What are YOU passionate about?

There's a charity for that! I am passionate about music, and so I was able to find some great ideas on the web by just doing a simple google search! There is: American Music Therapy Association: http://www.musictherapy.org/faqs.html; Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation: http://www.mhopus.org/; National Endowment for the Arts: http://www.nea.gov/support/index.html; and more! I also recently heard a radio commercial talking about a group that sends musicians to visit patients in hospitals to help brighten their day. What a great way to share your talents and serve others! There are lots of big ways to make a difference, but there are many more small ways.

Here is a challenge for you, google (or your favorite search engine) to find you some great charities that you can volunteer for, donate to, promote, or just plain be PASSIONATE about!

Craig's New List

While I've never been a huge Craiglist user, I've followed it over the years and used it a time a two when my children were newborns (remember those canning bottles and spiders, Matt?!) To my surprise, I was recently pointed to a new "Do Good" endeavor, headed by Craig Newmark the founder of Craiglist, called Craig Connects. Craig puts his mission best in his own words:

"This will be long-term effort. We’re talking ongoing support for effective organizations. I’m committing the next 20 years to craigconnects, focusing the first phase on highlighting mostly larger sized nonprofits making an impact in my personal Areas of Support. I’ve been helping nonprofits for about 10 years, applying a lot of what I’ve learned doing customer service for craigslist."

I love that he is using his tried and true commitment to doing good in such a way that using his expertise people can come together in a confident manner to support worthy causes throughout the world, both big and small. I know I've been concerned about that very issue, trust, when it pertains to giving online. "Where does the money REALLY go?" I'd ask myself. And then I'd choose to wait until next time to help.

I wish I could say, as Craig does, "This is the biggest thing in my life, and I’d like a little help from you." Maybe I should say that and commit the next twenty years of my life to Doing Good. How about you? In fact, I need to take my own advice. I'm going to make a donation to one organization every week for the next year to see how this changes my mindset about service and community. And I'll start doing that today.

I will do more research on Craig Connects and keep reporting over the next month. But for those interested, his first featured NonProfit: DonorsChoose.org - what a great idea. I'm having a hard time not just sending many of these teams and such some money, what worthy causes.

Thanks Craig!

Walmart is doing good!

Walmart has committed to donating $2 billion dollars through 2015 in the help to fight hunger in America.

Recently there was a Facebook campaign to help Walmart decide where to send their help. According to their website they are sending $1.5 million dollars in aid to Salt Lake City, UT; Fresno, CA; Columbia, SC; Ogden and Clearfield, UT; Charleston, N. Charleston and Summerville, SC;  and Bakersfield, CA. The work that Walmart is doing to combat this terrible national challenge is amazing. We need to follow Walmart's example and help in our local areas, because every little bit helps.

http://fightinghunger.walmart.com/
https://www.utahfoodbank.org/fighting-hunger-together

Natty's Wish Continued

Here is a link to a video from the Standard Examiner.

http://bit.ly/fEXwQR

Natty's Wish

This NPO was brought to my attention by a friend of mine.

"One of Natalie's greatest wishes was to form a non-profit organization to help other young adults diagnosed between the ages of 18-25 to have a trip with their families. As many of you know, when you receive devastating news such as cancer or death, you just want to run away and forget about real life for a minute and have the chance to make some memories. Make A Wish had to draw a line and that line is 18 years old. Natalie wanted to give the same experience to other young adults, and so "Natty's Wish" was born. 

My son, Scott, has spent hours and hours and hours getting through all the legal stuff to get "Natty's Wish" up and running. We are so excited to announce our very first fund raising effort.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Make a Wish Foundation, they grant wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions but their age limit is 18. However, Natty's Wish would like to grant wishes to adolescents from ages 18-25. So they have teamed up with the Chili's in Utah in order to raise funds.

On MARCH 7, we have a give back day at all the CHILI'S in UTAH. That means if you take one of the coupons to a Chili's on that day, they will attach it to your bill and then 10% of whatever you spend will come to "Natty's Wish". I think you will be able to print them off. Please print some and pass them out to everyone you know. This will be a great way to start growing "Natty's Wish" so we can help other young adults and their families!"

 I hope all of us in Utah can support this wonderful cause and raise money for "Natty's Wish".

Practicum Project

I’ve always wanted to get involved professionally in a non-profit organization. As I’m about to finish my Bachelor's degree in Communications and my last child is about to enter part-time school, I’m again looking forward to pursuing this interest in a professional manner. Of course, the world has changed much in the last decade and a half and my interests have expanded to include social media. So, in considering my Practicum project, I am proposing to create a blog to help connect non-profit organizations with volunteers through communicating with an ever-growing audience regarding my research through social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook. I hope this will become an ongoing project throughout the many years to come in which I will come to understand non-profit organizations across the US and even the world, how they function and where they most need help. Of course, I hope to become more familiar with the ins and outs of the social media world.  Sincerely, as I consider going back to work in the professional world, finding a job that mixes non-profit and social media would be ideal. I’d love to be the person one or more companies would utilize to establish connections with the community through the many technological tools that now encompass our lives.

This is of personal interest because I was born to a teenage mom. Additionally, my family has had a variety of struggles around alcoholism and other addictions. I know what it is like to need the help food banks offer and other forms of community service that are often facilitated through non-profit organizations. Through this kind of profession, I feel like I can pay forward the gifts and blessings I’ve received from the many giving souls that devote their time to such wonderful causes. I am hopeful I can highlight an organization that will “speak” to those who read my blog and that the spirit of service will influence them to serve their community.