Thanks for hosting this, and for emailing me - urging me - to write. I’ve done so here:
http://markpetersen.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/giving-carnival-my-charitable-passion/

I haven’t been following the Giving Carnival closely so trust this is what you are looking for.

Mark

So I give money to the Chicago Abortion Fund, which provides funds to women who need but can’t afford abortions thanks to Henry Hyde’s disgraceful prohibition of the use of Medicaid funds for this purpose, and I give money to the UN Population Fund because my fundamentalist government refuses to support it.

My other personal goal is to enlarge appreciation of dance and theater, my two artistic passions; so I support one theater and one dance company in Chicago every year. I do that anonymously because I’m a theater and dance critic and can’t be seen as compromised by support of any one entity.

Through a very demanding local identification process, Ashoka finds charismatic social entrepreneurs in developing countries and gives them the initial financial resources & coaching they need to grow and mature their social change ideas. The individuals can be working in virtually any field … poverty alleviation, health care, education, domestic violence, human rights, environment. But in all cases, the magic comes from finding an individual — an Ashoka Fellow — with both a compelling and scalable idea, and the personal qualities needed to bring that idea to fruition. For about 25 years now, starting in India and spreading to dozens of countries, Ashoka Fellows have accomplished amazing, systemic and durable results.

I like Ashoka’s breadth of human concern, its focus on the neediest on the planet, its “betting” on the chemistry of person and idea, its enormous leveraging power, and its proven track record in country after country.

I hugely value the choices that I and my family enjoy as to how to live our lives. Consequently I am especially troubled to see most people on the planet struggling in desperate survival mode, with no choices and little to hope for. Against the enormity of that bleak reality, I see Ashoka Fellows achieving systemic changes that improve people’s lives now.

1. When bright children grow up illiterate, they are condemned to a life of grinding poverty. When this applies to MOST bright children in a country, then the whole country remains one of the poorest in the world.

2. The School of St Jude is one of the most successful projects in Africa. The school founder, Gemma Sisia, is talented and committed. She has made this her life work.

3. The School is part of a large vision for a network of free schools for bright kids from poor homes across East Africa. A tertiary scholarship fund and teacher training colleges will ensure that every child is well-educated from kindergarten through to university/college. This will give Tanzania hundreds of trained professionals who will become the future leaders of the country.

This project is effective at the personal level of individual lives, and also at the national and regional level. It relies entirely on private donations.

So, I am certain that my assistance is going where it can have maximum impact. Effectiveness is sexy and powerful!!

My blog supports the school… www.schoolstjude.blogspot.com

Here’s My Personal Passion to share, and will encourage others to pick up this ball and run with it.

Found you from GiftHub, the tangled webs we weave….