Philanthropy Tidbits
Shutting up for charity; he’s still not talking
Clark Harris of Atlanta isn’t bragging – out loud, at least – about his election to the Universal World Record Database for "Longest Time Using Only Social Media to Communicate". At the beginning of July, he was into the third month of his “Silence Cancer for Good” campaign, only “talking” via Twitter, Facebook, and Google Chat, even to his wife of less than one year.
Harris is hoping to raise $100,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by the time he regains his voice on August 7. His mother passed away from cancer in 2009.
“[N]ot talking for almost a third of the first year of marriage is a hardship," he acknowledged to AOL.live.
Watch for philanthropic women singing near you
The all-women-performers music festival Lilith Fair has just started its first tour in 10 years with three stops in western Canada and is now working its way down the West Coast. In addition to 75 powerful artists – including original founder Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, Heart, Kelly Clarkson, Ke$ha, Loretta Lynn, and Sugarland – the tour is partnering with the i4C Campaign (“I foresee a better tomorrow”) to help raise money for socially- and environmentally-responsible business ventures.
I4C has already named the charities to benefit:
- Alter Eco, a fair trade certified foods company that connects the consumer to small independent farmers across the globe.
- Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund global literacy initiatives.
- To-Go Ware makes portable utensils and food containers out of bamboo, tin and other sustainable materials.
- Grameen America is a microfinance nonprofit organization that provides affordable microloans to financially empower low-income entrepreneurs in the United States.
The 2010 Lilith Tour will contribute $1 per ticket sold. McLachlan has pledged at least $3 million from the proceeds.
Will Lilith Fair be in your town? Check here.
Will the winner wear a mask to lunch?
An anonymous benefactor donated $2.6 million in an eBay charitable auctionbenefiting the Glide Foundation to have lunch with investor extraordinaire (and not too shabby philanthropist himself) Warren Buffett.
The Glide Foundation serves 2,000 people each day with free meals, youth development, worker recruitment, and health care and drug addiction services in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.
Though the bid broke the previous record of $2.1 million for a Buffett lunch (this is his tenth for Glide), it's still a bargain. The winner can bring up to seven friends.
Where do you get 2 million butterflies anyway?
A Wayzata, MN couple donated a collection of 2.2 million butterflies and moths to the University of Florida valued at more than $41 million. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, the butterflies come from every continent except Antarctica, including from many sites no longer accessible. Many are extinct. As many as 1,000 of the species have never been named.
The gift from Dr. William and Nadine McGuire, which includes financial support for curators, research, training, and publishing, increases the University’s collection to more than nine million.
The McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity is the world's largest Lepidoptera education and research facility, according to Director Thomas Emmel.
Emmel said butterflies are good flagship species to assess environmental health. "Like canaries warning miners of dangerous gases in coal mines, the Lepidoptera are particularly sensitive to poisons in the environment, such as pesticides or heavy metals," Emmel said. "They are also good indicators of the impact of climate change and global warming on the survival and distribution of animals and plants."
Offbeat charities collected by Susan Villas Lewis
Perhaps she’s a phenomenon known by others, but I never heard of Susan Villas Lewis before I was searching for this month’s Philanthropy Tidbits. She seems to be a Leonard(a) da Vinci of sorts, definitely a Renaissance type.
Anyway, one of her blog entries includes a collection of “offbeat” charities (her word).
Like Vitamin Angels, which last year distributed more than 100 million nutritional supplements to children and families in 40 countries.
Or Canstruction, which builds magnificent sculptures out of donated canned foods (definitely see the food blender and the Parthenon), then turns the projects over to local food banks for distribution.
An “irreplaceable” donation: a Johnny Depp bandana
Johnny Depp donated a wooden “egg” he designed depicting Captain Jack Sparrow, complete with a Depp-worn bandana from the movie Pirates Of the Caribbean. I don’t know the final price, but bidding to raise funds for Royal Blind had reached £1000 (approximately $1,500), when the auction holders got worried about its safety.
Noted the UK Daily Record: “A charity source said: ‘The reaction from fans has been unbelievable. This donation is irreplaceable and we could not risk it being pinched.’"
Hooters and the Humane Society?
I wasn’t sure about including this one, but somehow it just fits.
Can sex sell…animal neutering? Apparently the Kentucky Humane Society thought so. The nonprofit teamed up with local Hooters restaurants to launch the “Hooters for Neuters” campaign to encourage animal owners to spay and neuter their pets. (Owls are probably not included.) The target was, not surprisingly, male pet owners.
Louisville’s NBC affiliate WAVE Channel 3 covered the story.
“Melissa Jackman says her customers just don't come to Hooters for the wings. ‘When guys come in here they pay attention to what we have to say. Any promotion we have I always tell my customers about it.’”
"We've had some mixed response," said Michelle Ray with the Kentucky Humane Society, “but as long as we get people talking that's all that matters." said Ray.
"A lot of our clientele are men," said Jackman.
Pet owners were asked to drop off their dogs at the local Hooters who were taken to the aptly-named S.N.I.P. Clinic for surgery that day. The dogs’ owners got free coupons and a Hooters for Neuters T-shirt.
