There are thousands of ways to be an entrepreneur, and almost all of them require dedication, hard work and, often, a capital investment--not to mention a windy road to success. A new form of entrepreneurship called digital "mining" is making its way into the fold of profitable ventures. At first...

Social media has made it easier for us to find out what's happening around the world virtually as soon as it happens, but it has also increased our feelings of helplessness when something tragic happens, as it did at the Boston Marathon on Monday. From my current home 3,000 miles...

We're living in a world where the traditional model of a 4-year college right after high school isn't necessarily the best solution for everyone. With all of the advances in technology and education over the last couple of decades, education has stepped up to reduce the barriers to gain a...

As society and technology have evolved, it has become easier than ever for consumers to be charitable by integrating their regular spending activity with technology that helps them contribute to causes they believe in.

• There are many ways in which technology has been modified to capture charity donations during...

Liz Forkin Bohannon was the winner of Blue Collar Service's Jumpstart contest, which awarded $100,000 to the emerging company that demonstrated the greatest need with the best pitch. Liz's Sseko Designs is a footwear company based in Portland, OR whose slogan is, "Every Sandal Has a Story," and...

On my last day in Nepal, after spending almost two weeks with a Western medical team doing a story on the state of healthcare in that country, I was ready to head back to the U.S. and write...

I flew in directly from Nepal, where I was working on a project with National Geographic and women's healthcare issues, to the Social Venture Network's fall conference in Rye Brook, New York. The revolutionary progressive business community that supported such giants such as Ben and Jerry's, Eileen Fisher and Stonyfield...

Probably best known for its bakery -- which produces the brownies in the famous Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavors Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Dave Matthews' Magic Brownies, Half-Baked, and Neapolitan Dynamite -- The Greyston Foundation is actually so much more. In fact, it is recognized as a pioneer in social...

Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora were finishing up their last semester at UC Berkeley in 2009 when they stumbled across a business idea during a class lecture. Two months away from graduation, the two assumed they were headed into the corporate world of investment banking. Instead, they found themselves starting...

My friend and fellow Curry Without Worry board member Charlotte Makoff is about to embark on her fourth Habitat for Humanity build. This time she's going to Bungoma, Kenya, a town near the Ugandan border about an hour and forty-five minutes by car from the village where President Obama's father...

The nonprofit organization Kiva came on the scene about seven years ago, long before Kickstarter or cloudfunding or peer-to-peer lending were household ideas. One of the first companies to really leverage the power of the internet to connect those who have with those who need, Kiva allows anyone to lend...

Today, I want to talk about Fenix International, the maker of the Fenix ReadySet Solar Kit. I have travelled internationally and seen firsthand the dire need for a reliable power source by millions of people in third-world countries. At the same time, I have often been surprised to...

As I make my way through the world of entrepreneurialism and interact with clients, partners and vendors, I come across all types of business models. When weighing whether to work with them, I take my time and make sure that we are both working toward compatible goals and that each...

The 2nd Annual Bhutanese Interstate Soccer Tournament was hosted at Oakland Technical High School this past weekend, and it was an excellent weekend indeed for the entire Bay Area Bhutanese community. Thirteen Bhutanese teams flew and drove in from Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Tennessee, Arizona and Georgia to compete...

While personal computing used to be an elite technology for the upper middle class, that day is long, and fortunately, gone. More and more, I see examples of how technology is actually making a difference in the lives of people who 10 years ago possibly had never touched a computer,...

In 2002, a group of passionate San Francisco Bay Area women founded Emerge California with the goal of placing more Democratic women into political office. Emerge California is part of a national movement aiming to address the underrepresentation of women in elected offices in the U.S. Ten years after its...

I've purchased a computer on Ebay, a few watches, countless computer parts, and even helped my brother buy a car -- but never had I thought I could purchase a lunch with Warren Buffett. Now, for the right bid, anyone can. The best part is, the winning bid benefits one...

I have been a longtime fan of Idealist.org, the website that aggregates volunteer opportunities and connects those who want to do good with those who need help. It's a powerful and wonderful tool for change and I don't think enough people know about it.

Last week the American Himalayan Foundation (AHF) hosted a beautiful dinner at the Four Seasons in San Francisco to support its "Stop Girl Trafficking" program. The three keynote speakers were Jon Krakauer, mountain climber and bestselling author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air; Siddharth Kara, Harvard...

When Olga Murray went to Nepal in 1984 she met the children who inspired the founding of her organization, The Nepal Youth Foundation (NYF). As she camped atop a mountain, watching a group of local children struggling to study by lantern on a crude plank table, she realized...