Right Sharing of World Resources
The Right Sharing of World Resources Committee is composed of
about nine members nominated by the Nominating Committee and appointed
by the Yearly Meeting. In addition, individuals may be co-opted
to serve on the Committee, particularly from those local Meetings
not otherwise represented.
This Committee works to keep alive throughout the Yearly Meeting
membership the challenge to simplify our lives and to work in
partnership with our sisters and brothers in the U. S. and throughout
the world for a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources.
In doing so, this Committee works with the independent Quaker
organization Right Sharing of World Resources, Inc. The Committee
facilitates the coordination and exchange of information to meet
these concerns. It provides support for community development
and self-help programs throughout the world. The Committee raises
funds for these programs through activities such as simple meals.
The Committee also works with Monthly Meetings to address these
concerns. It may also bring to the attention of the Yearly Meeting
other international and domestic concerns that affect relationships
between the economically developed and less-developed countries
or the relationship between people with greatly different economic
means wherever they may live.
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Manual of Procedure, July 2004, p33
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Advance Report - 2010
Right Sharing of World Resources (RSWR) is an independent, Quaker organization which provides financial support in the form of grants, to new, small organizations working with the poorest of the poor (including Quakers) around the world. RSWR is an independent organization and, as such, does not have representatives from Yearly Meetings. However, half of the Yearly Meetings in the United States provide direct support, and RSWR receives individual support from within virtually all Yearly Meetings in the US. For that reason, this report is provided, to be used and distributed, as deemed appropriate, within the Yearly Meeting.
Like many non-profits, RSWR saw a partial financial recovery from the financial downturn of 2008-2009. At the same time, RSWR was able to continue its level of support to its grant-making work and to see significant developments with its capital campaign, which was begun July 1, 2008. For 2009, RSWR notes the following highlights:
- Total income of $426,100
- Total expense of $438,350
- $272,945 to directly support grants, training, and support to local organizations
- Grants to 51 organizations in south India, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, representing direct support to 750-1,000 women.
- In October, 2009 initiated the Kenya field staff program with the engagement of Samson Ababu. The south India field staff program, with Dr. R. Kannan, was begin in July, 2008.
- Reached the half-way point of our $2.3 million capital campaign to move RSWR to a new level of programming.
- Moved resources from the support of in-person RSWR presentations to the support of an electronic communications program, to be initiated in July, 2010
The heart of RSWR is a partnership. On one side of the partnership are Quakers here in the United States, and other persons of faith who seek to live more justly, and who provide capital to help support micro-enterprise projects. On the other side of the partnership are women’s self-help groups who, with the guidance of local non-governmental organizations and by their participation in the self-help group, implement the micro-enterprise project.
This is what distinguishes the work of RSWR and some other faith-based groups from many other micro-enterprise groups. The wealth that RSWR redistributes from Americans to the poorest of the poor is a grant of capital. RSWR understands that God calls us to jubilee justice, to wealth redistribution. Our partners who receive the grant are women’s self-help groups who hold and manage the funds in common, making loans to members to implement small-scale, income-generating businesses, and increasing their wealth, their lives, and the well-being of their families.
RIGHT SHARING of WORLD RESOURCES
101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond, IN 47374
rswr@rswr.org; 765.966.0314
Advance Report - 2005
God calls us to the right sharing of world resources, from the burdens of materialism and poverty into the abundance of God's love, to work for equity through partnership with our sisters and brothers throughout the world
"But just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us -see that you also excel in this grace of giving ... Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little." 2 Corinthians 8:7, 13-15, NIV
Taking 2004, Right Sharing of World Resources' fifth year as an independent, Quaker organization as an opportunity for reflection and visioning, the RSWR Board of Trustees completed a six-month strategic planning project. The project resulted in four strategies which will guide RSWR in the next three to five years:
- Continue with the best practices of the previous five years
- Increase RSWR's presence among North American Quakers, with special attention to young Friends
- Move toward increasing involvement in decision-making by project partners
- Explore a paradigm shift from wealth, economics-based development to sustainability, with a new understanding of resources.
We also note the following highlights:
- $240,000 disbursed to 51 projects, including four in response to the tsunami disaster in south India. Thirty (59%) of the projects are in (south) India; 14 (27%) are in Kenya, all with Quaker partners; six (12%) are in Sierra Leone; one (2%) is in the Philippines
- Fifteen (29%) of all project partners are Quaker
- A 10% increase in total income from the previous year. Individual Friends households provide 75% of RSWR's income, Monthly Meetings and Churches provide 12%, Yearly Meetings 3%, and special events (e.g. Simple Meal) 4%. The balance of the income is from interest and restricted gifts.
RSWR continues to provide Friends the means by which we can examine our life of plenty, to provide a practical outlet to assist and empower some of the poorest people on the planet (some of whom are Quakers), and to come to a deeper understanding of economic discipleship as part of our individual and corporate life as a faith community.
Right Sharing Of World Resources, 232 College Avenue, Richmond, Indiana 47374-5360
765/983-1879; rswr@earthlink.net; www.rswr.org
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