Baby Boomers have often been characterized as the "Me Generation," self-centered, self-indulgent, and focused only on their own happiness. Not so, according to a report released by the AARP. In reality, 70% of Boomers feel a responsibility to make the world a better place, 57% try to buy from companies that give back to their communities, and 24% recently volunteered for a charitable cause.

I wonder, though, if a survey of Boomer attitudes would have shown the same results two decades ago, during the materialistic 80's. As a Boomer myself, I suspect my personal experience mirrors that of my generation. I spent much of the 80's trying to establish myself in a career and build some assets. By the early 90's, I had acquired a decent education, some marketable skills, and a healthy bank account.

What happened next was that I started to look around for ways to make the world a better place, give back to my community, and volunteer time for causes I cared about, just as the report indicates.

The sheer weight of our numbers in the Boomer generation has swept the rest of society along with us as we have grown and matured. When we were busy finding ourselves in the 70's, the human potential movement blossomed. As we focused on establishing ourselves in the world of work in the 80's, we created a booming economy. The 90's, a decade that has yet to be labeled with one defining characteristic, is when we began to take stock of ourselves once again. And we concluded that the answer to "is that all there is?" was no, that there had to be something more to life than making money and raising families.

So now in 2009, what is the prevailing set of Boomer attitudes? In Maslow's classic hierarchy of human needs, when people are able to satisfy their basic needs for food, shelter, and safety, they first strive for belonging, then for esteem, and finally for self-actualization. This top-of-the-pyramid state includes a focus on others, desire for a mission in life, and kinship with all of mankind.

This is where the most influential generation of the modern era now finds itself -- in a state of mind, and of our own personal development, where making the world a better place is not just a nice thing to do, but our primary goal. And if this Boomer imperative is anything like the others that have gone before it, there's a good chance that the rest of society will follow our lead.

Labels: life purpose, social action, volunteering

In 8th century India, the prince Shantideva renounced worldly life and composed the Buddhist teachings known as The Way of the Bodhisattva. Shantideva acknowledged the vast suffering that pervaded his world. People everywhere were afflicted by war, hunger, poverty, disease, and sorrow. As if life itself weren't harsh enough, humans were causing harm to each other daily through aggression, ignorance, and greed. Sound familiar?

Shantideva named just one source as the cause of all this suffering: "All the harm with which this world is rife, all fear and suffering that there is, clinging to the ‘I' has caused it! What am I to do with this great demon?" His solution was simple, although not easy. In The Way of the Bodhisattva, he advocates a way of life dedicated to serving not ourselves, but our fellow humans.

Writing about Shantideva and the bodhisattva path, Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron says, "When I look at the state of the world today, I know his message could not possibly be more timely." In Chodron's book No Time to Lose, a modern commentary on Shantideva's text, she defines bodhisattvas as spiritual warriors who long to alleviate not just their own suffering, but that of others. Opening with a chapter titled "People Like Us Can Make a Difference," Chodron writes, "Martin Luther King Jr. exemplified this kind of longing. He knew that happiness depended on healing the whole situation. Taking sides -- black or white, abusers or abused -- only perpetuates the suffering. For me to be healed, everyone has to be healed."

On Monday, January 19, 2009, president-elect Obama has asked that we once again honor the memory of Dr. King with a national Day of Service. This year's King Day of Service is expected to be the largest ever, and it's not too late to get involved. Visit USAService.org to find a service event near you.

A day of service is a generous act, and we should all feel proud to participate. But what King, Chodron, and Shantideva propose is a life of service. Shantideva asks us, "Since I and other beings both, in fleeing suffering are equal and alike, what difference is there to distinguish us, that I should save myself and not the other?"

This is the bodhisattva ideal. The world is a mess. The world has always been a mess. But there is something we can do to lessen our suffering, and that is to strive to alleviate the suffering of others, whenever and wherever we can. And there's no time to lose. In the words of Dr. King, "Life's most urgent question is: what are you doing for others?"

Labels: buddhism, life purpose, social action, volunteering

It's hard to set out on your hero's journey when you aren't sure where you are going. If I had to name the one thing that prevents more bright, talented people from making a difference in the world than any other, I'd say it was not knowing what the difference is they truly want to make.

It seems that most of us would-be heroes are listening very hard for The Call -- the inspired message that will tell us once and for all what we are supposed to do with our lives -- but we aren't quite sure how to recognize the real thing. One morning you feel unusually determined to do something about global warming and you wonder, "Is this it? Have I heard The Call now?"

But when you find yourself the next day strongly pulled toward a project to help teenage runaways, you think, "I guess that global warming idea wasn't the real thing. Maybe this is it." And your plans to take action about global warming go out the window. But you're still not sure about helping those teenage runaways. After all, you were wrong before about hearing The Call. Maybe you had better wait and see how you feel tomorrow.

As someone who has heard and acted on more than one inspired message in the course of a lifetime, here's my experience with the "how to be sure" question. You can only ever know what is right for you today... or maybe this hour, or this minute.

There is a moment on each journey when we take the step that sets things in motion which prevent our easy retreat. And I think that often it is the mood we are in at the very moment we take that step that determines the journey we go on.

There is probably no single mission in life that will hold your attention forever. There may not be just one mission that will satisfy you completely for even a short time. But one thing is sure -- if you wait until you know without a doubt what that mission is, you will also be waiting to do what good you can in the world in the meantime.

I say if there is a mess in front of you and your hand lights upon a broom, pick it up and start sweeping. Perhaps ultimately a mop might do a better job, or even a shovel. But the longer you wait to decide what tool to use, the longer the mess will be there.

I don't mean to suggest you should just throw a dart at a random list of ways to help the world. But you have probably already done a lot of studying and thinking and listening about what your mission in life should be. Most people I talk to are seriously considering no more than a handful of different ideas at any one time.

What I am suggesting, though, is that you should allow yourself to be moved in the direction of action regarding one of these ways to be of service the next time some useful action presents itself to you.

There will be a moment when that action will turn into a commitment and then there will be another point when you can decide if the direction you are going feels right. Even after you commit, most commitments are negotiable. Once you have set upon a course, you can usually still change it, although it becomes harder to do the further along you go.

But since it's likely that no decision you make will be permanent anyway, why not simply choose to make one based on what is calling to you most in that moment? Then you will act, and in acting, you will learn more. After deciding, you will feel differently than before you decided, and that too, you will learn from. When you decide and act, you will tell people about your choice, and from their reactions (and from your own when you tell them), you will learn still more.

And while you are learning these things, you will simultaneously be contributing your unique talents in the direction of cleaning up a mess that is much in need of cleaning.

In many ways, I think there is little effort in acting to clean up the world's messes that is truly wasted. If you decide to work helping runaways for a time and then decide it is not for you, the runaways and you will still benefit. In fact, if you were to work or volunteer on a different path of service every month for the rest of your life, you and the world would still benefit.

In the aftermath of the South Asian tsunami, I read a news report that created a subtle but profound shift in my thinking on this issue of waiting to be sure about the best way to be of service.

A village leader in the Aceh province of Indonesia was interviewed by a journalist two weeks after the tsunami. "How much foreign aid is reaching your village?" the journalist asked.

"We can't understand it," the elder replied. "All we see are journalists and aid agency workers making studies. People come with cameras and clipboards and ask many questions. Then they leave and never come back. We need food, we need water. People are dying. Please stop sending people with questions about what we need and send us some help."

Labels: life purpose, social action, volunteering

On Monday, Jan 15, the U.S. will celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a national holiday. But what many Americans don't realize is that in 1994, Congress designated the King Holiday as a national day of volunteer service. Instead of just taking a day off from work or school, Americans of all backgrounds and ages are encouraged to honor Dr. King's memory by turning their concerns into positive action.

Each year on the King Day of Service, hundreds of thousands of Americans volunteer in their communities, building homes, painting schools, delivering meals, and teaching children about Dr. King's life. Many projects started on King Day continue to involve volunteers long after the holiday and benefit their communities year-round.

It's not too late to find a volunteer opportunity for yourself this coming Monday. You can find local organizations sponsoring King Day projects on the King Day of Service website, or through the USA Freedom Corps or the Corporation for National and Community Service, which sponsors projects such as AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, Get Involved! and Learn and Serve America.

In the words of this year's presidential proclamation of the holiday, this can be a day for us all to "...recommit ourselves to the dream to which Dr. King devoted his life -- an America where the dignity of every person is respected; where people are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character; and where the hope of a better tomorrow is in every neighborhood."

Labels: social action, volunteering

In the Skoll Foundation’s Social Edge newsletter this week, I discovered the book Be Bold by Cheryl L. Dorsey and Lara Galinsky. “The urge to live a life of meaning,” the authors say, “is one of our most elemental desires as human beings. We want to make a difference in the world; we need to leave our footprint in the sands of time to mark our existence. By honoring the beliefs and values we hold dear, we allow ourselves to live lives that matter.”

In less than 100 pages, Dorsey and Galinsky share powerful concepts like having the “gall to think big” and choosing to be “bold as a career choice.” They remind us: “Never forget that doing nothing is as much a choice as doing something. Choosing to get engaged in a cause that you deeply care about or launching a career in the nonprofit sector are not only courageous acts of service, but also the most powerful weapon against the horrors and injustices of the world that require indifference, inaction, and silence to thrive.”

You can download at no charge the preface and introduction to the book, as well as a Be Bold personal journal, from the Be Bold website if you join their free virtual community of readers and social change advocates. Be Bold carries a valuable and timely message to would-be heroes everywhere.

Labels: life purpose, social action, volunteering

I mentioned in my last post that I had come to a decision to focus on just one cause for all of my personal volunteer efforts and donations. By funneling my charitable energy into a single channel, I believe I can make more of a difference. I'd like to share with you what that cause is, and why I picked it.

One of my criteria for supporting a charitable project has always been that it has an aspect of teaching people how to fish. Over the past few years, I've been drawn to support organizations like Heifer International, who gives farm animals to villagers instead of food, and requires that each recipient of an animal give its first offspring to another family. Or Kiva, where you can make microloans to entrepreneur in the developing world to them build a business to support their family and create local jobs.

I love this sort of social trim-tabbing. Trim tabs are the small surfaces on the rudders and ailerons of boats and planes that can steer the whole vehicle with tiny movements. Buckminster Fuller used the term to describe people who seek to achieve major social change with minimum effort, by choosing carefully where to apply pressure.

A second yardstick I've used to choose my causes has been that I must feel a visceral connection to the people being helped and the specific way in which help is being delivered. Entrepreneurship projects gain my attention because I'm an entrepreneur who had to struggle to be successful myself. I worked on several Katrina relief projects because I empathized so deeply with the feelings of abandonment experienced by hurricane survivors when the help they were counting on didn't arrive.

My third rule has been that I must be able to connect what I give to an impact I can measure. In looking for a place to make contributions after the Asian tsunami, I chose to donate to a group delivering buckets of supplies to the Indonesian coast in small boats, instead of giving my money to the Red Cross. The Indonesian group was able to tell me exactly how many people my contribution would help, and how it would get to them.

So here's the cause I've found that meets all three of these personal standards of mine, and more -- send girls to school.

In many countries in the developing world, education isn't free. Families must pay school fees to local governments, buy uniforms, books, and supplies, and do without the income of a child who isn't working. Faced with tough decisions about how to spend scarce resources, many families choose to send boys to school, but keep girls at home and put them to work.

However, when girls do get an education, the impact on the family, village, and entire nation can be dramatic. Consider these facts:
o For every year a girl remains in school, her wages increase by 20%, and she has 10% fewer children
o A child whose mother attends five years of school has a 40% lower mortality risk
o For every two years a girl stays in school, the children she raises stay in school another year
o You can send a girl to school for an entire year with a donation as small as $75

According to UNICEF, educating girls is the best vehicle available for eradicating global poverty. The World Bank says: "Educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment in the developing world." If you're interested in learning more about this topic, I've set up a Squidoo lens about it at www.squidoo.com/sendgirlstoschool launched a project to support this cause at www.sendgirlstoschool.org.

I'm sure you can see how this cause passes my tests for trim-tabbing and measurability. And as for the personal connection test, well... I'm a high school dropout who eventually worked my way through college with no help from my family. Helping girls get an education feels pretty personal to me.

Labels: social action, social entrepreneurs, volunteering

For the past month, I've been deeply involved in four different Katrina relief projects: the directory on the "Hero" site of corporate and celebrity donors who will match your aid donations, the Get Hired Now! project to provide free job club kits to relief agencies serving unemployed Katrina survivors, the Volunteers for Careers project to offer free career coaching and resume writing to Katrina survivors, and the beginnings of a fourth project to aid economic recovery in New Orleans.

What I'm finding remarkable about this turn of events is that before Hurricane Katrina struck, I would have told you I was much too busy to take on any additional projects. And yet, somehow, I found the time for four.

At first, I found myself feeling quite overwhelmed. How could I possibly take on all this and still find time to work, eat, sleep, and squeeze in a little down time? But gradually, I began to adjust. Some things slid down the priority list and didn't get done (laundry, for example). Others got done more quickly and less thoroughly than usual (like reading the mail). I also found myself delegating more. As media chair for Volunteers for Careers, I sent out over 700 press releases, and made about 300 phone calls to media outlets. Only I didn't do it. Instead, because I didn't have anywhere near enough time to do all that, I found myself recruiting a team of five people to send the releases and make the calls. So it got done in two days, instead of taking two weeks and all of my time.

As a result of all this high-speed activity focused on making a difference quickly, I notice that instead of feeling exhausted, I feel energized. This increased volume of work and added responsibility isn't making me suffer; it's making me feel good. I can see that my efforts are contributing something valuable to the lives of others, and that in turn is contributing to my own wellbeing. So what might my experience suggest to you about some of the good works you have been putting off doing?

My thanks to everyone who contributed to hurricane relief through one of the matching donors I have been promoting. It's because of you that most of these offers have been fully funded, doubling the level of contributions available for aid to Katrina survivors. If you have a few more dollars available to give, there are some offers still available where you can have your relief contribution matched by someone with deeper pockets. For example, Barry Manilow is still accepting contributions on his foundation's web site, and promising to do additional fundraising if necessary to continue matching every dollar you give.

Thanks also to everyone who has signed up to volunteer for the Volunteers for Careers project. We have well over 700 career coach volunteers now, and while more are always welcome, our more pressing need is for help with letting people know that this wonderful service exists. If you are a PR or web marketing professional with a couple of hours to spare, please email me if you would like to help.

Labels: social action, volunteering

Career coaches, counselors, resume writers, and PR professionals, your help is needed. More than houses and lives were swept away by Hurricane Katrina. Thousands of jobs -- impacting people’s livelihood and sense of purpose -- were also destroyed in Katrina’s wake. Last week alone, new unemployment claims jumped by 78,000. Thousands of men and women (white-collar and blue-collar alike) are now dealing with the reality of unexpected job loss.

Volunteers For Careers was originated by leaders of Professional Resume Writing & Research Association, National Resume Writers’ Association, and Career Masters Institute following the tragedy of 9/11. Now this volunteer coalition has been re-launched with the support of leaders of additional career organizations across the country, including the Association of Career Professionals International, the Association of Online Career and Resume Professionals, the National Career Development Association, and Parachute Associates.

Here’s what you can do to help:

1. Register with us to offer your expertise to those in need. Go to www.VolunteersForCareers.com and click "Become a Volunteer." You can register to help in one or more of these areas: resume writing, job search strategy, and/or career transition. We helped several thousand job seekers in response to 9/11. Let’s see if we can top those numbers this time, so that we can meet our goal of assisting more than 10,000!

2. Share your expertise and network with those coordinating this initiative. After you've registered as a volunteer, please visit www.VolunteersForCareers.com/forum/ where you can contribute to a committee (media, public agency outreach, volunteer liaison, etc.), as well as post ideas, contacts, resources, and other information that will help us to get the word out and build momentum.

3. PR professionals, we need your help in spreading the word about this no-cost offer to people in need. We have media tools prepared and spokespeople ready, but need some pinpoint assistance in identifying and contacting specific media outlets. Please email me if you can help, even if only for an hour or two.

4. Forward this email to your career or PR colleagues who might not have received it.

5. If you have contacts at any organizations that are helping Katrina victims and think they might be willing to add Volunteers For Careers to their resource list, please send them a quick email asking for their assistance and directing them to www.volunteersforcareers.com.

Volunteers can register to serve only one client or as many clients as you like. (After registering, you can also request additional job-seekers at a later date if you find that your schedule will accommodate more Katrina clients.) Once a client match has been made by the Volunteers for Careers system, you will receive an email providing contact information so that you can get in touch with your client. In most cases, services will be provided long-distance.

Because of the extensive scope of need, this is CAREER TRIAGE! You are not expected to provide long-term, in-depth services. Our goal is to help people get back to work as fast as possible!

Thank you for giving of your time and talents to make a difference in the lives of individuals who have experienced job loss as a result of Hurricane Katrina. We look forward to hearing the success stories of how our efforts made a difference and impacted the lives of our fellow citizens!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead

Labels: social action, volunteering

In author Debbie Ford's latest newsletter, she shares these thoughts about aiding victims of Hurricane Katrina: "Many people give so much to so many, already. Perhaps you're one of them. It may not be appropriate for you to do more than you already have done in this situation. But if you too feel that ache, keep looking. Maybe there is more to give - and in ways that may surprise you... today I will search until I find a time and place to donate my skills so that I can join forces with the heroes who are giving of themselves so selflessly in this hour of need. There is a hero alive in each one of us. Heroes focus on what can be done rather than what wasn't done. Heroes take themselves out of their comfort zone in order to make someone else comfortable. Heroes open up their homes and their hearts to those in need... Today one small choice, one action, can make you someone else's hero."

There's no requirement that you do more. We all have our own lives, concerns, and challenges, which may already be great. But Debbie's words are an invitation to look one more time and see what else and where else you may be able to contribute. You may have already given money (and if not, please see my list of organizations which are matching donations made for flood aid). But if you have a little time, check with VolunteerMatch, the "volunteers" section of your local Craigslist, your favorite local charity, your professional association, or your church to see where just a few hours could make a difference.

Technorati tags: Hurricane Katrina, flood aid, matching donations

Labels: heroism, social action, volunteering

First, thanks to everyone who has sent me updates to my list of organizations who are matching donations made by individuals to Hurricane Katrina flood aid. The list is growing daily, and your efforts are helping to encourage more people to donate cash and making sure each of these generous corporate offers is fully used. Keep 'em coming.

Many heroes are emerging in the relief effort, and I've been finding inspiration in stories about people who are finding a place they can make a difference, and just doing it.

On CNN last night, I watched an interview with three Duke University students who couldn't stand to watch so many people suffering, so they drove to New Orleans and evacuated seven survivors in their car.

In Southern California, Sidney Ray organized a group of people in just six days to fill twelve semi trailers with donations for Katrina victims. Her idea is now being duplicated in Washington DC, West Palm Beach, FL, and Chicago.

A six-year-old boy looked after a group of six other children aged five months to three years who had all been stranded in downtown New Orleans after they were separated from their parents during evacuation.

Four youngsters in Norwalk, CT raised $11,000 for relief with a bake sale where they sold chocolate chip cookies for as much as $250.

Twenty-year-old Jabbar Gibson commandeered a New Orleans school bus and drove 60 or so survivors to Houston, picking up stranded people along the way.

Let these stories inspire you, too, to find something that one person can do, and make it happen.

Technorati tags: Hurricane Katrina, flood aid, matching donations

Labels: hero stories, social action, volunteering

The magnitude of the human disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina begs for the emergence of heroes. The anguish of over a million people displaced from their homes and grieving is calling to us to step into our own heroism and do what we can. There are many conversations taking place in the media and in our homes and workplaces about what went wrong with the relief effort and who is responsible. While I, too, am both sad and angry about this, where I am choosing to focus my energy now is to how we can help those who are still suffering.

For every story of personal tragedy and government incompetence, there is a story of inspiration like this one. Across the country and around the world, individuals are finding ways to take positive action. As I wrote recently on the topic of optimism in bad times, this is the direction I would invite all would-be heroes to look in the coming days and weeks.

As my own contribution to relief efforts, I will continue to update my list of organizations matching donations made to Katrina flood aid, so people who wish to contribute funds to this massive effort can double their gift. If you have a relief project you would like to publicize or a inspirational story about those who are helping, please post a comment.

Technorati tags: Hurricane Katrina, flood aid, matching donations

Labels: hero stories, social action, volunteering

The tsunami recovery project I've been involved with lately suffered a serious setback when the aid vessel we were raising funds for sank off the coast of Indonesia. The Endless Sun, with 20 volunteers and crew aboard, struck an uncharted coral reef and went down fully loaded with relief supplies.

Everyone on the boat survived, but one of the volunteers tells a tragic story of how no one helped them to shore, but instead scrambled for a share of the supplies floating in the water. Imagine this happened to you -- you're a lawyer from Australia volunteering your time and travelling to Aceh at your own expense to aid tsunami and earthquake victims, your ship sinks, and the people you are there to help leave you to drown and rescue bags of rice instead.

What would be the impact on you of this experience? Would you return to your own country, shaken, and decide you had better look after yourself in the future instead of trying to help others? Or would you reflect on how desperate those villagers must have been to value rice over their fellow humans, and redouble your efforts to be of service to them?

Winston Churchill once said, "Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." Perhaps that attitude is one of the hero's secrets.

P.S. Due to the loss of the Endless Sun and a variety of other factors, the tsunami recovery fundraiser I mentioned in my last post is being postponed to a later date.

Labels: heroism, social action, volunteering

The tsunami disaster in South Asia is already starting to disappear from the headlines. The drama of the early rescues and heartbreaks has faded, so the media are turning their attention elsewhere. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the death toll is still climbing, and as many as one million people are still homeless.

Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the tsunami, with over 100,000 dead so far. But the tragedy is far from over. Entire villages were swept from the earth, and the people who survived were left with no food, shelter, or clean water. Relief organizations from around the globe are helping with their immediate needs, but the long-term view is bleak. These survivors have lost their entire means of livelihood.

The environmental devastation caused by the tsunami has wiped out the rice fields and much of the fishing industry, in a country where most people live on rice and fish. It may take years for the land and sea to recover. The small businesses and cottage industries that used to supply jobs for people outside of farming and fishing are all gone. Their shops, inventory, and equipment are destroyed, and they have no source of funds to rebuild. It's going to take a lot more than emergency aid for this country to survive.

What the people of Indonesia need now is to regain a way to support themselves. Instead of gathering in refugee camps and lining up for handouts, they want to return home and go back to work. But what paying work is there for them to do?

Here's where you get to be a hero. I serve on the board of a nonprofit called Global Initiative for Entrepreneurship. Before the tsunami struck, we had begun a pilot project in Indonesia to help address global poverty through the vehicle of microenterprise. By helping people in developing countries start and expand small businesses, we create jobs where none exist. And we need your help.

One way you can help us is by donating by check or credit card. No donation is too small. I know you have seen many requests for tsunami relief donations over the last two weeks, but our goal is not just relief; it's recovery.

We also need volunteers. If you have skills in any of the following areas and can spare just a few hours, please email Global Initiative to find out how you can help us with: proposal writing, fundraising, graphic design, web design, copywriting, editing, financial analysis, business planning, import/export, product sales, or program management. Any nonprofit experience is a real plus.

I know many of you reading this are coaches and trainers, and soon we'll have a role for you to play, too, so stay tuned. This is a project where just a small contribution of time or money can make a big difference, so please pass the word about it to others you think may be interested.

Labels: social action, social entrepreneurs, volunteering

Recently, a member of the Get Clients NOW! online community posed the group a question. There were some social issues she cared very much about and she wanted to address them somehow in her professional work. I hear this desire often from self-employed professionals. Having already taken the first step toward choosing how they spend more of their time by opting to work for themselves, now they wonder, "Can I make a living by doing what I really want to do and also give back?

I think this is a real possibility for professionals who work for themselves. Here is how I answered the member's question.

There are many ways of incorporating issues you are passionate about into your business enterprise. Some of them involve earning money directly from working on the issues and others do not. For example:

o Offering your professional services to nonprofit organizations pro bono, at a reduced fee (paid for by the agency but free to the recipients), or at full fee (paid for by a grant to the sponsoring agency). A hypnotherapist concerned about social conditions in the country she emigrated from could offer her services to victims of trauma arriving in the U.S. as refugees.

o Speaking or writing about the issues that concern you either on a paid basis or in return for promotional opportunities for you and your business. You can talk about the issues and promote your business at the same time to those who read your articles or hear you speak. This weblog allows me to talk about non-business issues that interest me while still receiving promotional benefit by gaining more visibility with new readers.

o Starting a project of your own to help others that emphasizes your professional skills and gains visibility for your business. Often this can involve partnering with an existing nonprofit or a business who can provide some financing. Steven Van Yoder's Global Initiative for Entrepreneurship is a great example of this strategy.

o Using the programs or events of your business as fundraisers to benefit a cause that concerns you. I've done this frequently for causes like Heifer International or coaching legislation in Colorado.

o Offering resources your business has to groups who need them, e.g. a page on your website or meeting space in your office.

o Concentrating on making your business profitable with the goal of being able to volunteer more of your time and money to important causes.

These are just a few ideas for business owners to begin incorporating the concerns they have about the larger world into their existing enterprise. If you want to move in this direction, pick just one idea to start with so you can begin making a difference right away. It really is possible to make a good living and make a valuable contribution at the same time.

Labels: social action, social entrepreneurs, volunteering