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Citizen Philanthropy
You're ready to act on those good intentions, but how do you know the organizations you're backing deserve your trust? Here are the 30 best—smartly managed groups with transparent financials, efficient spending, and track records of on-the-ground success.
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The Year of Giving Adventurously
Citizen philanthropy is on the rise—and so are the nonprofits. Here are the 30 organizations and innovators truly making a difference, delivering health care in rural Asia, distributing bikes in Africa, and championing preservation in your backyard. Plus: Carbon-eating superplants, why the solar-powered car is MIA, and more.
American Himalayan Foundation
1% for the Planet
Big City Mountaineers
African Wildlife Foundation
American Forests
World Bicycle Relief
Water For People
Climate Counts
American Trails
The Marine Mammal Center
Afghan Child Education and Care Organization
Foundation Rwanda
Environmental Defense Fund
Trekking for Kids
American Rivers
Health in Harmony
Pathfinder International
Rainforest Alliance
Vital Voices Global Partnership
World Wildlife Fund
David Belt
Amy Purdy
Jon Rose
David Milarch
Dan Morrison
How We Picked Them
Do Diligence
Cornwall, England
BY THE NUMBERS: More than one million natural-disaster victims supplied since 2001
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Tom Henderson, 61, a former Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver and offshore-drilling consultant
WHAT IT DOES: Henderson established ShelterBox in 2000 to offer practical tools to disaster victims so they can help themselves, an approach designed to foster self-reliance and self-esteem. Each $1,000 kit, which comes in a durable box that doubles as a storage container or crib, contains a family tent (torture-tested to withstand high winds, heavy rain, and extreme temperatures), blankets, a multifuel stove, a cookset, a water filtration system, tools, and an activity pack for kids. Teams of volunteers deploy to disaster sites—often within 24 hours—hand-deliver boxes, and teach families how to use them. ShelterBox spent more than $19 million on programs last year; since 2001, it has distributed 110,000 boxes in 150 disaster zones, including the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina, and the Haiti earthquake.
EXTRA CREDIT: Individual donations—which go straight to paying for box contents—can be followed with tracking numbers.
LOOKING AHEAD: ShelterBox recently revamped its ShelterBox Academy, which trains hundreds of volunteers every year to operate in harsh, remote locales. It's now offering more courses for the public, including university classes, corporate team training, and first-aid programs, which raise funds for volunteer education.
American Himalayan Foundation
San Francisco
BY THE NUMBERS: 300,000 Nepalis, Tibetans, and Sherpas served by 140 education, health care, and human-welfare programs this year alone
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Erica Stone, 60, a University of California at Berkeley MBA and former documentary-film production manager who has trekked extensively in Nepal
WHAT IT DOES: The American Himalayan Foundation (AHF) was established 30 years ago when financier Richard Blum and a group of climbers and trekkers recognized threats to Himalayan culture from unstable governments and a lack of basic services. AHF supports local partners with the funding, technical assistance, and strategy advice they need. In 2010, the organization provided $3.3 million to these partners for projects in education, health care, and cultural preservation in Nepal, Tibet, and Tibetan refugee settlements in India. Projects range from establishing a hospital for disabled children in Kathmandu to training locals in the Nepali region of Mustang to preserve 15th-century Buddhist temples. One notable current issue: an education-based prevention program fighting human traffickers, who lure as many as 20,000 rural Nepali girls into prostitution or oppressive domestic-servant jobs each year. Board member Jon Krakauer has donated 100 percent of the proceeds from his 2011 e-book "Three Cups of Deceit"—an investigation into the practices of Central Asia Institute founder Greg Mortenson—to the foundation's anti-trafficking program, which sponsors the girls' schooling and has assisted more than 10,000 girls over the past 15 years.
EXTRA CREDIT: AHF is creative and committed; spending on programs is consistently high at more than 80 percent.
LOOKING AHEAD: One of AHF's newest projects is the Tibetan Enterprise Fund, which offers grants and small loans to Tibetan refugees who have viable small-business and farming ideas.
Washington, D.C.
BY THE NUMBERS: Since 2001, Oceana's research and political outreach have helped persuade governments to increase protections for 1.2 million square miles of ocean
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Andrew Sharpless, 56, a Harvard Law and London School of Economics grad who's held top jobs at RealNetworks, New York City's Museum of Television and Radio, and Discovery.com
WHAT IT DOES: In 1999, several foundations—including the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund—commissioned a study on ocean advocacy and realized that only a tiny fraction of money spent by environmental nonprofits was aimed at ocean protection. Two years later, Oceana was born with a practical mandate: to conduct studies and research, inform lawmakers, and protect degraded oceans through concrete policy. The approach has gotten results. Chile banned shark finning, announced the creation of the world's fourth-largest no-take marine reserve, and reformed salmon-industry practices to protect wild fish populations. The U.S. also banned shark finning in its coastal waters, and Morocco and Turkey outlawed drift nets, already prohibited by the European Union and the United Nations.
EXTRA CREDIT: Oceana can point to dozens of policy victories on four continents in the past ten years. And it's one of only a few charities to receive a four-star rating from Charity Navigator three years in a row.
LOOKING AHEAD: Oceana has devised a practical road map to wean the U.S. from Gulf of Mexico oil through measures like switching oil-heated homes to electric power and electrifying 10 percent of cars by 2020—a plan that received a grant from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy last year.
San Francisco
BY THE NUMBERS: Since 2005, more than 628,000 citizen lenders have provided $248 million in microloans to small entrepreneurs in developing countries
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Matt Flannery, 34, a former software engineer at TiVo
WHAT IT DOES: In 2004, Flannery was working as a programmer when he took a trip to East Africa to make a documentary about entrepreneurs and saw how much difference small investments can make. In 2005, he launched Kiva, which connects citizen philanthropists directly to borrowers in developing countries. In a typical transaction, a potential lender peruses Kiva's online listings of hopeful borrowers, chosen with help from partner organizations in the field. The lender picks one and makes a loan of $25 or more through PayPal. The borrower—a Tajik peddler hoping to buy rice, say, or a Kenyan farmer buying animal feed—makes the purchase and then repays the loan, which is available for the donor's withdrawal or future loans. Within six months of Kiva's founding, all seven of the original borrowers, including a goat herder, a fishmonger, and a restaurant owner, had repaid their loans. Now borrowers hail from 60 countries, and their businesses encompass everything from a Bulgarian bicycle-repair shop to an Internet café in Benin.
EXTRA CREDIT: Philanthropy experts say it often takes an individual's story to move donors to give. Flannery and Kiva harness that impulse, taking affordable, crowdsourced lending to new levels around the world.
LOOKING AHEAD: In June, Kiva, now working with an $11 million budget, announced its first U.S. microfinance programs, in Detroit and New Orleans.
1% for the Planet
Waitsfield, Vermont
BY THE NUMBERS: In 2010, 1,450 companies donated $22 million to environmental organizations through 1%.
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Terry Kellogg, 39, a Yale-trained MBA who was the first director of environmental stewardship at Timberland.
WHAT IT DOES: In 2001, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Craig Matthews, the owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, hatched a simple plan to encourage businesses to give back to the environment. A business pledges to donate 1 percent of sales to vetted environmental groups—including several on this list—and agrees to be audited annually. In exchange, it can display the 1% logo, designed to encourage consumers to support companies that are giving back. Since then, the organization has raised close to $100 million for more than 2,500 groups, from American Forests to the Shawangunk Conservancy. The money has powered high-impact projects like the Seed Alliance, which is using money from Clif Bar to establish a seed bank to conserve genetic crop diversity. Now 1% signs on an average of one new member every day—from small wineries to large manufacturers in 45 countries—and is on track to become the largest network of environmental funders on the planet.
EXTRA CREDIT: For decades, Chouinard has put his money where his good intentions are.
LOOKING AHEAD: 1% recently enlisted 14 people—including musician Jack Johnson and Outside's own Christopher Keyes—to help spread the word.
Big City Mountaineers
BY THE NUMBERS: More than 15,000 urban teenagers have taken part in sponsored outdoor trips since 1989.
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Executive director Lisa Mattis, 41, former director of individual giving and director of the scholarship program for Outward Bound
WHAT IT DOES: Big City Mountaineers (BCM) gives underprivileged city kids a chance to experience wilderness adventure. Roughly 83 percent of urban teens who participate in BCM's trips live below the poverty line, 62 percent have never been outside their home counties, and the vast majority have never seen a starry sky. Drawing on an annual budget of $1.5 million, this 22-year-old nonprofit takes young city dwellers from Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, on seven-day hiking or canoeing trips in settings like the Boundary Waters and Yosemite National Park. Along the way, volunteer leaders guide teens through a series of challenges that culminate in summiting a peak or completing a long river portage. BCM has devised innovative fundraising techniques, including Summit for Someone, in which participants challenge themselves in the same way BCM kids might—by tackling a guided climb of a difficult peak and raising funds through sponsorships. This year, North Face–sponsored athlete Cedar Wright signed on, choosing a self-guided climb on a remote Malaysian island. He hopes to raise $10,000.
EXTRA CREDIT: BCM offers diverse ways to get involved and is one of the largest wilderness programs for urban kids.
LOOKING AHEAD: The group has added single-day and overnight programs to augment its seven-day courses. These offer gateway programs for kids intimidated by longer outings.
African Wildlife Foundation
Nairobi, Kenya
BY THE NUMBERS: Currently backing 31 conservation-oriented projects that generate more than $2 million annually for African communities; spent $19 million on programs in 2010
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Patrick Bergin, 47, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania and project officer for the foundation in Tanzania's national parks
WHAT IT DOES: Launched in 1961, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is one of a growing number of NGOs pushing a more inclusive approach to conservation based on a simple philosophy: local people should be factored into the equation. AWF starts by sending field researchers to identify species and landscapes at risk, then employs a host of education, advocacy, and development plans to give local people sound reasons to care for their land and wildlife. One method is what the AWF calls conservation enterprises—sustainable businesses like wildlife tourism and eco-sensitive agriculture. In 2008, AWF partnered with Rwandan communities to build the swanky, locally owned Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge near Volcanoes National Park. It now attracts well-heeled tourists who come to see rare mountain gorillas, generating a flow of dollars that supports locals with infrastructure and development projects. AWF also brokered a deal between Starbucks and small coffee growers in Kenya. In exchange for adhering to strict ethical guidelines for both labor and cultivation, Starbucks offers farmers lucrative contracts.
EXTRA CREDIT: AWF earned a top rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy. Thanks to its success, its people-centered programs have been emulated widely, particularly in the past decade.
LOOKING AHEAD: The group recently launched a website (awf.org/conservationtourism) that catalogs community-owned safari lodges that conscientious travelers can visit.
American Forests
Washington, D.C.
BY THE NUMBERS: Nearly 40 million trees planted in the past 21 years
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Scott Steen, 47, former executive director of the American Ceramic Society, an organization for ceramic engineers and scientists
WHAT IT DOES: Forests are the planet's most effective carbon sinks, so their health has never been more important. Which is why newly appointed CEO Steen is revamping this old-guard conservation organization—founded in 1875 to establish and protect state and national forests—into a force to battle climate change, boost river and habitat quality, and improve recreation areas. With nearly a third of the staff replaced and a new science advisory board installed, the group is now largely focused on reforestation projects in response to urban need and devastation from wildfires, insect infestations, agricultural clearing, and pollution. This year, American Forests introduced 54 new projects, ranging from a 27,000-tree planting effort near Oregon's Klamath River—to prevent erosion into tribal fisheries owned by the Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa people—to a project in Cameroon that involves planting 50,000 trees.
EXTRA CREDIT: In the face of climate change and clean-water shortages, forest health has never been more important. American Forests has earned a top rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy.
LOOKING AHEAD: Whitebark pines are known as a keystone species with an outsize ability to enhance ecosystem diversity; they're also nearly extinct in some parts of the Rockies. American Forests is working with the Forest Service and a team of researchers to identify and breed disease-resistant trees.
World Bicycle Relief
BY THE NUMBERS: More than 88,000 bikes distributed and sold in developing nations since 2005
WHO'S IN CHARGE: F. K. Day, 51, executive vice president of SRAM Corporation, the largest bicycle-component manufacturer in the U.S.
WHAT IT DOES: Shortly after the 2004 tsunami hit, Day traveled to Sri Lanka, saw the apocalyptic devastation firsthand, and realized there was a simple, brilliant invention that could speed reconstruction and improve lives: bicycles. Bikes are at least four times as fast as walking and can carry up to five times as much cargo as a person. They improve access to health care and education and facilitate commerce. To put more of them in service, Day created a virtually indestructible, easily fixable bike that costs about $134 to produce. By 2006, World Bicycle Relief (WBR) was born and, in partnership with the NGO World Vision, had distributed more than 24,000 free bikes to Sri Lankans. Since then the organization has built assembly plants in Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, trained locals to construct bikes, and taught some 700 local mechanics how to maintain them. Now it partners with reputable NGOs already in the field to identify populations in need and create contracts with individuals who promote using the free bikes for productive purposes like getting to school. In 2010, they spent $2.5 million on bikes, plants, and programs.
EXTRA CREDIT: WBR tracks the effects of its programs through third-party studies. Day was picked as one of the top 25 philanthropists by Barron's and the Global Philanthropy Group last year.
LOOKING AHEAD: The bikes are so sturdy that volunteers at organizations like the World Health Organization and Catholic Relief Services in Africa requested to buy them. Two years ago, World Bicycle Relief initiated a program to sell bikes to organizations; proceeds benefit WBR charitable programs. In 2012, WBR will open a fourth assembly plant, in South Africa.
Water for People
BY THE NUMBERS: The group helped more than 188,000 people gain access to clean water in 2010.
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Ned Breslin, 46, formerly a Mozambique country representative for WaterAid, health and hygiene education manager for Mvula Trust, and development director for Operation Hunger
WHAT IT DOES: It's estimated that 884 million people lack access to a reliable supply of clean drinking water. Each of Water for People's projects, carried out in countries from India to Peru, is based on the organization's four guiding principles: everyone in an aided community gets access to water and sanitation; representatives from local government, NGOs, and the local business community all must sign on to the plan; commitments must span at least ten years; and solutions, such as wells, storage tanks, gravity-fed piping systems, and latrines, are designed to last and grow as populations expand. In an ongoing project in Malawi, 48 new water kiosks were constructed. A local entrepreneur returns regularly to purchase the compost. His family earns enough to pay off the loan and save money, and the businessman sells the compost to farmers for a profit. To support the programs, which cost nearly $10 million per year, the organization has devised innovative fundraising initiatives. The latest: mountaineer Jake Norton is climbing each continent's three highest summits to raise $2.1 million in donations.
EXTRA CREDIT: For seven years in a row, the project has earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.
LOOKING AHEAD: Water for People just released a beta version of FLOW (field-level operations watch), a new monitoring system in which field workers use a cell-phone app to update the WFP website with the status of clean-water access in remote areas. Donors and staffers can chart progress on an online map updated in real time, sending money and volunteers to places that need it most.
Climate Counts
Manchester, New Hampshire
BY THE NUMBERS: 150 major companies, from Disney to General Electric, are rated annually on their climate practices
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Mike Bellamente, 35, who led a team from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to study how communities were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
WHAT IT DOES: Launched in 2007 and operated by a small team of sustainability experts and more than a dozen independent researchers, Climate Counts uses a scorecard for corporations, rating them on 22 criteria in four areas: carbon footprint, efforts to reduce impact, support for climate-friendly legislation, and public transparency. With a $350,000 annual budget, the group now looks at companies in 16 high-visibility industries, including airlines, hotels, electronics, food products, and toys. The goal is to encourage consumers to vote with their dollars—ratings are available through the website, a pocket guide, and a mobile app—and to spur executives to reduce their companies' carbon output. Many firms have embraced the ratings concept; some have even hired corporate sustainability directors as a result.
EXTRA CREDIT: The group leverages a tiny staff's efforts into positive changes on a large scale. Renowned sustainability journalist and consultant Joel Makower as well as Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm, a corporate sustainability leader, sit on the board.
LOOKING AHEAD: In 2010, Climate Counts began offering audits, verification ratings, and workshops for smaller, unrated companies that elect to be scrutinized. The group is expanding its ratings with a new scorecard on water use.
New York City
BY THE NUMBERS: IOBY (In Our Back Yards) has raised more than $130,000 for 100 neighborhood environmental projects in New York since 2009.
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Erin Barnes, 31, a former community organizer for the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition
WHAT IT DOES: In 2007, Barnes, Cassie Flynn, and Brandon Whitney—all recent grads of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies master's program—moved to New York City and noticed a curious trend in the environmental movement. Movies like An Inconvenient Truth had galvanized people to take action, but the problems seemed so large and distant that the energy was channeled mainly into green consumerism. Using a digital platform from DonorsChoose.org, the three launched a pilot website that posts environmental projects in the city that could use money and volunteers. Soon, locals in all five boroughs were posting projects like urban farm startups in empty lots, beach cleanups, and beautification days for city parks. With help from IOBY, a group called Velo City raised some $3,000 to support an urban-education program called Bikesploration.
EXTRA CREDIT: IOBY is a young startup but readily supplies financial reports. It's backed by more than a dozen foundations, including the Kresge Foundation and the Jack Johnson Ohana Foundation.
LOOKING AHEAD: After the successful NYC pilot—this year IOBY expects to raise another $100,000 for neighborhood environmental projects there—plans are afoot to expand to up to three more U.S. cities in the next two years, using $250,000 in seed money from foundations.
American Trails
Redding, California
BY THE NUMBERS: The world's largest advocacy group for planning, building, and managing trails and greenways
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Pam Gluck, 54, former state trails coordinator for Arizona, recreation director for Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona, and cross-country ski guide
WHAT IT DOES: Chances are, if you walked any new trails in the U.S. in the past 20 years, American Trails (AT) played a part in establishing them. The 20,000-member outfit is the only national organization dedicated to building, expanding, and safeguarding trail systems for all users, from hikers, bikers, runners, and equestrians to dirt-bike and ATV riders. Operating on an annual budget of $295,000, AT provides hundreds of member organizations with guidelines on how to plan trail systems, write grant proposals, negotiate rights of way, and manage urban and backcountry trails. (For example, the Sacramento River National Recreation Trail in California and the Arkansas River Trail in Little Rock were recently built with help from AT.) It secures funding for trail building and maintenance by knocking on doors on Capitol Hill and at numerous federal agencies, including the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. AT contracts with these agencies to run training sessions for trail crews and sponsors an annual national symposium for trail builders and advocates.
EXTRA CREDIT: A host of government agencies, including the Forest Service and the National Park Service, endorse AT, which supports some 22,000 members and 500 grassroots trails organizations.
LOOKING AHEAD: Two years ago, manufacturer GameTime, research firm PlayCore, the Natural Learning Initiative, and American Trails launched Pathways for Play, a program designed to keep kids outside and to help fight childhood obesity. The pilot project, PlayTrails, debuted in an urban park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2010 with six play areas on a half-mile trail. PlayTrails have since debuted in Missouri and North Carolina, and more than a dozen communities nationwide plan to build them.
The Marine Mammal Center
Sausalito, California
BY THE NUMBERS: 30,000 people schooled in marine-science programs each year; approximately 17,000 marine mammals rescued since its inception
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Executive director Jeffrey R. Boehm, 50, formerly the senior vice president of animal health and conservation science for the Great Lakes Conservation Awareness initiative at the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and a onetime veterinarian at the Los Angeles Zoo
WHAT IT DOES: In 1975, when the Marine Mammal Center (MMC) was founded, this seaside rescue-and-rehab outfit was little more than a first-aid clinic housed in a collection of kiddie pools. Now it's the largest operation of its kind in the United States, rescuing hundreds of sea mammals each year (from dolphins to newborn seal pups) that are malnourished or have been stranded, beached, shot, struck by boats, bitten by sharks, or tangled in fishing nets. After receiving veterinary care, the creatures are returned to the wild or—if they're unlikely to survive release—transferred to aquariums or zoos. During the mammals' captivity, kids from preschool to college age are allowed to come in for a look, and MMC offers educational programs that inspire many of them to consider careers in marine biology. Meanwhile, the group's 16-person veterinary-science unit has collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and numerous universities on research topics like the effects of toxic-algae poisoning, a natural occurrence exacerbated by agricultural runoff and warming seas.
EXTRA CREDIT: MMC transforms a simple mission into a force for conservation through education and science. It earned top marks from the American Institute of Philanthropy.
LOOKING AHEAD: Marine mammals are bellwethers of environmental changes, not least because they're at the top of the food chain. MMC's ongoing research—for example, on the potential link between PCBs and startlingly high rates of reproductive cancer among seals and sea lions—could help shed light on how those changes affect our health.
Afghan Child Education and Care Organization
Kabul, Afghanistan
BY THE NUMBERS: More than 11 orphanages established in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2003
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Andeisha Farid, 28, a former war refugee from Afghanistan. Before launching AFCECO, Farid worked as a program manager for CharityHelp International's child-sponsorship program.
WHAT IT DOES: AFCECO estimates that Afghanistan is home to roughly one million war orphans, many of whom are forced into child labor or a life of begging. Farid, who was educated by Afghan women in a Pakistan refugee camp during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, envisioned a new kind of orphanage, one that would operate with the blessing of home villages by keeping the kids connected to their heritage. After she started her first safe house for 20 kids in Islamabad in 2003, she teamed with CharityHelp International's child-sponsorship program, which allowed her to expand. Now AFCECO's three-story orphanages—built in places like Kabul and Islamabad—are oases of learning, where children take classes and participate in soccer, photography, drama, and martial arts. The orphanages harbor more than 600 children, some of whom get a chance to study abroad.
EXTRA CREDIT: Farid's locally effective approach is also globally inspiring—as an example of the dividends that can accrue from a single salvaged life.
LOOKING AHEAD: AFCECO is raising money for a medical clinic in Kabul that would offer care to both orphans and orphanage employees, many of whom are war widows.
Foundation Rwanda
New York City
Jean-PaulJean-Paul assembling a Kona Africa bike
Assembling bikesFoundation Rwanda mothers assembling Kona Africa bikes to give to other Foundation Rwanda families in need
BY THE NUMBERS: More than 830 children of rape survivors have been educated through Foundation Rwanda sponsorships since 2008.
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Jules Shell, 34, a documentary filmmaker and former creative director at the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies
WHAT IT DOES: In 2006, while on assignment in Rwanda, Newsweek photojournalist Jonathan Torgovnik met Margaret, a woman who had not only survived the 1994 Rwandan genocide and weathered multiple rapes but also contracted HIV, given birth to a child, and been marginalized by her community. Torgovnik later returned to produce a book of photographs and, with Shell, a film about the estimated 20,000 Rwandan children conceived through sexual assaults. They established Foundation Rwanda to pay for the children's education and provide medical services and job training for their mothers. These days, the foundation spends about $283,000 annually on programs. Other initiatives include an oral-health project that offers checkups and dental products, and the Ladies of Abasangiye, a cooperative that trains women in business, English-language, and craft skills. (Upscale retailer Anthropologie recently began importing its handbags.)
EXTRA CREDIT: A triple play of tactics—smart use of media, solid tools, and sound business practices—boosts a marginalized but extremely deserving class of recipients.
LOOKING AHEAD: Foundation Rwanda has announced plans to launch BirthdayBike.org, a program that raises money to buy a bike and a year's schooling for Rwandan schoolkids.
Environmental Defense Fund
New York City
BY THE NUMBERS: Four million acres of private land are now protected under the group's Safe Harbor program, which helps landowners preserve endangered-species habitat on their property.
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Fred Krupp, 57, former head of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment
WHAT IT DOES: In the 1960s, widespread use of the pesticide DDT threatened the survival of countless American bird species, and a small group came up with a solution that, back then, was strikingly novel: sue the government. The result was a landmark court case that led to statewide and nationwide bans of DDT and, in 1967, to the establishment of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The nonprofit continues to pursue unusual tactics, hiring not only scientists and lawyers but also economists and political strategists to devise market-based solutions to broad environmental issues, including climate, oceans, ecosystems, and human health. In the nineties, EDF pioneered corporate partnerships, and their consulting resulted in major corporate changes, such as reducing McDonald's waste stream by 30 percent and introducing hybrid trucks to FedEx's fleet. Last year, EDF spent more than $83.5 million on programs like Climate Corps, a summer fellowship that trains MBA students to consult with large businesses on energy efficiency.
EXTRA CREDIT: EDF's willingness to work with corporate giants like McDonald's and Wal-Mart has earned them a reputation for cooperative results.
LOOKING AHEAD: EDF is growing a campaign to pass clean-air legislation at the state and municipal levels, since Congress appears stuck. The organization is also working to quantify the economic benefits afforded by natural systems—for example, runoff filtration by wetlands—so decision makers can consider the positive impact in dollars.
Trekking for Kids
Washington, D.C.
BY THE NUMBERS: Nearly $400,000 raised for ten orphanages in developing countries since 2005
WHO'S IN CHARGE: José Montero, 40, president of the Montero Group, a D.C.–based consulting firm
WHAT IT DOES: When siblings José and Ana Maria Montero decided to hike the Inca Trail in 2005, they wanted to give something back to the Peruvian community. Their father, Pepe, who'd lost his parents during the Spanish Civil War, suggested raising money for orphanages, and Trekking for Kids (TFK) was born. Now the small group—which operates mostly with volunteers and an annual budget of about $32,000—organizes walkathon-style treks, bringing money and volunteer labor to remote areas. Each trekker raises a minimum of $1,000 for the chosen orphanage and pays his or her own travel expenses. For two days before the trek, the group completes a project they've raised money for, such as building a new dormitory or renovating kitchens. After as many as eight days on the trail, trekkers return and take the orphans on a field trip, like zip-lining, hiking, or visiting a children's museum. So far, volunteers have gone to Peru, Nepal, Ecuador, Morocco, Guatemala, Tanzania, and Thailand, raising as much as $60,000 for each orphanage.
EXTRA CREDIT: Combines adventure with purpose-driven travel, and every dollar raised for a project goes to the project
LOOKING AHEAD: Upcoming expeditions include Patagonia and Romania next summer. TFK aims to expand corporate sponsorships to cover administrative expenses and increase the number of trips it offers, with programs geared toward college students, families, and corporate team building.
American Rivers
Washington, D.C.
BY THE NUMBERS: 200 dams dismantled since 1998
WHO'S IN CHARGE: CEO and president Bob Irvin, 52, a veteran attorney and environmentalist who most recently served as senior vice president for conservation programs at Defenders of Wildlife
WHAT IT DOES: Rivers are valuable for more than just hydropower: they provide clean drinking water, recreational opportunities, and healthy fisheries. For years, American Rivers (AR) has pushed these and other arguments in an effort to heal North American waterways, and the group has been at the forefront of two big recent anti-dam victories, both in Washington State. This fall, the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam became the tallest ever removed, restoring more than 70 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat on the Elwha River. The dismantling of the 125-foot Condit Dam has restored 33 miles of steelhead habitat on the White Salmon River, a renowned whitewater run visited by 25,000 boaters annually. The nonprofit group also lobbies for Wild and Scenic designations—which preserve rivers as free-flowing—releases an annual most-endangered list to spotlight rivers in peril, and works with municipalities to push measures to prevent polluted urban runoff from reaching watersheds.
EXTRA CREDIT: AR has earned honors from multiple watchdog groups for its efforts to improve river health.
LOOKING AHEAD: American Rivers helped orchestrate the removal of two major dams on Maine's Penobscot River. When completed next summer, the effort will restore 1,000 miles of Atlantic salmon runs and canoeing and fishing access. The organization, which spent $8.5 million in 2010, has also helped plan more than 100 dam removals over the next five years.
Health in Harmony
Portland, Oregon
BY THE NUMBERS: 14,000 patients treated in Health in Harmony's Indonesia clinic since 2007
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Kinari Webb, 39, a graduate of the Yale School of Medicine
WHAT IT DOES: Gunung Palung National Park, a 222,000-acre swath of rainforest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, harbors one of the last major wild populations of orangutans and other rare species such as gibbons, crested fireback pheasants, and clouded leopards. It's also the watershed for 60,000 people who live in poverty on its margins, often engaging in illegal logging. When Webb first visited as an undergrad studying orangutans, she realized that the high cost of medical care for subsistence farmers was what drove them to log the forest for cash. She returned in 2005 to start Health in Harmony and its Indonesian counterpart, Alam Sehat Lestari—both of which are driven by the philosophy that better health care for locals could improve the health of the forest. She opened a small medical center in the remote town of Sukadana, a mobile clinic, and an ambulance service, and started several projects to help locals develop sustainable alternative livelihoods as farmers and herders. Though no one is refused care, the clinic offers discounts to communities that agree to stop illegal logging.
EXTRA CREDIT: Health in Harmony is supported by a host of foundations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Great Apes Conservation Fund; members of the board include professors and doctors from Yale, Dartmouth, and Johns Hopkins.
LOOKING AHEAD: Health in Harmony plans to build a $1.2 million hospital in Sukadana, which will provide surgical care for people who now must travel 12 hours or more to get it.
Pathfinder International
Watertown, Massachusetts
BY THE NUMBERS: More than 3.75 million people received HIV and AIDS services through Pathfinder-supported projects in 2010
WHO'S IN CHARGE: In February, Purnima Mane will take over as president, replacing longtime leader Daniel E. Pellegrom. Mane is currently the assistant secretary general of the United Nations.
WHAT IT DOES: Overpopulation can lead to poverty and conflict and can overtax water supplies, arable land, and other resources. Pathfinder was founded in 1957 to expand access to basic health and reproductive services so individuals in developing nations can plan families and build sustainable communities. With $90 million to spend each year, the organization reaches people in more than 25 countries with a range of local programs. In the past two years, these have included establishing a solar-powered blood bank in Nigeria, distributing delivery kits with medication for rural births in Bangladesh, and training Red Cross staffers to prevent postpartum hemorrhages in refugee settings in Tanzania. Through a project in Bihar, India, Pathfinder helped educate more than 650,000 youth in 700 villages about contraceptives. The program resulted in an average 2.6-year increase in the age of marriage and a 1.5-year increase in the age of mothers at first birth.
EXTRA CREDIT: Pathfinder spends 88 percent of its budget on programs.
LOOKING AHEAD: Recently, the group partnered with the Nature Conservancy and the Frankfurt Zoological Society on a plan to establish sustainable fisheries, healthy forests, and health care in a remote, wildlife-rich area of western Tanzania, where populations are outpacing natural resources.
Rainforest Alliance
New York City
BY THE NUMBERS: More than 167 million acres of forests worldwide are now rated as sustainable under Rainforest Alliance's certification system
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Tensie Whelan, 51, a former journalist and consultant who has worked with the National Audubon Society and the League of Conservation Voters
WHAT IT DOES: Established during the rainforest crisis of the 1980s, 25-year-old Rainforest Alliance aims to preserve the biodiversity of forests worldwide by creating conservation-friendly livelihoods for locals. Its programs center on sustainability-certification labels for forestry, tourism, and agricultural businesses, which can just as easily be forces for conservation as for devastation. Certification guidelines and training programs help farmers, foresters, lodges, and tour guides build sustainable businesses. The labels are also designed to encourage consumers to purchase conscientiously. (Companies like Newman's Own Organics, Naked Juice, and Whole Foods buy Rainforest Alliance–certified coffee, cocoa, bananas, and tea.) The organization offers a free grade-school curriculum—downloaded and viewed online eight million times since 2003—to teach kids about the animals and people living in the rainforest.
EXTRA CREDIT: The demand for sustainable goods has never been higher, and Rainforest Alliance–certified products sell to companies with major impact, like Dole and Wal-Mart.
LOOKING AHEAD: In 2007, Rainforest Alliance launched a climate-change program, which helps farmers reforest unused lands, and recently raised its standards for sustainable beef production.
Washington, D.C.
BY THE NUMBERS: Since 2010, an estimated 40,300 people employed in 30 countries with the help of Technoserve's programs
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Bruce McNamer, a 49-year-old Stanford MBA, formerly an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, a management consultant at McKinsey, and a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay
WHAT IT DOES: While working in a hospital in Ghana in the 1960s, Technoserve founder Ed Bullard realized that local farms and businesses languished not because of a shortage of motivation or ability, but because of a lack of resources, both educational and financial. He started Technoserve in 1968 to connect entrepreneurs in developing countries with capital and educational resources. The organization started primarily with small farmers, but now, with a $58.3 million annual budget, it works to strengthen entire industries, such as coffee and cocoa. Some 1,000 staffers, mostly natives with successful business experience, train entrepreneurs in skills from writing business plans to applying fertilizer; connect them to finance organizations and corporations that can purchase their goods; hold business-plan competitions; and lobby to improve regulations. The results can be tangible for beneficiaries like Nicaragua's Jorge Salazar Cooperative of farmers, which, with Technoserve's help, started planting high-value crops like rare criollo cocoa and built a plant for processing malanga, a local tuber. The co-op then reinvested its profits to build a pharmacy and support local schools and police.
EXTRA CREDIT: Technoserve enlists volunteer consultants from companies like McKinsey and L'Oréal. It's top-rated by the American Institute of Philanthropy.
LOOKING AHEAD: Technoserve recently received a grant from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to help develop Haiti's business sector along with initiatives like the Haiti Hope Project, a partnership with Coca-Cola to help mango farmers find new markets and financial backing.
Vital Voices Global Partnership
Washington, D.C.
BY THE NUMBERS: 10,000 emerging women leaders trained in 127 countries since 1997
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Alyse Nelson, 37, former deputy director of the Vital Voices Global Democracy Initiative at the U.S. Department of State
WHAT IT DOES: This NGO sprang from an acclaimed U.S. State Department program, Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, established in 1997 by Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Working with the UN, EU, World Bank, and international governments, the program organized conferences for hundreds of emerging women leaders. In 2000, Vital Voices Global Partnership (VVGP) was established to continue the mission by combating human trafficking, supporting women entrepreneurs, and advancing women in politics and public leadership. The goal is for each woman touched by VVGP's programs to pay it forward. In 2008, Ghanaian Brigitte Dzogbenuku, general manager of a fitness center in Accra, spent five weeks in the U.S. taking skills seminars and shadowing Donna Orender, president of the WNBA. After returning to Ghana, she founded Hoop Sistas, a girls' basketball program that offers career development and women's health workshops.
EXTRA CREDIT: Big reach with steady results; consistently receives four-star ratings from Charity Navigator
LOOKING AHEAD: In 2012, VVGP will expand programs in North Africa and the Middle East.
World Wildlife Fund
Washington, D.C.
BY THE NUMBERS: More than $1 billion invested in roughly 12,000 projects in 100 countries since 1985
WHO'S IN CHARGE: Carter Roberts, 51, a Harvard MBA who spent 15 years leading domestic, international, and science programs at the Nature Conservancy
WHAT IT DOES: The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was founded in 1961 with a deceptively simple mission: to conserve species. It soon realized that in order to do that, it needed to preserve the land and oceans those species live in—and that triage was in order. Over the years, the organization has homed in on 19 hot spots of biodiversity experiencing grave threats, such as the Amazon, the eastern Himalayas, and the Arctic. Now operating out of 100 offices worldwide, WWF employs a strategy heavy on fieldwork and scientific studies, which staffers use both to develop solutions at the village level and to affect policies and consumer behavior. One solution WWF pioneered: sustainable-business certifications that encourage better business practices and informed purchasing among consumers.
EXTRA CREDIT: WWF's name recognition and budget allow it to implement projects and initiatives that cross political borders and incorporate dozens of complicated partnerships, a difficult feat for smaller groups.
LOOKING AHEAD: Through its Market Transformation Initiative, WWF is working with about 100 multinational corporations—50 partnerships are already established—that provide staples like soy, beef, and sugar. The idea is to help companies institute sustainable practices on all levels, from harvesting to packaging. Critics decry WWF for sleeping with the enemy—the organization takes consulting fees—but its success is undeniable. In the past four years, with WWF's help, Coca-Cola has improved water efficiency by 13 percent and reduced carbon emissions by 6 percent.
David Belt
Bright idea: New-school urban playgrounds
In July 2009, in a blighted junkyard along the borough's Gowanus Canal, a tree grew in Brooklyn—actually, a tree, a bocce court, lounge chairs, and three swimming pools made from converted dumpsters. For the next two months, this lo-fi country club hosted barbecues, birthdays, and mixers, offering locals a taste of leisure life inside the hardscrabble city.
The project, called Dumpster Pools, was the work of David Belt, a 44-year-old real estate developer who grew restless a few years ago and decided to chart a new course. To that end, he began turning what he calls "junk spaces"—abandoned big-box stores, run-down urban lots—into inspired community rec centers and art projects. In May 2010, Belt and his colleagues at Macro Sea—a rotating crew of like-minded friends and designers—took on the "boring act of recycling," as Belt puts it, by building a 20-by-30-foot clear box, with high walls made of steel and bulletproof glass, on a private Brooklyn lot. Locals were invited to smash bottles against the glass, which was wired to trigger nightclub-style flashing lights. The shards were all recycled.
Both projects were funded entirely by donations and built mostly by volunteers. In 2012, Belt is expanding, with new projects in Philadelphia (where he refurbished 27,000 square feet of an old warehouse and church as a rec-and-learning center) and Detroit (an industrial-wasteland skate park). The coolest of Macro Sea's future visions: a series of five-story artificial ice cliffs for urban mountaineering, which Belt hopes to bring to Manhattan high-rises someday. The challenge is finding ice coils large enough to keep the walls solid for weeks at a time, but Belt doesn't seem worried. "We're not afraid of scale," he laughs.
Amy Purdy
Bright idea: Disabled adventurers go big
Purdy is one of the country's most effective advocates for disabled outdoor athletes, and she came to her work the hard way: by losing both legs below the knees when she was 19. In the summer of 1999, bacterial meningitis sent her body into septic shock and set off a cascading series of organ failures that nearly killed her. A week before, she'd been a rising young snowboard competitor; suddenly, it looked like her career was over.
"I was lying in my hospital bed, watching the X Games on TV," Purdy says, "and I remember thinking that if I could see just one person competing with a prosthetic leg, everything would be OK." There weren't any, but working with a prosthetics expert, Purdy created a leg with an articulated ankle joint that allowed her to bend her knees on a board. Within a year and a half, she was competing again. Since then she's won three gold medals in adaptive events, most recently at the New Zealand Para-Snowboard World Cup.
In 2005, Purdy and her boyfriend, Daniel Gale, founded Adaptive Action Sports (AAS) to give other disabled athletes a path into extreme activities—from motocross to snowboarding to skateboarding. In addition to taking wounded veterans onto the slopes and halfpipe, AAS has created a competitive circuit for disabled riders and hopes to bring boardercross to the Paralympics by 2018. "When I lost my legs, there were no opportunities to move forward in snowboarding," she says. Now, thanks in part to Purdy, there are 81 adaptive snowboarders competing around the world.
Jon Rose
Bright idea: DIY disaster relief
In September 2009, California surfer Jon Rose was sailing toward the island of Sumatra, carrying ten water filters that he planned to deliver to a rural community while enjoying a surf trip in Indonesia. Rose was looking to move on from his career as a Quiksilver-sponsored surfing pro. Inspired by his father's nonprofit, RainCatcher, which teaches African villagers how to filter rainwater, he hit upon the idea of recruiting surfers to deliver water filters in their travels through developing countries. He thought it would be a pet project. Then, on his first mission, an earthquake hit nearby, devastating the city of Padang. "It was like divine intervention," Rose says. "Like, 'OK, this is your life. This is what you're doing.' "
Rose's organization, Waves for Water, has since provided some 2.5 million people access to safe water, delivering more than 75,000 simple portable filters, which can be used with local water supplies and whatever buckets are at hand, cutting out the need to dig wells or use purification chemicals. The group is one part viral campaign—looking for volunteers to buy and distribute filters abroad—and one part action squad, running relief and improvement programs in Haiti, Brazil, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Uganda, India, and Liberia. It's a style that Rose refers to as "black ops" or "guerrilla humanitarianism," which he defines as working "under the radar and around the red tape." That means a lean budget and a skeleton staff that coordinates with locals on the ground and moves into and out of target areas quickly.
Those years he spent far off the beaten path prepared him for his new job, Rose says. "It's sort of the same way I felt about surfing as a kid," he says. "But it's greater."
David Milarch
Organization: Archangel Ancient Tree Archive
Bright idea: New old growth
David Milarch discovered his calling as a tree evangelist during a near-death experience from renal failure 19 years ago. "When I came to, there was a ten-page outline that I don't remember writing," says the cofounder of this Michigan-based environmental group. His mission, dictated (he sincerely believes) by the Archangel Michael: to clean up the planet's air and water and reverse the effects of climate change by cloning the world's biggest, oldest trees.
Once a hard-living biker, Milarch developed a passionate spiritual connection to old-growth trees—especially redwoods and giant sequoias. Both species can live for millennia, pumping out oxygen and sequestering tons of atmospheric carbon. Milarch, along with his son Jared and project coordinator Meryl Marsh, started taking cuttings from the tops of the most titanic redwoods and sequoias they could find, as well as sprouts from huge stumps. Working in a Monterey, California, greenhouse and using various propagation techniques, project consultant Bill Werner has coaxed bits of the plant tissue to root and grow into field-ready transplants. Archangel also maintains living libraries of more than 40 cloned species, from an ancient Monterey cypress to thousand-year-old Irish oaks.
Some scientists have questioned whether genetic material alone is responsible for the trees' size and longevity, arguing that favorable growing conditions could just as likely explain it, but Milarch sides with his science adviser, the eminent redwood geneticist William J. Libby. Next year, Milarch hopes to start planting redwood saplings in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and he's looking for investors to underwrite other planting projects in the U.S. and abroad. "We want to rebuild the world's first old-growth redwood forest," he says. "They're the most iconic trees on earth."
Dan Morrison
Organization: Citizen Effect
Bright idea: Donations with destinations
Dan Morrison understands the power of face time. While traveling through India in 2006, he met a woman who said her earthquake-ravaged community needed a well but didn't have the $5,000 required to build it. Back home in Washington, D.C., he sent out a card pledging $2,500 and asking acquaintances to join him. Within days, $500 checks started arriving—from a friend, a former roommate, and Morrison's high school English teacher, among others. A lightbulb went off. "I realized that with fundraising, it's critical to have a specific project people can wrap their minds around," says Morrison. "That the request was coming from someone they knew made it that much more effective."
In December 2008, Morrison created 1Well, a nonprofit that helped people make investments in high-need areas around the world. Soon after, he quit his job as a consultant on Middle East policy to focus on 1Well full-time. In 2009, spurred by a $300,000 grant from Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, and his wife, Wendy, the group morphed into Citizen Effect, an online fundraising platform that connects citizen philanthropists with vetted, small-scale projects around the world. Budding do-gooders visit the website and choose a country, a fundraising goal, and a focus area (food security, education). In 2011, the group raised close to $500,000, funding 339 projects to date.
The twist comes in picking a fundraising approach—like the cross-country bike ride that Boulder, Colorado's Glenn Olsen did to raise money to build indoor toilets in Bandwhad, India. "When you do what you love in the name of a good cause, it's more fun for everyone," says Morrison, who believes that many people who might skip a specific objective (eliminating dysentery in South Asia?) will be lured in by an individual putting forth so much effort to help.
How We Picked Them
To compile our list of top philanthropies, we polled everyone from fellow journalists to independent experts who keep track of nonprofits all over the world, and we used Facebook and Twitter to broadcast our interest. We also brought in Kate Siber, a tireless Colorado-based writer who spent weeks beating the bushes for capable nonprofits that are doing work that is both worthwhile and innovative. Siber relied on ratings from organizations like Charity Navigator and Charitywatch, but she also looked to other credibility factors, including partnerships with government agencies and NGOs, transparency (does the organization clearly spell out its mission and the results it's achieved?), efficiency (how much is spent on programs instead of overhead?), and scope. Your favorites aren't on the list? Tell us all about them at firstname.lastname@example.com. It's a big planet out there. No doubt we'll be doing this again.
Do Diligence
How to size up charities on your own
There are 1.6 million nonprofits in the U.S., but only a small number are rated by groups like Charity Navigator (charitynavigator.org) and the National Center for Charitable Statistics (nccsdataweb.urban.org). Interested in one that hasn't been vetted by either? Do your homework using their methods.
Check financial health. Efficient charities spend at least 75 percent of their annual budget directly on programs, according to Charity Navigator. An organization should be able to provide recent 990 forms—an annual report to the IRS, required of most nonprofits, describing their mission and finances—online or upon request.
Assess executive compensation. You don't want to spend too much on somebody else's salary. Be aware that average executive pay for the largest 5,500 organizations is $150,000, but highly effective organizations may spend more for a seasoned CEO.
Consider reputation. Grants from well-known groups, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or contracts with government agencies lend organizations credibility, since they require detailed vetting. Do a search of the organization on Google News for any red flags.
Request the organization's policy on donor relationships. Most will agree not to sell your contact information to other groups or will offer you the opportunity to opt out.
Investigate results. Established charities should be able to demonstrate the need for their services, report their activities, measure their results, and communicate all of it clearly. If the group is small and local, observe projects in your area.


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What a fabulous invention – flexible grilling skewers! We tried them, loved them, and say..."once you have used these, you will never go back to using "traditional" skewers for grilling!"
So what is this wondrous grilling accessory? The FireWire is a 27–inch, flexible, stainless steel cable. It eliminates the hassle of trying to fit multiple skewers on the grill, plus find grill space for the other food items you want to make. Just place your other items on the gill and "snake" the FireWire around and between them.
Remember how frustrating it is to turn the skewers and have the meat turn in several different directions–not in the direction you want? The coil–style construction of the FireWire eliminates that problem. Turn the FireWire and the contents of the skewer turn with it. In addition, the tips of the FireWire are cool to the touch (they hang over the side of the grill and are not exposed to the heat) and make using them easy and safe. The cooked contents are easily removed from the skewers.
The 27–inch length allows for double the amount contained on the traditional sized metal skewer. Additional, the flexibility of the coil allows the skewers to fit into a bowl or resealable bag for marinating. When finished using, just pop into the dishwasher – yes they are dishwasher safe and come with a lifetime warranty.
We salute the producers of this "why didn't we think of it" invention. Inno–Labs, is a product development company located in Winfield, Kansas. It was founded in 2001 by Todd Gentry, who is also the company C.E.O. He previously was a co–founder of a regional internet provider that was ultimately acquired by EarthLink.
The FireWire has received several awards:
The San Francisco Gourmet Housewares Show selected the FireWire the 2009 Gourmet Golds Award winner in the Gadgets, Cutlery, and Accessories category and said, "Grilling enthusiasts are going to flip for this terrifically inventive idea."
The Good Housekeeping Research Institute selected the FireWire as a recipient of the 2010 VIP Award. The award recognizes "products that stand out for their inventive approach to helping families improve their lives in ingenious ways."
KosherEye declares the FireWire Flexible Grilling Skewers a "Gift yourself, Gift others" item! We have provided the following recipes as a tasty way to try out the FireWire on your grill:
Chicken Yakitori with Scallions (Traditional Style Japanese Kebabs), Spicy Beef Kebabs, Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Coriander and Cumin, and Grilled Marinated Vegetable Kebabs.
Enjoy and Happy Grilling!
The FireWire is available at major retail locations. For a complete listing, or for more information on this unique product, please visit FireWireGrilling.com. Also available at Amazon.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam met and shook hands Friday ahead of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
Kim Yong Nam, who is officially leading Pyongyang's diplomatic delegation to the Games, met Moon at a leaders' reception ahead of the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang.
Moon and his wife received their guests one by one and the two men smiled as they shook hands in a relaxed manner.
There was no sign of Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North's leader Kim Jong Un, who is part of Pyongyang's delegation.
Kim Yong Nam is the highest-level Northern official ever to visit the South, and was meeting his third South Korean president after participating in North-South summits in Pyongyang in 2000 and 2007.
On his left lapel Kim wore a badge depicting the North's founder Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un's father.
Moon and his wife Kim Jung-sook both wore lapel badges of Soohorang, the dancing white tiger mascot of the Winter Games.
A seating plan for the dinner shown on South Korean television showed Kim Yong Nam seated at the top table, in between Olympics chief Thomas Bach and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and directly opposite US Vice President Mike Pence.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was also among the group. Washington and its ally Tokyo are regularly threatened by nuclear-armed Pyongyang.


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BEIJING - We all know about China's economic growth. But the country also has the world's fastest growing obese population in absolute numbers, according to data from the World Health Organization. This is not only because China has the world's biggest population, but also because it has seen proportionately sharp rise in obesity.
In 1980, there were hardly any overweight people in China. By 2005, China already had 18 million people who were obese. By 2009 this number had hit 100 million.
According to a joint research program conducted by China's Academy of Sciences and the University of Northern Carolina, several factors can explain the phenomenon. The first one seems to lie in the cultural aspect: Most Chinese don't regard physical exercise as necessary in improving their life quality. On the contrary, children spend a lot of time sitting in classes while adults commonly work overtime in the hope of boosting their careers.
A survey conducted in 2010 showed that 22 % of Chinese parents believe that their normal-weight children are actually under-weight. Overweight boys are considered as being of strong build. Another statistic also shows that the education level has exactly the opposite effect on male and female adult weight. While few educated women are overweight, Chinese men exhibit a contrary tendency. Some believe that it's due to the fact that many Chinese still believe that to be plump symbolizes being wealthy.
Like in the developed world, television advertising plays a role in people's dietary choices. Adverts of high-calorie, high-protein foods have a disproportionate impact on people's eating habits and in particular on those of youngsters. In addition, as Chinese people get richer, their diet has largely changed. In the past ten years, the consumption of beef has doubled -- and so has the sale of frozen foods that go with the convenient westernized life style. Prepared food generally contains hidden sugar, starch and fat.
Picking up the West's bad eating habits
Meanwhile, western fast food is also conquering Chinese clients. In the eight biggest Chinese cities, 50% of the urban population eats at fast food chain stores. The annual turnover of these chains in China now represents $15 billion. In these eight cities, 21% of the business comes from western-style fast foods, and the majority of their clients are under 25-year-olds.
Consequently, the problem of obesity is much more present among the younger generation: In Beijing and Shanghai, one fifth of the children have been diagnosed by China's Ministry of Health as suffering from clinical obesity.
The scale of obesity in China is going to increase the incidence of obesity-linked diseases, and have a direct impact on China's health care. The rising wave of diabetes will have the most significant consequences of all. According to a WHO estimate, the number of type-2 diabetes sufferers will rise dramatically between now and 2050, making diabetes the disease that consumes most of China's health care resources in the future.
Take a look at the situation in the UK and the U.S. for example. The UK has proportionally the world's third biggest obesity population. According to UK obesity expert Tony Leeds, by 2015 obesity-related health care will cost Britain's National Health System 6.5 billion pounds annually. This does not include the indirect cost -- 27 billion pounds per year -- caused by decreasing productivity. Meanwhile, the United States, with two thirds of its population either overweight or obese, is estimated to spend around $300 billion per year on this problem, taking into account all indirect costs as well as directly attributable medical expenses.
China is on the path to repeating the Anglo-American experience, which has stranded their health systems on a mud bank of high health care costs. The prevalence of diabetes among people of 20 and over in China was 9.7 percent in 2010, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This made it second in the world right after the United States at 10.7 percent. The heavy burden this will bring to China's health care is foreseeable.
*This is a digest item, not a direct translation.
Read the full article in Chinese.
Photo: Jonathan Kos-Read


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Indian gaming has given Minnesota's 11 sovereign tribal nations a means to improve the lives of their people, foster economic development, and strengthen self-government.
It has helped tribes begin to reverse extreme poverty, provide for tribal members' health and education, preserve Native cultures, and achieve important goals that were previously unattainable. Indian gaming has also strengthened local economies by providing jobs, supporting local vendors, boosting tourism, and generating new tax revenues.
The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association (MIGA) brings member tribes together in their efforts to educate the public and elected officials, address shared interests and concerns, and speak with a unified voice on public policy matters.


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The Arizona Cardinals have to make a decision on quarterback Kevin Kolb's future in the coming days. If they can't work out a new contract, another option now is in place.
The Cardinalsannounced Wednesday that quarterback Drew Stanton reached a three-year deal with the team. NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah reported, citing a source close to the situation, that Stanton's contract is worth $8.2 million with $3 million guaranteed. An additional $12 million in incentives are built into the deal, according to Jeremiah, bringing the possible total value to $20.2 million.
Free-agent tracker
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The Cardinalsalso agreed to contracts with cornerback Jerraud Powers, safety Yeremiah Bell and linebacker Lorenzo Alexander.
Stanton learned new Cardinals coach Bruce Arians' offense last season as Andrew Luck's backup on the Indianapolis Colts and now looks like an option to start in the desert.
"Physically he has everything you want in a quarterback -- big with a strong arm, can get it up the field and make all the throws," Arians said after the signing. "He's just as impressive mentally and understands the position. I'm excited to get him here and compete."
The new Cardinals regime publicly has said positive things about Kolb, but Kolb is not "big with a strong arm." He can't "make all the throws." Kolb is due a $2 million roster bonus over the weekend and a $9 million salary this season. He's not making that money. Unless Kolb is willing to take a huge pay cut to stay, we expect a release in the coming days.
Even if Kolb stays in Arizona, he'll have to compete for playing time.


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The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: Translated Out of the Original Greek and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised
American Bible Society, 1837 - 543 pages
Pages sélectionnées
Expressions et termes fréquents
according angel answered apostles asked behold believe Blessed blood body brethren bring brother brought called cast cause CHAP chief church cometh commanded David dead death delivered departed devil disciples earth enemies enter evil eyes faith Father fear flesh followed gave give given glory God's gospel grace hand hath hear heard heart heaven Holy Israel Jerusalem Jesus Christ Jews John judge judgment keep king kingdom known light live LORD mouth opened pass Paul peace Peter praise pray prayer preach priests prophets PSALM receive rejoice righteousness saith unto say unto sent servant shew sins soul spake speak Spirit stand suffer temple thee thine things thou art thou hast thou shalt took trust truth turned unto thee Verily voice walk wicked written
Fréquemment cités
Page 249 - But rise, and stand upon thy feet : for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee...
Page 18 - The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Page 417 - And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Page 386 - Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven ; which things the angels desire to look into.
Page 65 - Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. 13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine ; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand,) and were choked in the sea.
Page 406 - Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Page 202 - For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Page 5 - Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Page 283 - But now I have' written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
Page 10 - And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.


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Colosseum – one of Rome's and the world's most famous monuments. This ancient amphitheatre dates back to 70–80 AD with a history of gladiator battles and theatrical dramas.
Pantheon – used to be a temple but now serves as a church. The Pantheon is one of Rome's most visited buildings, magnificently constructed and breathtakingly beautiful from the inside.
Visiting the Vatican is one of the things you simply must do while in Rome.
The Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica and Square are recommended attractions if you want to experience art, culture and history during your visit.
You can see a lot just by walking around and taking in the city's unique atmosphere. Take a walk to the Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna) – a monumental stairway built in the 1700s with around 135 steps decorated with flowers; a place that is alive throughout the day and into the evening. Besides the large number of museums and churches in Rome, there are also plenty of cosy parks ideal for a picnic, including Villa Borghese. You could also stop by the Trevi Fountain to throw in some coins.


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How WordPress 3.0 will rock your portfolio
Published on
I couldn't be happier that my WordCamp Portland 2009 presentation, WordPress-Powered Portfolios, will likely have the shortest shelf life of any presentation I've given. It's a testament to the WordPress team (and open source projects in general) that the "hacks" I proposed only months ago have already blossomed into honest-to-goodness features.
In December, WordPress 2.9 introduced support for post thumbnails, eliminating the need for my custom meta hack. WordPress 3.0 (which should be released around May) will solve the problem of secluding portfolio content from your blog with the introduction of custom post types.
Instead of corralling your portfolio content with tools like "category excluders" or relying solely on nested pages (as I suggested), you'll soon be able to create a custom "portfolio" post type in a supported and predictable fashion.
As Frank Bültge details on the WP Engineer blog, adding a whole new section to your WordPress sidebar will be a straightforward and extremely flexible process you can bake right into your theme. No crazy plugins or hackery required!
This change is exciting not only for the impact it will have on sites like my own, but because it increases WordPress' prospects as a hardy CMS solution.
All that's left to render my presentation completely obsolete is a more robust and customizable gallery solution. I'll be crossing my fingers.


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Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama could use executive action and bypass Congress to further restrict gun ownership by private citizens.
Biden on Wednesday had heard personal stories of gun violence from representatives of victims groups and gun-safety organizations as he drafts the Obama administration's response to the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school. He pledged that action would be taken.
"I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion (that) unless we can do everything we're going to do nothing," Biden said. "It's critically important (that) we act."
The meeting was part of a series Biden is holding this week to build consensus around proposals to curb gun violence after the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting in Newtown, Conn. Twenty school children were killed.
Participants in Wednesday's meeting with Biden included the Brady Campaign and groups from Illinois, Wisconsin, and states that experienced multi-victim shootings that garnered national attention, including the shooting in Arizona of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Attorney General Eric Holder, a prime suspect in the Fast and Furious gun-scandal, also attended.
In additon, there were two survivors of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech that killed 32 people in attendance, as well as a stepfather of a victim of last July's massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., in which a dozen people were slain.
Last week, Obama ordered his Vice President, Joe Biden, to put together a special blue-ribbon panel that will meet, discuss and propose new legislation and federal regulations to cut down crimes committed with firearms.
The Obama administration long ago realized it would have insurmountable difficulty getting a semiautomatic gun ban, such as that considered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and others, passed Congress, especially when the House is controlled by defenders of the Second Amendment, according to gun law expert John Snyder.
Congressional Second Amendment supporters already are preparing for such a battle. During the Clinton years, Congress enacted a partial, temporary semiautomatic ban but allowed it to sunset after 10 years because of its lack of significant negative impact on crime, according to surveys conducted by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
The Obama administration, now safely reelected, may order the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to take the classification step. Some gun-grabbers view the designation of Street Sweeper shotguns as Title 2 firearms during the Clinton administration as precedent for such a move.
But with the Newtown shootings still fresh in Americans' minds, Obama believes he will succeed in achieving his hidden gun-control agenda.
"I'd like to get it done in the first year. I will put forward a very specific proposal based on the recommendations that Joe Biden's task force is putting together as we speak. And so this is not something that I will be putting off," said Obama in the NBC interview.
Obama also voiced skepticism about a proposal by a gun rights lobby group to put more armed guards in schools across the country to prevent future mass shooting tragedies at campus.
"I am skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that somehow is going to solve our problem," said Obama.
National Rifle Association, the largest gun-rights organization in the country, has refused to support new gun-control legislation after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre. The group called for armed guards for every school in the country, as the response of the gun industry.
"These gun-control people like Obama and Feinstein are surrounded by well-trained bodyguards who are armed to the teeth. I don't hear Obama complaining about having so many armed people walking around his home," said former police detective Mike Snopes.
"Why can't my children have the same protection as Obama's kids in Washington?" Snopes asks.
When Biden convened the first meeting of the White House's gun-control task force, bringing together law enforcement officials and Cabinet secretaries, he said there was "no reason " why an updated assault weapons ban could not pass Congress.
"President Obama has a literal army of trained, armed soldiers in the form of parts of the military and an entire division of officers (The Secret Service) who's job it is, once again, to make this not his problem for both him and his entire family. Michelle and his children do not have to concern themselves about these issues because there are literally over a thousand others who are paid to take that responsibility — up to and including eating a bullet in their place," said Stephanie S. Jasky, founder and director of FedUpUSA.org.
A former New York City police detective, who was assigned to the mayor's security detail, said that Michael Bloomberg talks tough with a crowd of six-foot-plus police detectives surrounding him, all of them armed with Glocks carrying 17-rounds. Yet, Bloomberg is one of the nation's most vocal "gun-grabbers," said the former NYPD cop.
Jim Kouri, CPP, is founder and CEO of Kouri Associates, a homeland security, public safety and political consulting firm. He's formerly Fifth Vice-President, now a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, and he's a columnist for Examiner.com. In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com) and editor of Conservative Base Magazine (www.conservativebase.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.
He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at St. Peter's University and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.
He holds a bachelor of science in Criminal Justice from Southwest University and SCI Technical School in New York City and completed training at the NYC Police Academy, FBI Continuing Education Program, and the Certified Protection Professional (CPP) of the American Society for Industrial Security.
Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.
To subscribe to Kouri's newsletter write to email@example.com and write "Subscription" on the subject line.


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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay nearly $10 million to settle four clergy sex abuse cases.
Church attorney J. Michael Hennigan confirmed the $9.9 million settlement Tuesday for the cases, which alleged abuse by former priest Michael Baker.
Two cases were to go to trial soon and a judge had said attorneys for the alleged victims could also pursue punitive damages.
Recently released files show Baker met with Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1986 and confessed to molesting two brothers for nearly seven years.
Mahony sent Baker for psychological treatment but eventually put him back in ministry, where he molested again.
Baker was convicted of molesting one boy in 2007. Two of the latest plaintiffs are that boy's brothers.
Mahony is in Rome helping select the next pope.


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Logic would have it that after dozens or maybe hundreds of lies and false alarms spanning many years, that that the anti folk would have no listeners or other support. One huge test of that was in the repeal of the out-of-state marriage restrictions here in Massachusetts. Another, much more significant one, will be in November on California's Proposition 8 to halt and forbid same-sex marriage there.
Clueless CassandraThe most common recurrent theme from the anti forces is chaos. They seem to love the concept and expect it to sway the intellectually and emotionally weak — in court filings and arguments, in legislative lobbying, and most of all in fund-raising and public debate.
Wherever SSM is up for discussion or vote, we hear that legalizing or not illegalizing it will result in governmental paralysis and huge new expenses. From town clerks to civil courts, the flack and fallout from lawsuits will cripple all governing and processes.
This seems to relate in general terms to the claim that expanding the normal civil contract that is legal marriage will disrupt the religious rituals that many couples also have. The anti folk have claimed both in the strongest terms for years.
Had I been suckered into contributing to their groups or voting their way, I'd be pretty angry and insulted now. At every turn, their panicked predictions have proven to be fantasy and deceit.
In Vermont, the original civil-unions state, there was a whiff of that fear mongering. Then after the 2003 Goodridge decision mandating SSM here and before the first SS marriages, the klaxons rang non-stop. Homosexual couples would be the end of us all in the Bay State. Like an Ayn Rand tome, the predictions included that the powerful and wealthy would flee the state, leaving a desolate economy (the Bush administration was doing that just fine, needing no help, here and elsewhere). Judges would spend all their bench time adjudicating SS cases. Something terrible but unknowable would happen to different-gendered marriages...real bad and real soon.
None of that has happened. Only good has come of broadening civil contract marriage — the obvious pro-marriage stance.
So, you'd think that all the supporters of the dishonest and dishonorable anti groups would realize they'd been had. Here that seems to be largely, but not entirely, true. Instead, cynics can revel in the minority failure of their fellow humans. It also appears that such groups as Mass Family Institute and that ragtag duo over at MassResistance will continue to milk the gullible as long as they can. They've been reduced to chanting, "Just you wait!," in response to their failures of prediction and related assertions.
For the few, the foolish, their dislike or fear of homosexuals seems to overpower their observation. Perhaps they cling to this sinking little raft because they cannot accept that they had been fooled that many times for that long.
Deny, DenyEven after the stomping solid defeats in both houses of the Massachusetts legislature, MFI holds to the pretext that repealing the set of laws that limited out-of-state couples from marrying here would "redefine marriage in other states...With that protective barrier removed, out-of-state same-sex couples who marry here will sue to seek recognition in their home states-creating a flood of costly lawsuits and further eroding the people's right to define marriage democratically."
As much as I like and am proud of Boston specifically and Massachusetts more broadly, we are at the moment insignificant in this equality process. Let us keep in mind that the big state, that one with all the people, as well as no limits on out-of-staters marrying there has legal SSM. Any fantasy that we'd impact the 48 states without SSM has to go way, way down the list of the possible.
Moreover, legally:
- One state's definition of marriage does not affect any others'. We may think we're swell, but we don't define marriage laws or regulations anywhere else.
- The smoke has long been in the air. As well as from Massachusetts, legally married SS couples from Canada and elsewhere are visiting, moving to, and working in states with laws and/or amendments forbidding SSM. There's no way to suck that smoke back into the fire. Despite the anti forces' druthers, they can't quarantine SS marrieds with big fences around Massachusetts and California.
Everybody Panic! Here, the anti folk were unable to convince the legislature either that SSM would end life as we knew it or even that a pro-marriage structure including out-of-state couples would end life as those in other states know it. As their similar national and California groups turn to west coast voters, what are their tacks and prospects?
For one, just when you think they couldn't be more insulting and patronizing to their supporters, news comes about the Pacific Justice Institute. They are taking a path that failed miserably in Canada when wingers tried to overturn SSM there — claiming that fundamentalist and conservative clerics will find the the government forcing them to solemnize SSMs.
The Sacramento-based legal group specializes in suing left-wingers. Since the middle of June, they have been doing a scare tour for ministers around California. Even though legal experts at the state and national levels clearly assert there is no risk of any clergy being required to perform either civil marriage (signing the state license) or the religious ritual (not legal marriage at all) for any couple, that failed argument seems to be the order of the day again.
In his own circular argument, PJI President Brad Dacus told the Press-Enterprise reporter, "We wouldn't be spending time and resources on this if there was no substantive threat."
The meetings are billed as workshops, telling the ministers that they have to "take proper preemptive measures and adhere to them, they should be able to withstand a lawsuit. Most churches have not taken preemptive measures." Truth be told, that amounts to checking the church's written policy on marriages, facilities use and such. If they are so disorganized as not to have policies, they should do that immediately for any use of the church.
With Pro. 8 in four months, other agenda at the workshops will include related politicking and appeals. Specifically:
Dacus said his workshops also guide pastors who are unsure how strongly they can advocate for Prop. 8, the anti-same-sex marriage initiative. Although pastors cannot endorse political candidates from the pulpit, they can support ballot initiatives and pass out leaflets in favor of initiatives, he said. But they cannot devote a "substantial amount of church resources or facilities" to a political cause, he said.Underlying the workshops is the marketing aspect too.
The institute is using the specter of pastors being forced to perform same-sex weddings in its fundraising appeals. If you believe, as I do, that no government should be allowed to force churches to perform marriage ceremonies that contradict God's Word, I'm asking you to say 'I do' by offering PJI a one-time, tax-deductible gift," a June 25 letter says.Of course, that's cynical, but interest groups on all sides are always fund-raising. In fact, their best argument to the clergy might be that it would be a lot cheaper for them to kick in a few optional bucks and get what they can from the workshops. If they haven't done the reasonable groundwork for facilities use, they're in trouble anyway. For a wide variety of the public, they have to be very clear and consistent on their non-religious use policies or open themselves to legal enforcement or suits. If the PJI tells them specifically what their board has to do, it would likely be a lot cheaper than hiring an attorney to do the same.
I confess that I can't ascribe such eleemosynary motives to this group. However, they could be useful to the least well administrated churches. Over the years, quite a few ministers I have known have said they are pretty ignorant about administration and management. Those have not been key in their calling or training. Most church boards largely or entirely comprise a set of well-intentioned amateurs.
Next WindmillThe scare tactics eventually failed with Massachusetts lawmakers and voters. Out-of-thin-air assertions created a stir, but did not hold sway.
Now turning to California, we keep in mind that eight years ago, the voters made a highly emotionally charged vote changing family code to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The current argument for those favoring Prop. 8, like Protect Marriage, is that this is all voters need to know and do to pass the initiative.
Of course, quite a lot has changed:
- Massachusetts marriages did not produce the lawsuits, scattering of militant married SS couples looking for fights, or any of the chaos promised.
- Many thousands, perhaps millions, of gay individuals and couples have come out and are just plain, unscary folk.
- The state's highest court legalized SSM.
- Prop. 8 would be a constitutional amendment, not a simple and easily reversible law change.
- Prop. 8 would strip fellow citizens of existing rights, rights fundamental to society.
The two main groups fighting Prop. 8 are local — Equality for All and Equality California. There's is the good fight right now. They are up against a lot of national-level winger money and could use some more checkbook liberals on-board.
California often surprises the nation. I have long held that their initiative system is the worst and most impulsive around. So, I could be surprised. Yet, I've looked at the anti folks' literature and websites. They don't have the goods.
Tags: massmarrier, California, same sex marriage, ballot initiative, PJI, Massachusetts


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Swords and Sandals 4
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The Swords & Sandals saga continues with S&SIV as our embattled gladiators step out from the arena and set out in a wider and more dangerous world. Up to four gladiators compete in a variety of minigames, adventures and battles set across an epic eight realms of danger and adventure. Swords & Sandals IV: Tavern Quests... it's the game all the gladiators are playing!


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In this one video, Gomer tackles Team Rocket! From Celadon to Saffron!
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The Princess and the Hound (Paperback)
He is a prince and heir to a kingdom threatened on all sides, possessor of the forbidden animal magic.
She is a princess from a rival kingdom, the daughter her father never wanted, isolated from all except her hound.
In this lush and beautifully written fairy-tale romance, a prince, a princess, and two kingdoms are joined in the aftermath of a war. Proud, stubborn, and bound to marry for duty, George and Beatrice will steal your heart—but will they fall in love?
About the Author
Mette Ivie Harrison has a PhD in Germanic literature and is the author of The Princess and the Hound; Mira, Mirror; and The Monster in Me.
Of The Princess and the Bear, she says, "I never thought there would be a sequel to The Princess and the Hound, but when I read through the galleys, I realized that there was another book waiting in the story of the bear and the hound. In some ways, you might think of it more as a parallel novel than as a sequel, because it stands on its own as a new story. But who knows? Maybe I'll look at these galleys and find another story demanding to be told."
She lives with her family in Utah.
Praise For…
"A well-told tale." — Kirkus Reviews
"Well-written and intriguing. Harrison's intelligence and love of language shine through." — KLIATT