Pajamo Penda with UAPO Founder Brittany Merrill

     Last Sunday (hey, give a busy gal a break...its been a long week) I was so excited to catch up with my social entrepreneur pal, Brittany Merrill.  Brittany, 25, is the Founder of the Ugandan American Partnership Organization.  UAPO carries a mission to partner with indigenous ministries and communities to transform Uganda through sustainable development.

  We first met about a year ago when we were both speakers at a conference here in Atlanta.  Brittany and I shared a full day of speaking about our respective stories of giving: both how it was helping others and how much it impacted our own lives.  Though our paths, mine local, Brittany's global, have been different, our journeys have in fact been very similar. Both of us had life changing moments in college that propelled our passion to start non-profits early in our lives. And both of us relied heavily on grassroots efforts to get our projects off the ground.  I have so much respect for Brittany, and just think the world should know this gal and have the chance to be a part of the great work she and her team is doing in Uganda. 

We caught up at the annual Pajoma Penda, a music and arts festival held at Atlanta's Park Tavern to benefit UAPO. Even though the work being done is oceans away, they remain committed to their grassroots activism here in the US for successful growth.  This year's celebration was specifically to support the Mukisa Project which is a ongoing project that helps rural villages with the facilities and resources to create self-sustaining communities.  I brought along my Flip as I'm trying to work on some video skills with this blog. I'm no Ann Curry, but you gotta start somewhere.

Meet Brittany.

And here we are chatting about the the awesome projects of UAPO. It's pretty amazing stuff. (Reminder: This was a music festival, so it was hard to escape the music.)

Last but not least, I had to ask Brittany how we can GET GIVING with UAPO.  What I love about the way she has set this up is that there are ways you can help locally and globally.  Whatever fits you...and you still can see and feel the impact. 

For more information visit  www.theuapo.org

Cheers to Brittany: another Rockstar of Giving.

An evening with Scott Harrison of charity: water

Lately I've noticed this new wave of rockstars in our culture. I like to call them the Rockstars of Giving.  They've got success, they've got lots of fans, they mingle with celebs, but most importantly they've got the most inspiring Living by Giving stories, which in my world is what gives them rockstar status.   A couple of weeks ago, I got to meet one rockstar, Blake MyCoskie, of TOMS Shoes.  Continuing on my tour, last night I got a chance to spend an evening with Scott Harrison, founder of charity: water. (Thanks to two of my fav Rockstars of Giving: Dan and Garrett!) 

Ten years ago, you would have found Scott Harrison hanging out with the uber-wealthy and the uber-celebrity as one of New York's top club promoters.  A decision to take a year of his life and dedicate it to helping others overseas, changed the course of his future for good.  No longer drinking the finest Cristal, Scott embarked on a mission around clean water for all.  Three years ago, he formalized his concept and started charity: water.

After this small gathering with friends, I came away entertained, inspired, and newly informed of just how vital his business and the movement following him is to our global community. The guy is as passionate about water, as rockstars are about their music.  Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. That’s one in eight of us! charity:water is a solution to the crisis through its mission to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

What makes Scott a unique social entrepreneur is that as he launched his socially-driven business model, he knew he wanted to build a charitable company that answered all of the speculation and criticism often thrown around by his friends..."How much of my donation goes to the project vs. overhead costs?"  " How do I know my donation is making a difference?"  Scott's answer was two-fold: he would guarantee that 100% of public donations would go to his projects, and his non-profit would be as transparent as possible.  (You can find his financial statements visibly posted on the website.)

In three years, he has not only stuck to his word, but he has reached unimanigable success.  Here are some of my favorite things I learned:

-- With five weeks of operating $$ in the bank, Scott's dream was almost over after its first year.  But thanks to a $1m gift from the Founder of Bebo, instead of closing the door, his venture took off at an amazing pace. (Can you imagine receiving that email? I dream of it.)

-- I love their Birthday campaign. They have developed a tool on their website that allows people to set-up pages for their birthday and ask friends and family to donate in honor of the big day.  Celebs such as Alyssa Milano have even participated. You can start your page here: http://mycharitywater.org/p/signin

-- Since 2006, get this...charity: water has funded the construction of more than 2,321 projects that, when completed, will provide clean drinking water to over 1,000,000 people.  $20 can give a person in Africa clean, safe drinking water for 20 years.

Check out this cool PSA with Jennifer Connelly:

Prince William Spends Homeless Night on London Streets

Reminiscent of Princess Diana walking through an Angolan minefield in the 90's, check out this picture of the young prince dressed warmly for an evening dedicated to educating himself and his country on the plight of homeless teenagers in London. 

William has supported the charity Centrepoint as a patron since 2005; it was his full intention to give his time and compassion to heighten the awareness of the charity's mission to give homeless young people a future.

Here is a photo of Prince William bedded down on a cardboard box the evening of December 15th on a London bridge with Centrepoint's CEO Seyi Obakin.

Speaking of his time with the Prince out on the streets, Obakin states, "Homeless young people often face terrible dependency problems with drugs or alcohol, mental illness, poverty, family breakdown and many other issues, all of which are experiences that we simply cannot begin to share after sleeping rough for just one night. But sleeping rough for the night brought home, as no ‘story-telling’ can possibly do, the nightmare and incredible vulnerability of being homeless night after night."

Learn more about Centrepoint by visiting the website: http://www.centrepoint.org.uk/

Bringing art to our young homeless

Atlanta, where I live, was recently ranked one of the "meanest" cities for the homeless.  I'm still trying to figure out what exactly this "mean" means...just the mere thought of not having a home is mean to me. 

I remember being at a huge luncheon a few years ago for the highly reputable Atlanta Woman's Foundation, and being read the statistic that the average age of a homeless person in our city was....eight.  Yep, 8 years-old. 

In fact, it is estimated that one in 50 children in the U.S. are homeless, and with more foreclosures and job losses this past year, the numbers are likely to be worse.   Now, I'm not one of those people who can read a statistic and recite it for years to come; I have a hard time even remembering a joke or lines from a movie.  But I have never forgotten that statistic.  And it especially rings in my heart around the holidays. 

So you can imagine my excitement when I heard about Houston's ArtBridge program for homeless children.   The mission of ArtBridge is to encourage creativity and self-expression within a supportive environment. By nurturing imagination, hope and self-esteem, the program strives to combat the despair of homelessness. 

The staff and volunteers at ArtBridge bring weekly art lessons to the shelters in Houston to teach kids how to express themselves creatively through painting, drawing, coloring, and other mediums.  I imagine it brightens these young people's lives in more ways than just on a canvas. 

Here is what really draws me to this program:

- While families in this situation often have to focus on meeting the physical needs of the families, i.e. food, water, shelter - to truly break the cycle of homelessness its so important to address mental and emotional health.  ArtBridge is doing that.

- Kids need alternative outlets to express themselves in a positive way.  Its either with a paint brush under the suprevision of caring adults or in the streets fighting out their emotions in an attempt to survive.  ArtBridge is providing that.

- Every child deserve a chance to build and carry good, healthy self-esteem.  ArtBridge is giving that.

To find out more about ArtBridge and how you can help.  Donate or volunteer, check out their website: www.artbridgehouston.org 

Giving Away Your Birthday

   While people start to talk around the water cooler about the trends of 2009, I have one that tops the "Living by Giving" list -  The "Pay if Forward" birthday wish.  I've seen adults, teens, even little kids jump on this trend, turning their birthday celebrations into an opportunity to help others.  For my 31st birthday this year, I asked for people to donate $31 to Kates Club in lieu of gifts and cards.  Call me trendy if you want, but in the end we raised more than $5,000 for our cause. 

More recently I heard about a group of six teenage girls that are using their 16th birthdays to raise money for their favorite cause.  There will be a dj, fun foods, a dance floor...all the elements of a sweet sixteen, but instead of a gift table there will be a gift basket to collect cash donations. 

You can imagine my excitement when I read that Alyssa Milano was giving away her 37th birthday to help raise awareness and funds for her philanthropic passion: clean water.  Alyssa is someone who I grew up with on tv, and now I feel reconnected to her once again after having read about her birthday wish.  As someone proclaiming she has everything she wants and needs, her wish is simple:  "All I want is to provide life-giving water for 10 communities, 500 families and 2,500 people. In lieu of spending money on a party or presents, I'm asking people to donate to my Charity: Water campaign and help make my wish come true." Three words: Simple. Brilliant. Inspiring.

She shares more in a blog posted on Huffington Post. Read it here.

 

I'll share my top 10 "Best Giving Trends of 2009" list later this month.