A Month of Charities: Tranquil Space Foundation

The Tranquil Space Foundation is dedicated to: "Expanding opportunities for girls and women to develop their “inner voice” through yoga, creativity, and leadership activities." In addition to making grants to nonprofit programs that help women and girls, the Tranquil Space Foundation also runs a yoga and creativity for teenage girls called "Tranquil Teens." It's a really unique group! (full disclosure: I'm on the steering committee!)

A Month of Charities: Environmental Integrity Project

I'm going to kick off 2009 by highlighting some of my favorite charitable organizations and nonprofits on my blog. I'd love to call this "Charity-a-Day," but heck, a girl's gotta take some time off once in a while! But I will update almost every day. If you have a suggestion of a nonprofit organization I should highlight, please let me know.

Today I'm drawing your attention to the Environmental Integrity Project, an amazing nonprofit with a unique and critical mission: enforcing environmental laws that already are on the books.

From their web site:

Environmental laws that guarantee clean air and water, protect human exposure to toxic waste, and preserve natural resources are viewed as a birthright by most Americans. On paper, these laws are impressive in scope; in practice, they are often ignored. The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) works closely with local communities to protect the public's health and resources by promoting better enforcement of federal environmental laws. EIP also seeks to protect these laws from political interference.

Their work means so much to folks in local communities - cleaning up local rivers where fish are dying off due to power plant runoff, reducing air pollution in a town that is in the shadow of a huge factory expansion, helping an elderly woman with asthma breathe a little easier now that a nearby power plant is monitoring its fine particle emissions...

No other organization is fully focused on the important work that EIP is doing - check them out!

Recession Obsession Sale

Times are tough at America's non-profits. Donations are down, and, at many charitable organizations, the need for their services is up. To help non-profits through the crunch, I'm offering a 30% discount on "Grant Writing Quick Tips" - a focused, finely-tuned e-book that offers all of the highlights of a foundation relations and grant writing seminar in one, high-impact resource.

From tips to help your grant proposal stand out from the pack, to guidelines and a worksheet on proposal budgeting, to strategies for finding and keeping donors, "Grant Writing Quick Tips" is a great resource for any non-profit organization (or a great gift for your favorite charity).

Check it out HERE.

How about a non-profit "bailout"?

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently reported that Independent Sector, a national coalition of charitable foundations, is working on a proposal to ask Congress for a loan fund to help non-profits deal with the current economic crisis. While non-profit donations are decreasing, their caseloads are increasing because of the crisis (for example, more people are in need of food, clothing, shelter, job counseling, health care, etc.).

Ideas for Giving

The December 2008 issue of Washingtonian magazine is focused on giving. It features articles on great Washington-area organizations that need your donations; how to set up a foundation, donor advised fund, or giving circle; ways to use your skills through volunteerism; and inspiring stories of people who are making great impacts in small ways. Pick up a copy today and get inspired!

Go Jo-Bros!

Teen sensations The Jonas Brothers just topped Charity Folks' list of the biggest draws on its online charity-auction web site. They raised $450,000 in an online charity auction to benefit their Change for the Children Foundation.

Who else is on the list? Check it out here. I was shocked! Hint: Nary a Bono or Brangelina in sight...

(OK, you have to admit... they are sort of unbearably cute!)

Advice for Obama

In a recent edition of the Chronicle of Philanthropy (11/13/08, p.6), non-profit leaders from a variety of different fields (and with a variety of agendas) offered their advice on what our new President can do to promote and support charities and foundations. Here's a sampling of what they had to say:

• Offer extra tax benefits for gifts to antipoverty charities
• Create a cabinet-level philanthropy position
• Help students pay for college, through Americorps and loan forgiveness programs tied to volunteerism
• Streamline the process that ensures that charitable donations do not flow to terrorist organizations
• Allow non-itemizers to deduct their charitable contributions from their adjusted gross income on their tax returns
• Create a National Institute of Philanthropy, similar to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Require Americorps service for all college students who receive federal financial aid

Do you agree with these ideas? Have any new ones?

Inspiring Women

What's more glamorous than inspiring others?

Glamour Magazine just held its Women of the Year Awards. Where else would Hillary Clinton, Tyra Banks, and Jane Goodall appear on the same list?! If you are looking for a dose of inspiration, check out the award winners. You might be especially interested in learning about the Women of the Year Fund Honorees, Yemini trailblazers Nujood Ali and Shada Nasser who are crusading for rights for child brides.

What do you think of the list? Who would you add?

Reactions to the US elections from foreign friends

After the US election this week, I emailed some of my friends from other countries to get their reactions to the US Presidential election. Here's a sampling of what they had to say:

Jackie (London)

Congratulations! The coverage here in the UK was almost like it was a UK election. People here are just as excited and hopeful that it could happen here. But there's also a sense of about time America got it right and I think everyone would have lost faith in democracy had America got it wrong (again). I don't like getting all romantic about these things but I couldn't help shed a tear when they showed Jessie Jackson and I felt like I was floating to work after seeing the scenes in Washington. Very exciting. You are right, he has a big job, but the significance of the day is so huge. Yay America (never thought I'd be saying that :)

Katie (Toronto)

...We also danced in the street and lit sparklers. We felt extremely proud and hopeful for you guys... and for the rest of us who are so influenced (like it or not) by what happens in the US.

Ija (Oslo)

I think all Norwegians are SO pleased with the election. I've heard no criticism from none of the political parties, just the opposite. It's said that it will be easier to cooperate with the US under Obama. His politics also resemble the one we lead here in Scandanavia to a greater extent than the US regime over the last 8 years. We also think that the US image will increase, Americans will come forward as more "intelligent" (sorry...) and less narrow sighted. I'm so happy for you. You really need this change!

I'll share more reactions when/if they come in...

Free Coffee for You!

Not that Starbucks needs any more publicity in this lifetime, but...

I saw their get out the vote commercial this weekend, and I loved it. To quote the commercial (which you also can watch on their web site):

What if we all cared enough to vote?
Not just 54% of us, but 100% of us?
What if we all cared as much on Nov. 5th as we did on Nov. 4th?
What if we cared all of the time, the way we care some of the time?
What if we cared if it was incovenient, as much as we care when it's convenient?
Would your community be a better place?
Would our country be a better place?
Would our world be a better place?
We think so too.

Starbucks is giving a FREE CUP OF BREWED COFFEE to anyone who votes on Nov. 4th. So go VOTE, and then go treat yourself to a caffeine fix!