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A "Friends of" organization exhibits in its name the formula "Friends of ...", conventionally denoting a membership organization, support group, or community group dedicated to the support, promotion or protection of a particular thing such as a site, building, organization, or to a more general but specialized concept.[1][improper synthesis?] The organization may provide support through fund-raising, campaigning, improvement, maintenance or raising awareness. The official name may or may not include the words "Friends of...".[citation needed]

Often these groups protect civic institutions such as museums, orchestras, public theaters, libraries, government bodies such as a public bus system or a natural feature such as a park, forest, or other natural feature, or a have a wider scope. Political action committees in the United States frequently use this form of name.[original research?]

"Friends of" organizations are often founded to support other charitable bodies that may not be founded in the same country and may have independent tax status as a charity under local tax law and thereby benefit from local tax exceptions.[2][3][4][5][6]

The World Federation of Friends of Museums, founded in 1975, "is an international nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that unites and supports all Friends of museums around the world"; its member organizations come from 30 countries and include 18 national federations.[7]

History

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In the 17th century groups calling themselves the "Friends of Truth" or "Friends of the Truth" gave rise to what (eventually) became Quakerism.[8] (Modern Quakers may use the term "Friends organization" to denote an organization affiliated with the Society of Friends. [9])

The era of liberalization and revolution in Europe in the late 18th century saw the formation of political fraternal "Friends of" organizations such as (for example):

  • the Society of the Friends of the Blacks (Société des amis des Noirs or Amis des noirs, 1788) - abolitionists in France[10]
  • the Society of the Friends of the Constitution (Société des amis de la Constitution, 1789) in France; popularly known as the Jacobins[11]
  • the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen, 1790); popularly known as the Cordeliers[12]
  • the Society of the Friends of the People (1792 )in Great Britain[13]
  • the district of the Friends of the Motherland (Section des Amis-de-la-Patrie, September 1792), a political district in Paris[14]

The Francophone tradition of political parties known as "Friends" (Amis) continued with Ferhat Abbas's movement, the Friends of the Manifesto and of Liberty (Amis du manifeste et de la liberté) in Algeria in 1944.[15]

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) highlights the use of "Friends" in the context of institutional support with a definition of "friend" as "[o]ne who wishes (another, a cause, etc.) well; a sympathizer, favorer, helper, patron, or supporter; spec. a supporter of an institution or the like, contributing help, money, etc. Const. of, to. Usu. in pl. The OED gives examples from the 1920s on: "Friends of the Bodleian" (1926), "The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral" (1927), "Friends of the Tate Gallery" (1963), "The Friends of Bristol cathedral" (1963), and "The Friends of the Lake District" (1971).[16]

"Friends" organizations and libraries

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An organization, ALTAFF (Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends, and Foundations) provides resources for those interested in starting a "Friends of the Library" group for their library, including bookmarks, posters, factsheets, and public service announcements.[17] Statewide Friends of the Library groups exist in many parts of the US.[18] ALTAFF was founded in 2009, when Friends of Libraries U.S.A. (FOLUSA) joined with Association for Library Trustees and Advocates (ALTA) to form a single organization that would function as an expanded division of the American Library Association.[19]

"Friends" organizations and museums

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Museology recognizes the function of its own fraternal interest-groups, "the people interested in cultural and social programmes, known as the "Friends of the Museum".[20]

Friends organizations as a way of donating to foreign charities

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According to the American Council on Foundations, "The term "Friends of" derives from the fact that the names of so many organizations that support foreign charities begin with these two words."[21] These organizations are almost always US nonprofits, either public charities or private foundations. The Council goes on to state that "A "Friends of" organization generally exists to provide federal tax deductibility for charitable contributions to support a foreign charity by breaking a "conduit" flow of funds to the foreign charity."[21] These organizations may have very specific legal responsibilities.[22]

Examples

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  • The Australian Federation of Friends of Museums, (AFFM) - a national, non-profit organisation representing museum supporters throughout Australia
  • Crump, Louisa Meliss (1985). The Friends organization: an approach to institutional stability (reprint ed.). American University. p. 226. OCLC 24306603. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  • La Asociación Argentina "Amigos de la Astronomía"

References

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  1. ^ Anheier, Helmut K.; List, Regina (2005), A dictionary of civil society, philanthropy and the non-profit sector (reprint ed.), Taylor & Francis, p. 254, ISBN 9781857431667
  2. ^ Hopkins, Bruce R. (2011), The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations (10 ed.), John Wiley and Sons, p. 879, ISBN 9780470602171
  3. ^ Judith S. Ballan, "How To Aid a Foreign Charity Through an 'American Friends of Organization," in Proceedings of the Twenty-Third New York University Conference on Tax Planning.
  4. ^ "Legal Dimensions of International Grantmaking: How a Private Foundation Can Use "Friends of" Organizations". Usig.org. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  5. ^ "Giving Insights: Meet the expert: Suzanne M. Reisman, Law Offices of Suzanne M. Reisman". Gi.philanthropycapital.org. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  6. ^ Larkin, Richard F.; DiTommaso, Marie (2011), Wiley Not-for-Profit GAAP 2011: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, John Wiley and Sons, p. Ch.11, ISBN 9780470554456
  7. ^ World Federation of Friends of Museums website
  8. ^ Summers, Steve (2010). Friendship: Exploring Its Implications for the Church in Postmodernity. Ecclesiological Investigations. Vol. 7. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 165. ISBN 9780567490643. Retrieved 9 June 2011. [...] the Society of Friends take their name from their self-description 'Friends of Truth' or 'Friends of the truth', dating from their inception [...] The movement began around 1650 in England [...] {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
  9. ^ http://www.quakerinfo.org/service/friendsopportunities.html Volunteer Opportunities with Friends Organizations]
  10. ^ Julius, Kevin C. (2004). The abolitionist decade, 1829-1838: a year-by-year history of early events in the antislavery movement. McFarland. p. 13. ISBN 9780786419463. Retrieved 10 June 2011. [...] a group of French abolitionists, the first of its kind in the world, calling themselves the 'Société des amis des Noirs,' or the 'Society of the Friends of the Blacks.' {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
  11. ^ Kennedy, Michael L (2000). The Jacobin clubs in the French Revolution, 1793-1795. Berghahn Series: The Jacobin clubs in the French revolution. Vol. 3. Berghahn Books. p. 4. ISBN 9781571811868. Retrieved 11 June 2011. During the ferment of 1789 more future clubs sprang up in provincial towns in the form of 'patriotic societies,' and at Versailles, then the capital, deputies of the constituent Assembly met after hours at the 'Breton Club' [...] [N]ot long after the Constituent and the King moved to Paris, some of these same deputies founded a club there. It adopted the title, 'Society of Friends of the Constitution,' but pamphleteers christened it the 'Jacobins' [...] {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
  12. ^ Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (3007). Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760-1815. Vol. 1. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 173. ISBN 9780313334450. Retrieved 2011-05-11. Founded in April 1790, the Cordeliers Club emerged, along with the Jacobins, as one of the two great political clubs in Paris. Officially known as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the club adopted the nickname of the suppressed Franciscan monastery where it first met. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  13. ^ Selections from the papers of the London Corresponding Society, 1792-1799. Cambridge University Press. 1983. p. 35. ISBN 9780521243636. Retrieved 11 June 2011. The Society of the Friends of the People (1792-95) was formed on 11 April by reform-minded men of position and influence, including twenty-three MPs. {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help); Unknown parameter |editorn-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |editorn-last= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Godineau, Dominique (1998). The women of Paris and their French Revolution. Studies on the history of society and culture. Vol. 26. University of California Press. p. 373. ISBN 9780520067196. Retrieved 11 June 2011. Appendix 2: Sections of Paris [...] 48 [...] Section des Amis-de-la-Patrie (September 1792-Year IV) {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
  15. ^ Modern Algeria: the origins and development of a nation (2 ed.). Indiana University Press. 2005. p. 147. ISBN 9780253217820. Retrieved 11 June 2011. [...] Ferhat Abbas decided to take his cause to the masses by organizing a political movement called the Amis du Manifeste et de la Liberté (AML). {{cite book}}: |first= missing |last= (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help); Unknown parameter |authormask= ignored (|author-mask= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "friend, n. and adj.", Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011 {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ ALTAFF Resources for Friends Groups
  18. ^ ALTAFF State Friends Groups
  19. ^ [http://www.folusa.org/ FOLUSA is Now ALTAFF
  20. ^ Nigam, Mohan Lal (1966). Fundamentals of museology. Hyderabad: Navahind Prakashan. p. 40. Retrieved 17 June 2011. Membership fees realized from the people interested in cultural and social programmes, known as the 'Friends of the Museum' are also of significant help to museum finances. {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
  21. ^ a b [http://www.usig.org/legal/friends_of_organizations.asp United States International Grantmaking, Council on Foundations
  22. ^ Nonprofit Law Resource Library, Legal Responsibilities of US "Friends" Organizations