Guest post by Megan Schmidt, senior director of government affairs at Philanthropy Roundtable

There are over 64,000 nonprofit organizations in Ģ����Ƶ, and in 2021 Ģ����Ƶ donors gave $9.4 billion to charity, according to the IRS. These generous donations to charitable organizations are about to get important protections under two bills passed by the state legislature in 2024.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Donor Intent Protection Act and the Personal Privacy Protection Act into law. Both pieces of legislation offer donors and charities new avenues to ensure the proper use of donations, while safeguarding donors’ right to privacy in giving.

The two bills offer legal protections for donors and nonprofits to ensure charitable giving can continue freely and effectively in the state. When donors are free to give where and how they choose without fear of their information being unfairly released or their donations being misused, charitable organizations are better suited to help those who need their support.

The Donor Intent Protection Act

Sponsored by Sen. Bill Cowsert (R), the Donor Intent Protection Act passed the legislature on a strong bi-partisan vote, co-sponsored by Sen. John F. Kennedy (R) and Rep. Matt Reeves (R).

The Donor Intent Protection Act provides a legal pathway for donors to enforce written endowment agreements. Donors may give to a charitable endowment with specific written instructions for how they would like their gift used or invested.

Prior to this bill, when a charity agreed, accepted the gift and then violated the agreement, donors had no legal standing or recourse to enforce their written agreement. But under the Donor Intent Protection Act, donors now have the ability to file a legal complaint in court if their gift is misused.

This protection encourages giving and benefits donors, charities, and the many individuals served by nonprofit organizations in Ģ����Ƶ. It also bolsters levels of trust between donors and charities by adding an extra layer of protection for donor intent. Donors can give freely and generously without concern their mutually agreed upon instructions will be violated.

The Personal Privacy Protection Act

The second bill, the Personal Privacy Protection Act, also earned bipartisan support and protects individuals who volunteer or give to causes they care about from having their personal information publicly disclosed by the government.

The ability for donors to give privately to causes they believe in is a First Amendment right that historically has been upheld. In the 2021 , the U.S. Supreme Court upheld donor privacy and concluded that California’s bulk collection of nonprofit donor information was unconstitutional.

Ģ����Ƶ donors should be able to give privately to causes they care about without fear of retaliation or public exposure. Whatever their motivation for privacy, this bill is aligned with the U.S Supreme Court decision and makes any unlawful disclosure of this information a misdemeanor under the law. This also provides protection for nonprofits from being forced to release their donor and member lists to government agencies and officials.

Laws Like These Encourage Generosity in Helping Our Neighbors and Communities

Donors give to nonprofits whose cause and mission they support. With the enactment of these two bills, Ģ����Ƶns can continue donating generously without fear their wishes will be violated or their identity disclosed.

The Donor Intent Protection Act is now law in three states and the Personal Privacy Protection Act is now law in 19 states. The protections offered by both bills will encourage donors to remain generous with their resources more than they might otherwise be.

Donors in states without these protections face uncertainty when they give because they don’t have the reassurance their identity is protected or that the court will grant them legal standing in the case of a violation.

Ģ����Ƶ is primed to move forward with a healthy charitable giving environment with the passage of these two bills so communities in need around the state can benefit from the generosity of Ģ����Ƶns.

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To spread some holiday cheer, we put together a short, fun video of the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity staff sharing a little more about what makes the season so special. Get ready to hear everything from favorite Christmas movies to favorite holiday traditions, and maybe a few surprises thrown in for good measure!��

Will you support our work?

As you know, GCO is leading the charge to help every individual flourish. Our work focuses on encouraging the primary things — work, family, and education — that help people escape poverty and lead a prosperous life. People like , , Latesha, , , , Qweshan, Larry, Shay, and the list goes on.

This season of giving, we ask that you consider making a donation to our organization. Your additional financial support will allow us to continue to make a positive impact in our local communities. There are more Eddies, Frankies, and Lateshas who need our help and the gift of dignity this Christmas.

While we’re proud of the partnerships we’ve made, the programs we’ve started, and the results we’re seeing, what we’re most proud of is the fact our team recognizes those we help are people. Individuals with specific needs who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity — no matter their circumstances.

Support our work

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Second Chances

Like every year, we have so much to be thankful for this season. But one thing stands out to me when thinking about the stories of the men and women we serve everyday here at the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity — and that’s being thankful for a second chance.

I think of stories like that of Eddie. Eddie went from spending holidays alone, homeless and living in a car, to self-sufficiency with a roof over his head and a stable job. He now has something else, too — hope for the future.

Or my thoughts are turned to the men organizations like North Ģ����Ƶ Works help — homeless or formerly incarcerated men who badly need a second shot at work plus the relationships in their lives.

It’s people like Eddie, and organizations like North Ģ����Ƶ Works, that give me and our team at GCO the passion to continue growing our work and community footprint. It’s the partnerships we build that make us stronger and allow us to positively impact the lives of our neighbors.

Eddie’s story is one of hoping and reaching for more. With the support of networks like the United Way’s Home For Good and the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity’s Better Work, Eddie was able to change his situation. Now he finds himself with a home and in a career that he is proud of.

Eddie’s story is one of hoping and reaching for more. With the support of networks like the United Way’s Home For Good and the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity’s Better Work, Eddie was able to change his situation. Now he finds himself with a home and in a career that he is proud of.

In my role here at GCO, I am reminded that that grace often displays itself in the acts of kindness and generosity others, like you, have extended to us. Without your support we would not be able to accomplish our goals — and we have some big goals for 2023!

This Thanksgiving as we gather with family and friends to reflect on our blessings, we’re thankful for you. Because of you and your support for our efforts, we’re ensuring that people like Eddie have a real chance to achieve a better life. Thank you for the crucial role you play in helping all people thrive!

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Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 under President Grover Cleveland. The core meaning of the holiday is to celebrate the achievements and value of everyday workers. But here at the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity, we see another important part of Labor Day celebrations — to acknowledge the value of work itself.

The United States has a rich history of viewing work as ennobling. That’s part of what has helped each succeeding generation of Americans have a brighter economic future than the one before. But in recent history, we’ve witnessed an anti-work spirit arise in our nation.  

A disproportionately large number of able-bodied adults have checked out of the workforce. Even though the unemployment rate in the U.S. is at historic lows, the labor force participation rate has not caught up — indicating that millions of workers are absent from the workforce who could otherwise be working.

This Labor Day, we’d like to acknowledge five reasons why work remains so important.

1. Work provides a key source of dignity

Work is about bettering one’s self and one’s family materially, that’s true. But that is not the only benefit. Another benefit is the way the work itself benefits the individual, the intangible but no less important side benefits of work.

When we are separated from work, we lose more than just monetary compensation or the food, shelter, clothing, and other basics that money can buy. We also face a loss of social connection, meaningful activity, self-respect, and overall purpose.

2. Work helps to establish our daily rhythms

Work establishes the daily rhythms of life. It dictates when we rise from bed, when we eat our meals, how we schedule our weeks, how we interact with our families. Work provides important structure for our lives.

3. Work benefits all of society

Workers make contributions that extend beyond their own families to society as a whole. They generate value and rely on themselves rather than government assistance. Employed people are also less likely to commit crime and their families tend to be healthier.

We believe that every able-bodied individual should have a path to fulfilling work. We do this through initiatives that create a flourishing job market, remove barriers to those unable to find work, and work directly with communities to move the un and underemployed into work.

4. Work provides an opportunity to be generous to others

Work gives us the monetary resources to be generous to those in need. Maybe that’s why the U.S. is one of the most generous nations in the world for private philanthropy — historically, we’ve valued hard work and the generosity made possible by it.

5. Work honors God

Our religious traditions teach that work has intrinsic value. In the Hebrew account of creation, God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and instructed him “to work it and keep it.” In the New Testament, Paul stated that “if a man will not work, he will not eat.” The Calvinist work ethic brought to our shores by the Puritans equated diligent work with duty to God. 

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

— Margaret Mead

As we reflect on 2021 and think about what we want for the new year ahead, I thought that it would be beneficial to share what I see families are missing, and might consider starting now and continuing into 2022.

Care for ourselves and others. Let’s all agree that we should move from being a spectator to being an active player. Recent headlines reflect our youth need us to show up for them – unfortunately some of us are missing the boat. Begin by taking care of yourself. You can start with simple tasks like walking and/or drinking more water.��

We need to care for others by volunteering within our own neighborhoods.�� It’s been my personal experience many public libraries need volunteers, or maybe you can donate to your local food bank. We need everyone to be involved in changing the landscape of what is around us.

The Success Sequence provides an outline of how to reverse the cycle of poverty in our communities. GCO uses this as a framework for much of our work.

Community makes us stronger

Community. When our family relationships are stronger our community is better and our state is better. Change always starts with us.��

For example, have you ever noticed when people first move into a new neighborhood they make the effort to keep their lawns manicured? ��But then, it never fails there is THAT��one house whose yard is in disarray. That house can make the value of all the other homes lower because it is not well kept. However, instead of complaining about the neighbor’s inadequacies, see how you can help. Is there a young person who can mow the lawn?�� This is beneficial because you are teaching a child how to help others and the neighbor gets their lawn mowed. Now the neighbor and teen are connected into the community. Plus, the neighborhood is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, which brings home��values back to where they should be. Everyone wins! Being a part of a community makes us feel as though we are a part of something greater than ourselves.��

Collaboration. Think about how you can add value to a local organization utilizing your gifts and talents. Believe it or not, this is why you were given your gifts!

At Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity, we collaborate with a community of folks in the areas of education, employment, and family. Read more about our work and how its “Not for self but for others” at foropportunity.org.

The post My HOPE for individuals and families in 2022 appeared first on For Opportunity.

Giving Opportunity

The days following Thanksgiving have become jam packed with advertisements for all the product sales happening after the holiday. The volume of advertisements often becomes overwhelming and obnoxious.��

As we reflect on all we have accomplished this year—and what�� still needs to be accomplished—we’re asking you to persevere through the barrage of ads and think about tomorrow. #GivingTuesday is globally recognized every year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving—this year November 30th. The purpose of the day is to inspire people to give to the causes and organizations they care about.����

We’ve set a goal for $150,000, and we need your help.��

We see this day as an opportunity to help more of our neighbors and to share the impact of our work. Through your tax-deductible gift, we have been able to expand opportunities in local communities and help children and families access the education options not previously available to them. We have built onto our model helping connect the chronically un- and under-employed with the resources they need to get back to work. And we have partnered with community schools, churches, and organizations providing the tools families need to build healthy foundations, allowing them to withstand the stressors of life.��

#GivingTuesday isn’t just about the dollars you donate. It’s about transforming lives. It’s about helping REAL people, and giving opportunity for success when there was no hope of a better life to be found. YOU can make the difference. Please, don’t wait until tomorrow to give. Give the gift of opportunity right now.

Give a gift today.

Additional Ways You Can Support The Ģ����Ƶ:

AmazonSmile

Find out how you can give to GCO while shopping this holiday season. It’s easy, fast, and fun!

Steps to set up AmazonSmile »

Kroger Community Rewards

Connect your Kroger Rewards card with the Kroger Community Rewards Program.�� If you have a card, you can connect it to Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity by going to the community rewards and searching for PF157.

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Importance of Family

At GCO, the impact area of Family, we always need volunteers.��Since ��we devote much of our time and efforts to family, we enjoy hearing what about family inspires people to volunteer. ��

Eda Beacham is a current volunteer for GCO and we wanted to share her story with you.�� Let us know in the comments what strength and or similarities you have in common with Eda.��We invite you to send in stories about your family, too.��

��

Eda’s Inspiration

The makeup of my family has changed over time. Through marriage, divorce, birth and death, there has been an ever-changing clan at the Thanksgiving table. The birth of nieces, nephews and our own two sons added to the joy; and the passing of my mom and later, my husband, brought sorrow and some empty chairs. Then the grandchildren came, and they filled the empty spaces with laughter and love. The cycle continues today with this next generation, as it does in most families.

Families are always changing, but what holds them together? For me, it was my mother and her eternal optimism. Her life was not easy, but she always believed things would get better. With a limited education, she worked hard and put all her love and determination into raising a family. She came through the Great Depression and WWII, so she knew how to stretch a dollar and “make do.” She taught us values like hard work and sharing with others. She believed in God and made sure we went to church.

Our family will likely have the greatest impact on our lives and play a critical role as we grow throughout our lifetime.��

Creating strong family bonds and healthy family relationships is key to family wellness, mental stability, and physical health.

Learn more about free tools and resources available in the community to strengthen your relationships.��

Overcoming Circumstances

When my dad left after 27 years of marriage, Mom’s faith took on a new freshness and devotion; and she ventured out in search of where she could be of service. She decided to sell everything and move into a home as cook and housekeeper for a man who had survived a brain tumor, but was left with the mind of an eight-year old. After this gentleman passed away, my mom began to dream about a little piece of land in the country where she could put down new roots and serve. ��She found a small tumbledown house on two acres, so she ��went to work making it a home. While working full-time in the nearby little town, she hosted home Bible studies, planted big gardens every year, served scrumptious down-home meals to family, friends, or whoever came by, and took in few strays along the way. Even though my mother never made much money, she found a way to help people who were down on their luck – a friend or family member who was out of work and needed a place to live, a relative in prison who received encouragement and hope from her letters, families who needed food or money in a crisis. In what turned out to be my mom’s last year, just shy of 66 years old, she had taken in her first foster child, a young teenage girl. My mother never stopped dreaming; she never stopped giving. And Mom saw her dreams come to life.

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“I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t find a better job; I might have to go back [to prison].”

Two months out of prison, Ray (name changed for anonymity) was explaining to me that he had reached the end of his rope. He had been struggling to find work that paid enough so that he could simply afford the basics. His part-time, minimum-wage job, just wasn’t cutting it. But, at least it was something.

Ray had the added complication of having to take custody of his son shortly after being released, meaning another mouth to feed when he could barely feed himself.

During his most desperate days after leaving prison, Ray said he was blessed to have the help of local church ministries who provided temporary housing for him and his son at a local extended stay hotel. He called GCO because that assistance was running out. He needed more help so he could remain at the extended stay but, more than that, Ray knew he had to solve the job problem to have any hope of getting off the hamster wheel he was on.

“I’m “clean” and have no intention of going back to that life.”

With a record that included drug and property crimes, Ray worried he might not have a shot at a better job. “But I’m willing to do any job that pays enough,” he assured me.

With those details in hand, our team started looking for the resources Ray needed and found some great opportunities for him and his son. There was a local church ministry offering help with additional days in the extended stay motel, there was the local restaurant eager to interview Ray for a better-paying job.

In the end, help came from a place Ray least expected it: the extended stay motel owner himself.

After hearing Ray’s story and observing him on the motel property, he offered Ray a job as a maintenance technician, a position that also included room and board on the motel property – an answer to Ray’s prayer for better pay and housing stability for him and his son.

The Success Sequence provides an outline of how to reverse the cycle of poverty in our communities. GCO uses this as a framework for much of our work.

Like Ray, you might be surprised the motel owner stepped in to help the way he did, but you shouldn’t be. Many times, our local business owners bridge the gap for those in need in big and small ways – from helping support the nonprofits that serve emergency needs to, like the motel owner did for Ray, helping directly.

Too often, it’s business owners who get the negative press and little credit for the good they do. In reality, as Ray’s story reminds us, they are a huge part of the solution to poverty – both in the jobs they provide through their risk-taking and in their philanthropy made possible through the profits they generate.

Is this the end of Ray’s story? I don’t think so. Ray seems to have a drive that’s going to keep him reaching for better opportunities and, of course, if we can help him, we’ll be here to do that.

The point is that Ray’s story isn’t unique. For those reaching out and seeking help – for housing, for work, for food – there are often caring community members willing to help.

And sometimes that help comes from the place you least expect it.

If you or someone you know is struggling to find employment in Gwinnett or is looking for help to meet their basic needs, please visit to find resources or to be connected to one of our “guaranteed-interview” employment partners.

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But in the midst of a chaotic political season and the suffering of so many, I’m reminded of this simple truth: the most impactful changes occur in our homes, neighborhoods, and communities. It is a model we live our lives by each and every day at my organization, the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity. We know the role of government is important, but it is in our communities where lives are formed and, when things go badly, where lives are transformed. And it’s there that neighbors, businesses, communities of faith, schools and nonprofits can come together in local unified action.

Politics and policy do matter, but ultimately they are not the main driving force that moves the needle when it comes to people’s lives. That must come from you and me, rolling up sleeves and working alongside others who may or may not have voted like we did, but who share a belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve a better life, regardless of their race, the circumstances of birth, or past mistakes.

I’m thinking of women like Latesha Jackson, a Columbus native and single mother of four. She struggled for years in poverty, cycling between periods of unemployment and low-paying jobs in the service sector before a local cooperative of nonprofits, businesses, and schools known as Hiring Well, Doing Good helped put her on the path to a four-year degree.

My mind also goes to men like Kevin Johnson, a convicted felon who was looking for a second chance after paying his debt to society and spending years behind bars. He found it with Columbus Water Works, a company that has as a core value the need to give second chances. Kevin is now employed there and has hope for a better future.

My challenge to my fellow Ģ����Ƶns is this: what steps can we take today to begin impacting our neighbors for good and healing our national wounds? Don’t think about what government should or shouldn’t do. Think about what you can do. Because in the end, no one needs to wait for election results or government action in order to serve their communities. And no one needs to let election results keep them from doing good on behalf of others.

The road won’t be easy. It will take hard work. It’s far easier to stay in our silos and echo chambers, harshly judging our political enemies. But the far better path is one of service, care and compassion that restores human dignity and empowers everyone to live up to their potential.

As we live through the coming days, weeks, and months, let’s let our lives match the high standard set by Ģ����Ƶ’s earliest founders, who took on these timeless words as their motto: not for self, but for others.

Full Article First Appeared in

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A Community Responds to Need (or Good News You’ll Never See in Mainstream Media)

By Eric Cochling

Just seven months in and it’s fair to say that 2020 has been one of the most disastrous years in modern American history. The very fabric of our country seems to be unravelling before our eyes. As a year that can’t avoid being remembered in infamy, 2020 will forever be known for its pandemic, mass unemployment, police shootings, riots, and autonomous zones. For many of us born after the tumultuous 1960s, this is the first time we’ve seen our country in so much real, existential trouble.��

Despite all the terrible things that have happened, and despite a media establishment that seems all in on an “if it bleeds, it leads” approach, you don’t have to look too far to find reasons to be hopeful. Granted, you do have to look in different places to find the good news—you’re unlikely to see it in news broadcasts or social media where anger and outrage are the fuel.

Instead, you have to read a local paper or sign up for newsletters and blogs (like this one) from ministries and nonprofits that you know. If you do, what you will find is that many Americans—and you’re likely one—are quietly at work responding to community needs and finding ways to bring people together.��

In fact, many more of us are responding in this way than participating in riots or joining Twitter mobs. But because it’s the good, right, and (dare I say) expected response, it’s relegated to the “human interest” section of the paper, the end of the news broadcast, and the unpromoted backwaters of social media where virtually no one goes. At GCO, we are privileged to be working with community partners in just one of those efforts to respond to need.��

Leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, church, nonprofit, and community leaders in my hometown of Lawrenceville were already discussing ways we could partner to become better neighbors to those in poorer sections of the city. Unaware of what was coming, we prayed for guidance and started making initial plans for how best to work together. When COVID-19 struck and our state began shutting down, our group coalesced around a plan to serve those families living in extended stay hotels or rental properties in Lawrenceville who were on the verge of eviction. These were the families on the financial bubble pre-COVID and would be the first to be harmed as businesses shuttered. With funding from private philanthropy and the City of Lawrenceville, the Lawrenceville Response Center () was born.��

Through the partner organizations working through the LRC (organized and led by ), our groups have provided case management ( and ), housing stability (the ), food security (the ), mentoring and coaching ( at ), and job search assistance (GCO’s program). To date, the LRC has helped more than 200 families avoid eviction, have sufficient nutrition, and get on the path back to a stable income.

��

It’s the biggest good news story in my community, but almost no one knows about it. It’s a story of people (with diversity of race, gender, income, political views, and faith) coming together to help alleviate and prevent suffering. As we enter into our third month of working together, we celebrate the successes we’ve seen:

• The mom and daughter who now have a place of their own after spending many nights living in their car.
• The couple who were unemployed and living under a bridge who are now in decent housing and working.
• The mom and her two children who have been able to remain in an extended stay hotel while mom successfully found a new job.

There are other stories like this and there will be more. And our experience in Lawrenceville is certainly being replicated in other cities and states around the country. Even though you’ll almost never hear it from a 24-hour news channel or see it in your Twitter feed, this is how the vast majority of Americans respond in a crisis: They roll up their sleeves and help.

HWDG brings together community resources and technology to help un- and under-employed individuals achieve economic independence in three ways:

• Offering support: Individuals can easily search for local service providers who can help them overcome barriers to employment.
• Helping people find their strengths: Job seekers can identify their strengths and opportunities for employment through a soft skills assessment, a library of training programs, and a career pathway generator.
• Linking people directly with job opportunities: Job seekers can then connect with jobs relevant to their skill sets and personal preferences and geographic area.

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