Author: Jimmy Lustig

Jimmy Lustig Nonprofit Spotlight Wiesenthal Center

The Museum of Tolerance (MOT) opened in Los Angeles in 1993. Beyond an institution devoted to the preservation of objects, artifacts, and documents, the MOT is designed to be an experience that immerses the audience in the knowledge of tolerance and what it means, a Museum that encourages individuals of all backgrounds to examine their assumptions and value systems and to engage in a dialogue that facilitates growth and change.

The creation of the Museum of Tolerance

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a respected and internationally renowned Jewish human rights organization, named to honor the late Simon Wiesenthal, a famous Nazi hunter, began to plan for The Museum of Tolerance with input from the representatives of the world’s most influential and prestigious museums and cultural institutions.

These think tank sessions proposed a fresh perspective, a Museum that would provide a unique experience to the museum-goer by encouraging thought and conversation, molding attitudes, and offering information on the arena of tolerance and human understanding.

Simon Wiesenthal believed that the idea of preserving the past was imperative, yet, as necessary as that honoring and recording is, it must motivate and inspire us to take action in the present. The Museum of Tolerance should serve to prevent hatred and genocide from occurring to any group, both in contemporary times and in the future.

And the winner is tolerance!

The MOT has been honored as the recipient of the Global Peace and Tolerance Award from the Friends of the United Nations. This accolade has underscored The Museum of Tolerance’s role as a human rights laboratory and educational center which turns on the fulcrum of inviting guests to understand the Holocaust in its historical context and as viewed through the lens of today.

Holocaust education is vitally important because studies had shown that when the MOT was being planned, young people, even as early as the 1980s, were debating if the Holocaust had occurred. This added to the imperative for MOT to present the phenomena of the Holocaust in a way that encouraged the audience to explore, expose and to energize a dialogue that began with one expression of prejudice and genocide and then to extrapolate ideas of tolerance from the lessons learned. To start the work of confronting and uprooting all forms of discrimination is the role that the MOT hopes to instill in viewers.

Giving Tips for the Holiday Season

By Jimmy Lustig

On November 9, 2018

In Blog, Jimmy Lustig, Philanthropy

Every year around this time, we start to get bombarded with emails and TV commercials about the newest toys and the best deals on the latest electronics. The holiday season revolves around gifts, both giving and receiving. While it’s a fun way to show your appreciation to those you care about, there is a lot that gets lost. There are millions of people in need who won’t receive any gifts. This year, start a new holiday tradition with your family and give back to someone who needs it.

Donate to a toy drive

Donating to a toy drive during the holiday season gives you the direct opportunity to put a smile on a child’s face. The children who benefit from toy drives are children who often would not receive any presents otherwise. While material items aren’t everything, it helps a child to feel as though they fit in with the rest of their peers.

Volunteer at a soup kitchen

50 million Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Around the holidays, which largely center on food, that can feel even grimmer. Soup kitchens feed thousands of people and are mainly volunteer based. Set aside some time this year to visit one in your community and serve a meal to those in need. If you have a family, bring everyone along. It serves as both a great bonding event and also a reminder to be grateful for how fortunate you are.

Walk or run in a charitable race

Not only is exercise good for your health, but your exercise can also benefit the health of many others. Around the holiday season, many races, marathons and walks benefit different charities. By signing up to participate and helping to raise money, you’re directly benefiting the supported cause.

Foster an animal

Just as there are millions of homeless Americans, there are millions of homeless animals too. This year, take one in, even only temporarily. Many workers and volunteers spend less time at animal shelters around the holidays to be with their families, which means animals receive less care and attention. Fostering an animal helps to reduce overcrowding in shelters, which means they can take in other animals. It also helps them to become familiar with living in a home with other people, which they may never have before. Even if you don’t adopt the animal, you still helped to make a difference in the animal’s life.

Jimmy Lustig Love Of Philanthropy Children

How to Foster a Love of Philanthropy in Children

By Jimmy Lustig

On November 6, 2018

In Blog, Jimmy Lustig, Philanthropy

If you’ve made a commitment to living a philanthropic life, it’s important to instill those same values into your children and other children in your family. Some research studies show that children already have a deep-seeded instinct to share and help others. Because children have a natural inclination to give, getting them involved with philanthropy early on is the perfect opportunity to further build upon those instincts.

Be a role model

Children naturally look up to their parents and other adults in their life. Research supports that children are more likely to be generous when at least one parent displays that behavior to them. In addition to letting your children learn by example, it’s also important to have conversations with them about giving. One study found that teenagers were 18 percent more likely to donate money to a charity if a parent had also made one in the past year. If the parent had talked with their child about giving, while also donating, the child was 33 percent more likely to give.

Help them understand the need

Children need to understand that their help is required to feel compelled to help. Teach your children to be empathetic to others’ situations. Help them make a connection with those in need. Volunteer at a homeless shelter and let your children talk to the people staying at the shelter. This helps your children to make a real connection with the people they’re helping, which inspires them to give.

Help them see their impact

Research supports the theory that adults feel more generous with their giving when they see the effect that it has on others. It makes sense that the same feeling would occur in children. However, monetary donations are harder for children to understand and see the direct impact of. For younger children, finding more direct ways to get involved will help them feel more connected with giving. Take them to the grocery store to pick out a few healthy items and then go and drop those off at the food bank.

When children get older, you can volunteer at a nursing home together or participate in a park cleanup. This will help your children to form strong connections with the people they’re helping, which will encourage them to keep helping. Once your children can understand the concept of money, let them read the thank you letters you get from donating and help them learn where that money is going and why you feel compelled to give.

Encouraging children to be generous and caring will, in turn, help them to grow up to be kind and compassionate adults. Instilling a love of generosity early on will encourage them to be philanthropic citizens for the rest of their lives.

Jimmy Lustig Maximize Philanthropic Impact

How to Maximize your Philanthropic Impact

By Jimmy Lustig

On October 22, 2018

In Blog, Jimmy Lustig, Philanthropy

Being philanthropic means that a person has to be engaged in activities that geared towards changing the society or the local community for better. A large number of people perform philanthropic activities, only they do not know how they can maximize the impact of their actions. Here are some essential tips about how charitable activities can be implemented to have the most impact on the community.

Conduct Extensive Research

Before donating, individuals should research how charitable organizations will use their money. It is crucial to commit money to non-profit organizations that employ more than 70 percent of the money they receive for direct social change, rather than those that use a large percentage of funds to cover overhead costs. Luckily, several tools can assist in finding the best charitable organizations such as Charity Navigator and GuideStar.

Explore Crowdfunding

Technology can help a person to create awareness, hence maximizing their philanthropic activities. For example, a person can choose to go on online platforms and look for a charity that they want to contribute in such as drilling water wells in Africa. After donating, one can share the cause through social platforms which may encourage other individuals to give as well. One person can’t make a significant difference on their own, but a large group of people can donate enough money to have an impact.

Ask About Corporate Matching

Another emerging opportunity that charitable individuals can adopt is using the corporate matching strategy. A large number of companies are encouraging their employees to donate after which they will match their contribution dollar to dollar. By using this strategy, an individual can make the employer a charity partner, who will be helping in creating social change by increasing or doubling their charity contributions.

Define Vision for Change

Philanthropists should not just contribute their hard earned money for the sake of it. They should go to an extra mile of defining what their money should be used for. Most of the visions and goals of a charitable person are advised by what they think is right and better for the society. For example, a person can highlight that digging wells for clean water is much better. The impact should also be maximized by measuring success and failures as well.

How to Become a Philanthropist

By Jimmy Lustig

On September 7, 2018

In Blog, Jimmy Lustig, Philanthropy

Becoming a philanthropist is much easier than you think and doesn’t always take millions of dollars. A philanthropist is anyone who is seeking to promote the welfare of others and does so through a donation of money and time. To help get started as a philanthropist, consider doing the following things:

Develop a strategy

Is there a specific reason you want to become a philanthropist? While there are particular outcomes from charitable giving, knowing precisely what you want to do will help get you on the right track for giving back.

Complete research

Once you have a solid strategy in place, it’s time to start the research process. Start by browsing the internet or reading books at your local library. Create a list of the best charities in your area and then choose what is most important to you and complete additional research. As you break down your list, look at the different ways the organization uses their donations and what their impact on the community is.

Volunteer

Volunteer opportunities are all around you and being a philanthropist is much more than giving money. It also has to do with volunteering. You can find volunteer opportunities on websites dedicated to listing opportunities and matching people and their skills to initiatives that can use their help. Volunteer opportunities can also be found through word of mouth. You can also find volunteer opportunities by approaching organizations you care about and ask them where you can help out. Keep in mind there are many volunteer activities available around the holidays.

Share your philanthropy

Once you find a cause you’re passionate about, share it with your friends, family, and coworkers. Tell them why this particular cause is so important to you and how they can get involved as well. You can also invite them to volunteer activities, ask them to help out at events or even encourage them to get involved with their own charities and organizations.

Donate

Every little bit helps. You do not have to be wealthy to donate to charities and organizations. To make sure your money is being appropriately used, research the charities before giving. Not all charities and organizations use their donations in the same way. Remember, it’s better to donate a more substantial amount to a few charities and organizations than to give small amounts to many different charities and organizations.

Nonprofit Spotlight: The Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes

By Jimmy Lustig

On August 10, 2018

In Blog, Jimmy Lustig, Philanthropy

The Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes is one of the largest diabetes institutions in the world. Located in Aurora, Colorado, the Center specializes in type 1 diabetes research for both children and adults. Through the Center, treatment is provided to pediatric and adult patients through the use of clinics.

The Center also focuses on educating families and patients about type 1 diabetes and its treatment. The center also focuses on education for medical professionals. Physician assistants and medical students can choose elective rotations at the Center.

In 1978, the center was funded by Marvin Davis and opened in 1980 in Denver. The center is supported by the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, which was founded in 1977 by Barbara and Marvin Davis. In 1980, the Center opened at the Ninth Avenue campus in Denver and moved in 2005 to the Anschutz Medical Campus, where it’s still located.

Barbara and Marvin Davis were inspired to start the Foundation and Center after their daughter Dana was diagnosed with diabetes when she was seven years old. Though the Davis’ had the money to get the proper care for their daughter, there was no way to cure her disease. After seeing how diabetes affected Dana, Barbara wanted to create a center where no one would be denied care.

The Center provides care to 80 percent of children in Colorado with type 1 diabetes, and 2000 adults living in the Rocky Mountain Region. Since it was founded, the Foundation has raised almost $100 million to support diabetic research and treatment.

Donations to the Foundation go directly to supporting care and research at the Center. Currently, the Center is working on 81 research projects that are aimed at increasing knowledge about diabetes and its effect on the body.

One current research project at the Center is stem cell researchers making insulin-producing beta cells that are derived from human stem cells. The Center is one of only a few labs in the world that are capable of this.

One of the Foundation’s largest fundraisers is the biennial Carousel of Hope Ball. Founded in 1978, the event is black-tie and invitation-only. In 2017, the 31st Ball was held and raised $1.65 million and featured a performance by Lenny Kravitz.

Charity versus Philanthropy: What’s the Difference?

By Jimmy Lustig

On July 24, 2018

In Blog, Jimmy Lustig, Philanthropy

Often, the words charity and philanthropy are used interchangeably. Both have to do with giving and helping others, so it’s easy to conflate the meaning of the two words. But, the two words have distinct meanings and deal with different areas of world change. To put it in simple terms, charity is giving, while philanthropy is doing.

Charity is a short-term response focused on relief and rescue. It addresses an immediate need for a community or a cause, such as food, shelter and medical care. Giving a meal or a coat to a homeless person would be charity, not philanthropy. While it’s addressing a need and is necessary, it doesn’t tackle the root issue.

Philanthropy focuses on finding a long-term solution to a problem. Philanthropy aims to solve problems, instead of providing temporary fixes to them. Philanthropy is a more strategic plan of giving that’s built around past success and has a strong focus on the community. While charity often only benefits one or a few people, philanthropy aims to reach a much broader group of people. By tackling the societal roots of these problems, philanthropy seeks to change the world in the long-term.

Another common misconception is that only the rich can be philanthropists. While those with money can tackle larger humanitarian issues, like donating money to build a new hospital wing, everyone can be a philanthropist. Everyone can make changes in small ways with some planning. Speak to the people in your community and learn what their needs are. Then, learn how to use the skills and resources you have to contribute to a solution to those needs.

This is not to say that charity is useless or should be done away with; it solves a purpose and gives us a chance to make small impacts on others. Both charity and philanthropy are necessary, and one isn’t better than the other. Another way to look at it is that philanthropy and charity are two different approaches to solving the same problem. They’re overlapping strategies that both are vital to the nonprofit sector. The two work in tandem with each other and the hope is that the practice of philanthropy eventually eliminates the need for charity.

An example of how the two work together can be seen in dealing with addiction. Philanthropy may fund a study that looks into risk factors of addiction or provides preventative education that works to prevent people from becoming addicts in the first place. These are long-term strategies, and ones that may take years to make any difference in addiction rates. A charitable organization would deal with the right-now of drug addiction, perhaps in the form of starting a detox center, to handle the immediate need.

How to Make the Most out of your Donations

By Jimmy Lustig

On July 11, 2018

In Blog, Jimmy Lustig, Philanthropy

In 2017, Americans donated $410 billion to charities, up 5 percent from 2016. Donating to charity not only helps others, it also helps you feel good about yourself and the positive impact you’re helping make. Here are three things to consider to make the most out of your charitable donations.

Do your research

Unfortunately, there are a lot of organizations that don’t actually give the money they receive to the groups they promise to help. In order to avoid getting scammed, do research into different organizations before actually donating any money. There are organizations that make the research process easier, one is Charity Navigator.

Charity Navigator serves as a charity watchdog that evaluates over 9,000 charities. They determine what percentage of donations the charity receives go towards program expenses, administrative expenses and fundraising expenses. Based on the financial breakdown, they score the charity out of 100.

Knowing where a charities money goes can help you make smarter decisions about who you choose to support. The point of donating is to help others, so making sure your money is actually going to those causes are important.

Choose what you want to donate

Many charities accept more than just money. Look for toy or coat drives in your neighborhood to get rid of gently-worn items you no longer use. Clean out your closets and consider donating all of the items you haven’t worn in a year. Homeless shelters, libraries and hospitals also often accept item donations.

Some organizations, like animal shelters, have lists of items they accept in lieu of monetary donations. Shelters and food banks accept shelf-stable food items. Or, you can volunteer your time at a soup kitchen or other organization that’s important to you.

Keep your receipts

While donating to charities is about the benefits it offers to others, there are benefits for yourself as well. There are tax deductions you can claim when you donate money to most charity. Depending on the tax bracket you’re in, you receive money back from your donation when you claim them during taxes.

Don’t Just Donate Your Money — Donate Your Time Too

By Jimmy Lustig

On June 29, 2018

In Blog, Philanthropy

When it comes to helping others, there are many ways you can get involved. The most obvious one is to donate money. But, donating your time is just as valuable if you don’t have the money to spare or want to see your impact first-hand. Nonprofit organizations rely on the generosity of others to keep running, as many only have a small number of full-time staff.

While giving monetary donations is helpful to organizations, when you donate your time you get to see your direct impact. Sending off a check every month doesn’t have the same feeling as giving up a few hours of your day to be spent helping others. When you donate your time to organizations, it’s an instant mood-booster. The knowledge that you’re helping others and making their lives better, in turn, makes you feel great.

Volunteering your time not only makes you feel happier, it also helps to give you a sense of purpose. Supporting organizations that are working towards goals that you feel passionate about help you to feel directly connected to the impact they’re making. If you feel you have a moral duty to help others, giving your time is one of the best ways to fulfill that duty. In some organizations, like a soup kitchen or an after-school program, you’ll get to work directly with the people you are helping and see first-hand the impact you are having on the lives of others.

Giving your time may also inspire others in your life to do the same. When your friends and family see how fulfilled you are after spending a day volunteering, they may feel a stir to do the same. Speak to the people in your life about how important it is to give back, and they may feel compelled to do so as well. Another way to get others involved with the organizations you care about is to make it a family affair. Set aside one day a month where your whole family spends time volunteering at a local organization.

If you don’t have the extra time to give to an organization, but want to feel more involved than just sending money, consider making item donations. Many organizations have lists of supplies they accept for donations, like cat and dog toys and food for an animal shelter. While you’re still helping the organization in the same way as a monetary donation would, it feels a little more personal and like you’re having a direct impact.