Everyday Giving Blog

New Day Revolution: How to Save the World in 24 Hours

Do you want to help save the world but don’t feel you have enough time?

The ability to make a difference in the world through simple changes is the subject of a new book by authors Sam Davidson and Stephen Moseley. New Day Revolution: How to Save the World in 24 Hours is filled with many positive and practical ways we can help make the world a better place.

Sam and Stephen have done much more than create a list of things we can do. Their book also provides a basic education on a variety of important topics including energy use, recycling and fair trade. This learning occurs without realizing it. New Day Revolution is fun to read and contains stories and amazing facts to reinforce the major impact we can have.

The only disappointment was that it didn’t mention the life saving value of giving blood and registering as an organ donor. However, I am confident (or at least hopeful) Sam Davidson and Stephen Moseley will write additional books in the future where these activities will be included.

After reading this book, I learned many new ways to be a better citizen and caretaker of the Earth. More importantly, it gave me a newfound interest in the impact my everyday activities have on the world.

You can help save the world even if you only have a small amount of time and a willingness to make simple lifestyle changes.

Get your copy of New Day Revolution: How to Save the World in 24 Hours and become a member of this new revolution by making simple, world-changing choices in your life.

Make A Difference Day

Make a Difference Day is a national day devoted to helping others. It is celebrated each year on the fourth Saturday of October.

Millions of people of all ages celebrate the occasion across the United States by volunteering to help in their communities. The 17th Make a Difference Day falls on Saturday, October 27, 2007.

Go to the Make a Difference Day website at http://www.MakeADifferenceDay.com to discover more about the celebration event and how to get involved.

Don't let this year's opportunity to join millions of
other volunteers pass you by.

Seth Godin Offering Free Seminar To Nonprofit Leaders

Seth Godin is a top marketer, speaker and best-selling author who continually supports the nonprofit community.

One of his next contributions is a free seminar for a few people (no more than 20) involved with nonprofit organizations. It will be held on December 10th in an intimate setting at Seth's office in New York. I am confident each lucky attendee will walk away with many "outside the box" ideas he or she will be able to implement immediately for greater impact on the world.

Go to http://www.squidoo.com/Sethnonprofit to learn more about this event and how to apply. If you lead a nonprofit organization, this is an opportunity you should take seriously.

Nature Retreat In The Washington DC Area

What comes to your mind when you think of Washington DC? You might think of National monuments, Capitol Hill, politics, or even traffic jams. Being the home of one of the most significant natural areas in the entire National Park System Is not something I was aware of.

Today is Blog Action Day. I'm joining thousands of other bloggers to discuss different aspects of the environment. I wanted to do something special. I decided to visit one of the areas protected by The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for our future generations.

A quick search on their website revealed something I didn't know. The Nature Conservancy helps manage the Potomac Gorge. They even co-own and manage Bear Island with the National Park Service. This is right in the metropolitan area of Washington DC. This protected area is the home to more than 100 rare species of plants and animals.

When I took my trip to the location, I was surprised it was so close to the busy Beltway. In a handful of minutes, I went from bumper to bumper traffic to a nature retreat full of the sounds of rustling leaves and rushing water.

Most of my time at the Potomac Gorge was spent hiking on the Billy Goat Trail. The trail is broken up into three sections. I walked Section A. Actually, I walked most of that section and rock climbed the rest.

I had a great time at the Potomac Gorge. It's great to know that The Nature Conservancy helps manage these important areas. They protect the land, plants and animals as well as provide people a natural retreat away from their busy lives.   

To learn more about The Nature Conservancy and how you can get involved, go to http://www.Nature.org.

If you want to see more of the photos I took during my visit, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogercarr/tags/blogactionday.

CoolPeopleCare Is Making A Difference

Rebecca Carpenter mentioned a website that caught my attention in her latest Razoo post entitled It's the Little Things... Really. The website is CoolPeopleCare.com.

Founders Sam Davidson and Stephen Moseley are using the website to encourage others to do good deeds every day to make a difference. It is a site worth checking out.

Update: I Am. Are you? Illinois Campus Challenge

In the previous post College Students Compete To Save Lives, I wrote about an organ donor registration competition between several Illinois colleges and universities. After only one week into the challenge, the following list shows the schools participating in the challenge and the number of new organ donors registered at each institution:

Loyola University - 87
Illinois State University – 70
University of Illinois – 49
Illinois Wesleyan University – 45
Northern Illinois University – 20
North Central College – 18
Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) – 18
Eastern Illinois University – 16
Monmouth College – 14
University of Illinois at Chicago – 12
Knox College – 12
Western Illinois University – 11
DePaul University – 11
Aurora University – 7
Illinois Institute of Technology – 6
College of DuPage – 6
Illinois Central College – 3
Benedictine University – 3
Augustana College – 2
Bradley University - 0

The challenge has so far resulted in 410 new organ donor registrations. That is only the beginning of the story. When I interviewed Scott Meis, Campaign Manager for Donate Life Illinois, he said each registrant has the potential of saving 25 lives through their future organ donation.

That means these Illinois university students have already created the potential for impacting 10,200 lives!

There are a few weeks still left in this competition. I'm anxious to see the final results.

Check out http://www.giftofhope.org/donatelife/join-campus-campaign.htm to learn more about the "I Am. Are you?” Campus Challenge.

What Do Youth Volunteers Want?

Corey Pudhorodsky has volunteered as a youth group leader for several years. You may know Corey as the voice of the 501c3Cast. This past summer, Corey and this group of teenagers spent a week in the Hartsville, South Carolina community to do volunteer work in support of Habitat for Humanity.

At the conclusion of the volunteer project, Corey interviewed the youth volunteers regarding their experience. You can listen to the interviews by going to the August 7, 2007 podcast at http://501c3cast.com/shownotesAug07.asp. The interviews were insightful because the information came straight from the teens.

Based on the interviews, I developed the following list of traits that should be a part of any volunteer project that involve youth:

1. Provides a new experience
2. Shows "immediate" progress in making a difference
3. Is fun
4. Is well prepared and organized
5. Encourages (but doesn't force) participation
6. Matches work to skills of each youth volunteer
7. Involves a group of friends and other youth
8. Work is challenging
9. Adequate number of supervisors and trainers
10. Future volunteer opportunities are available

I have been impressed with the youth volunteers I have had the privilege to work with (see Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?). Don't underestimate the impact they can make. We need to encourage them and make each of their volunteer experiences a positive one.

Remember, they are our future leaders.

How Many People Do You Influence?

We really have no idea how many people we influence. Our acts of kindness can inspire a chain reaction of others doing the same. There are also people observing and potentially mimicking our actions who we are unaware of. I was recently reminded of this.

I usually keep my car in the same parking garage during my visits to Washington, DC. I make it a point to be friendly with the parking attendants when I see them. One day I discovered that one of the attendants loved to read. When I heard this, I immediately went back to my car and gave him my inspirational and entertaining magazine called Going Bonkers. He was excited. A couple of weeks later I was paying my parking fee to one of the other attendants. He was telling me about a great magazine he was reading. It turned out to be the one I gave his co-worker.

How many people do you think had already read that magazine? How many do you think will read it in the future? We don’t have any idea.

This morning I received a phone call from one of the top Internet Marketing leaders. He started the conversation by saying “Hi Roger. I have been watching you for some time...” Each of us has many people observing our actions. They can be of any age and in the most unlikely locations. They are watching us and we are unknowingly influencing them.

How many people are watching us? We don’t have any idea.

The number of people we influence is much greater than we realize. Continue to help others and you will encourage others to do the same. You have the potential to be a world-changing role model.

Razoo Makes A Difference

Razoo gets people together who are making a difference. They are doing this in multiple ways.

I took notice of Razoo when they launched their social networking site at http://beta.razoo.com a few months ago. I am impressed with the quality of their staff and the members of the community who are active on the site. Members are able to meet like-minded people and support important causes by using the website.

Another way Razoo is getting Do-Gooders together is by holding events. I recently had the privilege of attending one of these events called Brewing Good in Washington DC. I enjoyed meeting several people on the Razoo team and other Do-Gooders at the event. Several nonprofit organizations had displays describing their charitable projects.

They did an activity during the event called Speed Granting that was both educational and entertaining. Attendees had the opportunity to talk about a cause they were passionate about with an opportunity to win a grant for that cause. Each person was allowed one minute. Jars representing each cause were set out on a table. After all of the presentations were given, each person voted for the one they felt deserved the grant money the most by dropping a penny in the appropriate jar. The one with the most pennies won.

Check out Razoo and join the community of those making a difference. You will connect with some wonderful people and organizations as you participate. While you are there, be sure to go to my Razoo profile page at http://beta.razoo.com/members/rogercarr and add me as a friend.