SNSERS' FAVORITE PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATIONS

 

David Anderson
CEO, Sendmail Inc.

My favorite charity is the Computer History Museum. The link below is to the "About" section of their site. The main site also supplies much more information. We are building the leading museum to the work of our industry. Now is the time to preserve the artifacts of this amazing period in history: www.computerhistory.org/about.

Mark Anderson
Founder and President, Strategic News Service

As a parent (and chair) of both of these, I have to be even-handed, and in fact I am equally proud of both, despite their differences in age and charter.

Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance: The charter of this 501 (c) 3 is to discover the causes behind increased mortality rates for orca whales, and to remove them. Under the theme "Big Brains for Big Brains," the work and donations of SNS members have led directly to protection for the planet's second-ranked predator. With your help, we've gotten the word out about dwindling numbers of resident populations, performed science on the causes of this decline, and now are pushing hard for new legislation and enforcement of current law to turn a temporary reprieve into long-term success.

With brains many times the size of our own, and acoustic systems more advanced than our military's, orca represent a species that deserves respect and preservation. Our own self-interest should dictate that the only resident pods in the world, living in the perfect future staging center for human study of orca, receive special attention.

The Foresight Foundation: The charter of this nonprofit (soon-to-be 501 (c) 3) is to use understanding of future markets to bring technology's advances to bear upon human needs. This work will include efforts such as SNS Project Inkwell, and its own goal of accelerating the deployment of appropriate technology into K-12 schools worldwide, underpinned by our forecasts for discontinuous and explosive growth in this market. It will likely also include the creation of forums, such as FiRe, that bring together those who predict technology markets with those who can do something about those predictions, generally leaders of technology companies and leaders in each new market arena selected by the Foundation.

I believe that supporting Orca Relief will lead to better understanding of intelligence, redefining our relationship to other animals and their ecosystems, and thereby to long-term benefits for human beings, while The Foresight Foundation will provide more immediate and direct human benefits, via the accelerated application of technology to our problems.

Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance
www.orcarelief.org
Email: info@orcarelief.org

The Foresight Foundation
(website under construction)
Email: info@foresightfoundation.org
Tel. 360 378 3431
Fax. 360 378 7041
P.O. Box 1969
Friday Harbor, Washington 98250

Jay Arnold
Principal, WINtegrated Solutions

Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (SEED) is proving the viability of distributed "green" power generation as an economic development tool for rural communities. By harvesting "home grown" energy resources - wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, micro-hydro, and bio-based products - we will foster energy independence while creating new business opportunities.

Northwest SEED was launched with the development of the Renewable Energy Atlas of the West, which shows power generation potential from various sources, and is currently using that data in building our wind co-op. In partnership with farmers, utilities, manufacturers, and environmental groups, we have built five small scale wind turbines already generating power on Washington and Montana farms, and another five are planned to come online this year. Operational data generated from turbines and lessons learned are already applicable in scaling out the development model to other locations nationwide. At the state and national level, Northwest SEED has been a source of independent information to policymakers as they develop a renewable energy standard for new power generation.

Through the widespread adoption of the personal computer, development of software for every home and business, and availability of broadband Internet connectivity - things that used to be the purview of big business, universities, or government - we have seen the impact that decentralization can have on our businesses, our lifestyles, and the economy worldwide. What would happen if we took power generation along a similar tack, harnessing the renewable resources unique to each part of the world? Northwest SEED is exploring these issues, testing concepts, and proving the capabilities today.

Northwest SEED
119 First Avenue South, Suite 400
Seattle, WA 98104-3416
www.nwseed.org
Email: info@nwseed.org

Lucy Bernholz
Founder and President, Blueprint Research & Design Inc.

CompuMentor is a nonprofit organization specializing in technology assistance for community-based organizations and schools. Through our consulting practice, we offer technology planning, implementation, and support services. CompuMentor is also the home of TechSoup.org, the technology website for the nonprofit sector. In 2003, CompuMentor (www.compumentor.org) received the grand prize in a national competition for nonprofit enterprise business plans. The competition is the signature event of the Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures, formed by the Yale School of Management, The Goldman Sachs Foundation, and The Pew Charitable Trusts (http://www.ventures.yale.edu). The prize was given to CompuMentor for a business plan it developed for a Web-based service called DiscounTech (www.techsoup.org/discountech).

Tim Breidigan
President, Breidigan Venture Services LLC

The Homelessness Project (THP) helps homeless single-parent families find and keep homes of their own: 18 families in 2003 alone! Homeless families come to us in crisis, looking for help and needing respite. Here they find a long-term commitment to support their return to a safe and secure home, a decent job, renewed faith in themselves, and normal day-to-day life.

We offer homeless families:

• a safe transitional home for up to 18 months
• an experienced case manager who, working with only 10 families at a time, meets weekly to help find work, schooling, child care, counseling, and all the other resources they need
• practical skills and tools to increase their self-sufficiency
• help finding affordable independent housing
• follow-up case management for one year after they move into a permanent house or apartment

Larry Brilliant
Chairman, Seva Foundation

Twenty-five years ago, Larry founded the Seva Foundation (www.seva.org), an international organization dedicated to fighting needless blindness. Along with its partners, the Seva Foundation has built eye hospitals in India, Nepal, Tibet, and Cambodia that have given back sight to more than 2 million of the blind in developing countries.

David Brin
Physicist and Author

The charity I most often plug is Project Witness (www.witness.org), which helps spread freedom and good government through transparency, by providing local activists with video cameras all over the world. The good side of "revolution" is encouraged without the bad side - death, wrath, and confiscation.

The charity I am working personally to develop is the Eye of the Needle Foundation (www.davidbrin.com/eon1.html), aimed at offering billionaires truly original and exciting ideas to gain renown by saving the world.

Tim Brown
CEO and President, IDEO

From their website (www.approtec.org): "ApproTEC is a non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. These low-cost technologies are bought by local entrepreneurs, and used to establish highly profitable new small businesses. They create new jobs and new wealth and allow the poor to climb out of their poverty forever."

We at IDEO value quite highly our relationship with ApproTEC and the work that we have done with them on a pro-bono basis on their new product, the MoneyMaker Deep Lift Pump, for accessing water up to 18 meters below ground.

Don Budinger
Chairman and Founding Director, The Rodel Foundations

ThinkAZ. ThinkAZ is an independent, non-partisan research institute. Mission Statement: To stimulate public debate and enable bold problem solving by providing thorough, accurate, and impartial research on Arizona's key public policy issues.

Rodel Charitable Foundation of Arizona. Vision Statement: To improve Arizona's education system so that it is widely recognized as one of the best in the country by 2020.

Rodel Charitable Foundation of Delaware. Vision Statement: By 2012, Delaware's public school system will be recognized as one of the finest in the nation.

Frank Catalano
Principal, Catalano Consulting

The YMCA needs little introduction; almost everyone thinks they know what the "Y" is and does (thanks, in part, to a cheesy Village People tune). But beyond the physical facilities, the Y fills a necessary and very local need: providing services and programs to build strong kids, families, and communities. The Y has activities to keep teens out of trouble, after-school care and day camp for working parents, and fitness classes for seniors. Programs vary based on local needs and resources, with scholarships for families who can't afford services.

The Y is not a shiny new charity. But when someone says "Think globally, act locally," I think of what the Y does for kids who are just starting their lives, and encourage others to do the same where they live: www.seattleymca.org.

Milton Chen
Executive Director, George Lucas Educational Foundation

The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF), based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a nonprofit operating foundation that documents and disseminates models of the most innovative practices in our nation's K-12 schools. It serves this mission through the creation of media - from films, books, and newsletters to CD-ROMs, DVDs, and a comprehensive website. GLEF's media emphasize project-based learning, integration of technologies and the Internet, teacher development, and school-community partnerships.

This fall, GLEF is launching a new magazine on innovation in education entitled Edutopia. With a fresh and lively design, it will give practical, hands-on insight into what works now, what's on the horizon, and who's shaping the changing future of education. Subscribers can qualify for free subscriptions online at www.glef.org.

Byron Connell
Founder and SVP of Marketing, Tapwave

Habitat for Humanity International www.habitat.org

Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit organization that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.

The organization invites people of all backgrounds, races, and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need. Since 1976, Habitat has built more than 50,000 houses with families throughout the United States and another 100,000-plus houses in communities around the world. Now at work in 92 countries, Habitat for Humanity International is building a house every 26 minutes. By 2005, Habitat houses will be sheltering 1 million people.

Russ Daggatt
Investor/Consultant

These days my main focus is the environment. Living in the Pacific Northwest, all the ecosystems seem to connect ultimately to the rivers. To take just one example familiar to SNSers, Orca feed on salmon. Salmon need clean, cold, free-flowing rivers and their tributaries in which to spawn. Keeping the rivers healthy requires responsible forestry practices to avoid things like erosion and siltation of streams. It all ties together. I am devoting an increasing amount of time and resources to American Rivers, whose board I have recently joined. Check them out: www.americanrivers.org. Water is likely to be to the 21st Century what oil was to the 20th - THE essential, and increasingly scarce, resource.

Kimberly Davis
General Partner, IDG Ventures

ACT. ACT has been finding, building, and sharing contemporary theatre with audiences since 1965.

ACT made history as the first theatre dedicated to new plays in Seattle. And we're still making history as the most welcoming development house for new plays around. With our multiple stages and diversity of work, ACT keeps you intimately involved with new theatre.

Please take time to explore our history via the ACT Timeline. BE A PART OF OUR FUTURE: ACT is only able to keep contemporary drama and comedy alive through the generosity of our committed supporters. It takes a community to fund the continual development of new work. Please support us: www.acttheatre.org.

The Giraffe Project. Based on Whidbey Island, Washington, The Giraffe Project (www.giraffe.org) is a nonprofit organization that spreads the word about real heroes. Their work has made an exponential difference across the country and around the world. Started in 1982, at a time when the concept of honoring everyday heroes was novel and required explanation, the Project has bestowed nearly 1,000 people around the world with the title "Giraffe" since it was launched.

Giraffes have been featured in thousands of publications and broadcasts, including Oprah, Time, The New York Times, People, Parade, and Good Morning America. Hundreds of journalists regularly look to The Giraffe Project for active files on real heroes. The word "giraffe" has actually become a synonym for "courage" among people familiar with the program.

The initial vision for The Giraffe Project expanded in the early 1990s in response to requests for stories about real heroes from schools and teachers. Thousands of kids in schools across the country now know what it takes to make a difference and be a hero in their communities through The Giraffe Project's curriculum materials.

With the concept of moving people to stick their necks out for the common good as a vision, we now need heroes more than ever. The Giraffe Project has been finding these heroes and commending them as "Giraffes" since 1982. We tell their stories in the media, from podiums, and in schools, inspiring others to stick their necks out. We're training tomorrow's heroes.

Kai de Altin Popiolek
Director of Operations (Europe), Project Inkwell

Kai serves on the board of the Center for the Prevention of Genocide in Arlington, Virginia: www.genocideprevention.org.

Tim DiScipio
Chairman and Cofounder, ePALS Classroom Exchange

The HygeiaÆ Foundation, founded in 1995, was among the first programs to provide comfort and solace and information to families who have experienced the loss of a pregnancy or a newborn or infant child. Since its inception, Hygeia has become the leading global Internet community for pregnancy loss and neonatal death, and an important resource for maternal and child health. It maintains the largest online database of families, now approaching 24,000 registered families worldwide and adding new members at a rate of 300-500 per month.

Hygeia (www.hygeia.org) has been featured in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle. The founder of Hygeia, Dr. Michael R. Berman, has been interviewed about his work by Katie Couric on the NBC Today Show and by Lisa Birnbach on the CBS Early Show. He has appeared on ABC's Discovery Health Channel and is the author of Parenthood Lost. Contact Dr. Michael Berman: 1-800-893-9198 / info@hygeia.org.

Lara Druyan
General Partner, Allegis Capital

Aim High is an academic and cultural enrichment program for motivated middle-school students who want to learn new and exciting things during the summer. Aim High is an intensive and exciting five-week summer session and continues during the academic year with meetings twice a month for tutoring and special activities. Aim High continues during the academic year with Saturday sessions, week-day afternoon tutoring, excursions to the Headlands, a Drama and Visual Arts program, and high school and college counseling. Once involved in Aim High, students are eligible to participate in the program for three summers. Aim High's goal is to assist bright and curious young people in realizing the advantages of secondary and higher education. The academic foundation and personal encouragement each student receives increases the chances for success in advanced studies, much to the benefit of themselves, their families, and the greater community.

Contact Alec Lee, Executive Director: alee@aimhigh.org
755 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112
Voice: (415) 551-2323
Fax: (415) 551-2626

Donna Dubinsky
Director, PalmOne

The Computer History Museum is the world's largest and most significant museum focused on preserving, understanding, and presenting the computing revolution and its impact on the human experience. Although a relatively recent invention, the computer has changed just about everything about our lives. It has become the amplifier for our minds and has impacted the way we work, live, and play. We must preserve the artifacts and stories of the computer age now, before they disappear, both as a means of understanding the past, as well as with the goal to inspire others to continue to change the world. More information at www.computerhistory.org.

David Engle
Project Administrator, School Transformation, Seattle Public Schools

ROOTS. Rising Out of the Shadows (ROOTS) is a shelter and food program for street-involved, homeless youth in Seattle. Housed in the basement of the University Temple United Methodist Church on 43rd and 15th Ave. NE in Seattle, this nonprofit social service agency provides a hygiene center with showers, a nutritious meal, and a safe overnight shelter service for over 25 young people a night. ROOTS employs several formerly street-involved youth in its operations and uses a grassroots methodology in developing and delivering its services. ROOTS would like to develop a Homeless High School program that leads to a state-certified high school diploma (instead of a GED). Additionally, the ROOTS program would like to start an Institute for the Study of Homelessness in Seattle. To find out more about this organization and the work it is doing in Seattle, feel free to contact David Engle via the Mailroom on the FiRe Attendees website at www.futureinreview.com/secure.

Maasai Environmental Resource Coalition (MERC). MERC is an organization founded by Meitamei Dapash, a Maasai from Kenya who was forced into exile during the Moi regime because of his opposition to the destruction of the Maasai Mara-Amboseli-Serengeti ecosystem and the displacement of his people from their traditional coexistence on the land. MERC has accomplished much in its 10-year history. Meitamei's organizational genius and courageous activism have led to the following accomplishments in east Africa:

• restoring and protecting Maasailand's fragile ecosystems and traditional lands
• protecting endangered wildlife
• activating community-based programs
• connecting local concerns with global support systems
• demonstrating eco-tourism models for tourism industry reform in Kenya
• raising public awareness of the Maasai people and the wildlife they coexist with

Ken Fish
Senior Investment Officer, Government of Singapore Investment Corp.

My favorite charity is the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep. This organization seeks to preserve habitat for wild bighorn sheep, which were decimated during the late 1800s and early 1900s by a combination of encroaching civilization and attendant habitat destruction, disease transmitted from domestic sheep, and overharvest during the mid-1800s as they were used for food with no thought to the reproductive carrying capacity of the surviving animals. Happily, populations are now stable in many areas, and are even growing in a few. Unfortunately, in California, where SNS has held both FIRe conferences, these sheep are endangered due to disease and continued predation from an under-managed cougar population.

Simon Hackett
CEO, Agile Communications/Internode

Amnesty International - because we all appreciate there are too many humans with not enough rights in the world, and it doesn't seem to be getting better - especially for the folk in Guantanamo Bay.

Any charity working toward medical cures for the nasty diseases of the world, such as HIV-AIDS, Cancer, and (because I've got another one now) - the Common Cold.

Lee Hartwell
Nobel Laureate; President and Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to two Nobel Laureates, is internationally recognized as a leader in cancer research, prevention, and treatment. The center's mission is to eliminate cancer as a cause of human suffering and death. Since its establishment in 1975, the center has become recognized for achieving some of the most exciting breakthroughs in cancer research. The center conducts research to improve the detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer and other devastating diseases.

The center's new Early Detection and Intervention Initiative aims to improve cure rates for people with cancer by developing ways to detect cancer earlier, when survival rates are higher. These efforts are changing the face of cancer so that future generations will experience cancer not as a life-threatening disease, but as a disease that can be cured. For more information, please visit our web site at www.fhcrc.org or call the Development Department at (206) 667-4399.

Andrew Himes
Executive Producer, Poetry in Wartime; founder of voicesinwartime.org

Voices in Wartime (www.voicesinwartime.org)
Publishing art in response to war - building a global community

Mission: To enable millions of people to express themselves artistically and engage with each other to create a less violent world and heal the collective trauma of war. A new online community that is a venue for the profound human urge to counter unspeakable fear, sadness, and anger in the face of war with creative action. Our goal is to connect the global community of artists, poets, essayists, storytellers, philosophers, filmmakers, photographers, and thinkers. Visitors to the site can publish literary and visual works as well as use interactive modes of communicating such as blogs and threaded discussions. The site also provides information and resources to aid community members in building strong networks and taking action to create a healthy and peaceful world.

Samuel Huegli
Head of Technology and IT, Ringier AG

MÈdecins Sans Frontieres: www.msf.org.

Bill Janeway
Vice Chairman, Warburg Pincus

My favorite charity is Cambridge University, where I received my Ph.D. Cambridge is a world-class university that is going through a radical process of transformation as the British Government limits funding and the university seeks a broader financial base. Historically, Cambridge has been one of the world's great centers of invention and discovery, whose members are legendary: Newton, Darwin, Rutherford, Keynes, Hawking. It also provides a distinctive style of undergraduate teaching through one-on-one engagement between student and tutor. But the very financial strains that threatened continuity in Cambridge's research and teaching traditions mean that the colleges and faculties of the University are increasingly open to adaptive change and innovation.

This is the website for Cambridge in America, with further links to the University site(s): www.cantab.org.

Kosmo Kalliarekos
Partner and Cofounder, The Parthenon Group

The Political Asylum / Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project is a not-for-profit organization committed to providing legal services to secure the safety and freedom of asylum seekers and to promoting the rights of immigration detainees. PAIR's basic task is to harness the energy, talent, and resources of private attorneys and other volunteers to assist its clients, counsel and advise non-citizens held in immigration detention, and train and mentor pro bono attorneys.

PAIR is a model for leveraging relatively modest grants into millions of dollars of pro bono legal services to asylum seekers. More than 700 pro bono attorneys have represented over 1,000 PAIR clients over the past 14 years. PAIR clients who have won asylum in the past year include an activist from Cameroon who was detained and tortured for opposing the current regime, a radio journalist from Haiti who was persecuted for his political commentaries, and a woman from Guinea who fled the country to escape forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

In recognition of PAIR's efforts in support of pro bono representation, the American Immigration Lawyers Association awarded PAIR its 1999 Pro Bono Award.

Mitch Kapor
Founder and Chair, Open Source Applications Foundation

Level Playing Field Institute - Higher Education Programs

Founded in 2001, the Level Playing Field Institute's mission is to promote innovative approaches to fairness in higher education and the workplace by removing barriers to full participation. The Level Playing Field Institute offers three education-based programs to ensure that talented students get closer to fulfilling their promise - the Summer Math & Science Academy (serving high school students), the IDEAL Scholars Fund (serving undergraduates), and Infusion (serving MBA students). The core belief of our Higher Education Programs is that if students with limited resources - financial means, access to quality education, and / or educational guidance - are presented with these resources, their opportunities to succeed increase exponentially.

Our vision is that students, regardless of socio-economic status, will have opportunities to apply to and graduate from top colleges and universities. As a result, our communities and workplaces will benefit from well-prepared, competitive leaders representing broad perspectives and sectors of society. These programs specifically target students from Latino, African American, and Native American backgrounds, all of whom are typically underrepresented in higher education.

Fact: In 2004 there was a 15.1 % decline in freshman admissions of African Americans, a 3.2 % drop for Latinos, and a 9.2 % drop for Native Americans into University of California schools. Admissions officers attribute part of the decline to the drastic cuts to outreach and college preparation programs.

"Programs like these at the Level Playing Field Institute are essential to ensure that tomorrow's professional, academic, and business leaders come from society as a whole, not just the affluent and the elite. A truly meritocratic society ought to recognize talent and afford opportunity to young people regardless of their circumstances of origin. Children of privilege enter college having been afforded so many opportunities that the playing field is tilted in their favor. Their equally talented and deserving counterparts from the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum have already had to overcome much greater obstacles simply to gain admission to UC Berkeley. We must make sure these students, who represent our best hope for the future, have the same chance to continue their success, achieve their potential, and contribute to society."

For more information, please contact:
Jessica S. de Jesus
Development Officer
Level Playing Field Institute
543 Howard Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 946-3062
jessica@lpfi.org
www.lpfi.org

Alex Letts
CEO, ri3k Ltd.

A Technology Parable

When the telephone was handed to me, I was just dropping one of my other sons at school. 8pm, November 30th, 2003.

"Not too much to worry about, Alex." It was the voice of our next-door neighbor down at our farm in the West Country. "Charlie's had an accident with his air gun and has a flesh wound in the face." Uh? My 13 year old child? Say again?

"They've taken him to hospital in Cheltenham. Melinda has gone with him in the ambulance."

50 minutes in the car and quick chat with my wife on the cell phone. He's OK, thank god. Nothing too serious, take it easy. "Better late than dead on time."

9pm. At the hospital. There's been a problem. The pellet actually entered his head. It's in the brain. He's had a fit. There's a bleed. Tearful nurses. Ashen doctors. I'm afraid it's serious. Prepare for the worst. My God. My son.

Nothing, no words, no metaphors, no images, nothing at all can even come near to describing these moments or the hours ahead as our lives changed, we knew, forever, and we looked into an abyss that belonged on stage, on screen, anywhere but in our lives.

The hospital needed to transfer Charlie to Bristol, to Frenchay Hospital, a good 40 miles' drive. His bleed was so bad that they feared he would not last the journey. But that was where the neurosurgeons were.

They called a police car to drive us. We waited as the ambulance left, blue lights and sirens thrashing. We sat, frozen, gripping each other in the back of the police car at 135mph down the M5 freeway. In the dark, the blue lights reflected off the fog that also enveloped our senses, and though we raced, it seemed like floating on a cloud.

We arrived in the gloomy reception area of Frenchay, just 35 minutes later. The ambulance must have been driven by some ex-winner of the Indy 500, and Charlie was already in theatre. Alive, we presumed.

We were ushered to one of those Chapel type waiting rooms, gloomy, cold, the scene of so much previous personal calamity. And we waited and we wept for our boy.

Those three hours remain the most desperate and helpless time a human could face.

1am. The footsteps that came to the door were like the tread of fate. I knew when the door opened that the hope was hopeless. A nurse came in quietly and sat in the corner. She avoided my eyes. Two surgeons came in, hats and masks still on the head and neck. I saw my son's blood on their gowns. They sat down slowly, wearily. A profound dread filled me as panic returned in an uncontrollable shaking of my legs.

Charlie had suffered a subdural haematoma. Did we understand what this meant, and had the seriousness of the situation been explained to us? They had used all the techniques at hand, they had worked for three hours to stop the bleed, andÖ.."He's dead. Isn't he?" No, not me. I was mute with terror. Nor could I ever have found the courage to ask the question, wanting to live another few moments with him still, to me at least, alive. Melinda leaned forward and called the end game - asking what no man could.

Some hurt pride perhaps as the surgeons bristled. No. Not dead. We don't do dead. We've operated for over two hours and he's alive, still. You can see him. But there's equal chances that he'll still not make it, or may be permanently damaged, or may, just may, be OK.

Elation. Sobered by the sight of our boy. Head shaved. Pipes. 55 staples in his skull. Comatose. Unmoving. Life support. And Technology. Technology everywhere.

A dawning realization. The skill of the professionals. The technology. Our boy, his life, my life, was being leased back to me by people and technology I could never control. One slip, one software failure, and the consequences would be final.

A team of specialists materialized, led by a doctor called Bill. He owns a reassuring look. They spend 30 minutes connecting more of their own equipment. It is pretty stark in the theatre. Bright lights. I'm fearsomely cold. Like ice. Melinda cannot watch. I watch but can't see through the mist. Horrendously, they lift him, onto a trolley. Is this real? They are using words from ER, from Casualty, from all those TV shows. CPR, ICU, CT, and so on. What happened to our world?

We followed the ambulance again, to the intensive care unit at the Bristol Royal Children's Hospital, with its light, new, paediatric ward. Just 10 minutes' drive, but it took us past Bedlam, the deserted Victorian asylum, haunting us from the hill beside the freeway. Bedlam. Quite.

I slept for an hour in a room they gave us. Dreading it, because I knew that when I woke it would be the same. As Melinda cried, the clouds opened and rain fell from the sky like I had never seen. It was as if the heavens were weeping for Charlie on that cold December morning. And so our vigil began. For eight days he lay, and as he lay paralysed and comatose, my awareness fell onto the technology that supported his life and the efforts of those who had saved him thus far.

Brands whose existence to me had been merely a meal-ticket were entrusted with keeping my son alive, with offering hope for healing, with allowing us to stay intact. HP, Phillips, Agilent, Samsung, Intel, Microsoft, Dell, and others I had not encountered. There they were. Let no one

ever question me on the value of brands again. They pump his ventilator, monitor his heart, his brain, his blood, feed him his drugs. It's automated. Whose brand name would you like to see on the equipment that keeps your child alive?

As we watched and waited, we became servants to the technology. Our salvation or helplessness was in its gift. A bad set of pressure readings meant brain damage, paralysis, or worse. A good set meant hope. The neurosurgeons who had saved him were themselves no less technology neophytes, waiting at its altar for advice. Their technique and their ability to help had been made better by the technology. The advances of their research had been enabled by technology. But ultimately the technology could see what they could only suspect.

A baby dies on the ward. Curtains surround the bed, offering the parents little except an even greater feeling of isolation. Charlie is unmoved, unmoving, as we pray. Spare him please, spare him, please. The microprocessors keep their watch and the software and monitors dictate the agenda.

And then after an agony of waiting and wondering, the software speaks. The neurosurgeon agrees. He is to be woken.

What? No more technology to help him? Wait. Hold on. Not just yet, surely. It can wait, can't it? Now the addict, I need my son's technology fix.

Panic and fear, and a truly shocking process of removal of pipes, tubes, leads, and feeds.

Will he wake? Who will he be? He'll never move... My son is a cripple, he's mentally disabled.

But move he does. .

Agonisingly slowly, he opens his eyes. He raises a hand to us. He moves his lips. No sound. No movement on the left side, distorting his face. Not a quiver. Was that a whisper? I bend close to his lips. Two simple, life-enriching words float towards meÖ."ColdÖÖ..Beer."

During the following six weeks Charlie made a remarkable recovery. His speech was restored completely. His left side, which was initially completely paralysed, began to move. His brain has no sign of damage, no loss of processing power, no memory gaps. What was broken inside has healed or re-wired. Charlie thus is normal, or at least as normal as any other 13-year-old boy. His physical recovery is now, five months later, nearly complete. He has full use of all his muscles and recently came skiing with us. He works in the gym to re-build lost strength. Perhaps there is a lack of dexterity in his fingers, but I think this too will pass. He is beginning to play the saxophone again and has returned to school.

As I contemplate this utterly extraordinary recent period of our lives, I have many thoughts. But amongst these thoughts lies a powerful thread. Technology, combined with skill and science, did not just save a life. It gave one back. Indeed, it gave back life to a family.

And, outside of this selfish realm, it does so, of course, every day, in hospitals around the world. At a time when our industry has been tarnished by the perceptions of excessive personal wealth creation, massive shareholder losses, and relentless consumerising of technology as it invades every part of our homes, I have wondered about the Force for Good that technology clearly is when in talented hands.

It's an obvious and unoriginal observation, yet somehow it seems to be a point that gets forgotten. Many of us SNSers have played some role in creating or promoting an industry that has the power to hurt, to consume, and to profit. But let none of us forget that the chips, the boards, the screens, the software have given gifted people the power also to help, to heal and, even, to give back life.

I have wondered how to offer my thanks to the people at Frenchay and the ICU at the Bristol Royal Children's Hospital, and it struck me that they can't be repaid. What they gave has no price. More important, they need the opportunity to save even more of the hundreds of children on whose brains they operate.

The Frenchay Paediatric Neurosurgery Research Fund is led by Ian Pople, whose team operated successfully on Charlie. Whilst Charlie was recovering, I spoke to a father whose 10-year-old son, Daniel, was in the next bed. Daniel had been completely paralysed in a freak accident. An operation pioneered by Ian Pople at Frenchay has restored his limb movement (completely, from what I could tell). He spoke in awe of the "genius" of the surgeon and what it had meant to him and his wife as they dealt with the broader, very difficult condition that Daniel suffers as a result of childhood meningitis.

Ian Pople (ikpople@doctors.org.uk) and his team's research need more funding. They are using your technologies to save children's lives. This is not a U.K. issue. The techniques and learning are completely exportable, and the technologies are globalised already. Nor are we talking about finding a holy grail cure but just getting better at what is already saving lives of our children.

After all, their thinking about how to use technology more cleverly might just help save the life of a child close to you.

Gigi Levy
Vice President, Amdocs

ELEM was founded in 1981 by a group of volunteers from Israel and the United States in order to help Israeli youth-at-risk become productive citizens, contributing to the society and the nation. Over the years ELEM expanded its programs, helping more than 60,000 adolescents annually with a team of 1,800 professionals and volunteers. The organisation's guidelines include:

• Developing as a national organization engaged in providing a wide range of services and programs for adolescents, especially in the fields of counseling, outreach, and prevention.
• Fortifying its volunteer activities and establishing itself as an organization that not only acts on the behalf of youth, but also incorporates an actively involved youth force.
• Advancing innovative programs and initiatives in the field of treating and assisting youth at risk, along with fostering a deep commitment to help and treat teens in states of alienation, risk, and severe and ongoing neglect.
• Developing bodies of knowledge, innovative methods, and intervention approaches and activities to bring about a perceptual and theoretical change in the youth service system in Israel.
• Expanding the organization based on the infrastructure afforded by dozens of active branches throughout Israel, which serve as community support frameworks for operating youth programs.

• Independence in our public and professional activities
• Financial independence and flexibility
• Activity based on broad volunteer involvement
• Proactive behaviour and a commitment to social themes relevant to the entire society

Bill Melton
President, Melton Investments

I support a foundation called Peace X Peace.

PEACE X PEACE ("peace by peace") links women's groups in the United States with women's groups outside the United States, one-on-one through the Internet, to educate, inform, and support each other across cultural and national divides. It is a direct citizen's movement based in the premise that connection and communication lead to better-informed, more empowered, and a compassion-driven world citizenry. PXP focuses on empowering women around the world to form a web for peace and stability through connecting women working in education, health, financial viability, democracy, and restorative justice. Their intent is to have thousands of such connections within the next few years. There are more than 20 groups from Afghanistan presently, and the executive director just returned from meeting with key women throughout the Middle East to form partnerships and coalitions.

The Global Network is supported by the PXP web-based educational forum with a monthly free e-newsletter, Peace Times, with papers by experts such as Ela Gandhi, a PXP advisor, and Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of UNIFEM and also a PXP advisor; a weekly comprehensive news service that culls and highlights women's actions around the world for building viable communities and nations; a peace library and links; and a circle resources section to guide groups and individuals into circular structures. They need funds for global outreach, IT connectivity in rural and poor areas, translation teams, and communication facilitators in addition to funds for administration and IT infrastructure.

I support this effort because the tools of the Internet and wireless telephony for the first time in human history allow immediate human contact across heretofore vast geographical and cultural barriers. Direct human contact dissolves the illusions of "them" and "us." It is the first step to understanding we share a common "earth" home, and most likely, common fates. A critical mass of connected individuals may someday influence the politics of nations.

Contact information: www.peacexpeace.org
Jen Town: jtown@peacexpeace.org

Howard Mendelsohn
Vice President, Business Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Expedia Corporate Travel

The charity I am most closely aligned with is Project Catalyst, a research arm of Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD). The URL for the Parent Project is www.parentprojectmd.org.

Jennifer Moore-Evans
Director, Mobile Computing, University of Denver

The Bridge Project: www.bridgeproject.net
Contact: Dr. Walter LaMendola. Telephone: (303) 871-2796

The Bridge Project believes that education is the key to leading an individual away from poverty and into self-sufficiency. The mission is to provide educational, social, and career opportunities to individuals living in Denver public housing developments and the surrounding area.

Technology is a huge component of the Bridge Project. Many of the kids who have stayed in school and graduated have attributed much of their success to the Bridge Project's technology-rich environment. It is truly awe-inspiring!!

Elon Musk
Chairman and CEO, SpaceX

Elon has established The Musk Foundation (www.muskfoundation.org) to support philanthropic objectives in education, clean and renewable energy, and medical research.

Richard Noffsinger
President, Amicore Inc.

Boys & Girls Club of America. In every community, boys and girls are left to find their own recreation and companionship in the streets. An increasing number of children are at home with no adult care or supervision. Young people need to know that someone cares about them.

Boys & Girls Clubs offer that and more. Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging, and influence.

Boys & Girls Clubs are a safe place to learn and grow - all while having fun. It is truly The Positive Place For Kids: www.bgca.org.

Linda O'Neill
Chief of Staff, Microsoft Team, Waggener Edstrom

OHSU Cancer Institute. "The OHSU Cancer Institute offers a multidisciplinary team approach when caring for our patients. No matter where our nearly 200 scientists and physicians work, and no matter which part of this complex group of diseases they investigate, everyone connected to the OHSU Cancer Institute shares a single guiding principle: the best new strategies for diagnosis, treatment, and control of cancer will come from identifying and understanding the molecular defects present in cancer cells. That is the new frontier.

"The OHSU Cancer Institute explores this frontier with five research programs, each interfacing with clinical care. The center also provides several shared resources for the use of its members as a way to control costs while providing top-quality lab work and quick results."

To find out more information, please go to www.ohsuhealth.com. This cause is important to me because like many people, I have lost family members to cancer and have others who are fighting the disease. The hope is, of course, for a cure so that our children's children will not experience the devastation of cancer.

Orca Relief. "Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance (ORCA) was founded in 1997 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Orca Relief was formed to focus specifically on ascertaining the causes of Orca mortality, and in reducing this death rate. Orca Relief believes that orca, as one of the largest of the toothed whales, represent an excellent opportunity to learn more about brains larger than ours. Orca Relief also believes that the Puget Sound populations are most likely to provide that knowledge."

For more information about Orca Relief, please go to www.orcarelief.org.

This cause is important to me because I live in the San Juan Islands and see the majesty as well as the harassment of the Orca whales all summer long. These magnificent animals have honored us by making the islands their summer home. It is important we learn to live with them in a way that respects their needs and promotes their health.

Werner K. (Verne) Paulus
Chairman, Polygon Group

The mission of the Wild Salmon Center is to understand and protect the wild salmon ecosystems of the Pacific Rim. The Wild Salmon Center is committed to identifying the last, best Pacific salmon watersheds. We devise practical strategies, based on the best science, to protect forever these extraordinary places and their biodiversity.

The Wild Salmon Center is a non-governmental, nonprofit organization dedicated to the science, conservation, and healthy economic development of salmon, trout, char, taimen, and steelhead fish and their river ecosystems along the Northern Pacific Rim. We have offices in Kamchatka and Moscow, Russia; Seattle and Forks, Washington; and headquarters in Portland, Oregon. We have field stations on several river systems on the Kamchatka Peninsula. We are led by an experienced and involved volunteer board of directors, which includes international experts in salmon research and management from Russia, Canada, and the United States.

Contact the Wild Salmon Center:

Guido Rahr, President & CEO
Wild Salmon Center
721 NW 9th Avenue, Suite 290
Portland, OR 97209
Phone: 503 222 1804
Fax: 503 222 1805
www.wildsamoncenter.org

Michael Pfeffer
President and CEO, Persis Corp.

The Nature Conservancy's mission is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.

I serve as a trustee for the Hawai`i chapter, and have found that, in addition to the more high-profile conservation efforts that we do, TNC is really involved in a wide range of projects that have a significant positive effect on the daily lives of humans. For example, our Watershed / Save the Forest projects in Hawai`i are helping to conserve and enhance our drinking water supplies. In addition, on neighboring islands we have begun projects to get rural communities involved in hands-on conservation projects and in the process have found ways to get at-risk youth off of drugs, focused on positive aspects of their lives, and in touch with the elders in their communities. In short, I have found that working with the Conservancy is not just about "saving the turtles," but instead is about finding ways to make conservation relevant and meaningful to the greater community.

Paul Shoemaker
Director, Social Venture Partners Seattle

Professionals looking for a way to invest their time, skills, and resources in their local communities have joined to form Social Venture Partners. SVP links community professionals and nonprofit organizations to make a hands-on difference. Social Venture Partners was the inspiration of former Aldus Corp. president Paul Brainerd. Additional founding members include technology industry leaders Scott Oki, Ida Cole, Bill Neukom, and Doug and Maggie Walker. The vision of the founders was to build a philanthropic organization using a venture capital model, in which partners actively nurture their financial investments with guidance and resources.

Social Venture Partners seeks to develop philanthropy and volunteerism to achieve positive social change. Using the venture capital approach as a model, SVP is committed to giving time, money, and expertise to create partnerships with not-for-profit organizations. There is now a five-year-old North American network of SVPs - www.svpi.org.

Josh Wolfe
Cofounder and Managing Partner, Lux Capital

East Harlem School at Exodus House. The East Harlem School at Exodus House is a year-round middle school that teaches children from low-income families in East Harlem to develop academic excellence, moral rectitude, courtesy, and an unshakeable commitment to their future and the fate of their community.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). NAMI is dedicated to the eradication of mental illnesses and to the improvement of the quality of life of all whose lives are affected by these diseases.

Hospital for Special Surgery. The Pediatric Outreach Program (POP) provides free bone, muscle, and joint screenings to under-served neighborhoods in New York City. Since the program’s inception, numerous grants have provided financial support to POP. These grants enable a team of physicians, nurses, and administrative staff to conduct over 10 screenings per year in New York City schools. Since the program’s inception in 1987, the screening team has examined more than 20,000 children and referred more than 3,000 for additional primary or musculoskeletal care.