone VERY quiet over the past year, mostly due to me moving to BOston to go to Harvard and not having a good enough work/life balance to prioritize and delegate. This is improving. We are now led by a team of GREAT Volunteers in PA and a team of people like you all.

I can't thank you enough for any time & energy you are able to put into this.

If you are on this list and are no longer able to help, just let me know. Or you can unsubscribe if you are so upset w/ my lack of communication. :) As always, thanks for your grace and contributions.

For all of the team, refresh how this works, including how to submit research, etc. Instructions can be found from our initial Post to this blog. You can view these instructions here.

This week - we need research claimed in the following areas:
1) Researching Microfinance organizations working in Zimbabwe. We had an assessment done on microfinance groups working in Zambia, which was VERY helpful and will continue to be used there. But we are looking for Zim now. Here are two links that Annie found for her Zambia research that she noted were helpful. According to the Microfinance Gateway, (http://www.microfinancegateway.org/resource_centers/savings/studytour/zambia) and http://www.gdrc.org/icm/country/africa-zambia.html. Note from Annie: It was an undated site, so I'm not sure how current the contact info is. When available, I gave additional contact info and noted the date if there was one.

In particular, I'm looking for contact details, summary of activities, and what kind of microfinance work they do (different loan options, model of structuring the loans, etc). A spreadsheet is most helpful.

2) Someone to research psycho-social support organizations workign with churches for grief counseling and support for kids, particularly those working in Zimbabwe AND/OR Zambia. Special notes shoudl be given to groups working in Ndola, Zambia or Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where our operations are focused in each country. A lot of technical terms, I know. But my wife Katie and I are working with a team of pastors to assess their current abilities & resources available to them to help counsel kids w/ Biblical principles. The technical language is what may be most helpful for searching.

If anyone wants to claim either of these, simply comment and let the group know which ones you'll take. Feel free to double up, then just communicate with each other via email or on the blog. If it's more helpful, we can always create a Facebook Group or Google Docs.

THANKS! Know that your voices will be VERY helpful as we work to better equip churches with resources they need to meet the physical & spiritual needs of children orphaned by AIDS in their communities.

All the best,
Ryan

Update from Africa

Friends - I am in Africa until June 20. I look forward to connecting with you all. Enjoy the month off if you aren't working on any projects for us. THANKS for all you do.

-Ryan

April 28th Research Needs & Update

Research Team - I am in the process of dividing some of my duties to other people as I prepare to move to Boston. I'll be at the Harvard Kennedy School starting this fall. I will still be the President of Forgotten Voices, but will really focus on fundraising, managing projects in Africa and growing our Boston presence, where I am originally from. A lot of my other responsibilities are being divided by a team of people that will manage Forgotten Voices.

Kathy Goss from this Research Team will be serving as the main point of contact between Forgotten Voices and this group.

We are going to streamline the process a bit and are working out the details. Right now, postings on this blog come from conversations I have with our African partners, then I put them on the blog after I talk about the needs with a few people. The future process will look like this: Reports will come in from Africa, including the Research Questions they need help with - and those Research Questions will be posted here by Kathy. That removes me and a whole host of other people from the process and gives you more context for the need.

I'll occasionally ship stuff to Kathy that I need help with for African projects on a more global scale, not just a specific partner. This research WILL NOT be for my graduate school. :) I think my professors may frown upon this. :)

With all that typed - Kathy and I will be updating the group on moving forward once we have a plan in the next couple weeks.

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As for research for this week - Would someone be willing to look into Researching laws regarding non-profits giving grants to individuals? Microfinance projects can be given to individuals, but I have heard that grants to individuals is generally frowned upon. However, I want to know what the law says? It is probably an IRS rule related to 501c3 designation. I'd LOVE for someone to look into this and see what they can dig up.

Specifically, I'm looking for any specific wording on what is allowed by the IRS for granting money to individuals.

Here's the context: with inflation in Zimbabwe now at 162,000%, we are looking at giving more money to individual businessmen in Zimbabwe that have access to USD through US bank accounts, rather than give to Zim organizations that must use Zim Banks and pay a fraction of market value. For example - send money to a bank account in Utah that is connected to a Forgotten Voices business leader in Zimbabwe. He gives out the money at a fair rate to the orphan care project leaders, similar to a bank, and tracks expenses (money in/out) for Forgotten Voices. To carry the example forward, we are also looking at making the man an "employee" of Forgotten Voices and open up a joint account that he has access to and just uses our money.

But the first and fundamental question is this: would the IRS allow this scenario to an individual IF we can prove that the man is handling funds on behalf of Forgotten Voices and our African project partners.

Hope that helps. To put your minds at ease, I have also asked a few lawyers to look into this, as well. :) But I'd also like a non-lawyer to look at what we can find on our own.

Happy hunting!

Research for April 21

Friends - Who would like to take on researching organizations that deal with physical rehabilitation models for patients with HIV/AIDS? I'm looking for organizations that focus on helping people regain strength in motion that they lost from HIV/AIDS infections. I'm not sure if anyone out there is doing it and I need someone to find out.

Please find:
Name or organization, Website, description of care model/program, contact info to learn more

Please let me know if you are interested. :) Thanks!

-Ryan

Research Report on 2M Children with HIV/AIDS

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=51371

Friends - would one of you or a couple of you work on following up with this report? I'd like all the background to it, abstracts/copies of the cited works.

Let me know if you'd be willing to take on this challenge and we can lay out a plan.

Thanks!

-Ryan

Election Map

I was sent the following information by a good friend of mine. It is an interesting assessment of on the ground conditions in Zimbabwe. The election conditions are mapped out, with clickable layers to show different instances of conflict or trial.

Continue to pray with me and our local partners.

-Ryan
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http://www.sokwanele.com/map/all_breaches#mapping

For Week of March 10th

Research Team, Just came across 2 needs if some of you are looking for another assignment.

1) Research Lists of Christian Non-profits on the web that Forgotten Voices should be part of. Examples: Ministry Watch. See note below for more details on what I'm looking for.

2) Research General Lists of NGOs working in Africa that Forgotten Voices should be part of. Example: GuideStar. See note below for more details on what I'm looking for.

In short, people sometimes make decisions based on information provided by ratings companies like these 2 examples. We will need to be including our information in these lists over the next year, as we are eligible. A general search for ministry databases, separated by 2 lists above, is what I'm after. Some of these lists may appear in each category, especially if 2 different people do it.

If possible, I'd like you to put this in an excel spreadsheet so I can import this into our databased of potential tasks for our volunteer leaders.

Here's what I would need for each list you find:
1) Name of List
2) Website address to submit info
3) Information required to submit to list
4) Any other info that jumps off as interesting about list (not req for each entry)

Please let me know if you have questions about this. Thanks!

-Ryan