December Featured Charity: Foundation Escalera

Congrats to Team Living Philanthropic for raising $610 with mustaches for Movember! 

Now for December’s Featured Charity, one of my personal favorites, Foundation Escalera!

I’ve been a big fan of an organization called Foundation Escalera, one of their programs involves expeditions to the neediest villages in Mexico to build schools as a way to combat poverty through access to education.  For the past 2 years, I have volunteered my time during the holidays to go to Chiapas, Mexico to build a school for some kids in need.

This year, I may not be able to attend, but I still want to send my support. If you want to help us build another school this year, please consider a contribution to Foundation Escalera. 

Foundation Escalera is a leader in providing educational infrastructure to indigenous villages in Mexico. www.foundationescalera.org

Take the Living Philanthropic Challenge:
Match my give of $31 ($1 a day for 31 days)
Give once. Give Everyday.

Thank you for being a living philanthropist!

Other ways your contributions can help!
$10 Student school kit (part of the ‘Incentives to Learn’ program)
$25 Back pack (for ‘Incentives to Learn’ program)
$75 Buys a bike for a student to commute to school
$100 Classroom school kits (for ‘Incentives to Learn’ program)
$250 Elementary school scholarship $500 Technical training scholarship
$850 High school tuition, room and board
$10,000 Build one junior high school classroom

Want to be a guest blogger on Living Philanthropic?
Join the team and donate to Foundation Escalera at http://www.crowdrise.com/LP-DEC & submit your blog post about why you made a contribution here: http://bit.ly/lp-blogger

Living Philanthropic was founded in April 2010 as one man’s mission to give to charity everyday for a year. This mission is built on a belief that you don’t have to be rich in dollars to make a difference; you only need to be rich in spirit. After completing his 365 day mission, the spirit of giving everyday carries on through his friends and in his mission to continue his micro-philanthropy for a second year. For more information, please visit: www.livingphilanthropic.com

Featured Charity: Movember

If you haven’t noticed yet, the featured charity for November is MOVEMBER. What is Movember?

During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

The Movember Effect: Awareness & Education, Survivorship, Research
The funds raised in the US support prostate cancer and testicular cancer initiatives. The funds raised are directed to programs run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG Foundation. Together, the three channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programs in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.

For more information on the programs we are funding please visit the following:
Prostate Cancer Foundation
LIVESTRONG Foundation
Awareness & Education
Global Action Plan

Take the Living Philanthropic Challenge Options:

Pledge $1 a day for the month of MOVEMBER ($31)

Join the Living Philanthropic Movember team: http://us.movember.com/team/447653

Take up a cause and give a tweet!

Give once. Give Everyday.

Thank you for being a living philanthropist!

Want to be a guest blogger on Living Philanthropic?
Join the team and donate on this page & submit your blog post about why you made a contribution here:  http://bit.ly/lp-blogger

Living Philanthropic was founded in April 2010 as one man’s mission to give to charity everyday for a year. This mission is built on a belief that you don’t have to be rich in dollars to make a difference; you only need to be rich in spirit. After completing his 365 day mission, the spirit of giving everyday carries on through his friends and in his mission to continue his micro-philanthropy for a third year. For more information, please visit:www.livingphilanthropic.com

Featured Charity for June: Homeboy Industries

“Homeboy Industries is the living example of our mission statement, “nothing stops a bullet like a job.”

Started as a jobs program offering alternatives to gang violence in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Homeboy Industries assists at-risk, recently released, and formerly gang involved youth to become contributing members of their communities through a variety of services in response to their multiple needs.

Free programs — including counseling, education, tattoo removal, substance abuse and addiction assistance, job training and job placement — enable young people to redirect their lives.

Homeboy provides them with hope for their futures and is the nation’s largest gang-intervention and re-entry program – a model to all.

For more info, please visit: http://homeboy-industries.org

Take the Living Philanthropic Challenge Options:

Pledge $1 a day for the month of JUNE ($30)

Take up a cause and give a tweet!

Give once. Give Everyday.

To make a pledge, please visit: http://www.crowdrise.com/lp-homeboy

Thank you for being a living philanthropist!

Want to be a guest blogger on Living Philanthropic?
Join the team and donate on this page & submit your blog post about why you made a contribution here:  http://bit.ly/lp-blogger

Living Philanthropic was founded in April 2010 as one man’s mission to give to charity everyday for a year. This mission is built on a belief that you don’t have to be rich in dollars to make a difference; you only need to be rich in spirit. After completing his 365 day mission, the spirit of giving everyday carries on through his friends and in his mission to continue his micro-philanthropy for a third year. 

Want to appear on an episode of LP TV?

There is nothing GOOD on TV. At least not yet, Living Philanthropic wants to launch a new web series highlighting the joys of giving back through volunteerism. 

The goal is to produce 12 socially good episodes highlighting a different non-profit organization each week as the host interacts and volunteers with the organization and helps to tell their story.

We have the idea and we only need one thing: YOU!

Your support can help launch this idea off the ground and into the interwebs, besides some cool perks, you may also have the option of volunteering along side us and appear in an episode!! 

THE FIRST 10 DONORS THAT DONATE OVER $100 WILL HAVE THE OPTION TO VOLUNTEER WITH US AND APPEAR IN AN EPISODE! (Sorry, Travel  & accommodations not included. But, you never know where we might end up!)

Visit http://bit.ly/lp-tv and pledge your support today!

Let’s win $25K for Waterkeeper!

Living Philanthropic’s featured charity for May is the Waterkeeper Alliance. Waterkeeper Alliance helps communities stand up for clean water and believe that clean water is a basic human right for everyone. 

To celebrate Earth Day, Groupon is giving $25K to the green charity that raises the most funds on Crowdrise. I would love to be able to get this needed support for Waterkeeper. If you would like to help, please join the team, spread the word, or make a donation. The contest ends on May 15th, 2012. 

Also, if you donate $10 or more to Waterkeeper on Crowdrise before May 8th, you will be entered to win an Eco bike from New Amsterdam Bikes!

Join the team and show your support here: http://www.crowdrise.com/lp-waterkeeper

826CHI update & a martian jellyfish!

Thanks to a donation from Ticketmaster, we’ve raised $2,040 for 826CHI, Living Philanthropic’s Featured Charity for April. I truly admire the work that they do to make reading and writing fun for kids. If you would like to help 826CHI do more excellent work, consider joining the team and pledging your support: http://www.crowdrise.com/LP-826CHI

And now story time courtesy of the 2nd Grade Class at Wicker Elementary in Chicago!

The Story of Lary Snakefish, the Martian Jellyfish

Once upon a time lived a Martian jellyfish named Lary Snakefish. He had dragon wings and was orange with blue and yellow polka dots. He lived in a seaweed house in Jellyfish Ocean on Mars. Lary was no ordinary jellyfish. All the jellyfish on Mars had dragon wings, but Lary had the special ability to breathe fire.

Every morning, Lary would wake up feeling super grouchy because he hated waking up in the morning. He would go and drink some of his favorite jell-o coffee with a side of cranberry juice. Then he would put on his jellyfish hat and gracefully float to work.

Lary worked at the library. His favorite thing to do in the whole wide world was to read. He liked to read books about dragons, baking, dolphins, and Power Rangers. The only problem was that everyone in the library hated when Lary worked because he breathed fire, so he would sometimes burn the books.

One day, the head librarian, Mrs. Seahorse, who was surprisingly an elephant, came up to Lary and said, “Lary, you keep burning all of the books. I’m going to have to fire you.”

Lary replied, “I understand. I’m so sorry. Could I pay for the books?”

“Yes, but the books are really really expensive! You burned 100 books so you will need to pay a trillion dollars!” said Mrs. Seahorse.

Since Lary no longer had a job, because he got fired from being a librarian, he had no idea how he was going to earn a trillion Martian dollars.

“Oh no!” said Lary, “What am I going to do?” 

Read more stories at 826CHI’s Writing Gallery: http://www.826chi.org/writing_gallery