To-Do List Before Dec 31

Before I get into a pithy 2010 blog post, I'm going to make one last pitch for your help. With a few days left before New Years, I've got a few quick ideas for how to spend your time - friendraising and fundraising for us!

• Give a personal cash donation to Sister Cities International. If you’ve already given, can you give again? Visit www.sister-cities.org/donate. (When it asks, "How'd you hear about us?" mention my blog.)
• Do some post-holiday shopping at Amazon.com by using our Sister Cities International link so we receive a donation back. Visit www.sister-cities.org/marketplace/index.cfm. (Save this link, you can use this link any time during the year for your online shopping needs.)
• Send an email to all your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and LinkedIn associates asking them to donate to Sister Cities International. Send them to www.sister-cities.org/donate.   
• Ask 2 of your friends who you know would be interested in helping advance world peace. Send them a personal note and ask them to visit www.sister-cities.org/donate. (This actually works, I know it sounds ancient, but it's VERY effective.)
• Check with your employer/company to see if they will match your donation. Visit www.giveto.psu.edu/WaysToGive/MatchingGifts/index.html.

To all of you who have given a contribution to Sister Cities International - thank you.

Honoring Corporate Commitments: Google

Each year Sister Cities International recognizes one company for their commitment to philanthropic investments in the international nonprofit sector. Past honorees include Motorola, AECOM, and CITRIX. This summer we honored Google with Sister Cities International’s Global Corporate Responsibility Award.

Since our conference was abroad, the company was unable to send a representative to attend the event, so I had the chance to visit Google’s headquarters this fall and present the award to Jessica Vaughan, a program manager for Google Grants (pictured above). Below you’ll find our short description of Google's recent philanthropic accomplishments:

Google aspires to use the power of information and technology to address the global challenges of our age. Through Google.org and Google Grants, Google has emerged as a powerful philanthropic force in a number of geographic and programmatic areas where sister cities members are active.

Google contributes funding in areas ranging from renewable energy, to global health, to information access, to small- and medium-sized enterprises. Most recently, Google funded research and programs in wind energy, solar thermal power and geothermal resources. Also, Google has invested in improving early detection, preparedness and response capabilities for global health threats and humanitarian crises in Africa and Asia as well as monitoring, analysis and prediction of the impacts of climate change on ecosystems, food and health in Africa and the Amazon.

In the education arena, Google made grants to improve the quality of education in Tanzania and in India focusing on student learning in primary education and benchmarking students to identify learning gaps. To help advance the private sector in Africa, Google funded business plan competitions and entrepreneurship programs in Ghana and Tanzania as well as provided support to spur job creation and strengthen poverty alleviation programs around the continent.

We hope their giving will inspire other corporations to grow their commitment to international philanthropy.

Use Your Facebook for A Good Cause

Dear Sister Cities Fans & Avid Followers:

This is call to action...for those of you who have Facebook accounts and want to use them foster world peace.

Chase Community Giving has partnered with Facebook to run a campaign to give away $1 million. We need you to vote for Sister Cities International! (Not Chicago Sister Cities International – no offense Chicago – nor other local programs). Click the link below to help us make a run for the money

VOTE NOW!