Neda Nobari Foundation is a small private foundation established in 2008 by its founder, Neda Nobari.
The foundation’s vision is to promote and support the silenced voices in our society and to provide second chances to the less privileged individuals or individuals going through a temporary difficult stage of life. NNF embraces positive and transformational change and supports organizations that participate in the empowerment of the human potential.
The foundation operates without permanent staff and its directors serve without compensation.
According to Wikipedia, “philanthropy is the effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind. It’s generally agreed that the word was coined 2500 years ago in ancient Greece by the playwright, Aeschylus. The author told of a myth: The primitive creatures that were created to be human, at first had no knowledge, skills, or culture of any kind-so they lived in caves, in the dark, in constant fear of their lives. Zeus, the tyrannical king of the gods, decided to destroy them, but Prometheus, a Titan whose name meant “forethought,” out of his “philanthropos tropos” or “humanity-loving character” gave them two empowering, life-enhancing, gifts: fire, symbolizing all knowledge, skills, technology, arts, and science; and “blind hope” or optimism. The two went together-with fire, humans could be optimistic; with optimism, they could use fire constructively, to improve the human condition.
The new word, philanthropos, combined two words: philos, “loving” in the sense of benefitting, caring for, nourishing; and anthropos, “human being” in the sense of “humankind”, “humanity”, or “human-ness.” What he evidently “loved”, therefore, was their human potential- what they could accomplish and become with “fire” and “blind hope.” The two gifts in effect completed the creation of humankind as a distinctly civilized animal. Philanthropia, loving what it is to be human-was thought to be the key to civilization.”
I first became interested in the concept of philanthropy when I left the fashion industry after 23 years. I read numerous books and articles about philanthropy containing theories about why the wealthy give, how much is given, and how patterns of giving are broken down by areas of need such as demographics and behavioral characteristics. I examined the differences between outright and spontaneous giving strategies. I learned about various motivations behind philanthropy ranging from tax benefits, leaving legacies for future generations, dealing with guilt, fulfilling a sense of obligation, massaging ego, demonstrating gratitude, wanting to make a difference and simply caring for other individuals in society.
I challenged the notion of why it really mattered why one gave as long as one was engaged in the process of sharing one’s wealth for the improvement of society one way or another. Did it truly matter if one was motivated by stamping one’s name on a building as long as one was helping to add a library, or medical research facility in one’s community? I surmised that in the end, it doesn’t matter why or how people give. What really matters is that they support organizations and individuals that speak to their personal values and beliefs in some way.
My philanthropic journey of the past four years has taught me to be mindful of my motivations, to be strategic yet remain spontaneous, to trust my intuition, and support organizations that speak to my heart and soul. I have invested time educating myself about global versus local giving, partnering with local community foundations to learn about pressing local issues, studying as many non-profit organizations as I could, and navigating the very challenging and complicated world of philanthropy to the best of my ability. In the process, I have connected with some incredible organizations that are doing astonishing work that is improving people’s lives.
In this global world that we live in, politics, economics, the environment, education, and health are all inter-connected. Unfortunately, as our government continues to reduce budgets for education, health care and other social services, while maintaining military spending, it is partially up to the private foundations to pick up the slack and fill the gap. We at NNF try to do our best with our limited resources to contribute to a better community, wherever we are, and to be of service to those in need in as many ways as we possibly can. I have been blessed with both “fire” and “blind hope” and deeply believe in the power of human potential.