Think a career track means only one destination? Well… you’re wrong. Listen to how Maryann Fernandez arrived at Philanthropy Indaba:
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(photo credit: Mark Ramsay)
Heard of Kickstarter? That new site where anyone with an idea and a plan to make it happen can raise money from the unwashed masses? Well until now it’s mostly been used to help bands record their breakout albums, help designers raise capital to manufacture life-improving products, and help slightly off do-gooders pay for various swing-installation projects.
But now scientists are getting in on the action. From the Kickstarter-funded Mexican quail research expedition to the new academics-only crowdfunding site Open Genius, the doors are open for promising researchers to avoid the pain of securing traditional government and foundation funding.
Which means that you have a unique opportunity to directly impact research you care about. It’s one thing to donate to a cancer research fund (which is a totally awesome thing to do, by the way), but it’s another thing entirely to choose the lab you want to support.
This is also a great opportunity to exercise your advocacy muscles. With just a little prodding and a link to a well-designed website, you can double, triple, or quadruple your donation by talking to friends or posting your pitch online.
Never underestimate the power of peer pressure and one-click donations.
Maryann Fernandez is the founder of Philanthropy Indaba – an organization that makes giving an unforgettable experience for philanthropists of all ages. She sat down and told us a little bit about an awesome documentary film trip to Ghana that Indaba has put together for the next generation of philanthropists.
>> TILE brings you exclusive opinions, explanations, and interviews from experts in every industry. Have a burning question or an expert you’d like to see interviewed? Just Ask TILE!
© 1999-2011 Panera, LLC. All rights reserved
“The lesson here is most people are fundamentally good,” [Panera founder and Chairman Ronald] Shaich said. “People step up and they do the right thing.”
The “right thing,” in this case, is choosing to pay the full retail price (or more) for a bagel at one of Panera Bread’s pay-what-you-want restaurants. These locations are nonprofit, and “prices” are actually just suggested donations. Any money left over after paying the utility bills and workers’ salaries (i.e. overhead) goes to Panera’s charitable foundation.
This is genius for two reasons:
1. Amazing PR for Panera
2. Combining hunger and peer pressure to make people donate to your charity
Seems like it’s getting easier every day to spend money. Is this the new philanthropy? Are $10 text donations just the start? Anything that gets people to donate more money to good organizations is progress in our book.
You have to wonder, though. Is this kind of giving the way you really want to spend your donation dollars? Impulse giving is kind of like impulse shopping – it will probably make you feel good about yourself at the moment (especially if you just ate a delicious sandwich), but it doesn’t usually reflect who you are or where your values lie.
And it definitely goes against the sage advice to do your homework before you give someone your money.
According to new research from Harvard Business School, most Americans have no idea how wealth is distributed in this country.
Here’s a handy chart from the study that pretty clearly illustrates how Americans think wealth is distributed, how they wish it was distributed, and how it’s actually distributed:
(click chart to download a pdf of the study)
Did you know that there was such a huge difference between the very top and the very bottom of the wealth scale?
There’s an interesting discussion on the New York Times about why this might be the case, why Americans underestimate income inequality, and whether we should even care.
Are you surprised? What would you have guessed?
(photo credit: clagnut)
Carlos Slim (is that really his real name? Googling… his real name is Carlos Slim Helú, which is still kind of funny) is officially the richest man in the world, with a net worth of $74 billion.
That’s more than 6% of Mexico’s entire GDP!
But being the world’s richest man in a country as poor as Mexico isn’t easy on your rep. Unlike Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, America’s wealthiest citizens, Slim hasn’t really focused on philanthropy.
Which led Cyntia Barrera Diaz from Reuters to ask, “What could you pay for with that kind of scratch?”
Here are some gems from the list she came up with:
What does Carlos think about giving away his money?
“Wealth is like an orchard. You have to share the fruit, not the trees.”
What would YOU do with $74 billion?
(photo credit: Kei!)
When something really bad happens in the world, we all feel hurt. And helping each other out is one of the best ways to alleviate that pain. But that common sense advice about not shopping when you’re hungry and not investing when you’re anxious also applies to giving.
Saundra Schimmelpfennig at the Chronicle of Philanthropy shared some advice on how to give smart in an urgent time of need. She encourages “disaster philanthropists” to think carefully before pledging their money to an emotionally compelling cause.
Here are some of her points that we think are especially important:
Ready to make an impact? Text a friend and ask them to donate with you. With two researchers on the job, you can probably find a perfect organization – and double your donation in the process!
Japan 2011 © JIJI PRESS
Even when disasters happen in far-away places, you can still help. Donating money is a great place to start, but don’t stop there. Hosting a fundraiser is as easy as inviting some friends over for lunch or making a page on crowdrise.org.
And Alanna Shaikh says that volunteering in your hometown is a lot more valuable than you might think:
“There is a lot of work at aid agency headquarters that can be done by committed volunteers, and that work often has a huge impact. Everything that a volunteer does pushes down overhead costs and frees up money for the organization to spend on international relief.
I was an Oxfam American volunteer back in the day, and I helped transcribe field interviews for qualitative surveys, edit and format documents, and prepare press releases. It was interesting work, and it was part of what led me to the work I do now. At International Medical Corps, our volunteers drafted situation reports, answered correspondence, and did literature reviews, among other things.”
Check out DoSomething.org, idealist.org, or the website of your favorite aid organization to get some ideas.
If you ask some politicians, they are. And they’re mucking up the whole political system, dag-nabbit. According to a Washington Post article, some lawmakers have had it up to here with whipper-snappers voting with their feelings.
Average taxpayers in college towns, [Sorg] said, are having their votes “diluted or entirely canceled by those of a huge, largely monolithic demographic group . . . composed of people with a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce.”
Their “youthful idealism,” he added, “is focused on remaking the world, with themselves in charge, of course, rather than with the mundane humdrum of local government.”
– New Hampshire State Rep. Gregory Sorg
The solution? Proposals differ from state to state, but basically every voter would be required to show ID or proof of residence in order to vote. That would mean anyone without an appropriate ID would have to get one.
But identification costs money! That’s unconstitutional! It’s akin to the poll tax used to disenfranchise African-American voters in the 19th century!
What does this have to do with me and my money, you say? Well, since state governments can’t legally force people to buy the right (or the ID) to vote, taxpayers would have to absorb the costs.
And according to one estimate, the state of Wisconsin alone would have to pony up $2.7 million just to provide valid identification cards to voters who do not currently have them.
What do you think? Do you want to pay for that? Or are you too foolish to know?
(photo credit: Tim Yang)
It turns out the Internet is about way more than pictures of cats and x-rated websites.
Internet freedom should not be taken for granted:
“We use the Internet and mobile technology to build society, and we take it for granted that the open Internet will always be in place.” – Brett Solomon, Executive Director of Access
Could the massive political upheavals in the Middle East have happened without the Internet? What can you do to support something like Internet freedom?
Do you know what *your* cause is yet? Take the Your Causes quiz to find out!