Hope Equity has been selected as an official Adobe Site of the Day for Monday, October 13. Adobe products are the industry standard for publishing and Web design software, so this recognition carries weight in wide array of professional fields. Hope Equity will be featured on the Showcase section of the Adobe Web site (http://www.adobe.com/showcase/).
This is a credit to the hard work of our designers and the creative team behind the Hope Equity. Yet it is an even better opportunity to be exposed to a diverse, educated group of people who are unaware of Hope Equity and our mission of ending hunger and poverty. Designers, publishers and industry insiders are just some of the users that frequent the Adobe site. The Adobe Site of the Day winner badge will now be featured prominently the Hope Equity site as well.
Adobe recognizes Web sites based on its use of “strong visual designs, superior functionalities, and innovative uses of Adobe products. We want to give credit to the creative and engineering talent behind the scenes.”
And, most importantly, let us know what you think! We strive to provide donors with a unique, sustainable way of giving back. Think of Hope Equity as your tool. We can only make it better with your input.

The Windy (and humid) City played host to the latest GOOD Magazine event last Friday, August 22, at the eclectic Salvage One event center/art constellation/architectural salvage yard. Hope Equity set up amongst roman pillars and renovated church furnishings for an evening filled with lively discussions and introductions to a new way of giving. The more than 750 Chicagoans that attended showed a genuine interest in Hope Equity’s mission of providing sustainable giving to countries, non-profits and initiatives dedicated to ending hunger and poverty and caring for the Earth. We spoke to people from all walks of life, including lawyers, reporters, students, writers, artists and many others who were there to learn more and also have a good time. The bottom floor of Salvage One included Hope Equity, Virgin Mobile’s Re-Generation project, Peak Organic and many local non-profit and community outreach initiatives. Upstairs their was screen printing set up for on-the-spot t-shirt creation, a mini-theater set up showing GOOD short films about a host of important issues, as well as a dance floor that buzzed to the likes of Flostradamus, Hollywood Holt and Willy Joy. Choose GOOD Chicago once again showed that education and entertainment can go hand in hand.

Catie Curtis understands how the gift of an instrument can forever change a young person’s life. When Catie was 15-years-old, growing up in a small town in southern Maine, she was given a guitar with the only catch being that she had to learn how to play it.

Now, in the midst of a musical career that has seen her travel all across the U.S. and Europe, release nine studio albums to critical acclaim – including a 2006 International Songwriting Competition Grand Prize – Catie has a desire to give the same gift she once received. Catie has created one of Hope Equity’s newest Interests, the Catie Curtis Aspire To Inspire Endowment, to provide continuous, ongoing funding for the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Foundation so that guitars can be given to budding young musicians that can’t afford to buy their own.

“My passion is to put guitars in the hands of aspiring young musicians. They can use it as a vehicle to create a life for themselves, if they so choose,” Catie said.

A Boston-based singer-songwriter, Catie plays a hopeful, yet honest brand of grassroots folk music that has been influenced by the likes of Cheryl Wheeler, Greg Brown and John Gorka. But it was a woman passing through her sleepy hometown as stage manager of a traveling theater troupe that made her an offer that would forever change her life.

“I remember she held it up and said ‘you can have it, if you learn to play,’” Catie said. “It was an artist speaking to an artist, really deliberate and really intense. I couldn’t accept it unless I committed myself to learning to play.”

Catie says she wonders what her life would be like now if not for that fateful day – if she would have ever became a singer-songwriter. For Catie, music is something that helped her make sense of the world and find meaningfulness in life, which is what she hopes to provide to others.

“Many successful people have a story like that, where somebody gave them a leg up,” she said.

To that end, the ASCAP Foundation provides funding for the teachers that take part in summer camps for inner-city youth where children are given the opportunity to discover their talents. These teachers will identify those with a desire or inclination to play the guitar. “We want to put guitars in aspiring musicians’ hands, as an unexpected gift, to convey the confidence that comes from someone believing in them. As a non-profit organization, the ASCAP Foundation buys the guitars tax-free and awards them to specific students who really want to learn.” she said.

It doesn’t end there for Catie, as she will be able to send a message of support to the young musicians chosen to receive a guitar. Just as students are specifically chosen to receive guitars, the Catie Curtis Aspire to Inspire Endowment is specifically designated to support the ASCAP’s efforts to put instruments in the hands of burgeoning musicians.

“I have had success as a touring singer-songwriter, but I don’t have millions to donate. I have a voice in the community, and so I can raise interest in supporting good causes. People don’t have to be Bill Gates in order to feel like they have something to give.” Ultimately, Catie views Hope Equity as a way to provide “an ongoing funding source for a mission I really believe in.” All charitable gifts to the Endowment will be invested, with a percentage of the interest generated being made available each year to the ASCAP for the purchase of guitars.

“It’s a unique model of charitable giving, that as people put money in it, they can watch it grow year after year,” Catie said. “I love the fact that the growth of the endowment will ensure that students are given guitars each year through this program, forever.”

For more on Catie Curtis, please visit www.catiecurtis.com.

Join Hope Equity at the GOOD Magazine Chicago Celebration on Friday, Aug. 22 at 7pm at Salvage One (1840 W. Hubbard in Chicago). The event will feature architectural artifacts, music, food and giveaways. Join us for an explosion of booth vendors, great talent and a unique combination of Chicago’s best at Salvage One! Musical performances will include FLOSSTRADAMUS, Hollywood Holt, Willy Joy and more to be announced! Visit us at the Hope Equity booth to learn how to set up a Micro-Endowment and then receive a free Hope Equity t-shirt after you set it up!

Bike valet will be provided, so ride your bike. Recycle stations will be available, so bring your old cell phones, pagers and pda’s.

You must RSVP to this event by Fri 22 Aug 2008 at 07:00PM at www.goodmagazine.com/events/chicago

For Erik and Carla Schneider, Hope Equity offers a way to feel more personally connected to the different causes that they support.

The Schneiders support the life-changing work of Heifer International both physically, through their local area volunteer network, and financially, through their Micro-Endowment with Hope Equity.

Heifer International is a non-profit organization that has alleviated hunger and poverty around the world for more than 60 years by helping poor families achieve self-sufficiency through sustainable livestock and agricultural projects.

The Schneiders live in Bellevue, Washington, where Carla works as an assistant manager at an assisted living facility and Erik works as a software engineer. They are both very involved in their community and church. They first heard of Heifer’s work at an event at their church in 2002.

“It wasn’t until a couple of months later that I looked on the Web site, and I was hooked,” Carla said.

As the Schneiders made donations to Heifer they would receive inspiring information about the different projects in the field. Carla has even had the opportunity to visit Heifer projects in Honduras.

“I still get goose bumps thinking about it. It was just really amazing to see not just that their material status had improved, but the pride in those women’s faces was astounding and very touching,” she said.

Erik said they were soon drawn to Hope Equity because it was a more permanent and secure way to support the work of Heifer International.

“With Hope Equity you can track the money you gave,” he said. “We really like that idea.”

Each month the Schneiders give to two different areas through their Micro-Endowment. One is usually the Ghana Country Endowment, because they both feel personally connected to the country and its people. Then the other area they give to is determined by what’s going on around the world, and in their lives, at that moment.

“If something is happening in China like with the recent Earthquakes, we might choose to give to that endowment. If it is Earth Day we might give to an environmental endowment, or even gender equity for Mother’s Day,” he said. “That’s why we love Hope Equity; you can make those choices.”

The Schneiders have also found other unique ways to further their family’s commitment to ending hunger. After reading the statistic that one child dies every five seconds due to hunger, Carla decided to auction off her diamond wedding ring. The proceeds of the auction were then put into a new Micro-Endowment selected by the buyers of the ring.

The Schneiders are a modest couple whose only hope was that their story of auctioning off their wedding ring would inspire others to do something in some way to help end hunger and poverty.

“Years down the road somebody might come across something of value to them and think of what they could do with it (to help end hunger and poverty),” Erik said.

For more information on Heifer International, visit www.heifer.org.

Hope Equity joined GOOD Magazine in the streets of San Francisco with its 2nd Annual “Choose GOOD” Block Party with live musical performances, food, drink, games and activities for all ages. The celebration took place Sunday, July 20th from 1:00pm to 8:00pm at 111 Minna Gallery located at the corner of Minna Street and 2nd Street in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood.

Guests enjoyed live musical performances by The Morning Benders, The Mumlers, DJ Franki Chan, DJ Vin Sol and more on a solar-powered outdoor stage. The event featured food and drink, art installations, free giveaways and numerous interactive activities to keep the fun going throughout the afternoon.

Click here to see our San Francisco video of the event!

We’ll see you at the next GOOD Event in Chicago on August 22. For more information, visit: http://www.goodmagazine.com/events/chicago

And enjoy these pictures from the San Francisco event!

Check out the recently published article, “Hope Equity: An Idea Whose Time Has Come” on the Philantopic Web site. Philantopic is a Web site who is the “opinion and commentary on changing the world of philanthropy”.

To view the article, click here.

Hope Equity joins GOOD Magazine in the streets of San Francisco with its 2nd Annual “Choose GOOD” Block Party with live musical performances, food, drink, games and activities for all ages.  The celebration takes place Sunday, July 20th from 1:00pm to 8:00pm at 111 Minna Gallery located at the corner of Minna Street and 2nd Street in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood and is open to all subscribers of GOOD magazine.  For non-subscribers, the price of admission is $20, all of which is directed to one of GOOD’s 12 nonprofit partners and adds you to GOOD’s subscription base.  Party-goers must RSVP by visiting: http://www.goodmagazine.com/events/sf08.

Guests can take in all that the block party has to offer while enjoying live musical performances by The Morning Benders, The Mumlers, DJ Franki Chan, DJ Vin Sol and more on a solar-powered outdoor stage.  The event will feature food and drink, art installations, free giveaways and numerous interactive activities to keep the fun going throughout the afternoon.

Come talk to us and receive a FREE Hope Equity Bamboo t-shirt!

While the staff of Hope Equity may not be directly responsible for the punishing heat that swept through New York City last weekend, we can’t help but notice that it coincided with our arrival. Regardless, GOOD Magazine once again pulled off another unique event along the East River waterfront on Saturday, June 7. Local farmers, cheese makers and honey producers provided an array of delicious and eclectic food while DJs and the British band These New Puritans kept people feeling good in the stifling heat.

The sustainable development that is a way of life for the farmers in attendance fit in nicely with Hope Equity’s mission of enabling donors to provide sustainable, long-term giving to causes and organizations dedicated to ending hunger and poverty and caring for the Earth.

Everyone in the Bay Area should mark your calendars for Saturday July 19, when GOOD Magazine returns to San Francisco for a repeat of last summer’s successful Block Party. Hope Equity will once again be a part of the festivities. We’ll post more details soon, so check back in the coming weeks.

View a short video from our recent trip to the GOOD Magazine Farmer’s Fair in New York City below.

By Nicole Wallace via philanthropy.com

The Heifer Foundation, in Little Rock, Ark., is looking to the Internet to extend the reach of its charitable endowments — and to make giving to an endowment more accessible.

“Typically when we think of endowments, it’s kind of an intimidating term,” says Greg Spradlin, a vice president at the foundation.

Many people, he says, think, “Well, that’s for the mega-wealthy, and that’s for hospital wings and that sort of thing.”

With its new Web site, Hope Equity, the foundation is trying to make endowment giving easy and accountable to donors. Endowment gifts allow donors to give money that will be invested, with part of the proceeds supporting the projects they select.

$5-Million in Support

The Heifer Foundation grew out of Heifer International, an international-aid organization, also in Little Rock. A legally separate organization, it was founded in 1990 to manage the charity’s endowment and planned gifts, and now has assets worth $111-million.

Visitors to the Hope Equity site can read about the work they can support with their endowment gifts — work in a specific country, such as Cameroon or Nicaragua, or on specific causes, such as disaster recovery or preventing HIV/AIDS.

Gifts can be of any size; the site has no minimum-contribution requirement.

The Heifer Foundation invests the money, and a portion of the proceeds go to support programs, while the rest is reinvested to help increase the original gift. Through the Web site, donors can monitor the size of their gifts, see when funds are allocated, and read about the progress of the projects they are supporting.

A pilot version of the site has been available to the foundation’s donors for the past year. During that time, donors gave more than $5-million to support more than 130 projects.

A ‘Eureka’ Moment

Mr. Spradlin believes that donors’ growing comfort with the Internet and with making larger donations online means the time is right for Hope Equity.

Several trusts and annuities created in the last year to benefit the foundation have been negotiated primarily over e-mail. One donor sent e-mail messages back and forth to the foundation’s chief executive and set up a $1-million charitable remainder trust without once speaking to a foundation employee on the telephone.

“For us that was a ‘eureka’ moment,” says Mr. Spradlin.

Because the foundation grew out of Heifer International, most of the money in the endowments benefit that organization’s international-development work.

But with Hope Equity, the foundation is letting donors set up endowments to benefit other charities, provided their missions are to end hunger and poverty or help the environment.

“We believe that no single organization or no single individual — Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, or whomever — is going to solve any of these problems,” says Mr. Spradlin.

Fund-Raising Tools

He hopes that Hope Equity will eventually become a sort of community foundation for international aid and development, providing support to organizations that have yet to set up their own endowments.

The site also gives donors the tools they need to become online fund raisers themselves.

Once an individual has contributed to one or more endowment funds, he or she can use the site to send e-mail messages to friends and relatives, asking them to give as well.

And the foundation has developed fund-raising buttons that donors can use to raise money from their blogs, Web sites, or social-networking pages.

The Heifer Foundation hopes that the new Web site will help donors learn about the causes they care about.

Donors will have the option of receiving updates and in-depth articles about international aid and development.

The information will give people the opportunity to really dig into the factors that led to the Darfur crisis, for example, instead of the sound bites they often hear from the news media, says Mr. Spradlin.

“There’s a real oversimplification a lot of times of the root causes of hunger and poverty and environmental issues, and it’s easy to just make it very black and white,” he says. “But it’s not. It’s complicated.”