On our June fundraising call I was excited to report that, thanks to the generosity of our SMARTSTART|Giving followers, we have funded the hopes and dreams of 135 entrepreneurs with 32 micro-loans through Kiva.org. That’s more than 10x the number of loans made by the typical Kiva donor who, on average, makes 2.9 loans. And we’ve only needed 3 calls to do it!

What a show of faith. Thank you for making it all possible.

It started me thinking about what I could possibly give back to express my appreciation. Realizing many of you are pursuing your own entrepreneurial dreams while still working hard at a day job, I decided to offer (more…)

This month we’re featuring Debi Silber, the Mojo Coach, in our SMARTSTART|Giving 60-Second Spotlight. We are impressed with Debi’s commitment to helping moms regain a strong sense of self when life knocks them down. She provides free personal training and nutrition coaching to give them a fighting chance at restoring a positive outlook.

Debi sees the gift of “health and wellness” as a way she can contribute by giving back. Have a listen, get inspired and visit her web site at www.LifestyleFitnessInc.com.

Read an interesting piece by Bob Ostertag in The Huffington Post recently. He was commenting on how the Obama campaign had harnessed the power of the internet to provide a vehicle for accepting campaign donations requested in the $25-$50 range. (Not unlike the small requests we ask of our SMARTSTART|Giving supporters.)

Seems things are going so well, sources from Obama’s campaign think he could bring in $100M in June alone! This gives me hope Alex and I are really onto something!

To put this power of the internet into perspective, (more…)

Ever been caught with too much month at the end of your money? Chances are you’re much richer than you think. And I bet you have no idea where you stand in terms of your place on the global rich list.

Don’t put yourself down because you haven’t made that first million yet. Instead, high tail it over to http://www.globalrichlist.com/index.php and enter the amount of money you make each year and the currency. Then press <Enter> to find out (more…)

Jeff Herring, also known as The Internet Article Guy, is our featured guest for May’s SMARTSTART|Giving 60-Second Spotlight. We are grateful to Jeff for creatively using his 50th birthday to raise money for SMARTSTART to donate to Kiva.org. What a way to celebrate! Have a listen as Jeff explains what he did and why and you’ll see what we mean.

Thanks Jeff! (Visit Jeff’s web site at www.JeffHerring.com )

John L. Herman Jr. considers himself a failure expert — that is, not someone who fails at business, but someone who understands why a business fails. He consolidated the lessons learned in Hermanisms: Axioms for Business & Life.

Herman is a really interesting guy. He completed a business degree at Towson University, graduate work at Johns Hopkins University, and a stint in the US Air Force before taking on the corporate world.

His many years of experience (which exceed mine but not by much include working with a thousand companies that were losing money.

When you have (more…)

My niece has just returned to Uganda for a second season of working with a team of young people on local community projects. In her first report from the front lines she filled us in on what’s been done since she got there.

In Jinja they helped build a pig house as one of the income generation projects for a woman with AIDS. They also repaired the roof, fixed the door and patched up the mud hut for a woman named Ruth who is very ill.

So ill, last Friday night she planned to commit suicide but (more…)

Dorothy Canfield Fisher said “A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.”

Many of the entrepreneurs we are supporting through Kiva.org are mothers. They are prepared to work extremely hard to provide a better life for their children, not unlike our own mothers. Many of our “givers” are mothers too and they are (more…)

Like many of you, I enjoy being a “bedroom entrepreneur”! (That’s a fancy term for those of us who work from home in a spare bedroom converted into an office.

It has a rather nice cachet though, don’t you think?) And I know Alex likes it too; he runs his business from a converted bedroom also — a fact most of you probably already know. Let’s face it, it’s hard not to like the 17-second commute… no pantyhose or shaving required!

Of course this past month (more…)

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things. It’s a simple thought, but a powerful one. I remind myself of it often, particularly when facing extreme challenges.

You see, I was called to serve in a roundabout and unexpected way hence the label “The Accidental Philanthropist” in recent media coverage of the birth of our “giving” story.

But the vision I share with Alex for the future of SMARTSTART|Giving is no accident; it’s a deeply inspired business strategy that began with “divine intervention”.

Actually, I believe it’s been a series of divine interventions, each uniquely designed to better prepare me to take on this important work.

How else can you explain the shift in circumstances that brought me face-to-face with former President Bill Clinton last November so I might have an opportunity to show him why Alex is the best person on the planet to lead the global marketing of philanthropy? (Time Magazine cover is a mock-up on Alex’s “vision board”)

And who could have predicted our innovative micro-fundraising program would be on the agenda for a meeting with Oprah Winfrey (thanks to Alex’s friend (more…)