We'd like to congratulate our partner, AT&T, for their success in fundraising and volunteerism in 2009!

(and in return, we're privileged to partner with a company dedicated to supporting their employees causes and collaborate with us to do more good through the use of the web!)

They have recently released their 2009 Citizenship and Sustainability report and mentioned since the first three months of the launch their employees raised more than $98,000 for charities through AT&T/YourCause community.

We look forward to making an even bigger impact in 2010/2011!

PS- Go here to watch video #3 ("Heroes in Our Communities")  where foundation president, Laura Sanford, talks about their 25th anniversary celebration and our partnership!

- Amy Chait

Gray skies are nowhere near this 100 degree Texas weather.  But halfway around the world (china to be exact), rain and floods are breaking down homes, ruining miles of crops, forcing families apart and killing people.

Has that ever astounded you?  That always, at any moment someone is dying, being held captive and missing.  Wars are being fought.  A father is being separated from his child.  And, at the same exact time, a baby takes its first gasp of air.  A man blows out his 80th birthday cake. A bride becomes a wife.

I find it incredible.  As I slept last night in my comfy cozy bed, China was in complete chaos, floods killing 200. More than 120 are missing,  nearly 200,000 houses damaged.  As I slept, on the other side of the world, absolute chaos.  And this happens...every day.

And all that happens on my side of the world is I wake up, see the headlines and read what's happening : Arizona wildfire rages for 3rd day; Mom has triplets at 66;40 dead, 100,000 homeless in Brazil.

 It's difficult to not feel even the tiniest of numb. Am I right?  We've learned to read and move on.  We've learned to adapt to this all.

Every minute:

• 250 children are born. Of these, 113 will be poor and 15 will have a birth defect
• Oprah Winfrey earns $523
• An average person in the world makes $0.013
• An average American earns $0.096
• The average person in the United States with an IT career makes $0.13
• Nike makes $36,505
• An employee of a Nike factory in Vietnam makes $0.0014
• 3 violent crimes are committed in the U.S.
• 2 auto thefts are committed in the U.S.
• 120,673 pounds of edible food is thrown away in the U.S.
• 55,757 barrels of oil is used in the world
• Lightning strikes the Earth 360 times
• There are 5 earthquakes
• 950,186 pounds of trash is thrown away in the U.S.
• There are 9 new AIDS/HIV infections
• 107 people die
• 18 people die of starvation

You can see the above with graphics here.

If you get tired of just reading headlines, try doing something about it. Volunteer, donate to a special cause, pass on information and knowledge.  Help a friend out.  Go do something you've always wanted.  Don't adapt, make a difference!

-Lizette Romero

He’s a lover and a fighter, who’s on a mission to empower and encourage community alliances.  Yes, Floyd Mayweather Jr. throws punches as a profession, holding a record of six world boxing championships in five weight classes, but he has a heart of gold too!

His organization, the Floyd Mayweather Jr Foundation, aims to help underprivileged youth in Las Vegas, Nevada by focusing on community health and wellness, economic growth, development and youth education.

Most recently, Mayweather partnered with the Make-A-Wish foundation, a nonprofit organization that grants wishes of children with life-threatening diseases.  On June 3, Mayweather made a wish come true when he agreed to meet Armando Carral, a 17-year old Hodgkin’s disease patient and long-time fan of the boxing champion.

Other ways in which Mayweather helps youth is through FMJF programs including feeding the community, involvement with local shelters, education giveaways, free summer camps, Toys for Tots collections and more.  Perhaps Mayweather’s most involved initiative involves helping the homeless community of Las Vegas.  On June 18, a food drive was held where Mayweather and his team prepared and distributed 250 packed lunches for Las Vegas’ homeless.   

“My desire to give is as strong as my desire to win,” Mayweather said.  “I know how important it is to help those less fortunate. I hope if I continue to work as hard outside of the ring as I do inside of it, I can inspire others to do the same and help out in their communities as well.”

To connect, volunteer or support the Floyd Mayweather Jr Foundation - click here.

- Lizette Romero

CNN has announced Larry King will be talking with celebrity guests, and have telephone banks to raise donations for the Gulf Oil Spill.

Make sure to tune in and use hash tag #CNNHelpGulf to engage in conversation on Twitter during the telethon. 

Support the National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy on YourCause!

Has America's civic spirit been revived?  Nearly 27 percent of the U.S. population volunteered to help last year with a total of 63.4 million.  An increase of approximately 1.6 million volunteers from last year - the biggest jump in the past six years according to a Volunteering in America recent study.

The report found that 63.4 million Americans volunteered, giving more than 8.1 billion hours of volunteer service worth an estimated $169 billion!

However unfortunate the slow economic times have been, it's good to see that layoffs and foreclosures initiated people to give with their time and talent.  Despite the downturn, it's something to feel good about.  Don't you think?  Americans stepped it up.

At the same time, charitable giving dropped nearly 4 percent last year, to about $304 billion, according to a study by Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

It makes sense that volunteering would increase during hard financial times. Especially with Obama's call to service and websites like Serve.org that make participating and serving your communities a breeze.  It proves that the presidential and first lady's emphasis on service certainly does impact citizens.  In addition, tons of advice on how to handle your layoff focused on volunteering with your newfound spare time.  Either because it's important to still contribute to society or for opportunities like building up skills and contacts while you look for work.  National databases, including the one used at YourCause is great for finding volunteer opportunities by either zip code or keyword.

United we serve! Find volunteer opportunities and track hours on your very own service goal tracker, courtesy of YourCause.com!

-Lizette Romero

The last name Buffet is no stranger when it comes to philanthropy and the sister of billionaire Warren Buffet is no exception. To this day, Doris Buffet has given away $100 million to help those in need! Below is an interview with this generous lady:

-Amy Chait

What's better than two or more nonprofits collaborating together for a bigger impact?

Well, that's why the The Lodestar Foundation is rewarding $250,000 for such efforts.

The Collaboration Prize is a national award created to showcase exemplary examples of collaboration among multiple nonprofits.

If you have collaborated with another nonprofit for at least 18 months, then apply to be rewarded for your efforts!

Click here to read the criteria for applying.

Deadline is July 16, 2010!

With hurricane season coming around and current flooding disasters, we should be prepared for emergency response this summer.

Citizen Corps (FEMA's grassroots effort) provides a website where individuals can search by state for local emergency contacts, and how to be prepared for common weather-related risks.

Click here to see how you can be prepared for emergencies in your state!

- Amy Chait

Extremely disturbed is an understatement for the way most feel about the BP oil spill.  Outraged at the prevention, effects and recovery of it all, there have even been contests to redesign BP's logo to represent it leaking from oil, floating in black fluid and more.  We are all saddened by what it's done to our environment, our animals, our coast, our way of living and our water.  

Water.  It covers 71% of our earth anyway, so what's the big deal if only a bit of it gets polluted? Well, only 1% is available for human use.  Most of it is frozen in polar ice caps or beneath the Earth's surface.  I came across these awesome photos shot by National Geographic that really put into perspective, for me, how water is used, gathered and created across the globe.  The photos are amazing and I suggest you really take a peek at them before reading on.

However much amazing, some of those photos disturbed me. Specifically, three stand out as I think back now - the brown water-filled baby bottles, the child swimming in trash and the women carrying gallons of murky water from miles away.

The truth is, there is more waste water generated and dispersed today that at any other time in the history of our planet.  More than one out of six people lack access to hygienic drinking water.  That is, 2.6 billion people do not have the safe water they need to survive.  Every day, 3,900 children die every day from water borne diseases, according to World Health Organization.  That's right, almost 4,000 children a day!

Those photos really put a different perspective for me about water in the world.  But now that oil is gushing in our gulf, it really brings it home to me and makes me wonder, how can we improve our water crisis?  How can we stop water waste? 

Remember, you can always help at YourCause.com.  Check out the charities below that are helping make a difference and clean up:

Recently I read that, Catalog Choice, a nonprofit organization dedicated to letting you choose what gets put in your mailbox and the Overbrook Foundation are sponsoring a national contest to discover and reward digital forms of fundraising and/or campaigns.  Specifically, they want to reward nonprofits, individuals or organizations that have successfully created paperless campaigns that don't infringe on natural resources.

I thought this would be perfect to pass on to the YourCause audience because the contests seems to reward what we are all about - a new form of charitable and online giving!

Nobody said online campaigning would be easy but if you've got the innovation, network and drive to do it - congrats!  Try getting rewarded for your efforts.  Enter for one of these categories - two prizes will be awarded for each:

Best Digital Campaign by a Small Organization
first prize: $5,000
honorable mention: $1,000

Best Digital Campaign by a Medium Organization
first prize:$5,000
honorable mention: $1,000

Best Digital Campaign by a Large Organization
first prize: $5,000
honorable mention: $1,000

Most Innovative Digital Campaign
first prize: $5,000
honorable mention: $1,000

The contest's official name is PaperlessChoice.  Submissions open up for June 15, 2010 and close September 15, 2010. 

Oh - and while you're at CatalogChoice sign up and opt out of unwanted mail.  Redeem back your privacy and save a tree!  Seems like a win-win situation!

Best of luck,

Lizette Romero