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About
2012 - We have decided not to enter into
any agreements with the new umbrella organization for this charity.
A Grain of Change made no money. A few high commission wire transfers
were made via Western Union to help a family in Sierra Leone, whose
house burned down, but the money came out of our pocket. We couldn't
confirm how the money was used.
Of course we still would like to do what we can to help people in dire
need, throughout the world, whether by financial or other means. To
contact us, please follow the link on the films page, or here: Contact
3 Dec. 2010:
Congressional Distric Programs has raised its fee from 6 to 8 percent
(we started at 3 percent). They will be
under new management next year, under the name United Charitable
Programs. We plan to review their proposal. For now, we ask that you do not contact
this umbrella agency with donations for A Grain of Change. The
donation forms have been removed from this website for the time being.
However, we do not view this as a priority, as there has been hardly
any financial movement on this account since it was created, despite
our worldwide exposure.
1
June 2008: Our umbrella agency, without previous notice, doubled its
fees to six percent of the monies which pass through its accounts.
A
Grain of Change is a charity which resulted from making
films in troubled areas. We have made promises to try to help
people.
The
filmmaking part is better described at www.kornetzky.ch
.
Legally, A Grain of Change is a program within a 501c registered public
charity. CDP, which stands for Congressional District Programs www.cdprograms.org
has its headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia, USA. They serve as an
"umbrella organization" for A Grain of Change.
Checks should be made payable to "A Grain of Change." Credit card
charges will appear as "Congressional District Programs." The
activities of CDP and the
identities of their owners are very clearly laid out in their web
sites. Although, we should add, we have nothing else to do with their
organization. We have never even met anyone at CDP. For us, this is a
simple way to receive charitable donations. Frankly, we would be just
as happy if people would send money directly to the causes, especially
if they are going there themselves.
Western Union charges huge fees, but what else to do? It's a crime how
much money often goes into the wrong hands when well-intentioned people
try to help the horribly neglected and abused innocent people in the
world. Going directly to the source, and moving quickly with
the
help of trustworthy locals, perhaps is the best way to use money
efficiently. What is Africa? The firefighters arrive and
start
the hose, but it's full of holes. So how do you fix that problem? --
Enough said. If you are intelligent, adventurous, have money,
and
want to help: Go. Just get
your malaria medicine and go there; avoid the charlatans, and help the
right people. Just by walking around and giving away bags of rice, you
could save people from starving and prevent some disease. We would much
prefer that you do that than give us money before we go back. Right now
much of what you send would be eaten by CDP and Western Union, or it
would sit in the bank and wait.
We apologize that our websites are not fully functional for the blind.
If you have any recommendations or suggestions, please write to us.
The best way to reach us is by email. If you would like an address and
phone number, we would be happy to provide it my email. However,
sometimes when we are traveling the only way to reach us is by email.
The email address is agrainofchange@kornetzky.ch
Copyrights
©
All photos, artwork and text in this website, unless otherwise noted,
are copyright © Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky. Please ask by email
should you want to use
any of the photos or text.
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