Thanks to the generosity and expertise of the law firm of Thompson and Bogran, Yo Ghana! has officially filed for 501(c)3 status. Taking this step required overcoming two (internal) sets of reservations.
1) Acquiring and maintaining 501(c)3 status, which enables contributors to deduct their contributions on their tax returns, is tedious and time consuming;
2) The primary purpose of Yo Ghana! is for students to learn from each other by sharing letters. Encouraging American students to raise money for schools in Ghana might interfere with that.
Over time, compelling rejoinders to these concerns occurred to me. For the first: Small is beautiful. Many people are motivated to give to a cause because they know someone who is intimately involved with it. Small nonprofits also tend (at least this one will!) to spend little money on staff or overhead. It's all about volunteering so that as much money as possible goes to the people who need it. For the second: Yes, it is challenging to mix global friendships and financial support. In fact students are encouraged to give not to individuals, but to the larger school. The school leadership decides how the money can best be spent for the school as a whole. With Purity School, for example, we are funding a library for everyone, not giving away laptops to a few. The library will draw more students and, therefore, increase the school's income, which means better pay for staff. Furthermore, part of what American students learn from people in poorer countries is that our world contains extreme inequality, inequality that often leads to suffering. Those of us who have way more than we need have a lot of power to change that.
Check out our new website: http://www.yoghana.org/
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