GreaterGood

Background

GreaterGood is a network of websites that offer the unique opportunity to support causes you care about, with no cost to you. The organization partners with and funds leading nonprofit organizations around the world in order to alleviate poverty and hunger, promote peace, address cancer and other widespread health problems, foster literacy and education, preserve vital habitats in peril, and provide protection and care to vulnerable animals.

GreaterGood accomplishes this mission by:

• Alleviating and addressing the root causes of world hunger and food insecurity and promoting peaceful co-existence.
• Early detection and treatment of breast cancer and other widespread health concerns, particularly in women.
• Preventing and treating childhood illness, disease and other children's health and well-being concerns.
• Promoting children's literacy and education.
• Protecting and restoring the environment.
• Providing care and feeding of rescued animals in shelters and sanctuaries and addressing the root causes of their conditions.

How it Works

Each person's daily click on the Click to Give sites displays sponsor advertising. One hundred percent (100%) of sponsor advertising is paid as a royalty through GreaterGood.org. Supporters can also contribute directly to charity by purchasing Gifts that Give More, where 100% of the donations are given to charity, or by purchasing one of the over 4500 products they carry. There is a 5-30% charity royalty paid on every item purchased from any of the GreaterGood network of online stores.

Results

Last year GreaterGood  gave over $3.07 million to charity. And how's this for transparency, you can view exactly where the money went. The organization's website provides a breakdown of every charity they donated to, and the amount of money it received. Site visitors can even look at GreaterGood's giving from the last three years. The IRS 990 forms filed by GreaterGood are also easily accessible.

For more information please visit GreaterGood.org.

Project H.O.M.E.

Project H.O.M.E (Housing, Opportunities for Employment, Medical Care, Education)

None of us are home until all of us are home.

Background

Since 1988, Project H.O.M.E has been a leader in providing comprehensive and effective services to persons who experience chronic homelessness. The organization empowers people to break the cycle of homelessness, address the structural causes of poverty, and attain their fullest potential as members of society.

Co-founded by Sister Mary Scullion and Joan Dawson-McConnon, Project H.O.M.E is a nationally recognized organization that provides supportive housing, employment, education and health care to enable chronically homeless and low-income persons to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. Under their leadership, Project H.O.M.E. has grown from a winter shelter to 447 units of housing and three businesses that employ formerly homeless individuals.

What makes this organization so effective, is its mission to alleviate the underlying causes of poverty, not simply treating the symptoms and its commitment to the dignity of every person.  They strive to create a safe and respectful environment where everyone supports one another in their struggle for self-esteem, recovery, and the confidence to move towards self-actualization. This mission is achieved through a continuum of care comprised of street outreach, a range of supportive housing, and comprehensive services. Project H.O.M.E. addresses the root causes of homelessness, through neighborhood-based affordable housing, economic development, and environmental enhancement programs, as well as providing access to employment opportunities; adult and youth education; and health care.

Project H.O.M.E is committed to social and political advocacy. An integral part of Project H.O.M.E.'s work is education about the realties of homelessness and poverty and vigorous advocacy on behalf of and with homeless and low-income persons for more just and humane public policies. It is also committed to nurturing the spirit of community among persons of walks of life, all of whom have a role to play in making this a more just and compassionate society.

The organization's website provides resources and facts about homelessness, particularly in Philadelphia, where Project H.O.M.E. is based. It is also important to note that Project H.O.M.E.'s board of directors include residents from the housing units, as well as program alumni.

Values 

The work of Project H.O.M.E. is rooted in their strong spiritual conviction of the dignity of each person. They believe:

• that all persons are entitled to decent, affordable housing and access to quality education, employment, and health care.
• in the transformational power of building relationships and community as the ultimate answer to the degradation of homelessness and poverty.
• that working to end homelessness and poverty enhances quality of life for everyone in the community.
• that the critical resources entrusted to Project H.O.M.E. to achieve its mission must be managed honorably and professionally.

Programs

Housing & Street Outreach- designed to deal with the complex issues of persons with special needs such as mental illness and addiction. The program consists of street outreach, a range of supportive housing from entry-level to permanent housing, and comprehensive services including health care, education, and employment.

• Street Outreach: Outreach Teams develop trusting relationships with homeless individuals who have severe mental illness or substance addiction.
• Women's Emergency Respite Center: serves women with a long history of street homelessness, many of whom are incompatible or resistant to city-run shelter services.
• Supportive Housing & Services: enables each person to break the cycle of homelessness, move towards self-sufficiency and achieve his or her full potential.
• Alumni Program: provides residents with the opportunity to stay connected to Project H.O.M.E. community even after moving out of the supportive housing programs.
• Affordable Rental Housing: an eleven-story building developed to help address the gap in Philadelphia's affordable housing inventory.
• Affordable Homeownership Program: designed to stimulate housing production in North Philadelphia, create positive community impact and scale, and increase development and transformation of a distressed urban community into an attractive place to live. The program includes Block Preservation and Place Making Initiatives, and  the Homebuyer Reservation Program

Community Development- The organization's revitalization work is focused in the North Central Philadelphia community known as 'St. Elizabeth's/Diamond Street" neighborhood and Ridge Ave commercial corridor, (a 33-square block neighborhood).

Since 1995, Project H.O.M.E. has been working in partnership with neighborhood residents, corporations, foundations, government, faith communities and others to revitalize this neighborhood. Efforts include the development of affordable rental housing, renovation of affordable homes for homeownership, greening of vacant lots, adult and youth education and enrichment programs and community based health care services.

• Economic Development: the program addresses the persistent challenges of long-term economic disinvestment: "vacancy, blight, and high rates of unemployment."
• Health Services Program: is committed to addressing the health and wellness needs of the urban community.
• Community Organizing: works in cooperation with local Block Captains and civic associations on activities such as community emergency food banks, block clean-ups, and the nationally ranked youth drill team, the North Philly Footstompers.
• Honickman Learning Center & Comcast Technology Lab: programs at this 38,000 square foot, three-story technology center are tailored to help residents of the community- children, youth, adults and families- move towards greater prosperity by increasing their educational and employment opportunities.

Education & Employment- Project H.O.M.E recognizes that education and employment are critical tools to help all people improve the quality of their lives. This is particularly vital for formerly homeless people and people from economically distressed neighborhoods that may not have access to meaningful educational and employment opportunities.

• Honickman Learning Center & Comcast Technology Lab
• Kindergarten-Sixth Grade Program
• Teem Program
• Adult Education and Workforce Development
• Employment Services
• Employment Initiatives
• Art Program
• Social Enterprises: Cafe & Thrift Shop

Awards & Honors

(Just to name a few)

• The National Alliance to End Homelessness' Nonprofit Sector Achievement Award
• STAR award from The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
• Named as one of the "16 most efficient and innovative charities [they] know of anywhere," by Philanthropy Roundtable.

Click here for more information on Project H.O.M.E.'s initiatives.

I'd love to hear about any organizations in your city that are addressing the underlying causes of homelessness and poverty in the community.

Going, Going... Green!

Welcome Back Everyone!

Since this is sort of a re-birth for Nonprofits Now (formerly Nonprofit Awareness) I thought this article, generous contributed by Craig Baird last year, about going green was fitting.

I've listed some go green sites below that are worth checking out. 

Craig Baird and his wife Layla, inspired by Earth Day, dedicated one year to green living and blogged (Our Green Year) about it. I I urge everyone to visit Our Green Year and read about the Bairds' incredible journey.

Our Green Year by Craig Baird

"Going green seems to be a fad for a lot of people these days. Whether that is a good or bad thing, I can't really say, but for my wife and I, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle. 

It is hard to believe that we are almost one year from when we started Our Green Year, the initiative to go green with something every single day for an entire year. Over 300 days into, with one more month to go, we have had our lives changed by this quest to be green.

This all started for us on April 20, 2008 when we helped organize a large Earth Day celebration in Trail, British Columbia. After seeing the great response we got, my wife Layla and I decided to do something else to educate people about how they can go green in their lives. So, Our Green Year was born. With the idea of going green every single day for a year and blogging about it, we hoped we could show people all the green things that can be done to help the environment. We also wanted to show our readers that if we could do 365 green things, they could so 10, 20, or 100. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps, and anything we can do as a collective effort to help the environment matters.

Over the course of Our Green Year, we have completely altered our lifestyles. We now shop at the organic store and buy mostly organic items (even though the milk is about four times as expensive!). We don't eat beef anymore, choosing the environmentally friendly bison alternative, and we have cut our meat intake down from a few times a week to once a month, if that. In addition, we have given away half of what we owned through websites like FreeCycle.com, and we have greatly reduced our own consumption by not buying items we do not need and asking ourselves purchase questions to determine what we do need. We have joined several environmental organizations, and donated to even more. Each week we go to websites to 'Click To Help' various things like rainforests and seals. Our home is kept clean by vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice, with no toxic cleaners to be seen anywhere within our cupboards. We compost all of our biodegradable food and items, we grow our own vegetables and we recycle everything from tin cans and bottles to milk jugs and paper. Through our home office we stay energy efficient and we even implement costly penalties for anyone caught doing something 'un-green'.

It is amazing to think about it now, but a year ago we though going green could just include turning off lights and not wasting energy. It can, but we have learned there is so much more to it. There is a joy to making our own better, ice cream and soap scrubs. We enjoy the smell of fresh bread made in our home, and we take pride in mowing our lawn with just a manual lawnmower. Our minds have been altered by Our Green Year. We look around us now at the consumerism that has degraded our environment and realize that there is so much we can all do to help if we wanted to. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green, blog about it and educate others.

Through Our Green Year, we have had a lot of press as well. We have appeared on television three times, on the radio four times, several times in the newspaper and even more on the internet. However, 15-minutes of fame is not why we do this. We speak with the media because we want to spread our message about going green with small things.

One of the most common questions we get with Our Green Year is what are we going to do after it is all over. Well, with the end in sight and our daily blogs coming to an end, I only have one answer to that question, and it is we are just going to keep on trucking our green message and going green in our lives!"

Resources for Going Green:

Giving Living (green-living.com)

Green Living Tips (greenlivingtips.com)

G Living: Modern Green Lifestyle Blog (gliving.com) Making going green cool.

Green Living Magazine (www.greenlivingonline.com)

The Daily Green (thedailygreen.com)

Welcome to Nonprofit Awareness 2.0

Welcome to the next chapter of Nonprofit Awareness. After what has been a long hiatus, the site is back and better than ever. And to reflect this renewed commitment to the non-profit sector and its activities, Nonprofit Awareness has become Non-Profits Now.

It's my goal for this site to serve as a resource for non-profit professionals, donors, volunteers, and anyone interested in making a difference. As you borrow the site, you'll be able to explore various charities, and receive the latest news coming out of the non-profit community. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved, and the resources needed to make informed contributions.

Previous features will remain in the archive for your review. Keep checking throughout the week as more content is added to the site, and be sure to look out for the official site launch next Monday, October 18th.

Email for inquires and submissions.