Is my donation to the YPP tax-deductible?

The YPP is a nonprofit organization, and is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. This means that donations to the YPP are tax-deductible. Sometimes we offer small gifts or rewards to our donors. Under US law, the fair market value of these rewards is not tax-deductible. For example, a donor joining our Partnership with a recurring donation of $10 per month ($120 per year) will receive rewards totaling $20 in market value. This means the donor can take a $100 tax deduction for the year. The YPP will provide donors with receipts reflecting the deductible amount of their donations.

WHAT IS YEMEN? 

Yemen, or the Republic of Yemen, is a country of about 26 million people, located on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is a beautiful land, featuring breathtaking mountains, dramatic coastlines, and massive deserts. Yemen’s people, though they face a number of interconnected humanitarian and political crises, are extremely hospitable and welcoming to outsiders.
Yemen can’t be explained in a FAQ, but it’s our mission to foster understanding of Yemen and its people in the wider world, so we hope you’ll stick around, learn something, get involved, and share your own understandings of Yemen with us, too.

WHY YEMEN? 

Everyone involved in the YPP has her or his own reasons, but in short, we believe that Yemen is important, not just to Yemenis, but to the region, the United States, and the wider world as well. We feel that Yemen and its people don’t get the attention they deserve in the international media, and that this inattention has been harmful. We feel that the decisions and policies of global powers impact the lives of Yemenis, while Yemeni voices are seldom heard by the people who make those policies. We want to change that. For the good of Yemen and the wider world, we need to change that. We hope you’ll join us in our efforts.

WHAT CAN I DO? 

First, get informed. Listen to our podcast and read our blog, and I guarantee you’ll learn something you didn’t know. Our Readings & Resources page is a great place to start, too. If you have any specific questions, tweet at us or send us an email; we would love to hear from you.

Second, consider donating to the YPP. We believe in the work we’re doing (otherwise we wouldn’t do it), and we think it’s worth supporting. There is currently no other organization in the world doing what we do: looking for new ways to foster understanding between Yemen and wider world through media, the arts, and education. But we can’t do any of this without the support of people like you.

Third, consider volunteering your time. We’re often looking for help. Send us an email to find out more. Thanks!

How can I find out what’s really going on in Yemen?

The mainstream media’s coverage of Yemen isn’t always reliable, and is far from comprehensive. But there are several very good foreign journalists reporting on Yemen. There are also, of course, many very talented Yemen journalists, some of whom write in English. Our blog features weekly news summaries, as well as explorations of specific issues and events. Our podcast stories provide deeper background and broader context, to help listeners understand the issues and why they matter.

Our Links page contains several very good online news sources, as well as the personal websites and blogs of individual journalists covering Yemen. A few foreign journalists in Yemen also publish on Beacon, a subscription-funded platform for freelancers.

You can (and should) also join our Facebook group page, where we often post interesting news articles, and follow our Twitter feed, where we post news and discuss current events.

What if I don’t consider myself Yemeni?

That’s fine with us. The YPP’s efforts are aimed at a global audience. We also know that not everyone from Yemen identifies as “Yemeni.” The country now known as Yemen has a complex history, and the people who live there or are from there claim a broad set of identities. Some people put their regional or tribal identities above their national one. Many people from what is now southern Yemen–and was previously a separate state–prefer to call themselves South Arabian. Some people identify first and foremost as Hadhrami, or Mahri, or Soqotri.

For us, it’s simple: if you live in, come from, or care about any part of the territory currently recognized as the Republic of Yemen, we’re interested in you and what you have to say.

How are donations to the YPP used?

Everything we do is dependent on donations. Your donations fund our current programs, and allow us to expand those programs and develop new ones. Specifically: when we receive a donation, our staff directs the money to the project for which it is needed most. Donors can specify which projects they would like to support, but it’s even better when we have the freedom to use the money to meet our most urgent needs.

If you’re planning to make a donation and you’d like to discuss how your gift will be used in greater detail, please feel free to send us an email.

What percentage of donations goes to administrative costs?

When you donate to the YPP online, our payment processing service takes a small percentage of your donation. Other than that, your entire donation will be used to fund our current programs. At present, the YPP has an all-volunteer staff. We’d like to change that (some of us have been doing this full-time for years), but funding our current programs takes priority over our salaries.