Spotlight on American Indian College Fund

The American Indian College Fund (AICF) provides scholarships and other support for American Indian students and tribal colleges. Tribal colleges, the vast majority of which are located on or near reservations, provide opportunity and access to post-secondary education. Offering accredited degrees while keeping Indian culture and tradition at the heart of their curricula, tribal colleges are changing the face of Indian education, one graduate at a time.
The typical AICF student is anything but typical – at least when compared to the populations of most undergraduate colleges or universities. In fact, ninety-one percent of Fund scholarship recipients are "non-traditional" students— they have dependents, are older than 24, work full-time—or a combination of these characteristics.
Shirley Holds the Enemy is a case in point. Raised by her grandparents on the Crow Indian Reservation, Shirley married young and had three children. She struggled in an abusive relationship involving alcohol. The deaths of her grandparents were difficult events for her.
When she turned 30, Shirley says she realized she had to be strong because she has no one else to depend upon. “I am a strong woman who is responsible and has gained independence for myself and for my children…now that my oldest daughter is 14 years old, I believe that I should become a positive role model for her in pursuing my education,” Shirley says.
Shirley is attending Little Big Horn College, where she is studying pre-nursing, and plans to transfer to Salish Kootenai College to earn her bachelor’s degree. Shirley has proven that anything is possible at any stage of life if you are committed to yourself, your family, and your dreams.
The Fund disburses approximately 5,000 scholarships annually for American Indian students seeking to better their lives through continued education. As part of its support of the tribal colleges, the Fund also provides support for other needs at the schools ranging from capital support to cultural preservation activities. There are now more than 30 tribal colleges located in 13 states and serving more than 250 American Indian Nations from every geographic region in the United States.

Better Business Bureau recognizes TisBest Philanthropy

TisBest Philanthropy has been granted Accredited Charity status by the Better Business Bureau. To receive this status, TisBest had to meet the BBB’s 20 Standards of Charity Accountability. Frankly, it was a surprisingly rigorous process. But that’s good news for those of you who are concerned about where your charitable dollars are going . . . and hopefully that’s everybody who ever makes a charitable donation. Not every non-profit organization that applies for this recognition receives it. It requires strict adherence to a set of standards that take considerable effort to meet. But to get the BBB’s “stamp of approval” . . . well, it’s worth it. And if it means greater peace of mind for the many people who give and receive TisBest Charity Gift Cards, we’re thrilled.
Jon Siegel
Executive Director

Spotlight on National Hospice Foundation

“The National Hospice Foundation envisions a world where everyone facing serious illness, death, and grief will experience the best that humankind can offer.” For 17 years, NHF has been offering support to those facing serious illness and death.

The National Hospice Foundation seeks to increase the quality of hospice care as well as educate Americans on the benefits of hospice. NHF has helped many people come to realize that hospice is not a scary thing.

Tammy Frye learned about hospice when her grandmother needed the kind of care that hospice provides. Tammy wrote, “This is now what hospice means to me:

Having
Only
Special
People
In
Caring
Environments

“My life has been changed by this experience,” Tammy said, “and I am going to look for ways to volunteer time to help those other special people feel love before they go.” The NHF helped Tammy gain this understanding and gave her grandmother the comfort that she needed and deserved.

Hospice is defined as, “Care to people in the final phase of a terminal illness and focus on comfort and quality of life, rather than cure. The goal of hospice care is to enable patients to be comfortable and free of pain, so that they live each day as fully as possible.” The importance of hospice is well stated by Kraemer Sims Becker when she explains why she made a donation to NHF. Kraemer says, “The hospice component was very important because the end point is so much larger than anyone can deal with by themselves. Hospice provides comfort and support to families during a critical, emotional time.”

The National Hospice Foundation has made a significant difference in the world of hospice. I think Tammy Frye says it best when she states, “Thank you so much for this wonderful organization (NHF) - I will never, ever be scared of the word hospice again.”

TisBest is very excited to be supporting this great cause through its charity gift card program.

- Breanna Edwards

The HSUS Fights Dogfighting

Dogfighting has received a great deal of attention since the arrest and conviction of National Football League player Michael Vick. High profile cases such as Vick’s bring more attention to problems that have existed, but often go unnoticed by many. The Humane Society of the United States ( The HSUS) is one of the organizations taking a prominent position in eliminating dog fighting in the U.S. One pledge Mr. Vick must fulfill in order to continue his transition back to the NFL is to work with The HSUS on community-based programs to reach at-risk youth about steering clear of dogfighting. You can read more about the work being done by The HSUS on their Animal Cruelty & Fighting website. We agree with Benjamin Franklin that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and we applaud the efforts of The HSUS.
Jon Siegel, Executive Director

Young Women's Leadership Network

Today we begin a series of posts that celebrate the work of the TisBest 250 Charities, as chosen by our staff.



Young Women's Leadership Network



The YWL Network is at the forefront of the nation’s school reform movement and is one of the most important forces in creating choice for students in urban public school systems.

We partner with school districts, parents and community leaders to create single-gender public schools and college access programs across the country. We are in the business of raising expectations, improving student performance, and inspiring leadership.

Since 1996, we have been opening girls’ public schools that offer single-gender college prep education to inner city students. Our first school, which made history and headlines, is the highly renowned and successful Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem in New York City. All of our schools are available to ordinary students who have a desire to achieve.

YWL Network believes that every student deserves the opportunity to build a strong foundation for his or her future. Our vision is to create first rate schools and programs that enable students to reach their fullest potential.

We are the creators of a network of all-girls' public schools and CollegeBound Initiative – a school-based college counseling service. The primary role of YWL Network is to build partnerships and support programs that enhance the educational experience of students.

More on Young Women's Leadership Network

TisBest Philanthropy is a 501c3 charity. Our purpose is to create and promote gifts of charity rather than gifts of "stuff." We operate www.TisBest.org, from which TisBest Charity Gift Cards may be purchased. Our Charity Gift Cards are fully customizable and elegant gifts that come from the heart, not the store.

JUMPING CRACKER BEANS TEAMS WITH TISBEST

TO INTRODUCE NEW GREETING CARDS THAT BENEFIT CHARITIES

San Jose, California, July 28, 2009 – At a time when charitable giving levels have dipped precipitously along with the economy, international Card of the Year winner Jumping Cracker Beans, LLC is teaming with TisBest Philanthropy to make it easy to give a one dollar donation whenever you send a holiday, birthday, thank you or all occasion greeting card. Each greeting card in this new 12-design collection comes printed on textured, core-dyed card stock with an elegant iridescent envelope, and features a one dollar TisBest charity gift card. Card recipients simply go to the TisBest website, www.TisBest.org, and select one of more than 250 charitable organizations to receive their one dollar donation.

Charitable organizations on the TisBest website include such mainstays of charitable giving as the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanities, UNICEF, Sierra Club, Doctors Without Borders, PBS, and the American Heart Association, as well as numerous other well-known and less well-known organizations working to make a better world.

Many charities can put a single dollar to good use for generic medicines, nails for shelters, food and other basic needs. At the American Humane Association, for example, a single dollar donation can feed a starving, abandoned pet for a day, provide a daily dose of antibiotics to an abused, suffering animal, or supply bandages for a pet hurt in a natural disaster.

Cumulatively, such single dollar donations can add up to create significant support for charitable organizations. One of the new Jumping Cracker Beans charity donation greeting cards features a charity gift card with the image of a drop of water magnifying the tiny veins of a leaf. As the card’s message says: “a single drop …amazing…and with enough you can fill an ocean.”

Jumping Cracker Beans greeting cards are handmade in the U.S. by Goodwill, and all, including these new charity donation greeting cards, retail for $4.95. See them online at www.jumpingcrackerbeans.com, or request a printed wholesale catalog at info@jumpingcrackerbeans.com; or by phone: 408.416.1676; or toll free fax: 866-723-9092.

Thoughts on Memorial Day

When I was a kid growing up in the 60s in a tiny town in the Midwest, Memorial Day (we called it Decoration Day then) was a very big deal. Schools were out, of course, and practically the whole town turned out for the parade and speeches in the city park, and the inevitable reading of “In Flanders Fields.” Stores were closed. It wasn’t a day for sales and sidewalk spectaculars. You couldn’t even buy a carton of milk. Nobody thought of it as a vacation day.

It was common to see tears on many cheeks. Several had lost husbands or brothers or cousins in World War II or Korea. Some of the older ones had experienced the losses of World War I. My mother had a difficult time: my oldest brother was in Viet Nam during one of those Decoration Days. My dad, a decorated World War II Marine veteran, had much to remember. He’d seen the horrors of battle up close and been fortunate enough to survive his injuries.

Today, fewer of us Americans are personally touched by war. At no time in our nation’s history has a smaller percentage of Americans lost their lives in armed conflict. I think that’s why many of us don’t give Memorial Day the attention it used to get. Please understand: I’m not implying that war and its results today are less tragic or horrific than they used to be. I’m merely making a statistical observation. Most of us don’t know anybody personally who has died in combat.

That was hardly the case in the beginning. When Decoration Day was first observed just a few years after the conclusion of the Civil War, nearly everybody had lost either a family member or a close friend in the war. In that four year war, 620,000 soldiers were killed, and in a nation of only 31.4 million people. Not wounded or made homeless. Killed. There was indeed much to memorialize, and much to heal.

The vast majority of us today don’t have the same kind of memories as did the families who experienced the Civil War, the World Wars, or even the Vietnam War. But that doesn’t mean we should forget about the needs of the people who serve our country now or who served in the past.

Perhaps we can observe Memorial Day somewhat differently today. I encourage you to check out two of the charitable organizations supported by TisBest Philanthropy. The Paralyzed Veterans of America (www.SupportVeterans.org) provides Veterans suffering spinal cord injuries with advocacy, legal services, healthcare access and recreational activities. Soldiers’ Angels (www.SoldiersAngels.org) provides care packages, outreach and other comfort to active soldiers and military families. Perhaps we can remember and honor our nation’s fallen soldiers by helping today’ soldiers and veterans.

I trust that you’ll have a memorable weekend; and I hope you’ll take the time to reflect on the sacrifices made by so many in the service of this remarkable country.

Jon Siegel, Executive Director
TisBest Philanthropy