Continually amazed by your commitment

I’m receiving the answers to the short questionnaires I sent to the few dozen young philanthropists we’ll feature in our next issue, and I’m utterly amazed. I thought I was busy!
It’s a diverse group with different levels of engagement, but what shows through is that energy. One of the women in the story remarked that [...]

MARCH 4: I’m hosting a RISE Conference session: Bootstrapping your publication

Those who can’t, teach, right?
I certainly don’t claim to know all the secrets to publishing a magazine these days, but I’m happy to share with you what I do know. The way I see it, there’s no such thing as too much competition - the best mag wins. And I’m happy to learn from other magazine [...]

So many young philanthropists!

The response to our call for young-ish philanthropists has been incredible. Thanks to everyone who sent us a nomination.
The word “nomination” makes this sound like one of those event-oriented contests, which it isn’t.We really just wanted to recognize the young people in Austin who will help build the culture of philanthropy as the city matures [...]

We’re looking for Austin’s young philanthropists

Austin’s a great town for volunteers. In fact, we’re ranked among the top five cities for rate of volunteerism. Unfortunately, we still have a ways to go before hitting the top five list for rate of donations. Why are we so great at volunteering but not so great at donating locally?
Lots of people think it’s because we have such [...]

Network while you work … at the Food Bank

 
 
 
If you’re going to put yourself out there, try to meet new people, find new opportunities… you might as well wipe some  cans and sort some peanut butter.
Scott Ingram of NetworkIn Austin and Austin TopGuns came up with this pairing of networking and giving/volutneering, and they’ve chosen the Capital Area Food Bank as the recipient. [...]

Austin realtor gives 25% of her commission to charity – every time

 
 
 
 
So let me get this straight: Give Realty gives 25% of its commission to charity? In my name? 
Yeah, I think that’s how it works. I get this realtor, Laurie Loew of Give Realty, to help me find a house. She makes a commission when I buy it  -  from what I remember commission is 6% of the house’s [...]

March 5: Weird party for TAP

Weirdness has its charms, of course. Especially when we’re talking about fundraisers.
We’ve all been to those lame old fundraisers with their cold samosas and silent auctions and cash bars. They’re nice and all, but I always stand around wishing I could dim the lights, make the music louder, and funk the place up.
That’s why I’m [...]

3 reasons to watch a documentary on racism

My father just turned 68. He grew up in San Antonio around the northwest part of town. When he was in school, he told me, he had to drink from a separate water fountain from whites. He couldn’t even think of dating a white girl. He was welcome on the football team, but any other [...]