Myrtus

@Crowdrise: 'Facebook of philanthropy' on CNN

Actually Crowdrise is a heck of lot more fun than Facebook if you ask me. 

Facebook is mostly for killing time and best suited for Facebook itself capitalizing on advertisers and your boredom, while Crowdrise is geared towards Fun/Friend-raising, doing good by giving back to the community to help elevate socioeconomic conditions around the world and being rewarded with honest to goodness good vibes coming at you from every direction.  Plus their Customer Service is out of this world and will tickle you silly every chance they get.

 

Actor Edward Norton helps create 'Facebook of philanthropy' - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Actor Edward Norton has been in the spotlight for more than 15 years. But what some fans might not know about him is his work off-camera -- helping raise hundreds of millions of dollars for charitable projects over the course of his career.

For Norton, giving back has always been a passion -- so much so that he recently helped create what he calls the "Facebook of philanthropy."

The website is called "Crowdrise" (www.crowdrise.com) and the goal behind it is to make charitable giving fun. Norton and his friends saw an opportunity to change how people give online.

"We were very frustrated by what we saw out there. Everything out there was just ... we called it 'use and drop,'" Norton said. "It was just a button where you can donate and really nothing more, and we wanted to communicate more than that."

Crowdrise is a fundraising web platform that's also a community.

Let's turn "PARK 51" into a "PEACE GARDEN" if we really want healing

Dear Park 51 folks,

Considering that polarizing politics have completely hijacked your noble, peaceful endeavor at this point, this is the perfect opportunity and also the right time to turn a negative into a positive and do something really worthwhile and lasting on a global scale.....to cultivate peace, love, understanding and promote coexistence.

With the commemoration of the painful 9/11 tragedy (that struck us all at the heart) just around the corner, let's honor the victims by turning "Park 51" into a "Peace Garden", where everyone is welcome to pay tribute to the victims and honor them by planting trees, bushes and flowers, for peace sake, instead of building a community center.

Gardening is fun and can do so much good to release tensions, especially if we do it as a community.

And please let's not stop there, we can still raise the 100 hundred million dollars you had planned to do many great things to serve the world community.

Let's raise 100 million dollars for the flood victims in Pakistan.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help rebuild Haiti and other areas truck by disaster.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to build schools all over the world where there are none.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help end violence against women & minorities.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to empower people with disabilities.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to combat human trafficking.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to put an end to malaria

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to combat AIDS.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help end animal cruelty.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help protect human rights.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help protect our enironment.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to help end violence in our schools.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to stop/prevent genocide around the globe.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to bring water & clean energy to the poor in remote areas.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to support existing charities that work to eradicate extremism.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to launch a conflict resolution world forum that excludes politicians.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to educate & empower the poor with social entrepreneurship.

Let's raise another 100 million dollars to provide food, shelter & education for the homeless.

So you see, if we really want to build bridges, we got our work cut out for us and the possibilities are truly endless!

Thank you kindly & peace be with all of us!

PS ~ Everyone is free to copy this note and post it anywhere.

Let's turn "PARK 51" into a "PEACE GARDEN" | Facebook

This little old lady is my new hero!

Open your heart

The Fresh Air Fund has a very important message for you.

Happy Holidays from The Fresh Air Fund

The perfect gift for that special someone who has everything!

You know, that special someone who always says "oh you shouldn't have" or "thanks, but I don't need anything" when you offer them a gift for a special occasion?

Well here's what you can do to make them feel special anyway and still respect their wishes: you honor them!

That's right, you honor them with "gifts that save lives".

Yes, the gift-giving season is upon us again and people are more strapped for money now than ever, but the poor who have always been really poor are in even more dire need of our help now than ever. 

So please be kind and think of them, your generous donations are very much appreciated.

International Medical Corps – Gifts that Save Lives

(click on the link to find out how)

Project 10 to the 100th

Google received over 100,000 ideas for Project 10 to the 100th, which was launched to celebrate Google's 10th anniversary recently.

Good luck to everyone who submitted their ideas for helping others!

Voting Begins:
January 27th, 2009

Don't forget to sign up if you'd like a reminder when the voting period begins.

See previous post here

Help Save the Lives of Malnourished Children With International Medical Corps

Little boy dedicates his Bar Mitzvah to a village in Africa

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Features -- The power of one

The Torah is full of stories about how one person can make a difference. Moses. Joseph. Noah. Beau.

OK. Maybe not Beau.

Beau Bressler, who is 13 years old with tousled brown hair and a love for Super Smash Bros. video games, is more 21st century than those other guys.

But his story also is about the power of one.

In this case, it's about how one boy turned a religious rite of passage into an enormous act of charity for an African village he's never seen and children he doesn't know.

About a year ago, Beau was in the dining room of his mother's home in La Jolla, with picture windows that frame the azure sea below. He was preparing for his coming of age ceremony in Judaism, called a bar mitzvah (son of the commandment). As part of it, he needed to do a mitzvah project (a good deed).

His mother, best-selling author and life coach Debbie Ford, had a suggestion. Instead of people giving him gifts, how about if he asked them to donate money for a school in Kikoiiro, a rural village in central Uganda?

He was reluctant. “I wasn't sure I wanted to give away all my money,” he admitted.

But the more he thought about it, the more he warmed up to the idea. The typical bar mitzvah gift is money, and Beau couldn't really think of what he'd do with it. Maybe he'd buy a couple more video games, he thought, but that was about all.

“I probably wouldn't do anything useful with it,” he said.

So he agreed. The shiny brown-and-black announcements of his November bar mitzvah were sent out, decorated in an African theme and a drawing of a giraffe. While Ford and Beau's father, San Diego physician Dan Bressler, invited people to the party at the Torrey Pines Hilton, Beau asked guests to donate money for the Children's Academy for the Global Heart via the Just Like My Child Foundation.

Four months after his bar mitzvah, more than $100,000 has been raised with pledges for another $180,000, according to Ford. The campaign continues to be nudged along with help from his mother's newsletter and other publicity efforts.

Make It Right

Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" project helps rebuild New orleans with Dutch floating houses.

Dutch houses for New Orleans

Architect Winy Maas is talking about the homes he has designed for a commission from Hollywood star Brad Pitt, who has a house in New Orleans. The homes are going to be built in the Lower 9th Ward, a district for people on low incomes. There is nothing left of their houses and, up to now, many of them have received no help.

Unsafe
However much the houses designed by Mr Maas look like the original Lower 9th homes, there are important differences:

"Some of the buildings can float, others are on a slope or designed for the disabled. And some have a kink, allowing part of the house to be flooded while the important rooms remain dry."

In his design, Mr Maas had to keep reality in mind. The neighbourhood is near the site of the biggest levee breach of August 2005. The water defences have still not been made better than they were before the disaster. The possibility of new floods had to be borne in mind when designing the houses.

For a good cause

You can support an innovative new school in Southern California. Bid on a trip to The Fairmont Chateau Whistler in B.C., Canada! Just visit their online auction to view their amazing items and packages.