Artists of Change

In this USA Today article, Millionaire Harris Rosen, a white guy from Hell's Kitchen, NY, has quietly transformed Tangelo Park in Orlando, Forida, a once drug-infested, trouble-plagued unincorporated community.

The twin cornerstones of this effort is Rosen's pledge to provide free preschool education for all 2-, 3- and 4-year-old children, and a college education for all high school graduates in Tangelo Park.

Rosen's largess has helped turn things around in this community, which has a little more than 2,400 people and is nearly 90% black.

"Government is just too dense, too stupid, too inept to do this," he says. "If Oprah came down here and saw what we're doing, she would do it somewhere. If I could get (NBA Commissioner David) Stern to come here, I think he would get every NBA team involved in a project like ours" in their cities.

Proper education for at-risk youths is a tremendous positive effect. Involvement in local communities by the wealthy and upper middle class is a huge opportunity to turn things around for decades to come.

Posted by tyler at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Slate Magazine, the tongue-in-cheek "Philanthropy Smackdown: Google vs. Gates for the World Charity Championship":

Google.org has accomplished in one week what it took its parent company years to accomplish: It has already stolen market share from Bill Gates. As the New York Times reported last week, Google will commit $1 billion to a for-profit philanthropic operation that will do everything from back startup companies to lobby legislatures. Among its first projects: helping to build a superefficient ethanol-gasoline-electric car engine.

Trendy and utopian? Absolutely... Google, which has managed to make Microsoft look old and stodgy as a business, is now trying to make the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation look stodgy as a philanthropy.

Philanthropy has been thrust into the business consciousness, creating competition among companies and individuals to see who can be the most generous, the most innovative, the most "giving". This is a good trend that will grow the sector and increase the size of the philanthropic ecosystem. But philanthropy can't be a flavor of the month - it needs to become deeply instilled with young children, who can be taught that they have the ability to make a difference and create positive change in the world. Hey Sergey and Larry: use your new initiative to not only fund immediately beneficial opportunities now, but also sow the seeds of philanthropy for generations to come.

Posted by tyler at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An interesting article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle from a local Rochester, NY foundation, and the impact they are having with the assistance of local philanthropists:

Fortunately, you don't have to be a Buffett, Gates or Carlson to become a philanthropist — nor do you need the Gates Foundation to get good results. Community foundations like ours were invented in response to the first golden age of U.S. philanthropy, when industrialists Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller formed foundations to address the challenges of a changing society. Community foundations allow people of every means to create and name a lasting legacy for their communities, causes or favorite charities.

The author does lower the bar for entrance, but still makes the case that philanthropy is primarily for the affluent. I would argue that harnessing "people-powered philanthropy," seen for decades in such local scenarios as bake sales and 10k sponsor runs, can have tremendous global impact if done in a scale that creates a community of critical mass.

Posted by tyler at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Brand Republic, August 25, 2006, in an article entitled User-generated content uncovered: Power to the people:

By getting involved in user-generated content, you can get people more involved in your brand than they ever have been before, increase their loyalty, even make them your brand advocates. And you can find out exactly what they think about your product. For brands, this means a change from traditional marketing methods such as advertising to getting involved in dialogues with consumers.

The same applies to non-profit organizations, who need to better utilize the internet and maturing "Web 2.0" tools that facilitate social networking and media distribution, such that they elevate their ability to connect with a global community that can provide for them financial sustainability for operations and growth.

It is imperative that solutions are found addressing the problem of non-profits being in constant financial survival mode, where an Executive Director might find herself fundraising 80% of the time, rather than focusing on her core competency of effective positive change in the world.

Posted by tyler at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Socialist Worker Online, a rant against philanthropy by Richard Seymour:

Philanthropy has been most widespread when capitalism has been at its most vicious. In the US, since 2000, wages have consistently failed to keep up with inflation, while the wealth of the richest 1 percent has grown staggeringly.

In 1999, Bill Gates had more wealth than the bottom 45 percent of US society combined, and more than the GDP of the world’s 70 smallest countries. This creates an interesting situation. On the one hand, child mortality in the US is higher than in Cuba. On the other hand, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gets $26 billion to invest in market oriented initiatives in health and education.

Philanthropy is not exclusively the domain of the Gates, Buffetts, Turners and Bloombergs of the world. People-powered giving is a grassroots paradigm shift, where conscious communities harness experiential and financial assistance to create great positive change in the world. The more power and momentum that is manifested in the grassroots, the more potential to effect societal change that can address the disparities of which Seymour writes.

Posted by tyler at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Interesting article from Tidings Online on a study (from my alma mater) exploring spirituality in college students.

Initial findings - In the Spring of 2004, HERI released a report based on the freshmen survey findings entitled, "The Spiritual Life of College Students," which indicated that students "are searching for deeper meaning in their lives, looking for ways to cultivate their inner selves, seeking to be compassionate and charitable, and determining what they think and feel about the many issues confronting their society and the global community."

There is much of present-day western culture that is shallow and unfulfilling to many participants. Conspicuous consumption and suburban isolation is causing a void in many people's lives. It is heartening to see that college students want to break out of the mold that has been cast for them, and consider themselves in the context of being a citizen of the planet.

Posted by tyler at 01:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the AP, Ben & Jerry are back working with the company they founded after new leadership assumes the helm:

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are leading the company’s “American Pie” campaign, designed to persuade consumers to demand a change in spending priorities. Their goal is to shift $13 billion that now pays to maintain thousands of nuclear bombs into pediatric health insurance, schools or other programs for kids.

Ben & Jerry sold the ice cream company to Unilever in 2000 for $326 million, with the stipulation that Unilever would continue the social programs and activism that its founders had instilled as core values of the company years prior. Ben & Jerry have stayed away from involvement, unhappy with Unilever's continued commitment to social issues.

But a new CEO has brought renewed focus to social involvement at Ben & Jerry's, and subsequently has brought the founders back into the fold. An interesting comment from him on an organization requiring leadership in order to thrive:

“There was always the commitment on the part of Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, post-acquisition, to honor the social mission and to do things that are true to the social mission,” Freese said in an interview. “What got lost over time, initially, was that Ben and Jerry had not just honored the social mission, they had committed themselves to being leaders, had committed themselves to being activists. Ben & Jerry’s was less courageous for a period of time, post-acquisition.”

Posted by tyler at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the Washington Post, MySpace is promoting social activism:

MySpace.com, the social-networking site that boasts 90 million members who are "friends" with one another online, is trying to galvanize its user base to get involved in public service.

It is doing so by sponsoring a contest, which begins today, requesting submissions of 15- to 30-second video public-service announcements encouraging social activism. The winner will be featured in Seventeen magazine, which is co-sponsoring the contest.

The marketplace is moving very quickly in the direction of grassroots philanthropy, powered in part by social networking tools. While Buffett and Gates invest billions, others will aggregate millions of users, creating positive change as a movement of the masses.

Behind the scenes, Artists of Change is evolving into a like-minded organization, designing in such a way as to harness the energy of millions of people worldwide to make a difference in the efforts of worthy philanthropic organizations and the lives that depend on their efforts.

Posted by tyler at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Philanthropy News Digest:

Software giant Oracle Corp. has confirmed that its co-founder and CEO, Larry Ellison, has decided not to follow through with the $115 million pledge he made to Harvard a year ago, the New York Times reports.

The donation, which would have been the largest single philanthropic gift the university had ever received, would have been used to establish the Ellison Institute for World Health, a research organization devoted to examining the efficiency of global health projects. University spokeswoman Sarah J. Friedel said Harvard has not heard directly from Ellison or Oracle that he would not be making the donation. If the reports are true, she added, the university would be "disappointed with Mr. Ellison's decision to withdraw his commitment."

Ellison, one of the world's wealthiest people, with a personal fortune of roughly $16 billion, decided to cancel his plans for the donation after the resignation in February of Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers. According to Oracle spokesman Bob Wynne, the two men had discussed the donation but never made a formal agreement. "Larry Summers was the brainchild of this project," Wynne said. "His departure is what caused Larry Ellison to decide against making the donation."

Ellison withdraws a pledge of $115 million for a research organization bearing his name dedicated to world health, not personally commenting on the withdrawl. Oracle's spokesman confirms that it was a personal relationship issue that caused the withdrawl.

Two days earlier, Buffett gives away billions to organizations in other names, electing to place his money with qualified people and organizations in a way that will have a tremendous global impact.

Which story is indicative of a trend? What were the motivations behind each man's decision? Mortality? Legacy? Love? What was the intention behind the money - was it to truly make a difference in people's lives and the planet itself, or was it PR or maybe a tax deduction?

The intention of money is important. People of any economic means who make the commitment to positive change with their money, reap rewards and cause greater impact than any comparable throwaway donation.

Posted by tyler at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From MSNBC:

While Gates and Buffett now stand alongside other business titans-turned-philanthropists such as the Rockefellers, the Gettys and the Fords, they aren't the only names in a growing wave of donors looking to change the world using the business and investing savvy they have developed during their careers. There's also Omidyar, Brainerd and Kirsch. While they're less famous, they're worth noting, too, as "venture philanthropy" becomes the buzzword of the moment in the world of giving.

"It's a sharing of business skills in the nonprofits," says Kathleen McCarthy, director of the Center on Philanthropy at City University Graduate Center.

While it is admirable to see another billionaire loosen the purse strings, and hopefully open his heart at the same time, I see philanthropy as something that can be instilled as a value in young children, who can grow up with a philosophy of contributing to the greater good as a way of life. Philanthropy does not have to be the sole domain of the wealthiest few, or those that have, by some definition, "made it." Rather, we can all provide financial and experiential assistance to some degree.

I once did a services exchange with an executive coach, who told me that I shouldn't worry about philanthropy until I had achieved some undefined plateau of success, at which time I could "really do some good." I sat with it a year or so, and it just doesn't hold water. We can all make a difference, regardless of our economic means, and the world will be a better place for it.

Posted by tyler at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)