This weekend we were alerted of yet another natural disaster that has stricken - a 8.8 quake that rattled Chile (to say the least). Although they implement strict guidelines for Chile's architecture to avoid death tolls from these shifting plates, two million people have been affected and 392 have been reported dead. Chile was struck with a force 500 times stronger than the one that hit Haiti -- leaving highways jagged like misplaced puzzle pieces and neighborhoods with extensive damage that are currently without electricity.

Haiti is still a new wound, and now we have Chile that needs our help. Every little bit counts.

Please join our group dedicated to Chile here, and help fund assistance to civilians left in rubble.

- Amy Chait

Back in 2000, the United Nations created the Millennium Development Goals that aspire to reduce poverty by 2015. The goals are realistic and 191 nations committed to this vision.

We have made improvement, but we only five years to accomplish these goals- every individual effort counts and ask you to learn more in order to hold our nations accountable for the commitment they made.

NoTimeLeft.org has been created to remind us we have a goal to reach, in little time, and have the ability to act as part of the solution.

YourCause empowers you with the tools to support this goal, and you can start now by raising awareness for some of the organizations that are making it happen:

Action Against Hunger

CARE

National Red Cross

World Wildlife Fund

Oxfam

Kiva

Are you a nonprofit?
Let’s do something together. 
Our website is perfect to get your volunteers, board members and employees more involved.   

Philanthropy is being reinvented online.  Join us and learn how to use our online charity pages, group pages, cause pages and premier fundraising tools to the best of your ability.

Check out the success we’ve had with Sankara Eye Foundation and To Write Love on Her Arms.  You can have success with us too!  It’s simple. You can:

• Get all your nonprofit’s associates to create a cause page, instantly starting a viral campaign to fundraise and advocate.
• Before you know it, you will have X amount of cause pages supporting your charity, creating an online presence both internally and externally from the YourCause community.
• Create a competition out of it!  Let’s give a T-shirt to the person who raises the most.  Let’s  feature them on our website. Let’s match their donations! The opportunities and ideas are endless!
• Have a special event coming up?  Create an event and fundraise specifically for it.
• Benefit runs and walks are perfect for our platform.  Allow all runners to sign up and fundraise for your charity (via YourCause.com).  Engage more than athletes in the run/walk -- allow a winner to be a fundraiser!

·         We have tons of ideas, depending on your nonprofit’s needs.  Let’s talk about them and get something rolling. 

YourCause provides the tools; the members bring the passion.  We are looking for more interaction with our nonprofits!  Let’s chat.  Email us: Charity@yourcause.com if you're interested in learning how to better harness our tools and services.  Did i mention we're free??

-Lizette Romero

I just came back from lunch at Corner Bakery, and came across the Dyson Airblade. I must give Corner Bakery props for eliminating paper waste and cleaner bathrooms. This new hand dryer uses 80% less energy than regular hand dryers, and much faster! With this kind of technology, there really is no need for paper towels in public restrooms.

Hope other companies will jump on this green bandwagon too!

Support green causes through YourCause:

KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL INC
NATIONAL RECYCLING COALITION INC

- Amy Chait

As an advocate for creativity in schools, I commend Sir Ken Robinson's mission to encourage children to pursue their personal artistry whether it be math, science, or literature etc. Knowledge of our own passion will enable us to achieve great things.

I recommend visiting Robinson's site to become inspired. The video below inspired me this morning and hope the same for you.

One is that we're all born with tremendous creative confidence and abilities. Young children are full of great ideas and possibilities. But that tends to be suppressed as we get older. And it happens in part through this culture of standardised testing that I think is now a blight on the whole of education.        - Ken Robinson

- Amy Chait

It's that time of the year again where the "He Went to Jared" commercials start pouring through your television. Want some extra bling this Valentine's day? Go for it. I'm not anti-diamonds.  But I do ask that you ensure your diamond doesn't stem from bloodshed, child labor or warfare. Is the indulgence worth the infliction? I seriously hope not. Demand product transparency from a brand, ensuring that your diamonds merely say 'I Love You' and not 'I don't care about the rest of the world.'

From the chain around a rapper’s neck to the queen of England, the shine and sparkle of diamonds appear quite delectable. But some diamonds, delectable or not, create destruction. Mined and sold to boost war, ‘conflict diamonds’ support rebels who grossly abuse human rights, often murdering and enslaving the local populations to excavate the glitzy goods. We can stop this by purchasing ‘Kimberly Processed’ diamonds. The Kimberley Process joins governments, industry and civil society to validate and certify shipments of diamonds as conflict-free. In addition, participating states must meet legislative and institutional requirements, committing to transparency and certifying diamonds from the production to the exportation.

Validate your diamond purchases possess the Kimberly Process certificate, authenticating that your new bling came from a conflict-free source. Other products to watch out for include: chocolate taken from the cocoa trade, which has fueled years of conflict in the Ivory Coast and gold, the dirtiest mining business in the world, with one gold ring generating 20 tons of waste!

Support Friends of the Congo at YourCause.com.  The Congo is a central storehouse for minerals, like diamonds.  The organization hopes that someday the Congolese will determine their own destiny.  They fight that one day the Congo will utilize their country's resources not just for a high-pitched squeal of a woman draping herself with jewels, but for the betterment of their own Congolese development.

-Lizette Romero

Censorship has its pros and cons, like anything else. We don’t want kids to hear things like profanity influences, but as an adult I have found myself more discerning about causes by trespassing comforting boundaries.

I came across an article about Uwem Akpan, who was an unlikely candidate for Oprah’s book club – but the graphical descriptions of his experience in Nigeria were even too difficult to ignore. His use of literary tools can make a reader cram their eyes shut when they imagine the violence towards children. However, Uwem is an exemplary role model.

Eileen Pollack (his create writing professor) mentioned his “abhorrence of tribalism” is what makes Uwem open-minded— his vision of universal fairness can empathize with any individual who has been inflicted with pain. If Oprah decided his book was too graphic, a large crowd may have not learned not only about a cause in Nigeria, but an individual’s character we could learn from.

Creative Visions has always been one of my favorite organizations because they work with creative projects to raise awareness. Although graphic, Uwem's use of beautiful language invites us to embrace the power of art and a reality not so close to home. That' why I have become a creative activist in supporting Creative Vision's mission. Censorship can protect us from obscenity, yet things like art can provide a unique insight into these realities we could learn from.

You can check out their charity page here.

- Amy Chait

Almost every day for four years I walked to class at the University of Texas at Austin and people in bicycles zoomed by me.  They’d get their faster and more efficiently than me.  I could always tell who  the cyclists were in class; they’d usually have one pant leg rolled up to prevent the chain from getting stuck.  The smarter ones would have a helmet attached to their backpack strap and riding gloves on during the rigid winter.  Austin, Boulder, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco – the U.S. is catching on to the cycling craze, with these cities being in the top running for best bike-friendly zones.   But what’s up with it all? 

Why Bicycle?
Obviously, bicycling is better for the environment.  We know it reduces traffic congestion and helps to reduce carbon emissions from escaping those pesky exhaust pipes.   But it also does a lot more.  It improves personal health, enhances your quality of life and reaps economic awards.  It can be said that bicycles make individuals and economies “go.” The World Bicycle Relief organization possesses the efficiency facts to back up the fad.

The Power of Bicycles
According to the World Bicycle Relief, bicycles increase carrying capacity five times as much as compared to walking.  A person can travel four times more by bike than foot.  Bicycles save time, approximately three hours for every ten miles.  Knowing this, the organization made it their mission to provide independence and livelihood simply by giving bikes to underdeveloped, poverty and disaster-stricken regions.  But they do more than provide.  World Bicycle Relief designs a “comprehensive, scalable, sustainable bicycle solution.“ 

Completing the Cycle
It's like the quote says: Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime.  Thus is the philosophy of World Bicycle Relief.  They do more than simply provide bikes.  They make sure suppliers improve bicycle design while ensuring that all changes are culturally appropriate.  They enhance distribution with local sourcing, manufacturing and assembly, partnering with existing NGOS, governments and community-based organizations to train mechanics in the maintenance and repair that goes along with owning a bike.  They also measure and evaluate the impact of bicycles and communicate the results to improve all programs associated with bicycling world-wide. 

Therefore, they don’t simply drop off the bikes and get on with their life...and that’s what I really like about this organization.  I especially like the new perspective it’s given me on bicycle riding.  While I just thought of it as a fad or a way to get from a-to-z, it’s actually so much more.  It can be a way to transport healthcare, education, development and much much more.

-Lizette Romero

If you’d like to improve someone's life, donate or advocate for World Bicycle Relief through YourCause.com.