Charity Navigator

Posted by admin on 12.10.2007 at 10:21 am

Surfing the web, as I am wont to do during my lunch (as if I didn’t stare at the screen enough during the day), I found a pretty awesome website called “Charity Navigator.”  Charity Navigator is a service that grades various charities/non-profits so that you can better assess where to put your hard-earned money.

In an episode of complete coincidence, on the page today, one of the featured charities is none other than our own partner, Room to Read!  As you can see, Room to Read has an excellent 4-star rating and (as I’m sure you know) is one of the highest ranked non-profits on the site (at a 66.58 out of 70, the best rated charity on the site, the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, is at 69.86).

After looking at our partners, check out some other charities and feel free to post a comment about your favorite.  In any event, this is truly a unique resource, and a fantastic one recognizing that charity and philanthropy, even on small levels, is a large enough industry that people need to be informed.

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners, charity navigator, off-topic, Our Partners

Holiday Gifts (Thinking Outside the Orange Box)

Posted by admin on 12.03.2007 at 11:28 am

Sure, we all carted the little orange boxes for UNICEF to collect small change as tykes dressing up for Halloween gone trick or treating, but maybe that’s where you thought UNICEF ended (besides their sponsorship of FC Barcelona, of course).  But no!  For you Candian folk out there not sure what give for your holiday gift to someone, consider making a donation to UNICEF in their name.  The program, entitled “Gifts of Magic” allows you to do just that and sends a wonderful package to the person in whose name you have sent the gift telling them about it (that was a mouthfull).

Check it out. (Thanks to Ana for the link!)

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, non-profits, off-topic, UNICEF

Kiva.org

Posted by admin on 12.03.2007 at 11:11 am

A professor at Fulton-Montegomery Community College turned me on to Kiva last March, an organization that is pretty excellent.

About Kiva:
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

Or for you visual people out there (I know you’re out there):

So go check it out already!  If you’re not interested in helping Suleyman sell animals in Azerbaijian or Nelson’s barber shop in Nakuru or Edey’s Grocery Store in Peru then what do you want exactly?  They provide for even the most discriminating (in the real sense of the word, not the negative kind!) philanthropists.

This is definitely the most impressive service for micro-lending that I have seen.  It’s only going to get bigger too with the incredible interconnectivity between cultures and continents.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, fulton-montgomery community college, kiva, New York, off-topic, SUNY

Laptops for Children in Need?

Posted by King on 11.26.2007 at 12:52 pm

I just read about this amazing concept: Getting laptops for everyone in the world! They designed a new robust amazing laptop, made it cheap, made it fun… and i wont try to do it justice here, check it out: http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/explore.php

For a limited time, you can “give one, get one”, buy one of these bad boys for yourself and send one to a child in need. and, it is tax deductible! Load it up!

I just did it, I feel great about it, and I can’t wait to get my new toy….

Also, you get a free T-mobile wi-fi access for a year… wow, this thing is practically free!

[Ed: check out the news about the recent spat with Intel and other things at One Laptop Per Child News]

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, computers, literacy, off-topic

World AIDS Awareness Day

Posted by admin on 11.26.2007 at 11:19 am

As many of you may know, December 1st is World AIDS Awareness Day.  From the World AIDS Day site:

According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.

Around 95% of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing nations. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all continents around the world.

Started on 1st December 1988, World AIDS Day is not just about raising money, but also about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. World AIDS Day is important in reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

[...] The 2007 theme, “leadership”, highlights the need for innovation, vision and perseverance in the face of the AIDS challenge. The campaign calls on all sectors of society such as families, communities and civil society organizations – rather than just governments – to take the initiative and provide leadership on AIDS.

There you go, click the link and find out how to help.

You may be saying “I understand why you bring in environmental issues on the blog, Better World Books has a triple bottom line that emphasizes environmental impact, but why a focus on AIDS today?” (although you’re likely not using these exact words…)

Well, reader, note the following:
”Recognizing that poverty, underdevelopment and illiteracy are among the principal contributing reasons to the spread of HIV/AIDS…”

(Para 11, United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS)
Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS 2001)

Now you get it, right? Our work everyday with literacy partners Worldfund, Books for Africa, Room to Read and The National Center for Family Literacy is all about getting books and education to the people that most need them. In this way we make our effort to battle poverty, underdevelopment and illiteracy, the very things that the UN has identified as the “principal contributing reasons to the spread of HIV.”

We don’t just talk a big game folks, we walk it. So get out there, tell a friend, spread the word, start a book drive, or buy a book, but make sure to do something to live out the tenet that “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.” -Ghandi

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, AIDS, literacy, off-topic

Real “Green” Houses

Posted by Jack on 11.13.2007 at 10:39 am

Hey folks.  For all of you out there who can’t get enough of recycling, have a sweet compost heap or windmill in their backyard or just have a predilection towards futuristic design and architecture, check this stuff out.

>Zero House, designed by Scott Specht, has the following awesome characteristics [thanks to Gizmodo]:

That extra wide roof holds a slew of high-efficiency solar panels that let you say goodbye to electric bills, powering the whole house and storing up enough extra energy in its batteries to keep everything running for a week, even if every single day is cloudy. That’s just the beginning…

The house holds its water in a 2700-gallon roof cistern, and the sheer weight of all that liquid pushes water through the plumbing. When you flush the toilets, it all ends up in a compost container in the basement, which digests all that stuff organically, relieving you of attaching your abode to any sewage pipes.

Even so, this house is highly civilized unto itself, with LED lighting built into the walls and ceiling, using very little power and lasting 100,000 hours without changing a single bulb. It’s off-the-grid living, in gorgeous style. Cantilevers, anyone?

>If that doesn’t catch your fancy then try on the “miniHome” at Sustain Design Studio

>Trouble is, if you’re like me, you love the city.  I’m doing what I can to help the environment but I can’t bear the idea of being so far away from so many things and people that I love.  For us city-dwellers check out DPD Green Building, an initiative started by the Seattle government.  They offer design plans, classes and lectures and a myriad of other materials for the DIY green conscious folk.

And hey skeptics, it wouldn’t be too bad to get rid of your water and electricity bills right?

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, green design, off-topic

Thanksgiving Break ‘Movie Night’

Posted by admin on 11.12.2007 at 8:48 am

With Thanksgiving just 10 days away, I am already anticipating renting some good movies and getting cozy on the couch during the long weekend. For those of you with a similar plan, my recommendation is a double feature of two documentaries that follow Sudanese refugees on an extraordinary journey from Africa to America…the Emmy nominated Lost Boys of Sudan

http://www.lostboysfilm.com/index.html

and the more recently produced God Grew Tired of Us.

http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com/

Both are powerful accounts of courage and a wonderful reminder of all we have to be thankful for.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, movies, off-topic

Free Rice… and a Game?

Posted by admin on 11.08.2007 at 2:43 pm

You know how sometimes you’re at the office and feeling a bit lazy?  It’s rainy outside, your report is done (or as done as you’re going to get it today) and you want something to kill the time?  You’ve gone to the watercooler approximately 20 times in the last 3 hours and you’ve even read the Metro section on NYTimes.com even though you don’t live in New York (how cosmopolitan of you!).

Instead, try this:
Free Rice

Free Rice donates rice for every question you answer correctly, via the United Nations.  Not only will you be doing something less asinine than watching those “Rock of Love” reruns or something else that is about as mind engaging as sharpening a pencil, but you’ll in fact be doing something good for the world!

Now I personally would never avoid work (are you reading this Aaron and Sarah Lynne?) but for those of you who must, at least make it worthwhile.  I’ll be doing this after 6pm, of course.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, free rice, games, non-profit, off-topic