OneClickAtATime and The Non Profits compile many click-to-donate sites in one spot. The sites are organized by cause so you can focus in on the things that are most important to you.

The Hunger Site is a site I’ve been visiting for years that combines 6 charities in 1 site. Donate to support the causes of Hunger,  Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, Rainforests, and Animal Rescue.

Free Rice is a similar idea, but for this site you answer questions that help you build your vocabulary.  For every correct answer 10 grains of rice are donated.

Crowdsourcing in 8 easy steps (from wikipedia.org article)

Crowd Sourcing is the mob mentality turned on it’s head.  Where a mob can escalate a bad idea into a horrible one, Crowd Sourcing has the benefit of getting an “average” from more people and therefore getting closer to an answer that is right for more people.

This has the radical possiblity of decentralizing the idea of authority and reestablishing demoracy in many, small ways.  The threat of abuse or misuse of Crowd Sourcing is not something that I have the expertise to discuss on this blog, but please take a minute to follow down the rabbit hole that is the internet and see what you can find.

Simple examples of crowd sourcing working for you:

• 

  Needle in a Haystack 2

  Many people lose cameras every day.  With digital camera’s you can easily upload a few of the picture and pass them around the internet until eventually someone recognizes the pictures and can then claim ownership of the camera.  Needle in a Haystack and a NiaH inspired project called Needle in a Haystack 2 which is fueled by Facebook

• The Library of Congress asked people to visit their Flickr page and help them to identify unlabeled pictures from their archive.   Within a few days, all of them had been identified.
• Although the “voting” process is closed, the Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting ideas of how to best spend the government money to clean up the environment.  Either submit an idea or vote for an idea that someone else posted.  OpenEPA
• Citizen Science.  Getting empowered and impassioned volunteers to help collect data across vast areas to increase the reach and scope of research.

Frank Zappa said, “Writing about Music is like dancing about Architecuture”.  Perhaps now we can say “learning about Architecture is like making Music to dance to.”

Here is a video of the class performing with their hand made instruments.

–Thanks to Jillian –

The website is built on the idea of crowd sourcing where every user is invited and encouraged to provide feedback and help improve the effectiveness of the project.

Visit the website to download free instructions on how to create your own Window Farm using reused materials, and join in the conversation.

– Thanks to Nancy for the Fuel –

You can hear the story/read the transcript on Marketplace and check out the guy’s website, Year of Giving to learn more about the people who he has given the money to.

This video was created for the Northwest Service Symposium, which is a forum for AmeriCorps members and alums to create art, music, writing, and video about service experiences. As a team leader my service is centered around supporting my team in their ecological restoration work, so I wanted my piece to be about them. I asked them to sum up what environmental service means to them in less than one minute, with the backdrop of one of the sites they have been working to restore. Their responses reflect not only their dedication to healing the earth, but also their commitment to being environmental leaders in their communities.

– Thank you to Kathryn for sharing her video –

I had a map and motivation. Nothing else. No experience, no training, no money and perhaps most disheartening–no bike. However, I knew I for years that I had wanted to pedal across the country. So I knew it was possible. In order to achieve the goal, I made a bike trip across the country my highest priority so that no other actions, events or expenses would prevent it from happening. I returned to school in order to ensure I would have a full summer off from responsibilities. I sold my car to help fund the trip. I coordinated with a non-profit I felt strongly about in order to gain moral support. Slowly, everything else fell into place.

Often times people have stated that they would love to do a trip like that. My advice–if you truly want to do it above anything else, then do it! It is feasible. However, it is not possible if it is not a high priority. If earning a high-paying salary, purchasing an impressive car, or even getting married in the near future are your priorities, it might be difficult to make a cross-country bike trip a reality. Although these are completely acceptable goals, they might prevent you from taking three months off from the daily routine. For me, it was all about choosing priorities–including the decision to stay in on a Friday night rather than enjoying a tasty amber ale at the bar!

The rest of the planning phase was easy. Since I had a passion for it, making it work was not a chore. It was fun. Everything from learning to intregrate the live GPS tracking into the website, to designing the t-shirts, to laying out the route became my daily stress release rather than an added task. Additionally, since tasks such as web design, video editing, graphic arts and public relations were all now part of the trip (the idea of doing a cross country bike trip for an environmental non-profit got big quickly), I found out how valuable my friends were as resources. Since each of my friends had different talents and hobbies, their time and effort into the project was greatly appreciated. It really helped the project gain a professional and efficient aura. Meanwhile, through all this, I learned to trust that this project was in good hands. My friends’ true artistic abilities shined through when I delegated each task and allowed them to run with it. This was no longer me riding a bike. It was now a group-coordinated and interactive project that raised awareness for the non-profit organization, Center for Environment and Population. The name of this project — Biking for Balance.

With all the planning and preparation, it was crazy to think the trip was just starting when we took off from the east coast. But that it was. Upon leaving the east coast, I had the intentions of seeing America. I arrived on the west coast having met America. Everyone we encountered along the way–ranchers, politicians, truckers, students, businesspeople, librarians, and unemployed families–all had something to share; all had something to teach. After 13 weeks and over 4500 miles of pedaling, we arrived on the coast with more inspiration than we left with. Overall, I learned people are inherently good. Each has something to offer and many share common goals.

As for the bike trip itself, I will be honest, I haven’t pedaled since. Once I arrived on the coast the bike (and my knees) all but fell apart. However, I’ll continue to remain active with the non-profit (Center for Environment and Population) and the other non-profits we coordinated with this summer. More than anything, I am proud to say that within a couple years I went from not even owning a bike and barely understanding how to shift gears to pedaling across the country–all because I made sure to make the goal a priority.

– Thanks Dave DeSimone for being so awesome! –

Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties is an organization and book whose mission is to offer tangible ideas to young adults who wish to be active in shaping the world in which we live, but may lack the guidance and resources to easily do so.

The Ten Ways website has a great list of resources to directly connect you with organizations and businesses that serve in your area of interest so you can vote for a better world with your volunteer hours and your money

There is also a BLOG that supports the book with up to date resources

tenways.org

Skip 1 thing, for 1 day and then donate the money you would have spent.

It doesn’t matter what you skip, how big or how small, just that you take the time to acknowledge the interconnected relationship we all share with each other.  Every choice we make, the choice to act or the choice to not act, effects us all.

The video below is testimonies of things people have skipped and even includes Benjamin Jenks of Create Our World!  Fame!

http://www.skip1.org/

It all starts simple enough, with a mission that reads “I’m Benjamin Jenks and I am Hitchhiking around the USA, sharing stories of the Goodness of People.” With that, Benjamin has been on the road since May of 2009, hitchhiking around the USA.  He hasn’t paid any money for transportation, nor lodging.  What could appear at first to be an exercise in manipulation, upon sincere inspection becomes an elegant demonstration of the goodness of people taking care of each other. “I [...]want to make more goodness in our world by highlighting that goodness definitely exists despite what you read or watch in the news.”

"I'm Benjamin Jenks and I am Hitchhiking around the USA, sharing stories of the Goodness of People."

These stories and bits of evidence are collected on his generously multifaceted website www.CreateOurWorld.net which documents this project using blogs, maps, video, photos, links and anything else you would need to learn lessons from the road without actually being on the road.This plethora of sharing is a vital component to Benjamin’s project because  not everyone can be as mobile, but everyone needs to see what the world has to teach.  When asked what he has learned so far, Benjamin said the road has taught him:  “Try to understand where another is coming from and don’t get stuck on superficial differences of opinion”, “At the base line we are all human and all want to be happy” and  “Genuinely be kind and good and good things will happen for you”.

Perhaps it was Benjamin’s journey to goodness that helped him see being laid-off as an opportunity to launch this project.  With access to unemployment benefits, he set off to begin his trip.  However, funding is fickle, and unemployment gives way to dipping into 6 years worth of saving, which in turn gives way to the entrepreneurial spirit.  “I never want to have a normal ‘job’ again and think that it is totally possible to do what you love and make it pay.  That being said, this hasn’t happened yet with my project, but I am faithful that it will.”  Benjamin is pursing freelance writing, odd jobs and other ways of generating income.  Soon he will be  selling his photographic prints from his trip and making a place on his website to donate money (if that is something you’d feel good about doing) to help fund an extension of this ambitious and necessary project.

With nothing but time and the spirit of the derive, Benjamin says he decides where to go next, “based on recommendations or places I want to visit or places I am attracted too.”  Being in a foriegn environment leaves one vulnerable and necesititaing absolute faith in the goodness of people.  A walking demonstration of the point he is trying to prove, manifesting a reality he has come in search of.  And Benjamin should know about manifesting goodness.  He spent the past 6 years working with at-risk youth at a wildnerness therapy school.  “It was challenging work.  I learned to communicate with others directly, especially people whom were unhappy or angry with me.”

"I love people. I love traveling, especially hitchhiking. "I want to learn as much as possible. "

Being able to skillfully connect with people has become a handy and necessary part of this project because as Benjamin admits, “I think I probably do scare some people off, but I just try to be myself.  I genuinely am interested in others and care about them and I think that shines through.  Once people talk to me for a bit, it is easy to see them relax.  I think [...]when [most people see that] someone is genuinely interested in them, it is a breath of fresh air.”  These chances to connect have led to some amazing instances of openness and generosity. Benjamin explains, “Many folks have been very good to me.”  Benjamin tells of a man named Bruce in NY who took him 4 hours out of his way, bought him lunch, and left him the change of a hundred dollar bill.  Another time, some folks in a small town in West Texas, took Benjamin in on Christmas eve, got him a hotel room and gifted him over a hundred dollars.  But, as Benjamin points out, “[it was  more importantly a fun night with people of very different backgrounds whom shared a day together.”

Everyone is invited and encouraged to join Benjamin in this journey to highlight the goodness of people.  You can share your stories on Create Our World or participate every day.  Benjamin encourages everyone to make a difference every day by  “just by being good to each other.  Even small things, like smiles or holding open a door for someone is important”.  I would even propose that visiting Create Our World regularly and letting the stories wash over you is a valuable form of participation.  Please visit his site often and you can also follow Benjamin on Twitter and Facebook where you he is posting daily photographs, inspiration quotes and articles.  Stay on the look out for “Create Our World Kits” which will be bundles of articles, quotes, inspiration and practical tips to help shape our world into a better world.

–Thanks to Benjamin for the interview and Angela for turning me on to Create Our World–