All People Making a Difference
6 organizations that protect animal rights Many charitable organizations dedicate themselves to improving the welfare of animals. Here, we tell you about some of the best. These six organizations have four-star ratings from Charity Navigator, along with at least $13.5 million in total annual expenses.
Cindy Elkind started Kevlar for K9s to protect 'working' dogsPolice and military dogs benefit from body armor, and so far Kevlar for K9s has provided it to more than 140 of them.
Difference MakerDiane Luby Lane shows teens how performing poetry can ignite their dreamsHer Get Lit 鈥� Words Ignite project introduces the excitement and benefits of performing poetry to thousands of highly challenged teens in the Los Angeles area each year.
Like shopping at local businesses? Now you can invest in them, tooA newly formed company based in Seattle makes it easy to put your money to work in the local economy.
A penny saved is two pennies earned for poor women in savings groupsSaving for Change operates in 13 countries with 680,000 members, most of them women. They not only benefit from receiving loans but share in overall profits of 30 to 40 percent.
Security checks, duty-free shops, and ... beehives?Beekeepers are using empty public land around Seattle-Tacoma Airport to breed and distribute healthier strains of honeybees.
When budget cuts hit a Connecticut historic site, a volunteer steps upAt Weir Farm in Connecticut, volunteer Pat Hegnauer tends the historic gardens, teaches first aid, and strolls the grounds as a docent, igniting visitors鈥� creativity.
Standards for humanitarian aid to be unified, simplifiedThe Sphere Project, which produces a popular humanitarian handbook, is working with two other key international organizations on a new standard that will unify and simplify the maze of existing international aid guidelines.
Difference MakerSri Lestari travels by motorcycle to bring an empowering message to disabled peopleTraveling by modified motorcycle Sri Lestari rides around Indonesia giving disabled people new hope.
Ghana's vulnerable till their own gardenA handful of disabled residents in Dazuuri, Ghana, have begun growing their own dry-season vegetable garden, adopting water-saving techniques to make it productive.
How laundry detergent became a catalyst for green innovationAdam Lowry, co-founder of Method, a company that has pioneered environmentally friendly cleaning products, tells how his small firm is nudging large corporations toward sustainability.
Well-designed $20,000 houses for the poor? Rural Studio makes them20K Houses, a visionary project of the architects at Rural Studio in Alabama, designs and builds innovative $20,000 houses.
US artist, Syrian children beautify a refugee campA mural painting project at the Zaatari refugee camp gives a moment of color and self-expression to kids who have had their lives shattered by Syria's war.
Pivot TV wants its audience to 'do something'The new cable channel will offer entertainment that aims to amuse and to inspire social change. "TakePart Live," for example, is devoted to "decoding" the news, including online involvement by viewers.
An 'explosion of human talent' will feed a growing world populationCNN host and bestselling author Fareed Zakaria says the world faces 'enormous challenges, but they are not going to be challenges of decay, but of growth and abundance.'
In Uganda, better nutrition through school gardensThe Forum for Sustainable Agriculture in Africa found that some 59 percent of primary school students in Uganda went without food during the day. School gardens both feed students and prepare them for careers in agriculture.
Difference MakerDallas Jessup made 'Just Yell Fire' to teach young women to defend themselvesDallas Jessup was just a teenager when she made the video 'Just Yell Fire.' Today she's continuing that mission to help girls and young women stay safe.
Indian villagers reap the rewards of restoring common landThe Foundation for Ecological Security works with 1.7 million rural Indians to manage their commons sustainably through democratic community institutions, boosting incomes from farming, herding, and forest activities.
How (and why) Africa should solve its own problemsAfrica cannot rely on outside people to come and feed our poor or treat our sick, says African businessman and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim. The key is good governance, in both the public and private sectors.
Bringing home the blues, connecting kids to a proud heritageThe Alabama Blues Project takes blues music to schoolchildren who may not know that it鈥檚 part of their own history.
