Letter from the
President of the Foundation.

December 2009

Dear Friends of the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation,

2009 has been an eventful year for the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. Our film, The End of Poverty? Think Again, in collaboration with Cinema Libre Studio, made its commercial premier in New York City on November 13th where it had a very successful run (outperforming Disney’s A Christmas Carol at the theater). The film has been shown or is scheduled to be shown in about 15 other cities throughout the United States as well as in Europe.  It was the most ambitious and expensive project the foundation has undertaken. It was conceived as a way to spread the Georgist message to a wide audience. It took the form of an investment and was not made at the expense of our regular program spending. 

As you may know, the film has generated controversy within the Georgist community. Questions have been raised about the extent of the Georgist content in the film and the wisdom of such a large investment. Although Georgists have a core set of principles, our movement has a wide range of viewpoints and controversy about the film is to be expected, with some enthusiastically supporting it, others vigorously against it and many somewhere in the middle. 

We are all united in our belief in the need for the Georgist message to be broadcast, particularly in today’s distressful environment. We plan to use the The End of Poverty? as leverage for this purpose and we have taken initial steps to achieve this. A new website has been created to give a Georgist viewpoint on the film’s theme – www.povertythinkagain.com. Please take a look at the website and send us your comments.

We have also published a new book, Why Global Poverty?, by Cliff Cobb and Philippe Diaz, the film’s director, with the complete transcript of the film and more than 70 interviews, including many that were not in the movie. We have also created a website for the book – www.whygolbalpoverty.com. 

In the near future we plan to publish two books on poverty. The first, Crumbling Foundations: How Faulty Institutions Create World Poverty by Australian Georgist David Smiley and edited by Cliff Cobb and Bill Batt, analyzes Third World poverty and economic development from a Georgist perspective. The second is an anthology of writings on poverty edited by the Canadian Georgist Frank Peddle. We also look forward to a 2010 release of the DVD version of The End of Poverty? Many churches and non-profit organizations have expressed an interest in making use of the movie. In the

A new type of project has been undertaken by RSF this year – oral history, capturing on video the memories and perspectives on the Georgist movement by our esteemed veteran colleagues. To date we have recorded interviews recorded with Pat Aller, Mike Curtis, Mason Gaffney, Lowell Harriss, Harry Pollard, Walt Rybeck and Nic Tideman. More interviews are being planned. 

The foundation continues its support of The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, the Center for the Study of Economics, the Council of Georgist Organizations annual conference, and efforts by Alanna Hartzok to address world poverty. Many of you read the Progress Report and the Georgist News; both of these internet publications edited by Jeff Smith are supported by the foundation. RSF is also having The Standard, Henry George’s newspaper, transcribed and scanned for online scholarly research. 

We at RSF carry on with our mission to keep Henry George’s writings in print and available to the general public.  We also promote more recent Georgist writings and award contracts for research papers on topical issues and graphic presentations of Georgist concepts.  Some of these materials, along with classics by George, are posted on our website –www.schalkenbach.org.  We also distribute books and materials by other authors, which are offered for sale at reasonable prices via our website’s “bookstore”. And we are currently reorganizing our archival collection of Georgist and related materials.

If you can, please make a contribution to the foundation in support of our endeavors. We have enclosed a response form for your convenience. In appreciation of your support we are offering some of our newly acquired publications to interest and inspire you.

Have a healthy and happy 2010.

Sincerely,

Gilbert Herman
President
Robert Schalkenbach Foundation

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Previous Year's Presidents' Letters:

2008

2007

2006