Not All Tsunami Relief Donations Tax Deductible

Hundreds of thousands of Americans contributed millions to relief
efforts centered on the victims of the December 26th tsunami in the
Southwestern Pacific, with more coming in each day. While the motives
of those donating are purely honorable, there will be a time when many
donors think back on their contributions to itemize them for a
deduction on their Federal Income Taxes. This is especially true with
this situation, as it is close to the end of the 2004 tax year for
most Americans.

However, not all contributions toward disaster relief in this foreign
calamity are eligible for use as tax deductions, according to Federal
Tax Law. To claim a donation given in response to a foreign disaster,
or for any chartable use in a foreign country, the donation must be
given to a nonprofit organization that meets the following
requirements:

•Is recognized as a tax exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service;

•Is a US-based charitable organization; and

•The organization has primary authority over the allocation of donated
funds, either through itself or a foreign organization that it
operates and administers for fund distribution.

Several international relief organizations are US-based and fulfill
these requirements, such as the American Red Cross, Samaritan's Purse,
and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Foreign-based charitable organizations are not usually eligible for
tax-deductible contributions. Exceptions do exist in countries that
have tax treaties with the United States, which are Canada, Mexico,
and Israel. While each nation's requirements are different, they
all require that the donor receive income from the country to whom
they are making the donation.

Specific information applying to policies for deducting donations are
available in IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions, available
online at www.irs.gov. If you are interested in donating to a specific
organization and wish to know whether or not they are tax exempt, you
can contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040, or access IRS Publication 78,
Cumulative List of Organizations, also available online.

Copyright 2004, Kenneth Hunter (kwhunter@gmail.com)

Note: Information available from the Internal Revenue Service
contributed to this report. Permission to reproduce and distribute
this article is authorized.

Americans Providing Strong Tsunami Relief, Many Avenues Available to Contribute

The generosity and compassion of the American people to their fellow Man around the world is on display again in the outpouring of support for the millions devastated in the wake of the December 26th tsunami that killed over 100,000 and destroyed much of the coastal regions in
several countries in the Southwest Pacific.

Along with the tens of millions of dollars allocated by the Federal government, with potentially billions more on the way following the convening of the next Congressional session, individual citizens and businesses are also turning their attention toward the calamity with important donations. In its first four days of operation, a special link set-up by Amazon.com, enabling customers to donate directly to the American Red Cross, raised approximately $3.5 million.
Additionally, several businesses are donating millions each in financial and material support to provide relief supplies and fund the massive airlift underway to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and other affected countries.

Almost anyone reading this wants to help in ways more appropriate for them, regardless of their means. Here are some avenues through which your contributions can make it to those who need it in an effective, time-sensitive manner.

American Red Cross (www.redcross.org, or through Amazon)

Along with financial contributions for food, water, and other essential supplies, your donations also help cover costs associated with the transport of fellow Americans who assist with this esteemed agency's Disaster Services. More than likely, thousands of Americans will join other Red Cross volunteers around the world in the affected area to provide relief-related services and assist with the arduous, and in some cases, morbid tasks ahead.

WorldVision (www.worldvision.org)

This group was among the first to provide direct assistance to the affected areas, due in part to their long-standing presence throughout the Asian Pacific.

Samaritan's Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org)

The international relief organization of Rev. Franklin Graham has established an effort to provide needed relief services, utilizing their existing networks within the affected area and incorporating the aid of others.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (www.jdc.org)

This is another long-standing, US-based international relief organization providing direct financial assistance to tsunami-related relief efforts.

Copyright 2004, Kenneth Hunter (kwhunter@gmail.com)

Writer's Note: Feel free to distribute this message to anyone.

Achievement in Rural Education, the Key is Simplicity

We often hear our parents and grandparents tell us about how different schools were during "their day." In many ways, they are absolutely right, and the key element of their comments is perhaps the most important: they were simpler, thus much better.

The Tennessean ran a story today on Pelham Elementary in GrundyCounty, a K-8 school in a rural area with less than 100 students. The article tells a "David-like" story how the school, in spite of dual-grade classes, limited facilities, and faculty/staff assuming multiple responsibilities, the school manages to effectively educate all of its students.

Of course, the lesson here should not be that the school accomplishesits success "in spite of" its limitations. Instead, I imagine that itis because of them. Decades ago, many rural and middle-sized schooldistricts closed these schools for these very reasons, assure of the recommendations made to them by educational professionals that students needed to be in schools large enough to provide a widevariety of educational (and social) services. Thus, we saw elementary schools grow to over 500, some even more than 700. At the same time,we now have middle, junior high, and high schools with as many as 3,000 students a piece dotting the landscape, featuring campuses that look more like community colleges or small universities than the intimate,closeknit environment vital to successful primary and secondary education.

There are two elements of Pelham that should create pause in the continued "reform" efforts of today's professional education elite. First, Pelham has minimal staff, with even the Principal serving as a teacher and his Secretary assuming all administrative assistant responsibilities (as well as being a teacher's aide). This is rarely the case elsewhere, where Principals are often years (and many bureaucratic levels) removed from the classroom, multiple levels of Assistant Principals and Counselors shepherd student flocks through grades, disciplinary matters, and paperwork, and administrative support personnel have no background or connection with the primary focus of the school: education. Of course, most schools no longer focus enough of their resources on education in the first places, serving instead as vehicles for the distribution of social services (medical care, public assistance, counseling, etc.). While these may be important, their presence within the confines of a school take attention away from the learning process, further undermining the lackluster efforts of the unmotivated teaching faculty.

The second element is the nature of the classroom at Pelham, where each teacher leads a dual-degree class. The classrooms are the same size, in terms of students, as other classes elsewhere, but the necessity of serving two grades at the same time forces the teacher to not allocate full attention to the students as a whole. This works to the student's advantage. With the advent of the "smaller class size" logic, teachers began to spend too much time helping individual
students, preventing them from having the time necessary to learn "on their own." As a child who once spent a year in a dual-grade class, I can tell you that the splitting of time between grade groups forced me and the other students to focus attention on our own learning efforts,
as we could not simply ask the teacher for help on every question we had with our studies. At the same time, the greater difficulty naturally gives the teacher greater latitude with respect to
maintaining discipline.

There is also the fact that by introducing a higher grade level in a class, some students in the lower grade level will learn additional information by "following-along" with their older classmates. Likewise, the older grade will be more likely to pay attention and perform, as they will not want to be shown up by the younger students.

I imagine that there are some drawbacks to Pelham, probably most noteable in the services provided those needing special education. However, with school choice, those children can be served by other schools within their district, or if necessary, personal instruction. The bottom line is that for the vast majority of students, simpler often means better when it comes to their educational environment of the classroom and school house.

DOD News Channel Arrives

Actually, it looks to have been around for a while. Think of it as a
CSPAN for our military and service personnel, without the call-in
shows (who calls-in to CSPAN anyway, especially on the "Independent"
line?).

The Pentagon Channel
http://www.pentagonchannel.mil/

It is unfortunate that this has to take shape, as the government
should leave the reporting of news to the private media. However,
given the destructive, demeaning, false manner of much reporting on
our activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the war against
terror, I really do not see any other way for the Defense Department
to provide the public, and their own personnel, the straight,
unfiltered information they deserve to hear and see.