People Making a Difference

All People Making a Difference

Difference Maker Award-winning musician practices forgiveness

Jean Paul Samputu lost his family during the genocide in Rwanda. But he overcame rage and resentment by learning to forgive – even for his father's killer.
Online course lets students give money away

The Giving With Purpose online course lets people give away money from the sister of billionaire Warren Buffett while learning strategies from him and others that they can use to make sure their own donations are effective.
Obama, George H.W. Bush celebrate the 5,000th 'point of light'

Mr. Obama will ask federal agencies how they can make better use of volunteers. 'We are a people that serve,' he says while paying 'tribute to the extraordinary example set by President Bush.'
In a Mexican border town, a friend in the fight against AIDS

Rosember López Samayoa helps those in Chiapas, Mexico, who bear a double stigma: migrants who also are LGBT.
Operation Jersey Shore Vacation offers an oceanside respite to US military families

A tiny New Jersey charity provides a place for military families to vacation along with gift cards for groceries, free meals, and island outings.
Reduce, reuse, recycle – and repair: New York's Pop-Up Repair shop

New York City’s Pop-Up Repair shop was an experiment aimed at learning how break the cycle of use-and-discard goods.
Difference Maker Colin Flahive opened a restaurant in China that's a beacon of enlightened management

Caring for his employees led him to undertake an ever-wider range of nonprofit and humanitarian efforts across the province.
Planting mangrove trees pays off for coastal communities in Kenya

Members of the Dabaso Creek Conservation Group have planted an estimated 10 million mangrove trees. The forests, in turn, have provided for the community, bringing in birders and other tourists and becoming a habitat for crabs and fish to harvest.
Cleaning up the global aquarium trade

About 30 million fish and other creatures are caught annually to supply the home aquarium market, taking a toll on some reef ecosystems. But conservationists are working to improve the industry by ending destructive practices and encouraging aquaculture.
New generation activists build bridges

A traditional organizing approach makes opponents into 'enemies,' but a new crop of union and other activists is using love and empathy to create alliances and new possibilities.
Marga Fripp empowers women immigrants in the US

Her group Empowered Women International gives a voice to the Washington D.C. area’s immigrant and refugee women, enabling them to pursue their dreams of becoming a part of their new community.
Bank Andara, a bank for banks in Indonesia, grows micro businesses – and turns a profit

Bank Andara has partnered with 737 microfinance institutions in Indonesia, reaching nearly 1.2 million low-income clients with ‘one stop’ shopping for all their banking needs.
Solar kits bring clean light to Kenya's poor

Buyers make payments securely from home using their mobile phones, which also can be kept charged with the solar kit.
How better-trained farmers slow Brazil's deforestation

Imazon helps farmers formalize their land titles and trains them in improved farming techniques, like rotating crops and limiting overgrazing, to make their land more productive and reduce the need to cut down more rainforest.
Christine's Hope for Kids gives kids a chance to be kids

The nonprofit group Christine's Hope for Kids has given more than $300,000 in donations and in-kind support to groups in New Jersey and across the country that work with children.
Double win for Haiti: human waste into valuable fertilizer

The social enterprise SOIL provides clean facilities for families in Haiti while also supplying a local source of fertilizer to sorghum farmers.
10 organizations that protect the environment

We tell you about 10 organizations that are working to protect and conserve the environment. All 10 of these organizations have four-star ratings from Charity Navigator and at least $13.5 million in total annual expenses.
'Push-Pull' strategy helps end hunger and poverty for farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Push-Pull techniques help African farmers increase productivity, strengthen soils, and protect staple foods from pests – all without expensive chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
Difference Maker US college student Surya Karki builds schools back home in Nepal

Maya Universe Academy was born in 2011 out of the creative altruism of Karki and six other young people from all over the world.
What kind of giver are you? Take the quiz

Do you give time or money to charities? Are you a generous giver? Take the quiz to find out.