Dave Eggers

Today's nonprofit tidbit focuses on philanthropist, advocate, and author, Dave Eggers. 

Eggers is a pretty busy guy, he's a novelist, launched an independent publishing house, which publishes books, a quarterly journal (McSweeney's), and a monthly magazine (The Believer), and spends his free time founding non-profits. 

826 Valencia  is a nonprofit organization founded in 2002 by Dave Eggers and Ninive Calegari. Their mission is to help students ages 6 to 18 develop their writing skills and help teachers get their students excited about writing and the literary arts. This is achieved through one-on-one tutoring, field trips, in-school programs and workshops- for free. Since it's founding, 826 has expanded to seven locations known collectively as 826 National.

Once Upon a School developed from Dave Eggers TED Prize wish, this website collects the stories of private citizens who are engaged in their communities by helping their local public schools. Not only can site visitors submit stories, but it also helps match donors with school projects. "The site helps you find a creative way of supporting local public school."

Voice of Witness  is a nonprofit oral history book series, which "seeks to illuminate human rights crises by humanizing the victims.  By allowing them to tell their stories, we seek to engender greater understanding." It's aim is "engaging readers of all levels- from high school to college students to policy makers."

I urge you to visit Dave Eggers' page at Ted  and learn more about his work. It's a great opportunity to hear more about Dave Eggers' work in his own words. More importantly, I urge to check out these organizations.