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So, if you are enjoying a good year (like employees of Goldman Sachs, who are sharing a $1.65 billion pot of gold), here are some suggestions to help you share and make the world a better place. According to The NY Times last Sunday, we should all be giving away at least about 10% of our income. And if you’re a Goldman Sachs partner, maybe a little more.
1. Buy a cashmere sweater from Gap for everyone on your holiday shopping list and half of the profits will go to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa, via the Gap (PRODUCT) Red Program.
2. Help end hunger and poverty in the US. Over the past 20 years, Billy Shore and his team have been working to feed the 13 million children that are hungry in our country. $200 million raised and deployed so far. Another $200 million to go. Make a donation here or if you wanna give real big, call Billy directly.
3. Merge your free-market instincts with non-profit efforts. Micro-enterprise is one way to lift people out of poverty, here and abroad. Check out this video of the latest in irrigation technology that is making a huge difference to thousands of farmers in India. Consider the Acumen Fund or Trickle Up.
4. While other b-school classmates tried to make a fortune on the first dot-com boom (bust), Steve Glikbarg and Cindy Shove (spouse of Helium Report founder) co-founded and ran Impact Online. Now called VolunteerMatch, this year it matched about 500,000 people to volunteer at over 40,000 local non-profits. A donation here gets leveraged to real work done by real people who care. A million bucks will cover about a quarter of their annual operating budget.
5. If you live in New York, then join Gwyneth Paltrow, Harvey Weinstein, Tom Brokaw and a bunch of hedge fund heavy-weights in supporting a variety of New York–based organizations that fight poverty. It’s called Robin Hood – more here. Be prepared to give big. A table at their annual bash is around $40,000 but expect to go bigger if you want to hang with the names.
6. Getting ex-cons ready for productive work is just one of the programs Delancey Street Foundation manages. Over the past 30 years, over 15,000 people have passed through their training and rehab programs. Why we like these guys so much: we eat every day at one of their ventures, Crossroads Café. And they don’t discriminate, so “creative accounting” ex-cons can work here, too. Just remember: hold the mayo.
7. $35,000 will pay for one of your kids at private school. It will also fund a WHOLE secondary school room in Sri Lanka – give enough for three rooms and you just funded a small school. Microsoft alum John Wood formed Room to Read to build libraries and literacy programs around the world. 3,000 libraries built so far.
8. Ten bucks buys a box of nails and about $60,000 buys a house in the U.S. for a low-income family. Five hundred homes have been built for the victims of Hurricane Katrina; another 500 to go. For over 30 years Habitat for Humanity has been getting it done.
9. We know (at least most of us do) that the planet is warming. What we need to do is get each of us to act and make it smart, profitable, and patriotic to care about the environment. That’s the goal of ecoAmerica, a new environmental non-profit that intends to bring cutting-edge marketing methods to the green message. We know the founder, Bob Perkowitz, and some of the guys on his extended team. They will get it done. Make a six-figure grant and even go on the board if you care enough.
10. We love this service and model. Universal Giving screens and promotes other organizations that need your money. You donate and 100% of your dollars go through to that non-profit. Pick a cause or region of the world you care about and search their database.
11. Over 90% of its graduates will go on to college. Leadership Public Schools knows how to build and operate public, charter high schools for kids that otherwise would drop out. Five schools open and more to come, all in the Bay Area.
12. Head starting to spin? Finding that giving away lots of money isn’t that easy? Take the Warren Buffet approach and give it all to another smart guy to give away for you. Bill and Melinda will get it done through the Gates Foundation.
13. Wanna do your own research? Spend some time at Charity Navigator. And read about the “Top 10 Charities Overpaying their For-profit Fundraisers”!



