Charity

Bill Gates Is Giving $41.5 Million to Building a Better Toilet

By Jen Doll Wed., Jul. 20 2011 at 12:03 PM
Categories: $$$, Charity, International Affairs, Jen Doll, Technology, The Toilet Bowl

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The modern-day flush toilet, a norm for those of us in countries that have the infrastructure to support modern-day flush toilets, is actually not affordable in much of the developing world, a situation which leads to general yuckiness, along with diarrheal and other diseases, not to mention, death. What to do about this? Bill Gates is on the case! The Gates Foundation recently put forth a challenge to assorted universities around the world "to reinvent the toilet as a stand-alone unit without piped-in water, a sewer connection, or outside electricity--all for less than 5 cents a day." They're giving $41.5 million to the creation of such. Current proposals include"toilets powered by heat, microwaves or solar panels." [LAT]

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Charity

GLAAD Stops Supporting AT&T Merger with T-Mobile

By Steven Thrasher Thu., Jul. 14 2011 at 8:52 AM
Categories: Charity, LGBTQ, Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, Steven Thrasher

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Last month, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation got in a lot of trouble when they backed a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, after their full relationship with Ma Bell was exposed. GLAAD had received $50,000 from AT&T in donations and had a former AT&T executive and lobbyist on its board. The organization sent out a letter opposing net-neutrality before attempting to withdraw that letter.

In the aftermath, GLAAD's Executive Director and multiple board members resigned. Now, GLAAD has flipped on net-neutrality again, releasing a statement supporting an open internet, as well as declaring a neutral position on the AT&T deal.

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Charity

Rick Jacobs, Founder of the Courage Campaign, On Pepsi and Corporate Giving

By Steven Thrasher Thu., Jul. 14 2011 at 7:00 AM
Categories: Advertising, Charity, Follow-Up, LGBTQ, Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, Q&A, Steven Thrasher, The Way We Advertise Now

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Steven Thrasher
Jacobs at the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal signing ceremony
Last week, we wrote about how the Courage Campaign won $50,000 from the Pepsi Challenge, and our concern about the ways in which Pepsi was able to use an LGBT advocacy group to market its product in the non-profit arena. It seemed especially alarming given how the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation had imploded just a few weeks before, after its $50,000 donation from AT&T tainted its actions. (UPDATE: GLAAD has formally withdrawn its endorsement of the AT&T deal.)

Rick Jacobs, the founder and chair of the Courage Campaign, reached out to us shortly after the story was posted. Surprisingly, he thought there was a "zero percent chance that you're not absolutely right that this is a way for Pepsi to advertise." But he also maintained that it was a very different situation at the Courage Campaign than at GLAAD.

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Internet

Smash Mouth Will Eat the Eggs; Guy Fieri May Prepare Them

By Willis Plummer Tue., Jul. 12 2011 at 3:26 PM
Categories: Charity, Cool Hand Luke, Eggs, Internet, Internet Trolls, Smash Mouth, Willis Plummer, Winners!

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Last week, we told you about one man's mission to get Steve Harwell, the lead singer of washed-up alternative rock band Smash Mouth, to eat two dozen eggs. A month after John Hendren tweeted at Smash Mouth for the first time, they accepted his challenge on the condition that fans donate $10,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In one short week, that goal was exceeded by enthusiastic fans. Today, Harwell told the Huffington Post that he wants to ask his friend Guy Fieri to prepare the eggs. There is also discussion of how Harwell likes his eggs, but if he's going to do it right, they had better be hardboiled like in Cool Hand Luke.

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Charity

Courage Campaign and Pepsi: Is $50K the New Sell Out Price for LGBT Non-Profits?

By Steven Thrasher Thu., Jul. 7 2011 at 10:47 AM
Categories: Charity, Gay Rights, LGBTQ, Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, Steven Thrasher

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Yesterday, we got an email from the Courage Campaign with the subject line, "We won! Here's what's next." We assumed it would be a belated fundraising appeal responding to New York's Marriage Equality Act, asking for donations to fight on the federal level.

Instead, what we found when we opened the email was, largely, a cleverly disguised ad for Pepsi. Seriously. And in the same way we recently discovered how being gay mysteriously has something to do with supporting corporate telecom mergers, we learned that drinking Pepsi also has something to do with stopping anti-LGBT bullying.

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The Internet

Eat the Eggs Please, Smash Mouth! Twitter Joke Turns to Charity (and Comic) Gold

By Willis Plummer Wed., Jul. 6 2011 at 2:43 PM
Categories: Charity, Cool Hand Luke, Eggs, Smash Mouth, The Internet, Willis Plummer

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Back on June 3, one man on Twitter started what would soon become an internet phenomenon when he tweeted at the legendary alternative-rock group Smash Mouth (best known for their work on the soundtrack of Shrek and their brief appearance in Rat Race) offering the lead singer, Steve Harwell, $20 to eat 24 eggs. Yesterday, the band accepted the challenge, and in 24 hours, they have raised nearly $6,000 for St. Jude Children's Hospital.

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Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Bribes NYC With $4 Million Donation

By Willis Plummer Wed., Jul. 6 2011 at 12:49 PM
Categories: Bloomberg, Charity, Wal-Mart

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Bloomberg referred to Wal-Mart as "one of the great corporate citizens in this country" during a press conference yesterday to announce the company's four million dollar donation to New York City's Youth Employment Program. The donation will create 3,400 jobs, and Bloomberg says that's all that matters. While many are suspicious that this donation is part of Wal-Mart's campaign to open up a NYC location, Michelle Gilliard, a representative for the company's philanthropic division, insisted that the money was simply part of an ongoing effort to help children and "make a difference in the lives of New Yorkers."

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Charity

Chris Coon, a Homeless Man, Is Trying to Ask a Million People for a Dollar

By Jen Doll Mon., Jun. 27 2011 at 4:13 PM
Categories: Charity, City Life, Homeless, Jen Doll, Technology

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Today the New York Times City Room blog covers the story of Chris Coon, who you may have seen with a clipboard talking to folks in Union Square recently. Coon, who is 29 and has two kids -- and is homeless -- has undertaken a kind of Internet-era crowdsourcing plan of asking a million people for money. He has a website (a woman gave him a laptop after hearing about his experiment) called AskAMillion, upon which he explains that "this is A Social Experiment to both Help me to get out of Homelessness, take care of my two daughters and to take care of my daily living."

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Fights

Donald Trump vs. Jerry Seinfeld: What's the Deal With Demagoguery in Public Discourse?

By Nick Greene Thu., Apr. 21 2011 at 4:11 PM
Categories: Charity, Donald Trump, Fights, Nick Greene, Politics

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Jerry Seinfeld has ended up in Donald Trump's doghouse after pulling out of a performance for the Donald's son's charity foundation. Yahoo reports that Seinfeld cited Trump's persistent attacks on Obama's citizenship as the reason he backed out of the fundraiser that was to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital. (He did make a donation to both the hospital and The Eric Trump Foundation despite the pull-out.) Seinfeld said he "feels this kind of demagoguery has no place in public discourse." Trump struck back harder than the residents of Del Boca Vista after finding out their Wizard tip calculators were phony. WARNING: Seinfeld references ahead.

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Charity

What Is the Red Cross Doing With Your Donations to Japan?

By Jen Doll Tue., Mar. 15 2011 at 7:36 PM
Categories: Charity, Japan, Jen Doll, People Doing Good Things, Red Cross

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Earlier today, we were asked some questions about how organizations like the Red Cross are dealing with donations received for Japan. Specifically, how long do those text donations take to reach aid organizations? Are donations even reaching Japan, and will they? Gizmodo addressed the question as well in a post titled "Did Your Donation Really Reach Japan? (Probably Not.)" Meanwhile, others have made the case for not donating. So, what's the deal? We got in touch with Mat Morgan at the Red Cross for some explanation of what's going on.

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