Who is a philanthropist? Anyone and everyone who gives anything -- time, money, experience, skills, networks -- in any amount to create a better world.

That is the definition used by Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen in her new book, Giving 2.0: Transform Your Giving and Our World. Her message...

I never know what posts are going to cause what kind of reactions. This post on Learning to Give With a 10-Year-Old blew the top off of my twitter feed and e-mails. I feel a bit like W.C. Fields -- never share the stage with a...

A friend of mine with a 10-year-old asked me how she could spend time with him making their charitable donations this year. She and her son are generous people and are actively involved in local community and political issues. The dollar amount of their giving is significant to them and...

My colleague from Stanford's Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Professor Rob Reich, is a smart political theorist. He even makes tax incentives interesting. For a long time Rob has been asking whether the "blunt tool" of tax exemption is right for all charitable giving.

On...

It's not even Halloween and I'm doubling down, ready for the onslaught of "Giving Season Gimmicks". No way am I going to naively wait until November for this to start. Heck, I've been thinking about it since back-to-school shopping wrapped up. I just thought I'd let you wait a little...

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is 26 years old, a billionaire, the subject of a new Aaron Sorkin movie and a profile in The New Yorkerhttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/20/100920fa_fact_vargas, and now (we think) the youngest ever $100 million dollar donor. Mashable reported last night that Zuckerberg is set to...

Reposted (with edits and additions) from philanthropy2173

Ah, December. The anticipation of snow, unless you're already several feet under. The warmth of a fire, unless you live in the south. The excitement of winter holidays, unless you're a grouch. Don't forget the thrill of reviewing...

We all know what re-gifting is -- passing on a gift that was given to you. Think of all those unwrapped secret Santa presents, sweaters that don't fit, baby gear, and fruitcakes. "Good gifting" is the feel good equivalent of re-gifting. It involves giving a philanthropic gift in someone...

I'm going to start this post with two notes and build to a big finish....

• Smartlink has new giving guides for donors concerned about communities and the mortgage crisis.
• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced $68 million for mitigation and prevention of foreclosures in Chicago.

A friend of mine has a 16 year old daughter, with whom she watched the Vice Presidential debate. About halfway through the teen turned to her mom and said, "Mom, anyone who has ever seen even one Disney movie can tell that Sarah Palin is the bad guy in this...

Philanthropy and public broadcasting go hand in hand, back to the very origins of PBS. Two recent stories (and one personal experience) related to public broadcasting and digital media made me think about where these relationships might be going as all media seem to become cross-platform.*

1....

The Wii Fit is not the only game changer in town. As everyone knows, the Wii - the motion sensor-enabled video game console that gets players up and moving - is the hottest thing around. The core set of Wii games including tennis, bowling, and boxing are a big...

Today, in the U.S., is Martin Luther King, Jr Day. It is pouring rain in San Francisco, where I write this, but the several hundred people I just marched with in Dr. King's honor were not deterred by the weather.

I think a lot about foundations and philanthropy and...

The point of this list of buzzwords is to point out some silly ideas, flag some valuable ones, remind myself and you that the jargon and hype grows faster and with more flourish than meaningful change, and, really, just to have a little fun.

In the spirit of New Year's...

It's Giving Season - that special time of year that comes just after "stupid costumes for adults' and dogs' day" and coincides with Thanksgiving and the month-long secular tradition of over-eating and shopping. My own personal marker of the beginning of this season is the New York Times Giving Section,...

What's the link between Halloween and philanthropy? Well, there is the obvious fact that unlike any other day of the year tonight is the one night that you can knock on your neighbor's door, ask for something for nothing, and expect to get it. There also is (used to be?)...

Given that giving in the US alone adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars per year, you'd think we'd have some better marketing and shopping tools.

Imagine you've moved to a new city. You need to figure out how to get around - should it be by bike, walking,...

Skip the tie. Give dad a "gift of giving."

Its easier than buying him a gift card. Just log on, open a giving account (or make a charitable gift in his honor) and let the good feelings flow. You can do it for your "globally-aware Dad" at GlobalGiving....

The media attention to philanthropy continues to run high. Google Alerts tagged "philanthropy" fill my inbox every day, with news sources ranging from Forbes to the Shanghai Daily.

And there are lots of ways for people to give: directly to nonprofits, at events like NetSquared or...

Foundation executives listened pretty eagerly to Arianna Huffington, Ian Rowe (MTV), Jay Harris (USC) and Maxwell King (Heinze Endowments) talk about new media at the Council on Foundations conference. Huffington went so far as to scoop herself, announcing via the blogs in the room that Tom Edsall of...