Sports relief is brilliant!

I know that one of our contributors is Chris Ward, the Creative Director of Sports Relief and Comic Relief.. But that won’t stop me from saying “well done” to the whole team there and everybody who took part. The show was fantastic and they raised over £20m (including a £5.5m single donation from a mystery person!) which will make a big difference.

Philanthropy is prime time TV material?

Oprah has a new show that is coming out on abc (Oprah’s Big Giveaway) where she sends out 10 ordinary people across the US with a load of cash that they have to give away. Every week, the public vote off the person that the viewers perceive to be the least philanthropic.

So, is philanthropy the new trendy thing in the US? Or is it genuine?

CNet’s new Green site

Today I found out about CNet’s new eco site SmartPlanet.com. It’s got loads of interesting articles about what people and businesses are doing; News on green issues and organic, fair trade and low-carbon products.

My 3 top articles are;

1. Eco bloggers bring the landfill home
   
2. SmartPlanet looks forward to Estethica at London Fashion Week
3. Photos: MiniCat, the car that runs on air

I especially liked the article on the American Ari Delfer that has kept all his rubbish for a whole year – he’s planning on making a SuperSizeMe style film about the experience – although presumably he’d have to start all over again?

Greedy or needy – make a wish either way!

Here’s a really great take on fund raising for worthwhile causes. It’s a website/community called Greedy Or Needy – where users make a wish (which is labelled as needy if it is considered a good deed, or greedy if it is a bit more of a selfish wish), the community then votes (1 to 5 stars) and at the end of each week, the top wishes (both greedy and needy) are granted up to $100 each.

What I like about this concept is that it’s fun and it plays on the human natural tendency to want to do good AND be a bit selfish all in one place.

Mattafix donate proceeds of song to Darfur crisis

I may be a little late to this one, but I only just picked up on this single from Mattafix (Living Darfur). It is a great song with all proceeds donated to the Darfur crisis.

If you like the video/track, do the right thing and go buy it from your favourite music store/site.

Comic Relief /Sport Relief

Hi – David has been championing Peter Gabriel like mad this week! – so I’ll just briefly champion myself…!?

Im starting a new job tomorrow as ‘Creative Communications Director’ at Comic Relief – and basically just to say I am overseeing all the creative output of Comic Relief so will be looking for all the latest inspirational stuff that I can find – so please forward / upload anything that you think is cool / relevant etc.

Comic Relief do far more than anyone realises – one of my first jobs is to make it more obvious that CR does – Red Nose Day, Sport Relief, American Idol Gives Back, Owns ‘Monkey’ (currently being used by PG Tips),  is looking to do substantial  / massive work in the interactive space (should be owning comedy online at least…), runs charities for / with Robbie Williams, Steve Redgrave, Annie Lennox etc, co-owns the chocolate bar ‘Dubble’, has international versions of Comic Relief, a global online day, a massive public education campaign around Mental Health and a few more really exciting potentially huge projects – not a lot then.

I will be overseeing a team of 45 that looks after all print, new media, broadcast & public education output. I want us work with the very best people  – so please recommend excellent agencies and people doing good work….

Also – would be good to know anyones honest thoughts on Comic Relief generally / creatively…?

Thanks – now back to Peter Gabriel….

Crowd-sourced loans for entrepreneurs in the developing world

One of the more effective ways of helping people take steps to get out of poverty for good is to lend money to entrepreneurs and enable them work towards economic independence.

Kiva is a website that connects people willing to loan/donate money with projects that need microfinancing. We’re talking projects like the one that supports Nashravan Husneyov, a farmer in Azerbijan who needs a loan of $1,500 to buy two dairy cows (he’s currently got over 80% of the loan pledged), or the one that supports Ni Putu Mili, a pig farmer in Bali who needs $550 to buy piglets and feed. There are hundreds of projects on the site.

The way it works is that Kiva lists the projects. Visitors donate money using their credit card. once the full amount needed is raised, Kiva sends the money to the field partner that makes sure that the money gets to the entrepreneur. The field partner then collects the monthly repayments and at the end of the loan period the loan is repaid. You can then decide to use the money to fund a new project or withdraw your money.

This is such a rewarding way of helping. The field partners are very good at feeding information back to the website and to the lenders, so once you have contributed to a loan, you get updates on how your chosen entrepreneurs is doing. And, ultimately, you know that your money is really making a difference in lifting people out of poverty in a way that empowers them.

Fast Company reveals 45 social entrepreneurs for 2008

The team at Internet mag Fast Company have recently announced the winners of their 2008 Social Capitalist Awards. I am really chuffed that awards like these exist. Though I’m not 100% sure of the ’social capitalist’ tagline. I prefer ’social entrepreneur’. But that’s not important.

What is important is the fact that they have listed 45 entrepreneurs that are really trying to make the world a better place. And they have highlighted some inspirational projects. There is a fair US bias to the results (Fast Company is American, so clearly, that’s normal), so we need to make it our aim on Web of Conscience to highlight great social entrepreneurs from outside of the US.

Out of the 45, here are the 10 that struck a chord with me:

Accion – microenterprise finance and business services in 25 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America; 97% of the loans have been repaid, which shows that it has helped the vast majority of its 3 million clients.

Ceres – bringing investors, companies, environmentalists and other key stakeholders together to build a sustainable and prosperous future.

Common Ground – Common Ground pioneered the concept of mixed-income supportive housing: affordable housing for a range of income groups with on-site social services. 93% of those they help stay in stable housing.

Donors Choose – schools submit projects that need funding to the website, and the visitors can then choose which projects to donate to. The donors then get some really cool feedback from the kids that benefit from their donations. I love this site.

Endeavor – Endeavor supports entrepreneurs in the private sector in emerging-market economies by offering them mentoring and access to connections and networks.

Network For Good – enables you to donate to 1,500 charities in one place, and keep all the info to help you when declaring your donations to the tax man. They make giving easy.

Path – Path find solutions to some of the world’s more challenging health problems. They think outside of the box and approach finding solutions from the user’s perspective.

Peace Works – the OneVoice project is designed to engage Palestinian and Israeli in civic involvement and get the moderate majority to help find solutions to the ongoing conflict.

Transfair USA – this is America’s official ‘fair trade certified’ label. If the world’s biggest economy can get behind fair trade, that would make a huge difference.

Witness – uses the power of video to highlight human rights abuses in the world.