Holiday Gift Ideas

Posted by admin on 12.17.2007 at 10:59 am

As I wrote previously, the holidays offer a chance to give gifts with a little more meaning than that new “Best moments of Reality TV calendar.”  I also wrote about Charity Navigator but I failed to make the connection.  I’ve been searching through the blogosphere and I’ve been seeing plenty of suggestions for gifts to your coworkers, clients or like minded friends and there’s one that keeps coming up:  Note the fourth idea at this website: “Make a donation in their name to a charity like Kiva or Room to Read.”  That Kiva idea sounds strangely familiar… but how about Room to Read?  Did you know that for only $250 you can sponsor a girl’s education for a WHOLE YEAR via Room to Read?  Amazing!  $10,000 will construct a library and fill it with books, puzzles, games and furniture.  Seriously.

I’ve already elucidated why Kiva is great, and if you look around and listen then you know that all of our partners are fantastic but if you’re not sold, Riches for Good, an excellent blog about social responsibility did a report called “Seven Best Bets for International Giving.”  The report shows the only seven international non-profits that have both Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award and Charity Navigator’s 4 Star Rating.  Room to Read is one of those illustrious seven!

If you’re not sure that people want gifts in their name so much as gifts in their hands, there’s still some great options.  Obviously you could buy a book from us where you’d be certain that portions of profit would go to our partners and that shipping would be carbon neutral (and free in the US).  But if you’re in the mood for something different check this out:

Flipanthropic is a company that sells flip flops through their site, Flipanthropy.  A new product comes out each year and the two founders donated all the startup money so 100% of your cash goes to support Room to Read and Women for Women International.

Have your say » | Tagged Uncategorized, happy holidays!, off-topic, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship

“Because We Can, We Must”

Posted by admin on 11.01.2006 at 6:30 pm

Bono’s name tends to come up as a punchline when discussing Africa, and it is sometimes easy to forget his true passion and eloquence. This video, recorded at the TED conference, really struck home for me. For those who haven’t heard of it, the TED conference is a gathering of the movers and shakers interested in positive world change. Folks like the Google founders are regulars. TED has been gracious enough to start posting their videos on their website, and many are remarkable. You can check them out at the TED Blog.

One of Bono’s main points in this video is that collective action of the rich world in aiding Africa is necessary and urgent. It is a moral imperative, not an option. While government aid is a piece of the puzzle (and signing up for One is a step we should all take), the collective action of the sort that Better World Books organizes in support of Books For Africa is a piece too. As he says, “Because we can, we must.”

Have your say » | Tagged Our Partners, because we can we must, Bono, books for africa, philanthropy