Category: philanthropy

books, charity, entrepreneurship, nonprofit, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship

The other 86%

Christa Avampato

“May you live in interesting times.” ~ Chinese proverb


Every week I am mystified by an IBM ad that consistently appears in Business Week. It’s part of their “Stop Talking Start Doing” campaign and in large bold type it predicts, “86% of the world population will live in emerging markets by 2050.” As a product developer, this is a fascinating statistic that will be critical to my future success. 


The majority of those who consume products I will create going forward will not be from my heritage, my culture, or raised in my country. Aside from the big four, known as the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China), places such as Egypt, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey will becoming increasingly big players. And the companies that are succeeding and will continue to succeed are companies that most of us have never heard of: Concha y Toro, MISC, and Sasol.   

What is exciting for me is that these markets will demand a decent percentage of products that fall into the “extreme affordability” category, and this means that we may soon be coming into a time when social entrepreneurship will reign supreme over the activities of large multi-national corporations. If we pair that prediction with the closer relationship that has emerged between government and business, it becomes a perfect (good) storm for product developers like me who want to do well and do good at the same time. Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times Columnist, wrote his Christmas column about a recent book on this very subject. The book, Uncharitable, discusses the moral dilemma and possible solutions for nonprofits who find themselves in the midst of this struggle to bring in funds and do good in the world.  

What I think is a tremendous opportunity is the role that international nonprofits like UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and Mercy Corps can play. They have been working for decades in emerging markets. They can and should be a tremendous resource to entrepreneurs and start-ups looking to expand their business into those markets. These social entrepreneurs will provide better services and goods for the people they work so hard to help, and they can generate additional income streams for their organizations through a consulting practice on emerging markets. 

I recently viewed Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement speech at Stanford. His message is that we can only connect the dots of our lives looking backward. In order to move forward, we have to trust our intuition, we have to have faith that we can build our own road, and we have to believe that the dots will connect eventually, somehow. I am beginning to finally see how the dots of my patchwork life and career will connect – through this field of social entrepreneurship that leverages all of my experiences, all of my education, and all of my contacts, passions, and beliefs. Indeed, we are in the midst of interesting times. 
 
charity, education, philanthropy, volunteer

DSY: Development School for Youth

Christa Avampato

A contact from a recent networking event invited me to a graduation tonight. The graduates had just finished the All-Stars program as part of DSY: Development School for Youth. The group helps at-risk youth see and experience greater value for learning through performance-based education. You’ve heard this all before right? Get them to stay in school, off the streets, value and respect their educational opportunities, get them mentors, etc. etc. Originally, I urned down the invitation, but my networking contact wouldn’t take no for an answer so I got myself together and headed downtown. I thought I knew what I was in for. I’ve sat through a myriad of these types of events, and I tell you, this one is different and special and worthy of your attention and mine. 


First, they treat kids as whole people. Get their creativity going, teach them to respect others and their communities, get them to see opportunity even if it isn’t apparent on their street corner of their neighborhood. 

Second, the articulation and passion that these kids have is nothing short of miraculous. These are kids that were in gangs, school drop-outs, drug users. They’ve seen friends and family fall prey to those streets. It would be easy, and understandable, to watch them go down the same route. Instead, they are choosing a different way and they are expressing themselves through performance. Their blatant honesty and poise would put some corporate executives to shame. 

The third piece that I love about the program is that participants are set up with an internship as a capstone. They earn money and understand that getting up and getting to work everyday can be a rewarding, gratifying experience. They have mentors and coaches – people who care and are invested in their success. And that personal investment of time is making a difference. You can, too, at http://www.allstars.org/programs/dsy.html.
charity, child, childhood, children, health, healthcare, philanthropy

March of Dimes Petition for Preemies

Christa Avampato

My friends over at the March of Dimes have put together a campaign to address the health and well-being of the tiniest members of our communities. They put up a beautiful post on their website and I want to share it with all of you:


Petition for Preemies

My best friend just gave birth to her first child – a baby girl named Milana.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to share in my best friend’s happiness!  But to be honest, I’m also a little nervous. That’s because Milana was born prematurely, and babies who are born preterm face special health risks.

Milana isn’t alone.  In the U.S., 1 in 8 babies are born prematurely. In fact, more newborns die from premature birth than any other cause. That’s why I signed the March of Dimes Petition for Preemies.

The Petition for Preemies will help give all babies a healthy start by putting public officials – and all Americans – on notice that it’s time to focus on the growing problem of premature birth.

Show your support by joining thousands of other moms in signing thePetition for Preemies. If you’re a blogger, write a post about this issue or put our purple widget or button on your blog. Get information about how you can help more babies come into the world healthy.

Thankfully, Milana is home now and doing just fine.  Let’s help more moms have healthy babies!

Want to lend a hand in the effort? Sign the petition:http://www.marchofdimes.com/padpetition/index.aspx?a=1&z=1&c=1&l=en

cancer, charity, children, cooking, design, food, philanthropy

Cupcakes for a Cause

Christa Avampato

That delightful time of year has arrived again: the leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and we can stuff our faces with the sweet, yummy goodness of cupcakes while doing some good in the world. The annual celebration of Cupcakes for a Cause kicked off today to benefit Cancercare for Kids. For the remainder of this week you can help the organization by picking up the goods at local bakeries around the country, all conveniently listed by state on the causes’s website.

Watching your diet? No problem. For every e-cupcake you send through the site, $1 will be donated to the charity, up to a cap of $10,000. You have some controlled functionality to design your own virtual cupcake or choose from a selection of beautiful stock designs. I’ve been happily sending them out this evening to family and friends and it’s almost as much fun as baking them myself.

So what are you waiting for? No time like the present to gobble up some cupcake goodness and help a worthwhile charity, all in one delicious bite.

art, creative, creativity, education, health, medicine, music, philanthropy

Genius Awards – $500,000 "no strings attached"

Christa Avampato

How would you like a half a million bucks with no strings attached? All you need to do is be a genius, and by genius I mean someone who is “creative, original, and has potential to make important contributions in the future.” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awards 25 people every year with their Genius Awards. The Genius Awards for 2008 have been announced and the variety of recipients is encouraging.


When I heard that they were awarded based on originality and creativity, I naturally assumed that the awards were primarily for artists. And many of the recipients are indeed artists from many different areas of the arts. But there’s also an urban farmer, a critical care physician, and an astronomer. This variety supports the sentiment that artistry and creativity can, should, and will be found in every discipline the world over. 

We are all creative, inspired people regardless of our title at work or the discipline in which we work. The trick is how to leverage that creativity for the greatest benefit of the world at large. In short how do we take our precious, common gift of idealism and make it extraordinary? Geniuses take what we all have – this innate ability to imagine things the way they could be – and they go global with it. Well worth a half million dollars for their priceless contributions to humanity. 
The image above can be found at http://www.wilywalnut.com/Genius-choice.jpg
philanthropy, volunteer, Women for Women International

American Express Members Project

Christa Avampato

The American Express Members Project is an opportunity for American Express Card Holders, and Guests who don’t have an AMEX card, to create briefs for philanthropic projects that are then voted on to have the opportunity to win $2.5 million dollars worth of funding from American Express. My friend Amy just sent me a message letting me know that a nonprofit we have worked with has a project available for voting. “Help Women and Children Survivors of War Rebuild” by Women for Women International.  


Here’s an update on the Members Projects so far: 1190 projects were submitted and the voting continues to Monday, September 1st. From there, the top 25 projects will be put up for a final round of voting. You can search through the projects for one that interests you by topic, location, most popular thus far, or by keyword. You can vote for multiple projects and if you need more information on a project, there is a discussion forum on the site where members of the community can ask questions, gather more background, and offer up their opinions about different projects. 

A perfect balance of technology, goodwill, and financial management, it’s my hope that the Members Project will encourage other companies to handle their philanthropy in the same way that American Express is doing it. I encourage you to log on, find projects that interest you, and vote! 
charity, health, philanthropy, technology

Be one of a 1,000,000 before NYE to go pink

Christa Avampato

Yahoo! Search has partnered with Pink Ribbon to create LookPink.com–a search engine with world-class search results that contributes its revenue to Breast Cancer Research.

Every time, you search with http://www.lookpink.com/, you help fight against breast cancer! If over 1,000,000 people search with LookPink on any day before the New Year arrives, then over $100,000 will be generated by LookPink Search to help prevent breast cancer.

Help reach this goal by searching with LookPink today and by setting your homepage to http://www.lookpink.com/!