All People Making a Difference
- Nonprofits' message: Keep firewood close to home
Environmental groups are sending out a warning that transporting firewood across state lines can spread insects and diseases, wiping out swaths of forest and causing economic and environmental damage.
- How renewable energy is rescuing US schools from budget cuts
Educators across the country are finding millions of dollars in savings through cheap and simple forms of renewable energy. Since 2003, one school district has cut more than $7 million in energy costs. That equates to 45 teaching positions.
- FarmVille's game players bring clean water to the real world
Items purchased on Zynga's popular Facebook games FarmVille and Mafia Wars raise money for Water.org, which provides safe water and sanitation for people in the real world.
- Four ways to help 'contract farming' benefit the very poor
Contract farming – an agreement between a farmer and a buyer – offers many benefits to small farmers if they have access to education and legal services.
- Difference MakerEntrepreneur Joe Edwards helps make St. Louis vibrant again
By restoring buildings and activity to a historic St. Louis neighborhood Joe Edwards has become a powerful force for civic good.
- Number of volunteers in US hits highest level since 2005
More than one-quarter of Americans did volunteer work in 2011, providing 7.9 billion hours of service worth $171 billion. Utah led among states. Iowans responded to their governor's call for volunteers.
- Give to people on the street? In cities, it's a daily dilemma
Whether to give to people on the street who ask for money is a complicated decision, with no easy right or wrong answer. It's a highly personal act that sometimes can be deeply rewarding.
- Mom in Argentina rescues hundreds of sex slaves
What began as a one-woman campaign a decade ago has become a movement, and today Susana Trimarco is a hero to hundreds of women she's rescued from prostitution rings in Argentina.
- Shoppers add charitable giving to their lists
Purchases that give a portion of the sale to a charity make shoppers feel good but may diminish overall giving to that charity, a consultant says.
- Kids Helping Kids is run by kids – and for kids
The Connecticut-based nonprofit youth group of middle schoolers and teens plans and carries out projects that make a positive difference in their community and beyond.
- Difference MakerIzhar Gafni invents a cardboard bicycle that may revolutionize transportation
His two-wheeled creation, a $20 bike made out of cardboard, could revolutionize bicycling, especially in the developing world.
- Alta Gracia factory produces fair-trade clothing
For years, college student activists have pressured their schools to make sure clothing with college logos is sweatshop-free. Now, they have another choice: fair-trade clothing manufactured in the Dominican Republic by Alta Gracia.
- Would the lights go out if superstorm Sandy hit the Netherlands? Nope.
The US can learn from the modern, disaster-resistant electric grid in the Netherlands.
- Clean cookstoves in Mozambique lure big investors
CleanStar Mozambique is a combined effort among a mix of institutions centered around replacing traditional charcoal cooking stoves with stoves fueled by sustainably produced bio-ethanol.
- #GivingTuesday sparks a big spike in charitable donations
Gifts to charitable groups shot up 53 percent to $10 million on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which is being promoted as #GivingTuesday.
- Difference MakerEllen Calmus helps Mexican families cope with cross-border challenges
The Corner Project assists families with relatives in the US, ensuring, for example, that children of migrant workers born in the US are able to register for school or other services in Mexico.
- Designing from nature could solve the world's biggest challenges
Can a boat be designed to clean the water? How does a spider manufacture resilient fiber? The world needs products that don’t harm humans or the environment, and nature’s already done the research.
- Nonprofit leaders to President Obama: Help the vulnerable
In his second term President Obama will likely make changes that affect nonprofit and charitable groups. Five nonprofit leaders and thinkers share their ideas about what he can do to strengthen their efforts.
- Black Friday, Cyber Monday ... now Giving Tuesday
A national campaign to brand the Tuesday after Thanksgiving as an annual day of giving is a product of the digital age, steeped in social media, with its own Twitter hashtag: #GivingTuesday.
- New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker will try living on food stamps
Cory Booker has committed to living on the equivalent of food stamps for at least a week to spur a discussion on the role government plays in providing food for the poor.