What is Warm Heart?

Collectively, the team that founded Warm Heart has more than 150 years of experience in development. We have worked in the United States and Africa, Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We have a huge respect for the many other development organizations out there. What makes us different?

Four simple, positive statements define Warm Heart:

  • Warm Heart is community-based. We are not an international organization that serves a community; we are a local organization with a board of local officials, businessmen and village elders.
  • Warm Heart is hands-on. The principals have quit their day jobs. We live in the community and will not get paid until our partner organizations are self-sustaining.
  • Warm Heart is self-sustaining. Warm Heart is a new kind of nonprofit. We accept donations as investments, not charitable contributions. Success for us means “grow to pay our way and a social dividend.”
  • Warm Heart is inclusive. Our programs are designed to ensure that everyone has a stake in our success.

What does Warm Heart do?

Warm Heart helps communities achieve sustainability. We don’t bring gifts or packaged answers. We provide knowledge, skills and attitude. We collaborate with partners to nurture communities where:

  • Individuals and families can build a good life through their own efforts;
  • People can grow wealth while maintaining the core values of civility and family friendliness;
  • Education is open to all, but the beauty of traditional forms and respect for culture remain; and
  • The environment itself is managed so that it will sustain future generations.

Does Warm Heart do it alone?

Of course not. Warm Heart is a collaborative effort from start to finish. In Phrao we are networked into local government – our offices are located on the grounds of the Mae Wan Sub-District offices and we provide school year housing for all of the school age children from an isolated village in the Sub-District of Mae Pang. We are advised by the senior monk of the district, by teachers and leading businessmen. We also work closely with both Rajabhat University and Payap University in Chiang Mai, as well as the Karen Baptist Convention that represents approximately 20% of the one million Karen living in Thailand and is the leading Karen development organization in the country.

Warm Heart is also widely networked internationally. We are permanent partners with the wonderful international education and community development organization Global PACT. We have student interns and coop students from Montclair State University, Northeastern University, Rutgers University, The College of New Jersey, University of California, San Diego and University of Toulouse (France). Every summer Warm Heart also hosts two teams from Engineers Without Borders that engage in Warm Heart coordinated community engineering projects.

Who is Warm Heart?

Michael Shafer, Professor Emeritus of Politics at Rutgers University, and Meryl Frank, Mayor of Highland Park, NJ and U.S. representative designate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, are president and vice president respectively of Warm Heart Worldwide. Evelind Schecter, recently retired from Merck, is Treasurer and Dr. Gabriela Ferreira of Robert Wood Johnson Hospital and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, is Sectretary. To contact the officers, please refer to the Contact page. To learn more about the officers and members of the Board, visit the website.

Our legal status

The Warm Heart Foundation in Phrao, Thailand is a legally incorporated nongovernmental organization (foundation) under the laws of Thailand. It operates under essentially the same rules and regulations as an America nonprofit, to whit: all funds and assets are held by the corporation and may not be used for the private benefit of any member or employee of the corporation; the corporation and its activities are exempt from Thai taxes except where it engages in business activities not related to its primary, nonprofit purpose, in which case it is taxed at regular rates on those activities alone; after three years (i.e., beginning in 2011), all donations to the corporation by Thai citizens will also be tax deductible. The Board of Directors, Executive Director and paid staff of Warm Heart Foundation are all Thai.

Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc. is a 501.c.3 nonprofit corporation incorporated in the State of New Jersey, IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN) 26-2059241. A copy of the Warm Heart Worldwide IRS letter of determination is available upon request.

Warm Heart Worldwide maintains no offices and no paid staff. Board members pay their own travel and meal expenses. Warm Heart Worldwide’s sole administrative expenses are tax accountant and auditing expenses, and the costs of developing, producing and disseminating informational and fund raising materials. As a result, unless specifically designated to provide for the administrative needs of Warm Heart Worldwide, 100% of all donations to Warm Heart Worldwide go to the Warm Heart Foundation in Phrao. Likewise, all profits of Warm Heart Online are remitted to the Warm Heart Foundation.

Want to learn more?

Please visit our website: www.warmheartworldwide.org and our blog at http://blog.warmheartworldwide.org

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