While the Holiday Season is a time that many of us offer help to the less fortunate, it’s usually in the form of gifts or donations. This kind of help is great, but it’s typically temporary. Homelessness and poverty are both societal and individual problems, so bringing about real change is going to take a lot more than a few weeks of giving. Real Change is a Seattle, WA based non-profit that “exists to provide opportunity and a voice for low-income and homeless people while taking action for economic justice.” By focusing on helping the individuals while at the same time pushing for societal change, Real Change is able to make a meaningful difference.
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Christmas is widely known as “the most wonderful time of the year,” but for many that doesn’t ring true. If there’s any group that deserves to have an joyful holiday season, it’s children. Most kids just want to receive a few gifts and know that someone loves and cares about them. Unfortunately, for millions of children that isn’t a given. Luckily, there are a number of non-profit organizations that help make it happen for kids who may not otherwise have a Merry Christmas. We looked at Toys for Tots last year, and this year we’re going to talk about a program called Angel Tree “that connects parents in prison with their children through the delivery of Christmas gifts.” It’s part of a larger non-profit called Prison Fellowship. The Lansdowne, VA based organization that envisions “a future in which countless prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families, are redeemed, restored, and reconciled through the love and truth of Jesus Christ.”
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I went to the same college as both of my parents. There’s no doubt that this made my transition to college easier–I knew what I was getting into, and they knew what I was getting into. The statistics back this up. Students whose parents went to college are far more likely to graduate than first-generation college students. So how do we give these students the advantages and support that typically come with a parent or parents who went to college? New York Needs You is a non-profit that is taking a crack at it. They are aiming to enable “first-generation college students to realize their college and career ambitions” through an intensive fellowship program.
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When I moved to Chicago I joined the board of a startup non-profit. We were a group of twenty somethings with little idea of how to run a non-profit or what being on a board actually meant. Not surprisingly, the non-profit no longer exists. Our board did its best, but we were never really prepared to succeed. We probably could have used the help of Boardsource, a Washington, DC based non-profit that “supports, trains, and educates more than 60,000 nonprofit board leaders from across the country each year.” You can’t just Google “how to be a non-profit board member” and pick it up. Boardsource provides a wide array of resources that help board members serve their organizations more effectively.
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I grew up about an hour outside of New York City. My parents would take me in a few times a year, and from those experiences I developed an idea of what big cities are like. It took a while for me to realize that New York is remarkable as cities go. It’s huge. It has a prime geographical location. Its people are diverse in a multitude of ways. It’s filled with wealth, yet more than 20% of its citizens live in poverty. There is no other city in the world like New York, and that’s why the Museum of the City of New York must be a fascinating place to visit. They are a non-profit that explores “the past of this fascinating and particular place for lessons about our future” while celebrating “New York’s heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation.”
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Growing up I had a really good friend who was a bad kid. We got along great, but he always found a way to get into trouble. When we were about seven, my Mom told me a secret about him. She told me that he went to “children’s jail” where he only got bread and water. I wasn’t all that gullible, but I believed it because it was totally believable. I was scared straight. What I’ve learned since is that kids don’t go to jail for “being bad,” but there is a cycle of incarceration in some of our communities that starts at a very early ages. Recidivism rates tell us that a young person who incarcerated for the first time is highly likely to be incarcerated again. Friends of Island Academy is a New York, NY based non-profit “center for youth development dedicated to breaking cycles of incarceration.” They work with “adolescents who attend school on Rikers Island every year” to “guide their trajectory to becoming economically independent young adults, connected to their communities in positive way.”
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Last night Cornell played Michigan in an ice hockey game at Madison Square Garden. Cornell came out with a 5-1 win, which I was ecstatic about. The Big Red not only surprised its fans with a great performance after two pretty terrible weekends, but they also came out for the 2nd period in camo jerseys. I’m a traditionalist, so usually I’d be upset with any change to the team’s uniforms, but this was for an amazing cause. It was part of a fund and awareness raising effort for Wounded Warrior Project, which is a Jacksonville, FL based non-profit that aims “to foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation’s history.” While I was enjoying a hockey game last night, there were men and women ten years younger than me risking life and limb to ensure my safety. The costs of war can be extreme, which is why it’s important that those of us who enjoy the safety provided by our service men and women do our best “to fulfill the needs of injured service members.” That’s what Wounded Warrior Project is about.
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Sometimes it’s all about a name. How could I not take a closer look at an organization called Day One when I was browsing Idealist? Their name doesn’t tell you much about what they do, but it makes sense with a little context. Day One is a non-profit that “partners with New York City youth to end dating abuse and domestic violence through community education, supportive services, legal advocacy and leadership development.” Abuse and domestic violence are issues that affect people of all ages, but teenagers are especially susceptible. When you have little relationship and life experience, how are you supposed to know what is ok and what isn’t? Where do you go for help? How do you get out? Those are all questions that Day One helps teens answer.
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I did a lot of my most valuable learning outside of school. I attended plenty of camps and after school activities, but I also dug holes in my backyard searching for historical artifacts and learned to build websites on my own. Not only were the out of school activities more fun, but many of them helped me develop skills that I still use today. School shouldn’t be the only educational outlet for children, which is why non-profits like Edventure More are so important. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they “inspire the playful pursuit of enrichment for the next generation” through summer camps, enrichment programming, motivational tutoring, and mentoring.
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Helping people find jobs is pretty cool. There’s a reason that I’ve been doing it for the past 5 years. I’ve built a nice list of success stories, but there’s no way that I “created over 218,000 hours of employment and generated $2.5 million in wages” in 2010 like Chrysalis did. They’re a Los Angeles, CA based non-profit that is “dedicated to creating a pathway to self-sufficiency for homeless and low-income individuals by providing the resources and support needed to find and retain employment.” Employment solves all kinds of societal and individual problems, but creating jobs isn’t nearly as easy as politicians make it sound. Luckily, Chrysalis has developed programs that help people turn themselves into desirable employees. It’s the next best thing.
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Some may describe the non-profit world as slow moving. It’s funny to think that a world filled with progressives isn’t really all that progressive when it comes to its own practices. Things are changing, and more and more organizations being run like startups, but there are bigger picture issues that need to be addressed to help the non-profit world move forward. That’s what the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy does and has been doing for more than 35 years. They’re a Washington, DC based non-profit that serves “as the country’s independent watchdog of foundations.” In other words, they promote “philanthropy that serves the public good, is responsive to people and communities with the least wealth and opportunity, and is held accountable to the highest standards of integrity and openness.”
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I was a total wimp when I was a kid. Despite many opportunities to do ropes courses and other similar challenges, I always sat on the sidelines. To be completely honest, it was because I was chubby and figured that I couldn’t actually complete the courses. I’m now more adventurous, but I still prefer adventure with a functional goal (like climbing down into a gorge to go fly fishing). Project Adventure is a Beverly, MA non-profit organization that offers adventure with a goal, but it’s all about personal and group development. They “seek to expand Adventure-based experiential programming, with the goal of developing responsible individuals, productive organizations and sustainable communities.” They’ve been doing it since 1971, and they keep growing their ability to advance active learning.
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I was at a wedding last night. It served as a reminder that I can’t dance. I still try, but I don’t think that it’s ever going to happen for me. That’s ok–I can leave the dancing to the dancers. Maybe I would have different feelings if I had been involved with Dancewave. They’re a non-profit that “transforms the lives of New York City youth through unique exposure to world-class, pre-professional performing arts training.” Dance is right at the intersection of arts and athletics, which makes it an ideal activity for youth programming–it builds confidence, gets kids active, and introduces them to new cultures.
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I grew up in a house next to a post office. This was the ultimate location for a lemonade stand. From 11 AM to about 1:30 PM people would take their lunch breaks and stop by to pick up their mail. They couldn’t resist my cute face and amazing pitch for a nice, cold glass of lemonade. I raked it in, and I hoarded my earnings (and never paid my parents for ingredients). My intent wasn’t nearly as noble as Alex Scott, a 4-year-old who “announced that she wanted to hold a lemonade stand to raise money to help find a cure for all children with cancer” in 2000. At the time she was in the middle of a fight against neuroblastoma, and she wanted to do everything that she could to help other kids facing a similar struggle. That lemonade stand grew into a movement called Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which is now a Wynnewood, PA based non-profit. Alex passed away in 2004 at the age of 8 having raised over $1 million to cure pediatric cancers. That’s an amazing accomplishment that becomes even more amazing when you see what her lemonade stand has grown into.
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Chances are that where you live has some sort of historical society. It’s an organization that is devoted to preserving and researching the local history. They almost certainly have some sort of an archive, and they may have a museum. There are all kinds of historical societies out there, but I was still surprised that The Capitol building has its own historical society called… wait for it… the United States Capitol Historical Society. The non-profit organization is quite obviously based in Washington, DC, and it was founded in 1962 and “chartered by Congress to educate the public on the history and heritage of the U.S. Capitol building, its institutions and the people who have served therein.” The organization is not publicly funded, so they get their money from “individual and corporate memberships, gifts, grants and the sale of educational items such as the book, We, the People: The Story of the U.S. Capitol, calendars, tourist memorabilia, videos and books of general interest and academic research.”
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I’m getting a dog! It’s still many months away at the earliest, but I’m extremely excited. It’s going to be a sporting breed, and I’m hoping to train it to do what it will be bred to do. I’ve been reading a few books on training in preparation, and I’m simply amazed by what dogs are capable of. The combination of good breeding and patient training is extremely powerful. And nowhere is that combination put to better use than at Canine Companions for Independence. They are a Santa Rosa, CA based non-profit that “enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships.” They have regional training centers across the country, so they’re able to match amazing dogs with the people who will benefit from them most–free of charge.
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Even though it will be another year until we celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day again, I don’t think that we’ve had enough pirate talk for the week. Just kidding, no pirate talk today, but we are going to take a look at a non-profit called Story Pirates. They’re based in New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA, and they pair “experienced teachers with talented artists to collaborate with schools and community organizations in creating exciting, dynamic classes covering a broad range of academic topics.” That’s actually a kind of boring way to put it. One of the programs that they’re best known for is taking stories that kids write and acting them out. How could that not be absolutely awesome?
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When I was a kid I was jealous of the kids who went to one of the other elementary schools in town because they had an awesome carnival. I was kind of a wimp about carnival rides, so the most intense ride that I would go on was called the Himalaya. All it did was spin you around kind of fast. While the painting on the ride was certainly accurate to the name, I’m not sure that it was a very good representation of Himalayan culture. The Rubin Museum of Art in New York, NY is. It’s “a dynamic environment that stimulates learning, promotes understanding, and inspires personal connections to the ideas, cultures, and art of Himalayan Asia.” It also won’t make you nauseous like the ride might.
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One of the most underrated life moments is when you learn how to read. Even though it’s more of a progression than a single point in time, I remember (almost) exactly where I was when I became a reader. My family was headed to Florida on an Amtrak train (we thought it would be fun, and it was… kind of), and I had a Super Mario comic book. Somewhere in North or South Carolina I went from stumbling through it to reading it. From that point on I was a reader and I had the ability to educate myself. Teaching kids not only to read but to love reading is one of the most important things that we as a society can do, which is why I love non-profits like The Literacy Lab. They don’t appear to be very big, but the Washington, DC based organization is aiming “to provide high-quality, individualized reading remediation to low-income students in order to increase their literacy skills, leading to increased academic success and greater opportunities in life.”
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I grew up along the coast of Long Island Sound and spent a few weeks every summer on Nantucket. As a result I’ve always had a fascination with coastal societies. I just love seeing how the natural environment shapes the way people live. Today it may be hard to imagine how a city as large and modern as New York, NY has been influenced by its natural surroundings, but the South Street Seaport Museum shows the history of New York City’s relationship with the sea. The museum “is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of New York as a port city.” They do this with “16 historic and contemporary installations interweaving the city, the sea, and the Seaport neighborhood.”
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I don’t know why adults even bother asking kids what their favorite class is. They’re obviously going to either say recess or make something up because they know that they’re not supposed to say recess. As a kid I felt bad for liking recess more than the rest of the school day, but now I realize that recess is totally underrated. It’s a time for social interaction, safe risk taking (or are monkey bars banned now?), decision making, and more. It’s also a fantastic way to get kids to burn off energy so that they can be more focused in the classroom. Playworks is an Oakland, CA based non-profit (but they work in cities across the country) that aims to “improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.” In other words, they’re all about recess.
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One of the best parts of growing up in Connecticut was the history. As a kid, I was always imagining myself back in the Revolutionary era. There were constant reminders of the past, and I found them fascinating. (One of my favorite hobbies was digging holes in my backyard looking for artifacts.) The tough thing is that New England is a thriving part of our economy, which means that there is constant pressure to erase the past so as to build something better. That’s ok to some extent, but history needs to be preserved. Historic New England is a non-profit that does just that. It’s a Boston, MA based “museum of cultural history that collects and preserves buildings, landscapes, and objects dating from the seventeenth century to the present and uses them to keep history alive and to help people develop a deeper understanding and enjoyment of new England life and appreciation for its preservation.”
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Yesterday I touted the fact that WWF directs 85% of their expenses towards programming. If you’re like me, you probably wondered where the rest goes. 11% of it goes to Fundraising/Development. That’s a pretty big chunk, but it’s by no means uncommon in the non-profit world. Organizations need money to keep running, and it takes money to raise money (this makes getting a non-profit started a huge task). Many non-profits end up spending their money by hiring Sanky Communications, which is a New York, NY based company that “has launched or expanded successful marketing programs for more than 100 nonprofit organizations.” They do this through two businesses: SankyDirect and SankyNet. The former “offers a wide range of direct mail fundraising services” while the latter is “an online marketing agency made up of dedicated Web specialists, developers, and strategists with decades of combined experience advancing nonprofit work.”
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I’ve always had an amazing appreciation for wildlife, but after a week in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, it’s definitely grown. I’m completely amazed by how many species I was able to experience that were at one point on the brink of extinction. While the federal government has done a fantastic job in that particular situation, they’re not able to act in the same way across the world. That’s where organizations like World Wildlife Fund come in. WWF is a Washington, DC non-profit that “has been protecting the future of nature” for the last 50 years. They work in 100 countries and have more than 5 million members across the world. The organization’s vision is “to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature.” That’s a tall task considering our history, but there are certainly signs of hope.
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Last weekend we took a look at International Rivers and how they are ““at the heart of the global struggle to protect rivers and the rights of communities that depend on them.” While rivers are my favorite body of water, they aren’t by any means the only ones that that are essential to the livelihood of nearby communities (and it’s not just communities in the developing world that are so dependent on bodies of water). That’s why we’re going to take today to look at a non-profit organization that aims to protect a single watershed. Heal the Bay is devoted to protecting and reviving Santa Monica Bay, “the centerpiece of Los Angeles’ beach culture, and the geographic center of the LA region.” They’re based in Santa Monica, CA, and they’re focused on both the aesthetic and economic reasons for healing the bay.
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Considering the way most of us Americans eat, it’s nearly impossible to comprehend that a lot of people in this world rely on subsistence farming. In the U.S., a single farmer can easily feed about 100 people, yet across much of the world it takes an entire family’s work to feed a family. When Mother Nature stops playing nice, all of that work can be destroyed and the family may be left to go hungry. A big part of the difference in agricultural output has to do with technology, which is why One Acre Fund is working to bring farming technology to the developing world. They’re a non-profit based in New York, NY and Washington, DC, but they do most of their work in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi. One Acre Fund focuses on working directly with the poorest families–the ones that deal with hunger more than three months out of the year.
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Walking around a museum and looking at stuff is usually boring for me. It’s just too passive. I like museums that are hands-on and offer experiential learning opportunities. I’ve never been there, but The Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA looks like my kind of museum. It’s focused on art, science, and human perception and based on the premise that “following your curiosity and asking questions can lead to amazing moments of discovery, learning, and awareness, and can increase confidence in your ability to understand how the world works.” The Exploratorium looks like a truly amazing place to visit, and they even offer all kinds of in-depth web content for those who can’t visit.
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There’s a homeless guy who lives in the park near my apartment. I’m convinced that he’s actually a superhero in disguise. There’s something different about him from the others who hang in the park. He combs his hair with a mirror, he works on his tan, and he uses his bags of stuff to do bicep curls. If you’re exercising, you have to some sort of positive outlook. That’s why I love what Back On My Feet is doing. They’re a Philadelphia, PA based non-profit that “promotes the self-sufficiency of people experiencing homelessness by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.” No food. No shelter. Just running at first. (There are some programs for those who have had success with the running.) We’ve seen plenty of athletic programs used to promote achievement in youth–why not try it with adults?
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Last week a guy I knew in college e-mailed me looking for some career guidance. I’m happy to help just about anyone as long as they ask pretty specific questions, but I’m especially willing to do whatever I can to help him out. Why? While I thought I was taking a risk by doing a startup after graduation, he’s been flying helicopters in Afghanistan for the Army. It’s easy to forget that there are people like him who are risking their lives every day to protect us. Memorial Day weekend is all about thanking them and remembering those who have lost their lives in the call of duty. That’s why we’re going to take a look at an organization called Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America today. They’re based in New York, NY and Washington, DC, and they are the “country’s first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
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Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to spend as much time as possible enjoying nature. Along the way I’ve learned a lot of stuff without realizing it. For instance, I can tell you about the the entire lifecycle of mayflies or the spawning behavior of salmon. Yes, I’ve read about those things to supplement my knowledge, but you can’t really understand how it all works until you see it in action. That’s the premise that NatureBridge is based on. They’re a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that has spent the last 40 years introducing “1 million young people to the wonder and science of nature in the world’s best classrooms—our national parks.”
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