Yesterday we looked at InterAction, a non-profit organization that brings other non-profits together to work towards common goals in international relief and development. Today we’re going to look at another non-profit that helps other non-profits. It’s called FSG, and they’re a “consulting firm specializing in strategy, evaluation, and research” with offices in Boston, MA; Geneva, Switzerland; Mumbai, India; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; and Washington, DC. They were founded in 2000, and they are constantly working “to develop more effective solutions to the world’s most challenging societal issues.” They approach problems with four key ideas: Catalytic Philanthropy, Collective Impact, Shared Value, and Strategic Evaluation.
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One of the most impressive things about the United States is how much we do for the rest of the world. We may do our fair share of messing things up and meddling in other people’s business, but the amount of aid that comes out of this country is truly remarkable. There are all kinds of organizations that are doing a variety of things to help the developing world. Many of these organizations are members of InterAction, a Washington, DC based non-profit that “seeks to shape important policy decisions on relief and long term development issues, including foreign assistance, the environment, women, health, education and agriculture.” They represent more than 190 member organizations that combine to do work in nearly every developing country. All of InterAction’s member organizations share the goal of a “peaceful, just and prosperous world of nations with inclusive and sustainable societies.”
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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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When my fiancée and I were invited to a wedding in Jackson Hole, I insisted that we go and stay for at least a week. I had been once before when I was about 12, and I’ve been dying to get back. I’m here, and I love it. There’s nothing like waking up and looking out the window to see huge mountains. Since I’m in Jackson, WY, I decided to see if there are any interesting non-profits here with internship opportunities. My search immediately led me to the Teton Science Schools, which is an organization that has “been educating, training, and inspiring students about the natural world” since 1967. They serve people of all ages, and their focus is quite obviously on using the amazing natural surroundings to teach science.
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I had some pretty awesome after-school activities when I was a kid. I played baseball and basketball, but I also did some sort of space/science class and participated in Odyssey of the Mind. Then there was the time on the computer, which didn’t seem all that important, but ended up shaping my career. Time out of school can be extremely important for educational outcomes, which is why BOOST Collaborative exists. They are a San Diego, CA based non-profit that “is committed to creating opportunities for change in educational and social services agencies serving youth in the out-of-school time hours.” While most organizations in this space focus on working directly with kids, BOOST Collaborative focuses on working with the people who work with kids.
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The domestication of animals has to be one of the biggest developments in human history. They are obviously a wonderful direct food source, but they’re even better as an indirect food source when they provide things like milk, eggs, fertilizer, and more animals. So when we talk about battling poverty, it makes sense to go back to what worked for us in the past: animals. That’s what Heifer International does. They’re a Little Rock, AR based non-profit that enables people to “donate animals to poor countries.” It’s an ingenious idea, and it’s even kind of fun. Not only does an animal provide a source for food and other products, but it also requires responsibility. Caring for an animal is an ultimate life lesson.
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Last night I got back from fishing and the kid in the room next to me at the lodge told me that he saw a wolf on the side of the road. I assumed he was full of it and that it was just a coyote, but I looked it up and there are wolves in the lower peninsula of Michigan. Usually we hear about how we’re losing species and biodiversity is diminishing, but there are some success stories. Biodiversity Project is a non-profit organization based in Chicago, IL that is pushing for more of those successes. They do this by “building creative communications campaigns to protect North America’s most precious land and water resources.”
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Education doesn’t have to be expensive, but it often is. In the U.S. we have a culture of financing education for people. Parents put aside college funds, colleges provide financial aid, private organizations offer scholarships, and there are all kind of student loans available. In much of the rest of the world, education is seen as a luxury. Vittana is a Seattle, WA based non-profit that is working to change that through microfinance. They “envision a world of opportunity, where educated minds and skillful hands work together to uplift the next generation, breaking the cycle of poverty.”
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For most of us hunger means that we’ll be eating soon–it’s a sign from our bodies to walk to the kitchen. That’s why it’s hard to grasp that hunger is still a problem in our communities, especially with obesity becoming such a big problem. Food insecurity might be a better name for today’s version of the problem (though that sounds like when someone feels bad after they eat). Whatever you want to call it, WhyHunger is a New York, NY based non-profit that is trying to fix it. They are “a leader in building the movement to end hunger and poverty by connecting people to nutritious, affordable food and by supporting grassroots solutions that inspire self-reliance and community empowerment.”
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Yesterday we talked about how One Acre Fund is helping people escape poverty by giving them access to technology that makes them better farmers. Today’s non-profit also fights poverty with technology, but they’re using the power of the Internet to give people in countries like India, Pakistan, Haiti, Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya access to more robust economies. Samasource is based in San Francisco, CA, and they have a technology platform that brings “dignified, computer-based work to women, youth, and refugees living in poverty.” Outsourcing and offshoring often get a bad rap, but you rarely hear about how life changing the work can be for the people who get it. (I’m also convinced that outsourcing is a significant net positive for those of us who live in the countries with robust economies.)
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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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Neuroscience is a word that is about as intimidating as astrophysics. Most people have no idea what it means, but they’re pretty sure that its definition is over their head. The truth is that neuroscience is simply the study of the brain and nervous system. That’s not to say it’s a simple science, but it’s a science that covers equipment that we all have. With that said, neuroscience gets a bit complex as it draws from “other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics, medicine and allied disciplines, philosophy, physics, and psychology.” (Here’s the Wikipedia article on Neuroscience.) The Society for Neuroscience is a Washington, DC based non-profit member organization for the scientists and physicians who study the brain and nervous system.
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It’s easy to think of the developing world as having completely different problems from the ones we have in the U.S. But when you look more closely, you start to realize that the link between poverty and a lack of good education is consistent across the world–our inner cities and the developing world have similar problems that require similar solutions. buildOn is a non-profit organization based in Stamford, CT that aims to break “the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education” by “putting youth in service and building schools in developing countries.” Most non-profits either focus on education abroad or domestically, buildOn is unique in that they believe that they can better solve both problems by working on them at the same time.
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Happy Mother’s Day! While the best gift that you could possibly give your mother is for you to get a job–flowers, brunch, or a card will have to do for now (not many people get hired over the weekend). I think flowers make a pretty awesome gift, but it sucks that they are eventually going to die. Why not give your mom a flower experience instead? Take her somewhere like the Queens Botanical Garden, which is a Flushing, NY based “urban oasis where people, plants and cultures are celebrated through inspiring gardens, innovative educational programs and demonstrations of environmental stewardship.” Could there be a better place to take your mother?
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I absolutely love playing sports and participating in other outdoor activities. Physical activities are great because they provide nearly immediate feedback. You have a great idea of how you’re performing and how hard you can push yourself. That’s why the National Ability Center in Park City, UT uses activities like “alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, swimming, cycling, waterskiing, horseback riding, rafting,” and more to aid the “the development of lifetime skills for people of all ages and abilities.” By using specially designed equipment and well-trained instructors (many of whom are individuals with disabilities), The National Ability Center is able to bring these wonderful activities to people who may otherwise never have a chance to participate.
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I’m the last person that should be telling you anything about ballet. I can’t remember the last time I saw a ballet performance, but I guarantee you it was at something like a middle school talent show. Despite my knowing nothing about ballet, I can tell you that the New York City Ballet is a big deal. They train their own artists and produce their own works, and with 90 dancers, they are “the largest dance organization in America.” It all started with Lincoln Kirstein, who had a vision of “an American ballet where young native dancers could be trained and schooled under the guidance of the world’s greatest ballet masters to perform a new, modern repertory, rather than relying on touring groups of imported artists performing for American audiences.” He met a guy named George Balanchine in London in 1933 and invited him to help start the school. The rest is history.
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After mentioning high school yesterday, I had a high school exam dream last night. It was a history test, and oddly enough I think I performed pretty well (though I woke up before I got a grade). If it was a Physics test, I think it might have been more of a nightmare. As much as I enjoyed AP Physics, it was definitely one of the hardest courses that I took at any level. That probably explains why I’m not a member of the American Institute of Physics, which is a College Park, MD based non-profit membership organization that promotes “the advancement and diffusion of the knowledge of physics and its application to human welfare.” The group was founded in 1931 by “a group of American physical science societies joined forces to create an institute that would strengthen their response to the practical and philosophical uncertainties facing their field.”
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When I was in 9th grade I had to take a Health class. One day our teacher had us write letters to our future selves. She told us that she’d send them to us when we graduated high school. I never saw that letter again. I guess I’ll never know how I’m stacking up against the expectations of my 14 year old self. While many lessons from health class seem trite at the time, they can have life-long beneficial effects. Unfortunately, many public schools can’t afford to offer health education. This is a big problem because “teenagers today are engaging in risky behavior at alarming rates, harming their bodies and their futures.” Peer Health Exchange is a San Francisco, CA based non-profit organization (but they’re working across the country) that fixes this problem by recruiting, selecting, and training “college student volunteers to teach high school students a comprehensive health curriculum.” My sister is one of these volunteers, and she’s had a wonderful experience so far (which is why she has been bugging me to feature PHE).
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Earth Day is a contrived holiday. It was designed as a day of teach-ins across the country to educate students about environmental evils. April 22 was chosen as the date because it fit perfectly between spring break and final exams. If you want to maximize on-campus student activity, this is the time of year to do it. It’s worked. Earth Day now has more than 40 years of history behind it, and it continues to be a great way to rally people for environmental causes. Earth Day Network is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that organizes Earth Day activities across the world while also focusing on environmental causes year round. In the past they’ve “executed successful environmental campaigns on issues ranging from climate change and drinking water to voter registration and saving the whale.”
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If I told you that I had 52 slaves working for me, you’d either think that I was making an offensive joke about unpaid internships or just being offensive. Unfortunately, it’s the truth. It’s nearly impossible for anyone living in our society not to benefit from modern slavery. So what do we do about it? Before you can take responsibility for your consumption, you have to understand your “slavery footprint.” Slavery Footprint is an Oakland, CA based non-profit organization that aims “to generate awareness and action for the issues of forced labor, slavery, and human trafficking.” They’ve done this through a film called Call + Response, a documentary with CNN, and an online survey that helps you calculate your slavery footprint based on what you consume and own.
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100 years ago today the Titanic sank. It wasn’t the world’s first transportation disaster, nor was it the last, but it’s the one that continues to captivate people. As a kid I was absolutely fascinated by the story of the Titanic–the unsinkable ship that sank. I had a few books on the topic that I read over and over again. I learned about Alvin, the deep sea submersible, and Jason Jr., the underwater robot, and how they were used to explore the Titanic once it was discovered in 1985 (by essentially dragging video cameras just above the ocean floor). The discovery and expeditions were partially done by teams from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is a Woods Hole, MA based “non-profit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers.” If it has to do with ocean science and exploration, there’s an extremely good chance that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is on top of it.
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April is the month of Opening Days. My two favorite seasons–baseball and fishing–open all across the country this time of year. I’ve already snuck up to Michigan’s Au Sable River once this year to go fishing, and I have another trip planned in a couple weeks. I’m lucky that I have such a wonderful place to spend my time, and I have a number of conservation groups to thank for their work in protecting and improving the river system and its trout fishing. I’m a total sucker for anything related to hunting or fishing, so when a reader e-mailed me yesterday to tell me about a job at the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, there was no doubt in my mind that I’d be writing about them today. They’re a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that provides “access and a voice for sportsmen in the U.S. Congress, the Administration and federal land management agencies, as well as state legislatures across the country.” They’ve been at it for more than 20 years, and they’ve accomplished quite a bit in that time.
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I feel kind of bad for the Easter Bunny. He’s clearly no Santa Claus, and normal people giving out candy in their houses on Halloween tend to outshine his candy giving ability. I’d say he’s about on par with the Tooth Fairy, who is only relevant for a few years during a child’s life. I think we need to raise the profile of the the Easter Bunny, and that’s what The Easter Bunny Foundation in Orlando, FL is all about. Ok, that’s not really what they’re all about. They’re actually about “providing hospitalized children with a visit from the Easter Bunny and their local sheriff during Easter week.” How awesome is that? The Easter Bunny Foundation is a small non-profit that likely doesn’t have any full-time jobs, but they’re doing great work and putting smiles on kids’ faces. If you’d like to get involved, you can learn more here. Happy Easter!
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Have you ever bought Easter candy after Easter? They’re usually giving it away at about 90% off. We live in a country where food is so plentiful that it becomes undesirable if it’s not the right color or in the right packaging for the time of year. Those egg shaped Reese’s instantly won’t sell, even though they have a better peanut butter to chocolate ratio than the normal cups. It’s easy to forget how lucky we are to live in a society where one of our biggest problems is an overabundance of calories. The International Food Policy Research Institute is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that serves those who aren’t so lucky. The IFPRI envisions “a world where every person has secure access to sufficient and safe food to sustain a healthy and productive life and where food-related policy decisions are made transparently, including the participation of consumers and producers.”
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Lately I’ve been talking a lot about the relationship between humans and computers. The most important takeaway from all of this is that we’re all humans, and that’s important. If we can’t all agree on that simple fact, then we as a society are doomed. Considering that the only thing more important than people is money, I think it’s essential that we take this special day to look at The Human Fund. They are a New York, NY based non-profit that provides “Money for People.” The organization was found by Art Vandelay in 1997, and since then they have continued to grow.
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I was really lucky in that my parents sent me to a top notch private school for 6th through 12th grade. I have no doubt that it had a significantly positive effect on my education. Why? Because it was a truly great school. Private schools obviously aren’t the only great schools (and plenty of private schools aren’t all that great), but there’s no doubt that many of our country’s public schools are underperforming. 50CAN is a New York, NY based non-profit organization that is pushing for education reform because they believe that “Great Schools Can Change Everything.” They don’t just mean test scores and individual outcomes. They mean our economy, our democracy, our dreams, our competitiveness, our health, our communities, and pretty much everything else. 50CAN is different from many of the education focused non-profits that you’re likely familiar with in that 50CAN is focused squarely on advocacy.
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