501 (c)3 organization We Are Atheism launches philanthropic campaign The Good One Percent Club
From a press release:
We Are Atheism is expanding on their Atheists Giving Aid program with a new campaign. “The Good One Percent Club” is a new program encouraging atheists to donate just one percent of their monthly earnings. While churches ask for ten percent, We Are Atheism is confident that atheists can do more even while giving less.
Through Atheists Giving Aid, We Are Atheism was able to raise over $75,000 for victims of Sandy Hook, the Boston Marathon Bombings, and the Oklahoma City Tornadoes. A complete accounting of their fundraising efforts is available on their website (http://www.weareatheism.com/2012-2014-incomeexpense-report/). The Good One Percent Campaign will help change lives, help change the face of atheism in America, and make religious leaders see that asking for 10% of people’s hard earned money is just greedy and unnecessary.
This is a direct challenge to churches who have far too often used their well-oiled money raising machine to fund lavish luxuries for priests, political campaigns against the rights of women and gays, to protect sexual predators from the law, and to proselytize to those in need of actual help.
Plus unlike churches, atheists promise no imagined riches in the afterlife or false predictions of future rewards here on Earth from imaginary deities. The only reward is the knowledge that you helped those who needed help. The Good One Percent Club won’t guilt anyone into giving money or shaming them for their inability to do so either. This is one reason why they are asking for only one percent. If you make just a little, then give just a little. If you make a lot, then give a lot. It’s just that simple. By doing this, you’ll join The Good One Percent Club and get special newsletters showing what good Atheists Giving Aid is doing with your money. Yes, you’ll actually know how your donations are being used.
Prominent atheist Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, founder of the Global Secular Humanist Movement had this to say about The Good One Percent Club:
“There are many things we can learn from religion in terms of community and service, as Atheist or people without religion we can create a similar and probably more efficient system of service which is based upon goodness for goodness sake, a system that not is not based upon fear of hell or reward of heaven but out of love for humanity, which is why I support the Good 1% Club.”
Atheist author David Fitzgerald also endorsed the project:
“You can join your fellow atheists in helping those in need, making the world a better place, and smashing the old lie that only religious charities exist. Give to the Good 1% Club and you’re helping people, not priests or preachers!”
We Are Atheism is a registered 501c3 charity with tax exempt status from the federal government. All donations to this campaign are tax deductible, by law. For more information contact the We Are Atheism Board of Directors at WeAreAtheism@gmail.com or check out the website at weareatheism.com/thegood-1-club.