American Charitable TrustEquality is a cherished principle of humanity. The human race has been striving for equality since time immemorial. The modern times are, perhaps, the most 'equal' times for all concerned due to the concerted efforts by several groups and individuals. The French American Charitable Trust, or FACT, is one such group striving for the removal of inequalities and injustices from the society. Founded in 1989 by a French-American family, the French American Charitable Trust aims at helping the development and sustenance of networks of community-based groups in the US and France. The objective of these groups is to educate, organize, and empower people to actively participate in developing public policies that directly affect their lives. The French American Charitable Trust is based on the strong human principles and beliefs. Fairness, equity, equality, and justice to all are some of the fundamental human rights that are supported strongly by FACT. To meet the ends of community-based development, FACT has earmarked $3.5 million annually as grants to all those organizations that share common objective of justice and equality in France and US. To ensure that the money is utilized accordingly, FACT stresses that the eligible organizations should aim at prevention, rather than cure, the social inequalities in these two developed nations. According to one of their stated aims, FACT plans to completely distribute its $40 million endowment no later than 2020 to make an impact during the lives of its founders. FACT does not believe in doling out funds to large number of organizations. Rather, FACT stresses on concentrating on fewer organizations and helping them with as much grants as possible. And that's why FACT has extremely limited staff of three persons who dedicate their time for the purposes of the Trust. So far, the French American Charitable Trust has funded 34 organizations during the past 12 years. FACT doesn't entertain unsolicited grant proposals due to extremely concentrated approach the trustees follow. They believe in looking out for the deserving organizations and supporting them to the hilt in achieving the common objective of community betterment. The trusts, like French American Charitable Trust, are doing a yeoman's service for the uplift of the society in general and certain communities in particular. The developed nations like France and the United States need the non-government organizations to work behind the scenes and integrate different sections of the society for a harmonious and peaceful co-existence. |