Charlie Weingarten finds fresh ways to champion selfless acts of philanthropy
A member of a philanthropic family founded Explore.org to inspire selflessness and lifelong learning.
Charlie Weingarten reads the Common Threads creed as Kemai Richardson finishes stirring some dipping sauce during a Common Threads cooking class in Los Angeles. The program, one of many projects started by Mr. Weingarten, aims to teach children to love healthy cooking and eating.
David Ahntholz
Santa Monica, Calif.
Charlie Annenberg Weingarten wants you to fall in love – with the world. That is one reason he founded Explore.org, his nonprofit, multimedia philanthropic organization.
Skip to next paragraph-
Kate Middleton lends a hand to children, the arts with her charity projects
- Five reasons to serve others
- Difference Maker: Deng Fei goes beyond journalism to right wrongs in China
- Young Internet entrepreneurs embrace philanthropy
- Difference Maker: Gary White's goal: bring clean water to a billion people who lack it
As the grandson of Walter Annenberg, one of America's foremost philanthropists, Mr. Weingarten concedes, "Giving is kind of in my DNA." Yet he wants to do more than just write out impersonal checks.
His approach to helping others starts with rolling up his own sleeves. Weingarten and his team suss out giving prospects. Then he spends time with the people he's considering helping. He immerses himself in their world – often without their knowledge of what he can do for them.
RELATED: Kate Middleton lends a hand to children, the arts with her charity projects
Explore.org has a three-part mission: to champion the selfless acts of others, to provide a portal into the soul of humanity, and to inspire lifelong learning. Today Explore.org supports more than 100 nonprofits, including Weingarten's latest, a community on Facebook called "Dog Bless You," dedicated to championing the selfless acts of dogs.
With a base of more than 275,000 followers, Dog Bless You recently brought service dogs to 35 military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It also helped send search-and-rescue dogs to Japan within hours of last year's massive earthquake and tsunami.
The seeds of Explore.org began after Weingarten graduated from the school of cinema and television at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Hauling out his video camera, he prepared to visit famed British anthropologist Jane Goodall in Africa.
Using the trip as a philanthropic fact-finding mission, he videotaped and recorded people he met along the way. When he returned home, he realized he could archive video of these remarkable people and show the connections among all people.
Hundreds of documentaries and tens of thousands of photographs and travel miles later, Weingarten has built an audience that wants to inspire and be inspired.
Explore.org now employs 11 full-time staff and a half-dozen consultants at its offices in Santa Monica, Calif. But one constant remains since Weingarten's first solo trip to Africa: his insatiable curiosity and love of learning.
A case in point: About four years ago, Imam Jihad Turk, director of the Islamic Center of Southern California, met Weingarten when he stopped by to express interest in learning about Islam. Weingarten had also contacted a priest and a rabbi because he wanted to learn more about the common threads running through the three Abrahamic faiths.
These comments are not screened before publication. Constructive debate about the above story is welcome, but personal attacks are not. Please do not post comments that are commercial in nature or that violate any copyright[s]. Comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence will be removed. If you find a comment offensive, you may flag it.