Nuru helps train communities to build and maintain local infrastructures.

OneBigGame is altering the model for video game production by publishing games for charity.

Non-profits like MarkProf Foundation are filling the marketing education gap in the Philippines and boosting employment while they’re at it.

Casey Trees, a non-profit dedicated to planting trees in the Washington DC area, recently unveiled a new program to mulch and water trees with custom bikes fitted with trailers.  The Water-by-Cycle project is the first of its type in the nation and the inaugural ride allowed tree care over a wider range than previously possible.  The custom bike trailers carry hoses that hook up to city fire hydrants and have full permission from the DC Water and Sewage Authority.  The bikes allow for the field crew to water newer trees with specialized care without requiring a parking spot or a [...]

While most US banks these days face a tarnished image in eyes of consumers,  there is a good opportunity for small banks to distinguish themselves from the greedy giants. Umpqua bank based on the west coast is currently holding an online election called ‘Click 4A Cause’. VIsitors to the SaveHard SpendSmart site can vote for one of three community projects run by local non-profit groups. Each vote translates to a dollar that Umpqua will donate to each of the projects. The winning project will get a $15,000 check. Visitor can vote once each week until Sept 2nd when the final [...]

Seek, an Australian online job search firm, is finding social opportunities in this economic crisis. The company, with the help of The Boston Consulting Group, is using its technology platform to match volunteer do-gooders with non-profit organizations all over the country.

Australia already has a long-established history of corporations participating in community causes but the recent scarcity of jobs, the persistent drought and the tragic bushfires that erupted earlier this year is increasing national demand to reach out. Seek Volunteer – which claims to earn no revenues for its services – seems to have come at just the right time judging [...]

RuralLight is a Philippine-based non-profit organization that’s using renewable energy to create sustainable businesses, improve local education and reduce poverty while keeping the environmental impact carbon-neutral. There are still 2,400 villages in the country living off the grid and the government is finding it too expensive to hook them up to the power plants. This is because the multi-island structure of the Philippines would require extending electrical cables across water, which is simply too costly. Alternatives such as solar panels and geothermal energy will allow these communities the opportunity to finally integrate with the mainstream economy by providing them with [...]

Harvard has recently launched a new one year academic program to serve the growing number of retired professionals who aren’t ready to lead lives filled with early bird specials and afternoon golf games, but instead want to involve themselves with creating social change.
The program, called the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative, is a collaboration among five of the university’s professional schools — business, law, government, education and public health. It is seen as a next stage for universities, beyond undergraduate and then graduate and professional schools.
If successful, Harvard professors say, it can serve as a model for schools at other universities, [...]