Expanding Your Philanthropic Toolbox

On October 29-30, Scott had the awesome opportunity to speak at the 6th Annual Conference on International Giving.  On a panel with Kat Woerner and Sharon Schneider, he was able to address the idea that philanthropy is more than money.  Much MUCH more.

Your philanthropic toolbox needs to include more than a check book.  Money is the first thing that often jumps into one’s mind when one commits to doing charity and philanthropic work.  But have you considered other things, such as your social network?  Do you have friends with special skills who can donate time and talent to charity?   What about your own personal skills?  Are you an educator?  Teach people how to make a difference.

There are so many ways to donate beyond cold, hard cash, and you can visit http://thephilanthropicfamily.com/ for a more in depth look on just how to do that.

Also present at the conference, was Paul Rusesabagina, of the Hotel Rwanda foundation.  Scott spent 2 days with this amazing man, the hero who helped save the lives of 1,268 people during the Rwandan genocide.  His foundation works to raise awareness and understanding about the preconditions of genocide.  His foundation also seeks to educate on the need for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Great Lakes Region of Africa.  Genocide directly affects several of the MGD’s, and his Foundation is crucial to our cause.

Scott also was able to meet with Cheryl Musch, the Director of International Development at SERRV.  SERRV is an amazing non-profit fair trade and development organization that works with developing countries.  With the holidays approaching, now is a perfect time to do a little philanthropic gift giving.  Visit http://www.serrv.org and browse through all of the amazing, hand crafted items.  Make a purchase, knowing that your money is helping someone in a developing country to raise his or her standard of living.  No sweatshop garbage from exploited people on this site.  Completely guilt free gifting.

Scott also had the opportunity to meet with Judd Holzman from Link Community Development.  LCD works tirelessly to promote high quality education for children in Sub-Saharan Africa.  By promoting MGD #2 (achieving universal primary education) LCD’s work is also directly affecting completion of other MGD’s, as education is a crucial foundation.

To find out more about LCD, visit http://www.lcdinternational.org.

Here at Interface we are working tirelessly to expand our own philanthropic toolbox, by interacting with other charities.  All of the aforementioned charities are integral players in completing the MGD’s, and we are proud to be working with them.  Now, see what YOU can do.

TAKE A STAND

“Great leaders, like Jane Goodall and Nelson Mandela, derive their power from taking a stand. They know the distinction between taking a position and taking a stand. Taking a position, or having a “point of view,” forces us to take sides and argue for or against. It gets us going, but rarely has a lasting influence. Taking a stand opens up new visions and possibilities, and adversarial feelings begin to dissolve. It is a way of living and being that strengthens our capacity to make a difference.”

“You don’t have to be a Gandhi to make a difference in your job, in your company, in other important places in your life. We all have a stand inside of us waiting to be expressed, and when we are in touch with that place, we become more fully ourselves & can truly change the world, ” are the very wise words of Lynne Twist.

On August 23 in Raleigh, North Carolina over 4,000 people (students, faculty, community leaders, businessmen & women) took a stand on global hunger and packaged over 1 million meals for Stop Hunger Now.  Take a look & get involved:

Thanks to Ray Buchanan, the founder of Stop Hunger Now; Rod Brooks, CEO of Stop Hunger Now; Chessney Barrick, Development Director of Stop Hunger Now; Jesse Metcalfe, Lisa Spackman, Danny Hewitt, Mike Debenham, Drew James and everyone else who has supported the Stop Hunger Now Interface Foundation initiative.

The Interface Foundation — My Life's Work

As a child I always saw myself helping countless people.  Serving is truly the essence of who I am & for most of my life this has been a double-edged sword.  The words of Henry Van Dyke in his short story The Mansion resonate in my soul daily, ” What could I have done better?  What is it that counts?  ‘Only that which is truly given,” answered the voice.  Only that good which is done for the love of doing it.  Only those plans in which the welfare of others is the master thought.  Only those labors in which the sacrifice is greater than the reward.  Only those gifts in which the giver forgets himself.”  So this double-edged sword of my souls ultimate desire to serve has finally become my ultimate blessing & my life’s work.  For years I would bang my head against the wall as I was not born with a trust fund, I was not educated at an Ivy league school, I was not blessed with “fame” however these supposed “hurdles” in my life are my actual blessings.  My unquenchable desire to be a force for good is a flame that will never be extinguished because I don’t have a trust fund, I didn’t go to an Ivy League school & because I can’t carry a tune & didn’t win American Idol & end up touring the world.  It is that simple!  What I do have is the ultimate desire to serve humanity and after 12 years of working professionally in the non-profit world the Interface Foundation was born.

As most of you know last year Interface came to life.  The Interface Foundation is a 501(c)3 private foundation whose mission is to leverage the power of business and celebrity to bring attention to high impact organizations working to accomplish one of the eight Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2000.

There is no greater peace than knowing your life’s mission!  With Interface I work 24/7 in doing all in my power to get humanity to help humanity!  Each and everyone of us can contribute in some way & I am here to guide the philanthropic ship of Interface to the ultimate destinations where high impact philanthropic initiatives will change countless lives.  Eradicating extreme poverty & hunger (850 million people suffer fromt the tragedy of hunger).  Allowing every child in the world to receive primary education (presently 125 million children don’t go to primary school).  Promoting gender equality & empowering women.  Reducing child mortality.  Improving maternal health.  Combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria & other diseases.  Ensuring environmental sustainability.

In a very short time we have seen hundreds, thousands of people come together to learn about Interface partner organizations, we have seen donations of time, money & products, and equally as big we have seen people spread the Interface mission!  It is a testament to the power of Interface.  Choose your goal & we will help you support it!!!

I have to give huge thanks to the business community and it’s true philanthropic leaders like Steve Luczo from Seagate, Brent Bishop, Josh James of Omniture, the famed music video director Hype Williams, Randy Blosil of Xango, Alex Hoffmann of Nu Skin, Brandon Fugal of Coldwell Utah, Bernadette Turner of QVC, Darren Dixon, Charlie Walk President of Epic Records, Brent Bolthouse of SBE, Bryan Ferre of Cultivate Ideas, Andrea Donsky, Jim Evans of Xactware,  Jason Deere, Maggie Biggar of Fortis Films, Lisa Spackman, Joel Sybrowski, Jeron Paul of V Spring, Bernadette Hill, Lisette Sand-Freedman of Shadow PR, Jessica Weitz, Dee Murthy of Five Four Clothing, famed music producer Harvey Mason JR, Lisa Nelson of ICAP, Joe “3H” Weinberger, Cynthia Garrett, Kirk Lee of Intuit. 

And I have to set the record straight here after being asked a million times if celebrities are truly engaged in causes because of their own heart or is it a PR move?  Well after being involved with some of the biggest names in the world, I have to say regardless of the celebrity’s initial reason for getting involved I have text message, emails, voice messages, & hand-written thank you notes that show they can’t wait for the next opportunity to serve humanity.  With that I want to thank a few now by giving them a “shout out” — Jeremy Piven of Entourage, Vanessa Williams, Eric Mabius of Ugly Betty, Jesse Metcalfe, Lance Bass,  Sheila E,  Sandra Bullock, Shannon Elizabeth, Tom Higginson of the Plain White T’s, Terri Seymour of Extra, Edison Chen, Paul Wall, Paris Hilton, Marla Maples, Patrick Muldoon, Blake Lewis from American Idol, Michael Moloney from Extreme Makeover:Home Edition, Laura Harring, artist Paul Rusconi, Miss USA Rachel Smith, and Billy Bush from Access Hollywood to name a few.

Paris Hilton Using Her Voice For Philanthropic Good

Let’s continue to come together to change the world.  The goals are simple.  The mission is pure.  Remember what the poet June Jordan taught us: We are the ones we have been waiting for.