Creating Hope – Make-A-Wish Foundation Launches New Campaign

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is launching a new fundraising campaign in advance of World Wish Day. Occurring every year on April 29th, World Wish Day commemorates the wish of Chris Grecious, a 7-year-old with leukemia, who dreamed of being a police officer. Chris’ wish in 1980 inspired the creation of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which has gone on to grant more than 500,000 wishes to children with critical illnesses all over the world.

Throughout April, the Make-A-Wish Foundation will run a fundraising campaign entitled “Don’t Wait for Hope. Create it.” This campaign acknowledges that the pandemic has been a devastating time for the families of children with critical illnesses, increasing their loneliness and isolation. Granting wishes to these children is more important than ever before, as it can restore their hope and joy at a particularly dark time.

President and CEO of Make-A-Wish America, Richard K. Davis explains, “With our new campaign, we are focused on conveying urgency and driving action because Make-A-Wish is uniquely qualified to deliver hope to children with critical illnesses and their families at a time when they need it most”.

Leading up to World Wish Day, national sponsors of Make-A-Wish such as Macy’s, Avis, and Keebler will demonstrate their support for the Foundation.

Local Teen Creates Philanthropic Organization

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, 13-year-old Liem Kaplan recognized an immediate need to help the homeless population. Kaplan, who lives in Sammamish, Washington, initiated The GivingHope Project to collect donations for the underprivileged.

Kaplan reached out to various local organizations, including family members, schools, community members, and local youth movements and the response was overwhelming. Kaplan describes delivering his first donations: “The streets were quiet and abandoned. I was excited and anxious and didn’t know if people would want masks. But seeing how grateful everyone was and how excited they were to see us made me realize how important it was for me figure out how to get enough supplies to everyone.”

Since the fall of 2020, Kaplan and his team of volunteers have distributed thousands of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hand sanitizer, bagged lunches, pairs of socks and more than 20,000 masks to the homeless population in his area. They receive donations from Florida, Pennsylvania, and the greater Washington area. The GivingHope Project also continues to donate kits containing necessary food and hygiene items for both the winter and summer. 

GivingTuesday is Gifted $10 Million from the Gates Foundation

In 2012, a simple idea turned into a global movement.

#GivingTuesday began in the 92nd Street Y in New York City as a proposal for people to perform good deeds for others on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Eight years later, the concept transformed into an independent nonprofit and collaborative effort to encourage giving and celebrate kindness.

In honor of the upcoming tenth anniversary of the #GivingTuesday initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $10 million to the organization. This is in addition to previous support from the Gates Foundation, which has amounted to $10.5 million over the years. Co-founder Melinda French Gates noted the importance of philanthropy, explaining that it is “the right thing to do and that anybody can do it…Anyone can be a giver. Everyone has resources to share and make the world a better place – whether it’s through time, money, expertise, or your voice.”  She hopes that philanthropy, and giving back as a whole, becomes more of a societal norm.

Asha Curran, CEO of GivingTuesday, expressed her appreciation saying that “It’s a really wonderful thing to see the partnering of big philanthropy and grassroots generosity, that those things don’t have to live in separate worlds and be viewed as totally separate things.”

Just last year, the GivingTuesday organization reported that over $2.7 billion donations were made on the designated Tuesday.

With the new grant from the Gates Foundation, GivingTuesday hopes to facilitate more giving worldwide while expanding the movement to additional countries and establishing thousands of campaigns.

Bill Gates Donates $20 Billion to Foundation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest and most impactful philanthropies. Even after the divorce of the couple in May 2021, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates agreed to continue to co-chair the foundation together for a two-year trial period. Both of them have also publicized their intentions to give over the majority of their wealth to the philanthropy.

On Wednesday, Bill Gates announced in a blog post that he is transferring $20 billion to the endowment of the foundation. He explained that the foundation will increase its spending from $6 billion per year prior to the pandemic to $9 billion by the end of 2026. The movement of funds and extra expenditure is due to increased needs in many areas, despite the worst of COVID being over. The foundation supports a wide range of causes, including global health, education, climate change, gender quality, and more.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, Bill Gates currently ranks as the world’s fourth-richest person, with a net worth of about $114 billion. In his blog post, he wrote: “I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for improving lives.” He asserted that, with time, he will move down on the list of the world’s richest people until he is eventually off the list altogether.

The dedication of Bill Gates, and of the foundation he and his ex-wife started over 20 years ago, is encouraging and important in current times. As Gates concluded in his blog post, “I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too.”

Beyond the Coffee Beans

As part of its Origin Grants program, Starbucks Corporation has invested over $14 million in nonprofits that help women and girls around the world. The company has just announced its goal to support an additional one million by 2030, largely focusing on communities that grow coffee, tea, and cocoa. One of its pilot programs includes working with women entrepreneurs in rural areas of Guatemala, in conjunction with the Wakami Foundation. The goal is to guide them to recruit their peers and produce top-notch marketable items that could potentially be sold globally. They are also developing plans which will use their agricultural backgrounds to raise and export new products.

Michelle Burns, Starbucks Executive Vice President of Global Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa and nonprofit Board Member, explains the rationale behind the project: “We have a vision to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all…[that] goes beyond farmers and farm workers to also supporting the well-being of all those in coffee communities, helping everyone thrive.” She and the Starbucks team are proud of the opportunities women and girls are being given to engage in leadership within their communities which can significantly impact their futures.

Jewelry That Gives Back

Sometimes you just want to purchase something because it’s pretty, or inexpensive, or goes with an outfit you already own. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, however, if we all considered how environmentally conscious and how charitable our purchases were?

One great example is a jewelry company called Awe Inspired. Founded in 2018 by cancer survivor Jill Johnson and her son Max, the company is one worth knowing. Their jewelry is made with the finest materials and uses only fair labor and sustainability.

One of the most impressive parts of Awe Inspired is their charitable efforts. They have, to date, given over $700,000 to organizations, donating 20% of all proceeds to their charitable partners. Each of their partners focuses on directly impacting the lives of women who have overcome adversity. This includes CancerCare, The American Nurses Foundation’s Coronavirus Fund for Nurses, Emily’s List, the NAACP, NAMI and RAINN.

It’s companies like Awe Inspired that allow people to make meaningful purchases that both benefit the purchaser and so many others in need. You can make a difference just by checking on the companies that you purchase from and seeing if they give generously from their profits. Everyone wins when they do.

Family-Owned Businesses Making Philanthropic Commitments

Family-owned companies are including philanthropy as a fundamental part of their business model, dedicating significant funds to worthy charities and causes.

Evan Metropoulos and Warren Buffett
Evan Metropoulos, left, with Warren Buffett. Metropoulos & Co. has signed Buffett’s Giving Pledge.

Evan Metropoulos, of Metropoulos & Co., says his family has translated its core values and principles to active charitable giving. The company became a signatory to The Giving Pledge, an initiative of billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, pledging more than half of the company’s wealth to philanthropy. According to Mr. Metropoulos, the company takes pride in its giving and its role in modeling good corporate practices.

“It has proven to be good for business, too. We are recruiting and keeping fantastic employees who are committed to what we stand for and give to. Our clients and the wider community want to be a part of generating positive change in the world.”

Evan Metropoulos, Metropoulos & Co.
van Metropoulos at the Clinton Foundation
Evan Metropoulos, left, with members of the Clinton family at a Clinton Foundation Millennium Network event.

What Have the Rich Given to COVID-19 Relief Efforts?

It’s certainly interesting to take a look at what the richest people in America do with their money. And when there is a crisis of the scale of COVID-19, how do they react? The Washington Post recently did a story about what the 50 richest Americans have been doing with their money during this crisis – and it’s worth a look.

As the article states, “But almost a third — 15 of them — have not announced any donations and declined to comment or did not reply to requests for comment.” Certainly, some of them like Bill Gates have given vast sums. Take a look for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Quarantine Wine for a Good Cause

We love seeing celebrities who are using their fame for great uses. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are two such celebrities who have recently paired with American wine retailer Nocking Point Wines. They have a great slogan – Wine With an Impact – and are promoting this wine with 100% of the profits helping COVID-19 relief. The wine they are selling is called Quarantine Pinot Noir and it’s $50 for two bottles (now that’s a good price!).

The proceeds will help four specific American charities: Give Directly, Direct Relief, Frontline Responders Fund and America’s Food Fund.

To that, we can raise our glass!

How the Rich are Giving Back

These are very difficult financial times. And while many of us are struggling, it’s heartwarming to see how those who don’t have to struggle are giving back. There are many people doing their part to help others, and we certainly can’t cover them all (that’s a good thing!). But we can offer a few heartwarming stories to get us through out day.

Zion Williamson: Zion, the most famous of the rookies this year, is offering to help. Knowing that the stadium in New Orleans isn’t opening for awhile, he has committed to helping to cover the salaries of the workers from the Smoothie King Center.

Donatella Versace and her daughter, Allegra Versace Beck are donating 200,000 euro to Milan’s San Raffaele hospital to help with the supply shortage there.

Laura Benanti has a cute one. Rather than focusing on money, she is focusing on disappointment. As a Broadway singer and actor, she understands that many kids out there missed out on being in their upcoming performances. She wrote on Twitter that she wants kids to post videos of their songs with the hashtag #SunshineSongs and then tag her and she will watch their performances.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian has decided to give up his salary for the next six months to avoid potential layoffs. Similarly, Columbia Outfitters CEO Tim Boyle has decided to cut his $3 million salary to $10,000 this year and to move all that money to his employees to keep them employed.

Let’s hope these stories, and many others like them, can lift us up in these trying times.