photo | Steve Floyd

Social Venture Partners Minnesota (SVP) recently hosted The Engaged Philanthropy Conference at the Graves 601 Hotel in Minneapolis. The Engaged Philanthropy Conference brought social entrepreneurs together with philanthropists, investors and business leaders. “The social problems that we face will require the collaboration of nonprofits, philanthropy and business to solve – no one of those sectors can do it by themselves,” states Brad Brown, Executive Director of SVP Minnesota. SVP was founded in 1997 by Paul Brainerd in Seattle, Washington in order to build a philanthropic network that invests money and expertise in social entrepreneurial ventures. The members of SVP do much more than write checks, they also offer their time and expertise to the ventures they support. Read the rest of this entry »

Displaced Kenyans gather to receive aid from volunteers.On December 27, 2007, the disputed re-election of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki spurred an outbreak of ethnic and political violence around Nairobi and Western Kenya. Subsequently hundreds of thousands of Kenyans fled their homes, and now live in or around crowded displaced persons camps.

Rafe Steinhauer volunteered in Kenya for more than two months with the Global Volunteers Network (GVN). He taught math, English, and soccer at schools in Nairobi and Maasailand and helped aid missions into displaced persons camps after the post-election violence. In Nairobi, Steinhauer taught at a rehabilitation school for teenage boys who had committed nonviolent crimes. I asked Steinhauer some questions to find out what his experience was like. Read the rest of this entry »

Children stand with Ben Wilson in Vietnam.DANANG, VIETNAM
Amazing, exhausting, and heart-warming: that’s how I would describe my week visiting the programs conducted by Children of Vietnam (COV), the Children’s Culture Connection-represented charity that supports Vietnamese children in need.

Children of Vietnam, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary, was started by a man named Ben Wilson as he was facing retirement after a long corporate career. According to Ben, he didn’t play golf and was worried that he wouldn’t have enough to do to keep busy. So, at 65 years old, he started COV.

After seeing how many ways his organization is impacting the lives of children in need, I can confidently say that Ben does NOT need to worry about being bored. Read the rest of this entry »

Taryn’s forehead is marked with tika to celebrate Dashain.Taryn Lilliston was an American college student who was unsure what direction she wanted to take with her education. Instead of pursuing classes, she decided to take a break from college and pursue the world. Taryn found the Global Volunteer Network (GVN) by looking for an opportunity to give back. GVN is a relatively new non-governmental organization (NGO), launched in December 2000, whose vision is to connect people with communities in need. Read the rest of this entry »

ASHA girl enjoy the raindance.PUNE, INDIA Parveen, Salma, Noushad, Rani, Malika, Nishat, Sridevi, Anita, Fatima, Savitree, Samreen, Ashreem, Swati, Bhagyashree, Sulakshina, Rani, Ruksana, Heena, Neha, Pyeren, Parveen, Laxmi, Nilofar, Pooja, Gauri and Shanehej.

These are the 26 Indian girls I spent the last five days with in Pune, India. They are enrolled in ASHA’s Better Life Education Program, the Children’s Culture Connection-supported charity that helps Indian children in need. Coming from both Hindu and Muslim families, the girls are between 13 and 18 years old and live in one of India’s most oppressive slums. Life is especially tough for women in these shantytowns where domestic violence, illiteracy and health issues make it nearly impossible to create better lives for themselves. Most girls drop out of school by the seventh grade, are married off by 16 and have babies by 18…and the girls in this program are no different. Some already have arranged marriages in the works, those who have dropped out of school work full time as domestic servants, and those still in school spend their free time taking care of younger siblings and doing housework. Read the rest of this entry »

Pamela Hawley is founder and CEO of UniversalGiving.

We all remember a time when we were hit with the importance of getting involved globally. For me, I was 12. We were on a family vacation in Mexico, near a traditional marketplace. My father and I wandered off, confronted with a cul-de-sac of unwashed, handicapped, begging children. Having my eyes widened with disbelief and overwhelming sadness, I simply remember the word UNACCEPTABLE flashing across my mind. I still feel it and see that word all the time. It’s simply not okay that millions are starving. Not only can we help, but we also have a lot to learn. I never realized how much I would receive when I first started giving.

Pamela on her volunteer trip to Guatemala. Read the rest of this entry »

Fiona Petrocelli sent us this story about her experience volunteering in Malaysia.

Shortly after moving to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I picked up the local paper and read about the street children of the Chow Kit district. I knew at that moment that I wanted to help them during my husband’s two-year posting in Kuala Lumpur. As young as four years old, they roam the streets at night while their parents work. Over 500 street children are homeless in Chow Kit, which makes its streets a virtual candy store for child traffickers, pedophiles and sex tourists. Read the rest of this entry »

Africa Jam is a youth empowerment organization that provides hope, unity, and community in the lives of young people living in Cape Town, South Africa. Two years ago I had an incredible experience visiting this organization and was able to witness first-hand the tremendous impact of its programs.

Campers participate in small group activities that spark discussions about relationships, self-esteem, and socially-relevant issues. Read the rest of this entry »

FilmAid International held their annual benefit April 9th in NYC and a couple employees from Worrell, Inc., a Minneapolis-based design firm, were very excited to attend.

Valentino Achak Deng was among those honored at the event. photo | Jacqui Belleau

Worrell designed the invitation suite and the awards for the gala and we were thrilled to be present while FilmAid’s honorees were recognized. Read the rest of this entry »

Kristin Hawkinson sent this story about her experience volunteering in Bolivia.

The outer wall and door to Luz del Mundo. Photo | courtesy of Kristin Hawkinson.February 2, 2008 is a day that I will never forget. The weather was hot and unbearably humid, with a rain so fierce that it felt like someone was wrapping my skin with needles. I walked through the mud outside of Luz del Mundo, tears rolling down my cheeks and arms folded over my head in helplessness. What could I do? I wondered. They needed so much, and I was just one person. What on earth could I possibly do?

Let me take you back to the beginning. An urge to make a dent in the world had landed me in Bolivia the previous month. I left my home in northern Wisconsin in early January for the outskirts of Santa Cruz to work in an orphanage with kids with Down’s syndrome. Little did I know what I was in for. Read the rest of this entry »