charitable

Philanthropy Not as Screwed as Financial Markets

We're gripped by an unusually strong bear right now. He's squeezing financial markets viciously. And, it comes as no surprise that charitable giving is suffering. Nonetheless, philanthropy is staying ahead of investment hits. Even with stock market calamity, we're still able to find the occasional heart of gold out there.

Don't get me wrong, the situation's grim for the nonprofit sector. Craig M. Joseph of InQuest International, a full-service philanthropic consultancy, observes that the USA Giving Index – calculated by the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University – is down 35 percent from its 2007 peak. That year, $306 billion in charitable gifts were made. With the steep decline over the past two years, though, a lot of organizations won't get the funding they need.

Of course, it could be worse. If philanthropy followed the Dow, gifts would have fallen more than 40 percent to less than $184 billion – rather than the estimated February 2009 level of $199 billion. With numbers this large, $15 billion may not seem like a lot, but in the hands of an efficient charitable organization, it can change a lot of lives.

For now, the news is "less negative," but there is still a lot of pain that still has to be pushed through the markets, as much of the Wall Street calamity likely has yet to be visited upon consumers. Let's just hope that we still find some room in our wallets to support our favorite charities.

Tags: charitable, charitable contributions, charitable giving, charitable organizations, CharitableContributions, charitablegiving, CharitableOrganizations, charity, financial crisis, FinancialCrisis, giving, non-profit, nonprofit, philanthrophy, philanthropist, philanthropists, philanthropy, recession, stock market, StockMarket

Pratham USA, Charity of the Day

by Star Sutherland (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Charity of the Day, Big Givers

Pratham USA was started in 1994 by UNICEF, with the goal to educate the children of India in the areas of reading writing and basic math. Based on the principal that children who attend school make more productive members of society and are less likely to fall into poverty, Pratham works by improving India's schools instead of replacing them or imposing new ways of life. Recently Google awarded a $2 million grant to Pratham to assist their efforts! Check out the amazing work this organization is doing here.

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Tags: charitable, charities, charity, charity of the day, CharityOfTheDay, india, pratham, pratham usa, PrathamUsa

The Animal Rescue Site, Charity of the Day

by Star Sutherland (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Charity of the Day

The Animal Rescue Site has harnessed the immense power of the Internet and put it to use for a good cause. The site features a button that visitors can click as many times as they want to provide much needed food to the millions of animals in shelters across the US. The food is payed for by sponsors that advertise on the site, and it's distributed by volunteers. So, next time you're bored at work... click away! Like most charities The Animal Rescue Site has an online gift store, except this one is more like and online gift mall, I was blown away by how much cool stuff they have (jewelry, cute clothing, home and garden supplies and pet accessories and much more), I put the shopping link in my favorites, I will definitely check back next time I'm buying a gift! If you're going to be shopping online it feels good to know you aren't just fueling the mass consumerism lifestyle, when a portion of the money goes to a good cause it makes shopping so much more enjoyable! Plus I can justify spending more knowing the proceeds go to animals!

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Tags: animal rescue, animal shelter, animal shelters, AnimalRescue, AnimalShelter, AnimalShelters, charitable, charity, charity of the day, CharityOfTheDay, clothing, dogs, gift ideas, GiftIdeas, gifts, jewelry, online shopping, online shopping site, OnlineShopping, OnlineShoppingSite, the animal rescue site, TheAnimalRescueSite

amfAR, Charity of the Day!

by Star Sutherland (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Charity, Charity of the Day, Big Givers

Last week's star studded charity auction and dinner event at Cannes, raked in a whopping $10 million for amfAR, a leading AIDS research organization. Founded in 1985, amfAR is dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through continued innovative research. Tickets to attend the bash went for $5,000 a person and accounted for a good portion of the evenings earnings. Celebrities in attendance included Madonna who donated her purse complete with it's contents to the evenings auction...it went for a staggering $1.5 million! It's nice to see people coming together with such a successful outcome, $10 million is quite an accomplishment for one evening!

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Tags: aids, aids awareness, aids research, AidsAwareness, AidsResearch, amfAR, cannes, cannes2008, charitable, charity, charity auction, charity of the day, CharityAuction, CharityOfTheDay

Pink Tractor for Charity

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Charity

Breast Cancer Awareness month is over, but AGCO Corporation/ paired up with NBC's "Deal or No Deal" to make one last minute charitable effort, raising money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. They are auctioning off a special edition pink Massey Ferguson tractor - a departure, to say the least, from items that are more conventionally auctioned for charity. It is autographed by host Howie Mandel and has an MSRP of about $35,000. The auction began on October 31st and will run through November 11.

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Tags: auction, breast cancer, cancer, charitable, charity, deal or no deal, susan g komen