Women Making an Impact

I found a fabulous site for women who want to change the world.  Vivanista is a social network set up to empower Philanthropic Women.

If you're looking for fundraising ideas for your favourite charity, school or community group than all the information you need is here.  There is a fantastic library of fundraising resources - and a great community of women all willing to share their fundraising experience with you.

If living an altruistic lifestyle is important to you, then Vivanista is a great place to go for inspiration, to help you take effective action and to make a real impact on the world!  Make sure you look me up when you get there :)

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MicroGiving - Connecting Those Who Have With Those Who Need

MicroGiving is an online community that connects people with people globally - people who need (Recipients) with people who have (Donors).

As a Donor you have complete control over who you help - and as a Recipient you get the opportunity to ask for help when you need it.

Donors can rest assured that 100% of their donation goes to where it is intended (via paypal) and that you are giving to real people with genuine needs. MicroGiving requires its recipients to go through an extensive (and manual) verification process.

Here's how it works:

Make YOUR Cause the Biggest on the Planet

YourCause.com is a social networking site where people who are passionate about a cause can harness the power of the internet to spread the word and raise money for the non-profit organisations that are making the world a better place.

So far, it's only available to non-profits registered in the USA . . . oh to have a truly global site. There are so many non-profits outside the USA that could benefit from this kind of worldwide exposure!!

YourCause.com provides all the tools you need to create a webpage to champion your favourite cause - and its free. Every cause has a chance to win with their Daily Donation programme - some of the revenue from the site is donated back to the community . . . it could be your cause that benefits!!

YourCause.com is also free for non-profits to use. As long as you are registered in the USA of course!

So join the YourCause.com community and start making a difference today!

Pledge to End Child Hunger in America

1 in 6 children in America wonder where there next meal will come from. That's more than 12 million children in America going hungry! Hard to believe that there is that kind of poverty in the midst of such plenty.

I discovered this great way that YOU can help provide 140,000 meals to kids in Austin, Texas through the fantastic Good Concepts blog. Its sponsored by Tyson Foods & Kimball Office and is in support of the wonderful non-profit organisation Share Our Strength.

All you need to do it is visit PledgeToEndHunger.com and pledge to spread the word, volunteer or donate - and you will help Share Our Strength reach their goal of 1000 pledges. Your pledge will provide 140 meals - when the 1000th pledge is made Tyson Foods will donate enough food to feed 140,000 children in Austin, Texas.

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The Spiritual Nature of Philanthropy.

Spiritual India - River of Compassion is a really gorgeous, inspiring film on the spiritual nature of philanthropy, from philanthropist Charles Annenberg Weingarten. Enjoy!!



I discovered this via @bioneers on twitter - check out the Bioneers Community

The One Dollar Give

The One Dollar Give is a website set up to help you discover great new charities to support. Each day of December 2008 The One Dollar Give will feature a different charity - complete with a link to donate to the cause. All they ask is that you donate $1. Its not much for you - but together all the $1 donations add up and really make a difference.

Mandi & Tara of The One Dollar Give plan to continue the project through 2009 introducing a new charity each week. What a great idea!!

If you have a charity that you would like featured on The One Dollar Give and you would like to write a guest post about it, contact The One Dollar Give at onedollargive@gmail.com

The Give List

Image by louisa_catlover via FlickrCheck out the Give List - a place to share ideas on how to give in these tough times.

Times are tight. We know, we know. We’ve all seen the scary headlines. Too many of the scary headlines. And we’re all feeling the pressure in other ways too.

But, still, we want to contribute what we can to making the world the better place.

The GiveList gives you ideas and inspiration for just that: ways that you contribute without spending or buying. Or maybe giving while buying and spending a little less than usual.

From the Whole Foods Wooden Nickel Program that rewards shoppers who use re-usable shopping bags with wooden nickels for contributions to local causes that Whole Foods will fulfill to sites like Good Search that provide small contributions to causes of your choice when you use their search engines , there are lots of small things you can do that don’t cost you anything that can make a big impact on communities.

And you probably have some thoughts on this. Share it on del.icio.us, via twitter, in your own blog post. Just tag it GiveList and we’ll share help you share your idea with the world.

You can contact either Allison Fine or Marnie Webb if you want to ask more questions, get the inside scoop or if you just have an idea about making the GiveList better.

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5 Reasons to Give Generously

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
- Lao Tzu

With the economy foundering and the media conjuring up images of depression at every opportunity, the idea of generosity may seem a bit of a hard sell.

In reality, now, more than ever, is the time to dig deep and give what you have to help others in need. Take a look at the list below to see why giving generously is good for you - and the recipients of your largesse:

1. Almost half the world population live on less than $2.50 a day
   If we all do what we can to share our 'plenty' with those less fortunate, it will go a long way to alleviating poverty both globally and in our own communities.
   
   
2. Being generous can boost your immune system
   A study by Cornell University found that volunteering increases a persons energy, their sense of being in control of their life and their self esteem. Several studies have documented that these sorts of positive emotions strengthen the immune system.¹
   
   
3. Generosity makes you less fearful
   Generosity is a great form of greed control. It helps us to let go of the fear of not having enough, and end the 'cycle of clinging and hoarding'¹ that goes with it.
   
   What is more, by prioritising generous giving we create an attitude of abundance which allows us to give even more.
   
   
4. Generosity creates community
   Generosity is not just about giving. It is about generating possibility, about creating hope, dignity and opportunity. While a lack of generosity leads to despair and alientation, an abundance of generosity builds community and connects people.²
   
   
5. Lack of generosity is at the root of many of our 'personal, societal, national & global problems'²
   Generous attitudes and generous actions can help solve even seemingly intractable issues like poverty and climate change. By being generous we become less afraid of what we might lose and more creative in finding positive solutions to our problems.
   
   

¹From The Giving Heart: Unlocking the Transformative Power of Generosity in Your Life by M J Ryan

²From the Readers Guide to Being Generous: The Art of Right Living by Lucinda Vardey & John Della Costa at BookClubs.ca

(Article originally published at Socyberty)

NPO Referral Programme

FirstGiving is a great platform for Non-Profit organisations (as long as they are registered in the USA) to raise funds online.

It offers tools to help your organisation reach more people, and turn your donors into fundraisers. Firstgiving deals with the money side of things for you and makes administration easy. And its FREE for your organisation to use - or you can pay for a Branded Premium Account.

Take a look at FirstGiving here

And have a look at the FirstGiving Blog entry "Share the wealth of fundraising ideas"

"Nonprofit organizations who refer other nonprofit organizations to us can earn three months of free Firstgiving service for each referral who joins for six months or raises at least $5,000. So share the wealth and tell your peers about Firstgiving."

The Backyard Philanthropist

Ha"Having a business that specifically supports not for profits and encourages philanthropy it made me think about what philanthropy really is. I went to www.answer.com who defined the word:

• · The effort or inclination to increase the well being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations.
• · Love of humankind in general.
• · Something, such as an activity or institution, intended to promote human welfare

Wikipedia writes ‘philanthropy may encompass any altruistic activity intended to promote good or improve human quality of life.’

If that is the case, then all of us are philanthropists and it isn’t a label saved for the Gates, the Buffett’s and the Sage’s of the world.

We are ALL Backyard Philanthropists; volunteering our time, supporting the organizations that are close to our heart and living a purposeful life." . . . read more at the PincGiving Blog


PincGiving opens a gateway to online donor and charitable giving. We connect supporters with causes and have online fundraising tools that help you raise money to donate to any of the 1,202,807 charities we have listed in North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Put your philanthropy to work at Pinc.

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