by Willy Franzen on December 12, 2009
I have to say that democracy is a pretty darn good thing—even if it is the only government system that I’ve ever known. It certainly has its flaws, but I’m not sure that we’ve found a better way to ensure the freedom of a nation’s citizens yet. I don’t think that there is a lot of debate about whether spreading democracy is a good thing—most of the debate centers around what are appropriate ways to spread it. The National Endowment for Democracy is a Washington, DC based “private, non-profit, grant-making organization” that aims to “strengthen democratic institutions around the world through nongovernmental efforts.” They’re funded through “an annual appropriation from the U.S. Congress through the Department of State;” however, they are not a government organization. They make grants to pro-Democracy groups across the world with the goal of helping democracy evolve naturally in a way that suits the nations culture and history.
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by Willy Franzen on April 13, 2009
This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association. She is also the entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com, a career expert for the CAREEREALISM Twitter Advice Project, the job search expert for Campus Calm and author of the e-book “Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty.”
Issue advocacy, media strategy and crisis and reputation management are three of my favorite areas of public relations—and three specialties of Washington, DC based corporate communications and public affairs firm Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates (CLS). According to their Web site, CLS works to “inform target audiences, change critical perceptions and solve high stakes problems.” So, whether you spend the day lobbying Capitol Hill with a worthy cause, keeping up-to-date with the latest media changes or stepping in when crisis erupts, I think you’ll find CLS a truly exciting place to work. With a median employee age of 27, CLS offers a mix of young, energetic co-workers and seasoned professionals from whom you can learn. Other perks? Working with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to non-profit organizations to foreign governments. It’s a great environment in which to get your feet wet.
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by Willy Franzen on February 28, 2009
What happens when you put Angelina Jolie together with a suspected conspiracy to create a “one-world government?” No, it’s not an upcoming movie release. It’s actually a non-profit organization called the Council on Foreign Relations. They are “an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.” They can claim Angelina Jolie as a member, and because of their secrecy clauses and interesting membership requirements (and the fact that so many high-ranking government officials are members), people get all kinds of ideas about Council on Foreign Relations. In fact, Wikipedia says that “some believe it to be the most powerful private organization to influence United States foreign policy.” Ok, let’s cut through all the crazy stories and see what CFR is really about.
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by Willy Franzen on October 4, 2008
Since diplomacy is “the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states” according to Wikipedia, one would assume that a diplomat is a representative of a group or state. Independent Diplomat is a non-profit organization that is trying to live outside that definition. Their mission is to provide the knowledge and experience of long time diplomats to countries that are disadvantaged or marginalized to the point that they don’t have the resources to effectively practice diplomacy. Started by a former British diplomat, Independent Diplomat has worked with nations that include Somaliland, Western Sahara, Kosovo, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to prevent and resolve conflict. They’re kind of like management consultants for diplomacy.
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by Willy Franzen on August 10, 2008
Did you spend any time abroad when you were in college? Did you love it? If you answered yes to those questions, then you can probably see the value in World Learning, a non-profit organization that “fosters global citizenship by connecting over 3,000 young ambassadors annually across cultural differences and social barriers.” They do this through three programs that they offer – The Experiment in International Living, SIT Study Abroad, and SIT Graduate Institute. World Learning also runs International Development Programs in 20 countries to “work with communities to design and implement development programs that address some of the main obstacles to human development.” If you terribly miss your abroad experience and want to help other students gain similar experiences, a job with World Learning might be the perfect solution to your post-graduation job search.
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by Willy Franzen on May 24, 2008
Although giving away money isn’t usually the first thing on people’s lists of things to do if they ever get rich, people who actually are rich seem to enjoy donating what they have. Since you’re reading a site about entry-level jobs, we’re going to guess that you don’t have vast financial resources to donate to charity. Still, it would be fun to give someone else’s money, now wouldn’t it? That’s what the Carnegie Corporation of New York does. The corporation was founded my Andrew Carnegie, himself, in 1911 with a $135 million. Since then the goal has been to put the money to use in ways that “promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding” for perpetuity. What is perpetuity? It’s forever. For many new college grads, making money last forever means until the next paycheck. At the Carnegie Corporation, they really mean forever. Their endowment was worth approximately $3.0 billion last year, and with a giving rate of “5.5 percent of the average market value of the endowment during the prior 12 quarters,” it’s not getting any smaller.
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by Amy Gordon on March 9, 2008
What do John Hope Franklin, Paul Samuelson, Linus Pauling, and Jonathan Franzen have in common? Besides having last names that begin with a male first name, they were Fulbright Scholars who have gone on to acheive greatness in their respective fields. John Hope Franklin received a Presidential Medal of Freedom (America’s highest civilian honor), Paul Samuelson is a Nobel Laureate in Economics, Linus Pauling received the Nobel Prize for his work in Chemistry, and Jonathan Franzen is a novelist who just so happens to have an awesome last name.
The Fulbright Program aims to promote peace and understanding through educational exchange. It was created in the aftermath of World War II through the efforts of Senator J. William Fulbright, and today, is considered to be one of the most prestigious academic awards world-wide. In fact, more Fulbright alumni have won Nobel Prizes than those of any other academic program.
Institute of International Education, aka IIE, manages the Fulbright Program, along with 250 other programs worldwide, and serves over 20,000 people from 175 nations each year.
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