We’ve moved!
Looking for inspirational stories about changing the world? Want a resource for easy ways to give? Interested in finding a good way to volunteer? We’re still happy to give you all that–but we’re on a new page now! We changed our name and changed our web address. We moved everything–posts, pages and comments–over to the new place, so from now on you can come look for us at:
www.philanthropost.wordpress.com
All you have to do is click the link above. We look forward to seeing you over there!
Filed under: Fun Ways to Give, Giving, Social Change | Tags: change, community, music
By Cheryl Mahoney
Just recently I wrote about how we all use the internet. Well, I’m betting we all listen to music pretty often too (sometimes through the internet!) But how often do you think about music and social change together? Just as One Web Day thinks about the internet and social change, eTown thinks about music and social change.
eTown is an exciting community sharing music and ideas. They combine a passion for music with a passion for social change. Their mission is “to educate, entertain and inspire a diverse audience, through music and conversation, to create a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable world.” Their weekly radio program is broadcast on more than 270 stations nationwide, and is available on the internet as well.
I love the idea of creating a community around a common interest, like music. People are very capable of getting very passionate about favorite bands, musicians and singers. (I’m no exception. You should hear me wax on about Michael Crawford some time–he’s amazing!) But what I really love about eTown is that they don’t stop at the music–they make the community about something even bigger, not only about music but about creating change.
One way eTown celebrates social change is through their monthly E-Chievement Awards. I am very proud to be able to say that UniversalGiving was chosen for this month’s E-Chievement Award! This award celebrates people who are making a positive impact in their communities and beyond. eTown also interviewed our founder and CEO, Pamela Hawley. Her interview on eTown will be airing between August 26th and September 1st (dependent on schedules for local stations). Visit eTown’s site to find out how to listen to the program, or if you just can’t wait, they already have Pamela’s interview up online.
So who’s your favorite musician? And what’s your favorite cause? Maybe there’s a way to combine the two. Or visit UniversalGiving for great opportunities to spread social change with music.
Filed under: Give to Children, Giving | Tags: Easy Giving, giving guide, health aid, SHARED Inc.
by Anis Salvesen
Elizabeth Ziemba, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Giving Back and founder of SHARED, Inc. shares her story with us in the following interview.
You wrote “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Giving Back.” What first got you thinking about writing the book?
It was actually a confluence of variables. First, I had years of experience as an attorney, and was a long-time volunteer and donor. A few years ago I got a masters in public health and set up SHARED, Inc. In running that organization, I discovered that I could not find one central place to send people interested in giving back. So I took my knowledge of the law, understanding the law and how nonprofits run, and I put together a book to provide people with guidance and to identify topics that they would find useful.
Great. You mentioned SHARED, Inc. What first inspired you to found it? Any specific event?
Well, it was not the result of a grand epiphany. It came out of my feeling burned out from a busy law practice. I needed a break and was planning to take a sabbatical of some kind, not quite sure what I was going to do. One evening I came home from a typically long day and found someone else’s mail in my post box. One of the pieces of mail was a sort of pamphlet from Boston University for a 12-week course called “Management Methods in International Health.”
I thought well, management skills sound useful and the course is only 12 weeks, so why not sign up? I took the course and ended up falling in love with the topic of international health. So I decided to get a master’s degree, focusing on the issue of access to medicine. I learned so much not just from the coursework, but from the other people in the class, many of them middle management from various ministries of health. It became clear to me that there was a big issue here, people needlessly dying from lack of access to existing inexpensive and effective medicines, and it made me very angry. When I get angry, I get going.
Wow! What a great story. You started SHARED,Inc. back in 2002. Since then we’ve entered some very challenging times. How do you find yourself dealing with the economic downturn at SHARED, Inc?
We have a dedicated team supported by a wonderful group of interns from various institutions, including the Boston University School of Public Health. Also, we are focusing on more specific, smaller asks. For example, for Valentine’s Day, we had a project called “Love Listens.” For a modest amount ($41), donors could participate in this project to buy stethoscopes for nurses at Scott Hospital, Morija, Lesotho. It was incredibly successful. We were just blown away. The original scope of the campaign had been to just supply a stethoscope for every nurse, but thanks to the enthusiastic response of donors, we were able to buy one for each and every nurse and doctor and nursing student in the hospital – 165 in total! And we had funds left over, which we will share with another hospital.
I was going to say that was heart-warming, but I’ll refrain from doing so. It is so wonderful that so many people are still excited about giving, and that you are finding more ways to facilitate their giving back. Which brings me to my next question: What are some of the greatest milestones you’ve achieved, and what do you envision for the future?
In September of 2007, we hosted Archbishop Desmond Tutu at a gala fundraiser in Boston. It was just a remarkable evening. He is just such a fascinating and inspiring individual. He is funny, intelligent and so down-to-earth. It was definitely one of the most amazing evenings of my life – truly humbling.
It’s pretty hard to beat that evening. After you host Desmond Tutu, it’s like Where do you go from here? But we do still have a lot of good work ahead. For example, we are currently working on project called Seeds of Change, which is a project to fund community gardens where individuals plant, tend, and harvest fruits and vegetables that feed HIV/AIDS children and adults. By funding gardens, hundreds of families grow food for themselves and sell excess produce in the community, contributing to the self-sustainability of the garden. We also are currently conducting a gadget drive to raise money for medicines for children in Africa. It’s called Technology for Tots, and it’s a great way to turn your unwanted electronics into much-needed medicines.
Elizabeth, thank you so much for being so generous with your time. Your values are right in line with those at UniversalGiving. We also focus on helping others give back, by connecting them with volunteer and/or donation opportunities from a pool of select charities.
For more information on current projects at SHARED,Inc. just click on the link below. http://www.healthshares.org/about/projects/index.shtml
Filed under: Giving, Social Change | Tags: giving in hard times, resources, service, take action
By Cheryl Mahoney
Have you ever found the same person or idea or organization turning up in your life in a lot of different places, all around the same time? When that happens to me, I generally figure that the universe is trying to tell me something. Lately, it’s been happening with Jolkona Foundation. First there was a comment here on Philanthrobuzz (thanks, Joy!) Then Jolkona Foundation and UniversalGiving joined Social Actions at the same time. And I think I also saw them on Twitter, and they were mentioned in a couple of articles, and my memory blurs on where else, but it was enough that I decided the universe wanted me to look into this. Of course, another time I thought that was when four or five friends independently recommended the same author, and then it turned out I didn’t actually like his books very much. But I’m happy to report that I’ve read the universe’s signals better this time, and Jolkona Foundation looks like a great site.
“Jolkona” means “a drop of water” in Bengali. I assume the symbolism is that one small donation is like a drop of water, but many drops, and many donations, create an ocean and an enormous impact. Jolkona Foundation lets you search for very specific projects to give to, you can donate right through their site, and they’ll give you proof of impact on your gift. The idea is to make giving easy, and to let people have control over where they’re donating their money. Jolkona also wants to appeal to youth, and to bring together the collective power of many small donations to make a big difference. Sounds like values we can thoroughly embrace!
Jolkona looks like another example of shifts in the nonprofit world in response to trends in giving. People seem increasingly concerned about the impact of their charitable donation–as they should be. I think some of it is the economy–if people are forced to give less, they want to make sure that what they give has as much impact as possible. There’s a few key ways I’ve observed to do that: know exactly where your money is going, so that you know it’s a cause you really care about; give to quality organizations, so the money is going to people who know how to use it to the best advantage; give internationally, where a dollar’s high value lets a seemingly small amount do so much more than it could here.
So if you want to take advantage of all those ways to make an impact with your donation, Jolkona Foundation is a good organization to check out. And, of course, so is UniversalGiving. 
Filed under: Fun Ways to Give, Giving, How to Give Daily, Inexpensive Ways to Give, Poverty, Volunteering | Tags: change, charity, free ways to give, giving in hard times, random acts of kindness, San Francisco, service, take action
By Sarah Keyston
I just returned from serving lunch at Glide Memorial in San Francisco with three others on the UniversalGiving team, including our founder and CEO Pamela Hawley, as well as some members of other foundations in our office community. And I have to tell you, it was a truly humbling experience. We walked over from our office to begin our shift at 11:30am, and when we arrived, there was already a line of people waiting to eat. We donned hairnets, aprons, and gloves—and took a few funny pictures!—in preparation for food service.
UniversalGiving team hard at work
My job was scooping white beans into one of the spots on the tray. Though the compartmentalized trays reminded me of my plates when I was five years old, the divisions were certainly helpful in our speedy assembly of hundreds of meals. The meal today was a fish and pasta stew with white beans, juicy strawberries, and garlic bread. Definitely a hearty meal, though one adorable man (shorter than I am, and missing a few teeth) came back for a TENTH helping. We volunteers were absolutely blown away by the amount of food that he put away, although it was probably his only chance to eat that day.
Robert, a seasoned member of the Glide team, informed us that the 500-some meals that we served between 12 and 1:30pm comprised a slow day for the kitchen, which often feeds over 1000 people in a single meal. Glide serves three meals a day, 364 days a year (their only day off being New Year’s Day) to many grateful individuals. While some there were quiet and seemingly melancholy, one particularly jolly man asked if we were “forced to work” at Glide, to which we replied that we were merely volunteering. He replied, “Volunteering? Well God bless you then!” I smiled—it is hard to top the feeling of warmth and fulfillment that I get from helping others.
Characters come through the door from all walks of life: homeless, struggling with substance abuse, unemployed. Robert pointed out four people who owned their own homes but could not afford to eat—and even more of a shock to me—five with college degrees. In these tough economic times, an even larger variety of people are suffering from hunger.
Though we often promote international giving opportunities as that is the nature of UniversalGiving, it is always important to remember our local communities. Something like serving meals at a local shelter or church is so easy to do, yet such a small gesture as sacrificing my own lunch break goes a long way in terms of showing compassion towards some very appreciative and hungry San Franciscans.
