While the United States may not hold the patent on freedom, I’m pretty sure that we hold the trademark. Freedom and liberty are a huge part of our national identity, though a nation, almost by definition, imposes limits on freedom. That’s generally where political differences arise from–how much and what types of freedom should be limited? The people at The Institute for Humane Studies would probably say not much and not many. They are an Arlington, VA based organization (housed at George Mason University) that “advances a freer society by discovering and facilitating the development of talented, productive students, scholars, and other intellectuals who share an interest in liberty.”
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Have any of you seen the movie North? Roger Ebert said, “North is a bad film – one of the worst movies ever made” (and Siskel agreed). I sheepishly admit that I liked it. It’s about a kid who sues his parents so that he can be a free agent and have potential new parents try to woo him. I think the reason that so many people found the movie so distasteful was that North, the main character, has an exceptionally good life–and this makes light of the fact that there are so many real-life kids who really could use legal help to get out of truly terrible situations. Luckily, there’s a real-life organization to help them. It’s called the Juvenile Law Center. They are a Philadelphia, PA based non-profit that “plays a leadership role nationally and in Pennsylvania in shaping and using the law on behalf of children in the child welfare and justice systems to promote fairness, prevent harm, secure access to appropriate services, and ensure a smooth transition from adolescence to adulthood.”
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I have a thing against Boston. Actually, that’s not true. It’s just Red Sox fans. Boston is actually a pretty cool city. There’s great seafood and a ton of history–it might even be the most historically important city in our country. That’s why The Bostonian Society exists. They’re a Boston, MA based non-profit that “is dedicated to studying, and preserving Boston’s uniquely important history, embodied in materials, records, and structures.” It’s easy to lose our past in the push to create a better future, so it’s good that there are organizations like The Bostonian Society to preserve what’s important.
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We all know that childhood is one of the most important periods in our lives. It sets the stage for what we’ll do and how we’ll do as we become adults, and it’s a time where it’s extremely important to make sure that the basics are accounted for. That’s why Cradles to Crayons exists. They’re a Brighton, MA based non-profit that is focused on “providing to children ages 0 to 12 some of the most important basics of life—free of charge.” For Cradles to Crayons, the focus is on hard goods–things like clothes, school supplies, and toys.
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There are a lot of people who want to do good in the world, but few have the resources to do it on a large scale. That’s why development and grant writing are such big parts of running a non-profit. Unfortunately, those two activities don’t often direct fund where they’ll be most effectively used. That’s why Dr. Ted Caplow started a non-profit called the Whole New World Foundation that works “to crowd-source the most promising solutions to important challenges” by offering cash prizes. The Miami, FL based organization branded this contest as Children’s Prize and gave $1 million to a Pakistani doctor who said he would be able to save 165 lives with the money.
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For some people a rug is a functional thing, for others it’s art. A handmade carpet can drastically improve the way a room looks–it can bring an exotic flair to an otherwise muted decor. The problem with handmade rugs is that they are often made by children. Child labor continues to be a problem across the world, and it’s especially bad in the handmade carpet industry–there are more than 250,000 children currently being exploited. Goodweave is a Washington, DC based non-profit that “is helping to combat this problem and transform the rug industry by certifying child-labor-free rugs and by providing education and opportunities to rescued and at-risk children.”
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I already told this story when I wrote about the Poetry Foundation, but when I was in tenth grade my English teacher had each of us memorize, recite, and analyze a poem. I ended up with “Out, Out–” by Robert Frost. I really liked the poem, but I don’t think that I’ve intentionally read any poetry since high school. However, for many poetry is the ultimate form of expression. These people are likely members of the Academy of American Poets, a New York, NY based non-profit membership organization that focuses on “fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets.”
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I started One Day One Job because I couldn’t land a job. After taking a bit of a break after graduating college, I realized that employers weren’t too keen on hiring someone who had been on the job market for a while. The only way that I was going to get experience was to create it for myself. People with criminal histories face a similar, but much more dire problem. That’s why Defy Ventures was started. They’re a New York, NY based non-profit that “provides carefully selected, ambitious men and women who have criminal histories with life-changing entrepreneurship, leadership, and career opportunities.”
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Yesterday we looked at an L.A. based non-profit called The Music Center that is all about supporting the live performing arts. Today’s organization is also based in Los Angeles, CA, but their focus is on movies. The American Film Institute is a non-profit that calls itself “America’s promise to preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers.” The organization was founded in 1967 with Trustees including Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, and Francis Ford Coppola, so there was nod bout that they could what they set out to do.
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When I was growing up, there were always rumors of a kidnapper driving around town in a van (the color of the van would change from time to time, but it was usually brown), my family would get mailing with pictures of missing kids on them, and milk cartons had pictures of missing kids as well. In my mind there was a kidnapping was an epidemic. Today the big fear seems to be online child predators. I’m not sure if much has really changed, but there will always be missing kids, and the best way to find them and get them back in a safe place will be to get the word out. That’s what the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children does. They’re an Alexandria, VA based non-profit that “opened in 1984 to serve as the nation’s clearinghouse on issues related to missing and sexually exploited children.” In fact, the organization is authorized by Congress to assist law enforcement in a variety of ways.
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I always get confused by the terms modern and contemporary. To me they sound like they should mean the same thing, but they don’t–at least when you’re talking about art. Modern means that it was “produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s,” while contemporary means it was produced very recently. MOCA is the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and they are the only museum in L.A. that is entirely dedicated to contemporary art. Their definition includes works that date back to 1940, so I guess some of their contemporary art may also be modern art–though I definitely could be wrong about that.
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Becoming a new parent is hard no matter what your situation (at least that’s what I hear), but it’s typically much harder for someone living in poverty. While finances are a big part of it, there are all kinds of factors that make having a new baby especially daunting for low-income parents. Room to Grow is a New York, NY based non-profit that aims “to enrich the lives of babies born into poverty throughout their critical first three years of development.” They start their work before the baby is born and continue through the first three years with the hope that a solid foundation will prevent the child from facing many of the challenges that typically affect a kid growing up in poverty.
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When I think of a non-profit radio station, I immediately think of NPR, which is mostly talk with the occasional classical music. I know some people love it, but I usually can’t listen for more than about 15 minutes. My radio station preferences are for generic pop music or sports talk radio. I know it’s pretty lame, but that’s what keeps me entertained for parts of a long drive. Unfortunately, today most radio stations across the country are owned by the same big companies, so they tend to sound the same. KEXP is a Seattle, WA based non-profit radio station “where the music matters.” The goal is to enrich “people’s lives by championing music and discovery,” which is a far cry from what most radio stations are about today.
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I think that one of the biggest problems with the American education system as a whole is that there is very little focus on career outcomes. We loosely assert that if you learn this stuff you’ll get a job, but the past 7 years or so have proven that it’s not true. Youth need more than traditional education, and that’s what Futures and Options offers. They’re a New York, NY based non-profit that “empowers underserved youth to explore careers and guides them to further their education and become productive citizens of the community.” The organization was founded in 1995 and has served more than 4,000 teens.
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I live to be outdoors. For me it’s mostly about fishing, but I enjoy hunting, hiking, kayaking, and pretty much anything else that gets me out in the wilderness. The tough thing is that I like to get away from civilization, but civilization is constantly encroaching on the wilderness. We need to find a balance, and that means getting more people involved in outdoor activities so that they’ll stand up to protect what needs to be protected. It’s better to share our special places with other enthusiasts then have them get turned into strip malls. The best way to get more people involved is to start them young, and that’s what Bay Area Wilderness Training is all about. They’re an Oakland, CA based non-profit that was “founded with the idea that California’s bountiful wilderness areas are a vast – yet untapped – resource for local youth-serving organizations.”
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This week I saw my first flowers popping out of the dirt. It still looks like winter outside, but you can tell that change is imminent. There will be no better place to be in a few weeks than a botanic garden. Flowers will be blooming, birds will be chirping, and spring will be in the air. I’ll probably visit the Chicago Botanic Garden (my wife and I like it there because it’s where we got married), but those in the New York City area might want to check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It’s a non-profit and “an urban botanic garden that connects people to the world of plants, fostering delight and curiosity while inspiring an appreciation and sense of stewardship of the environment.”
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When I think about real estate, I don’t usually think about art. And when I think about art, I don’t usually think about real estate. However, some of the most interesting companies and organizations that I’ve come across have been born out of seemingly odd combinations. Chashama is a perfect example. They are a New York, NY based non-profit that “nurtures artists by transforming unused property into work and presentation space.” It makes so much sense. Artists get much needed space to work and show their work, while an empty space is brought to life.
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It’s easy to forget how important certain ecosystems have been to the development of human civilization. With agriculture, industry, and transportation, we can make any place on this earth habitable. In many parts of the world there are groups of people who are still living close to the land–they depend on nature for their survival and their ways of life. In fact, there are “nearly 400 distinct indigenous peoples [who] depend on the Amazon rainforest for their physical and cultural survival.” That’s why Amazon Watch was founded in 1996. They are a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that partners “with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon’s ecological systems.”
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Back to the Future Part II was on this morning. It’s hard to believe that we’re only a year away from that “future.” The future never looks like what we expect it to, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try shaping it. Institute for the Future is a Palo Alto, CA based “independent, non-profit research organization with a 45-year track record of helping all kinds of organizations make the futures they want.” Their focus is on foresight, but it’s not as much about predicting the future as affecting it.
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I can’t stand political advertising, but it must be pretty darn effective. Why else would politicians have spent $6 billion on advertising for the 2012 elections? Though it may seem crazy to think that people who spend other people’s money for a living are rational spenders, remember that getting elected is what they’re actually good at. Still, they often need outside help, and that’s where Targeted Victory comes in. They’re an Alexandria, GA based agency that has “anchored digital campaigns on the local, state, and presidential level.” While at some point they seem to have worked with non-political clients, today they seem to only work on the Republican side.
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One of my cooler life experiences was being picked up by a friend after landing at the airport in El Salvador. Instead of driving to the airport, he flew there. We hopped in his plane and took a tour of the country at a few thousand feet. Then we landed at another airport and drove to his house (it was almost as long a drive as it would have been from the original airport). While most of think of people who “have a plane” as billionaires with private jets, the reality is that a lot of normal people have and fly plaines. That’s why the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has hundreds of thousands of members. It’s a Frederick, MD based non-profit that “is the largest, most influential general aviation association in the world.” The organization acts as a “beacon for those who cherish the freedom to fly.”
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In a few months my typical Saturday mornings will include a trip to the farmers’ market, but right now it’s not happening. They may keep the market going indoors, but it’s just not the same. Farmers’ markets have always been a thing, but they’ve surged in popularity over the past decade–especially in urban centers. As more and more markets pop up, they can all gain by banding together. That’s what Mass Farmers Markets is about. They are a Waltham, MA based non-profit that aims “to partner with farmers, consumers, and communities to foster, enhance and sustain farmers market in Massachusetts in order to improve regional farm viability, consumer nutrition, and community social and economic development.”
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Living in a city can be hard when you love nature and the outdoors, but there’s usually a way to get a fix. Here in Chicago we have Lake Michigan and Forest Preserves. The forest preserves are run by the county government and they exist “to acquire, restore and manage lands for the purpose of protecting and preserving public open space.” In Cook County that amounts to more than 68,000 acres (11% of the county’s land mass) that get about 40 million visits every year. Friends of the Forest Preserves is a Chicago, IL based non-profit that was started when a group of people saw the forest preserves being mismanaged and organized “to rescue these treasured lands, knowing that to maintain their vast rewards and ensure they’re here for all of us to enjoy, we’d have to work just as hard as the visionary citizens who protected them more than a century ago.”
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I don’t go to the theater very often, but when I do I usually enjoy it. There’s something pretty cool about seeing someone become a completely different character right before your eyes. As we spend more and more time looking at screens of all sizes, it’s important to remember our “theatrical traditions.” That’s what American Conservatory Theater is all about. They are a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that “embraces its responsibility to conserve, renew, and reinvent the rich theatrical traditions that are our collective legacy, while exploring new artistic forms and new communities.”
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We can all agree… that we can all agree on some things sometimes–even when it comes to politics. I tend to like when the disagreement between the two parties locks things up because it means that the government won’t be able to break anything else; however, I understand that occasionally we need our government to actually accomplish something. The Bipartisan Policy Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that encourages the two parties to work together on important issues where ideological differences can be worked through. The organization was “founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell,” so it truly is a bipartisan effort.
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About two months ago an organization that I’m a member of organized a letter writing campaign to prevent permits from being issued to allow fracking in an environmentally sensitive and recreationally (and economically) important area. The group is fly fishing focused, so it’s not the most tech savvy bunch. But we were able to spread the word quickly enough to get what we were asking for. Social media makes action like this much easier, but it can be hard to organize. Amicus is a New York, NY based company that turns a “nonprofit’s supporters into fundraisers and advocates.” They claim they can triple the effectiveness of outreach and fundraising efforts.
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Last year I got married at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I’ve never been much of a plant person, but it was truly a perfect setting. I’m just amazed that they can grow such a diverse array of beautiful plants in this climate–especially with the winter we’re having this year. If I was opening such a garden, I’d want to do so in a more moderate climate like San Francisco’s. John McLaren was the landscape gardener who was Golden Gate Park’s superintendent for 56 years. He picked a place for a future botanical garden that had “a variety of soil and exposure, sloping, dry and sunny hillsides, sheltered spots and rich, low or marshy land.” The San Francisco Botanical Garden finally got the necessary funding in 1926, and in 1954 the Strybing Arboretum Society was founded to support the garden and its programs. Today the organization is known as the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, and it supports “55 acres of both landscaped gardens and open spaces, showcasing over 8,000 different kinds of plants from around the world.”
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I’ve been on vacation in Aruba for the past 10 days or so, and I’ve gone fishing every day. The fishing has been decent, but I’ve also see all kinds of wildlife from pelicans and sea turtles to eels and frigate birds. It’s amazing how much life a marine environment can support and what you can learn just from experiencing the ecosystem. This need not be formal education, but it can be. The Chincoteague Bay Field Station is a Wallops Island, VA based non-profit that makes a marine environment academic by providing “outstanding multi-disciplinary, educational and research opportunities that celebrate the rich natural, cultural, economic, and technological resources of the mid-Atlantic Coastal region through field-based and hands-on learning, often in affiliation with multiple public and private partners.”
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I’m currently reading a book called Exploding the Phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws who Hacked Ma Bell. One of the stories is about a blind man who had immense technical talent when it came to the phone system, but couldn’t land even the most basic job because of discrimination. He concocted a plan to get arrested for phreaking (phone hacking) because he knew the publicity would lead to quite a few job offers. The plan worked. Nobody should have to go to those lengths to overcome a disability or the discrimination based on it, and that’s why PROVAIL exists. They are a Seattle, WA based non-profit that “supports people with disabilities to fulfill their life choices.” It’s all about expanding opportunity and breaking down barriers that might keep people with disabilities from living the lives they want to live.
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One cool thing about living in a major city after you graduate college is that it’s easy to get involved with groups of people with similar interests. This is obviously great for your social life, but it can also help your career. Meeting people who are in the places that you want to be is always good. The Council of Urban Professionals is not only a way to do that–it’s also a way to do good in your community. They are a New York, NY based non-profit that “molds diverse business and civic leaders, and empowers them to exert influence, achieve their individual goals and create collective impact through a range of programs and initiatives.” It started in a living room with 62 young urban professionals (that’s a big living room!), and now the organization has well over 5,000 members.
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