The Ilm Foundation is a Muslim charity based in southern California. It has a number of programs that allow the local Islamic community to help the homeless and underprivileged in their area. Ilm's name has two meanings. In Arabic, Ilm means "knowledge" and, in English, the letters stand for intellect, love and mercy. The Ilm Foundation is supported by gifts and volunteer services from Muslim groups in the greater Los Angeles area. According to Ilm, the predominantly African-American, Muslim volunteers range from 8-80, include members of all races, include many first-generation Americans from affluent neighborhoods, and include both men and women. Students from public and private schools and universities participate as part of a service learning program.

Homeless feeding program: each month about 350 homeless people in communities in the LA area are helped with gifts of food and health and hygiene supplies. In addition to the food, medical screenings, and support on accessing services, both volunteers and clients appreciate the conversations that help focus on the homeless as people, not problems.

For the working poor: monthly food packs are distributed, and include foods that can be cooked, in comparison to the ready-to-eat goods given to the homeless. Facing a growing Hispanic clientele, the program is expanding into a wider array of ethnic foods to better address the needs of their audience.

Beyond the Game: Another growing program, this one is co-sponsored by local community colleges that serve as hosts. These one-day camps directed at young athletes match them with older athletes who serve as supportive mentors and role-models. Combining one-hour workshops on age-appropriate life skills, such as test preparation for senior high students, with sports clinics, medical checks, and a climate that addresses what happens in life beyond sports, the annual one-day programs focus on four prime themes: gratitude, attitude, motivation, and education - or GAME. The Ilm Foundation's website is currently under construction.

The Council of Michigan Foundations and a steering committee of 13 collaborating members in education, volunteerism, and nonprofit leadership have developed a set of lessons designed for students from kindergarten to grade 12 and containing units and materials on philanthropy. The resulting curriculum, Learning to Give, is an innovative educational initiative that seeks to maintain and enhance a civil society. According to its Web site, Learning to Give educates youth about philanthropy, the nonprofit and volunteer sectors, and the importance of giving their time, talent, and treasure for the common good; develops philanthropic behavior and experience; and allows youth to take voluntary citizen action for the common good into their classrooms, their lives, and their communities.

Today, the developers have tagged their curricular materials throughout the region to the specific curriculum goals of different U.S. states. Teachers, parents, youth workers, religious instructors, and others can use the materials, which include bibliographies and other information. The Learning to Give definition of philanthropy is sharing time, talent, and treasure. Find out more at http://www.learningtogive.org.

In 1970, on a flight from California where they had made a donation to a university on behalf of Xerox Corporation, a former Xerox president and another executive had a conversation about the reason for their trip. They discussed how "easy" it was to give money and pondered what kind of philanthropic gesture would represent a genuine sacrifice for Xerox. They concluded that the company's employees were the company's most valuable asset, and that offering employees' time would demonstrate a true philanthropic commitment by the company. In 1971, the company announced its Social Service Leave program—just one of the ways Xerox enables employees to volunteer in their communities.

Under this program, every year since 1971, a number of Xerox employees have taken a leave of absence from their work for up to one year to tackle full-time community service projects—while their full pay continues from Xerox. Technical, business, and personal skills are brought to a range of social issues, such as advocating for abused children, supporting military families, improving emergency response systems, and more. Since its inception, the Social Service Leave initiative has granted paid leave to 469 employees.

Here, 2005 leave-taker Patricia Forte, a Xerox financial analyst based in Rochester, New York, works at the Trinity House of HOPE—an organization that offers emotional and financial support to those in need. While Forte helped the agency keep its food pantry shelves well stocked, she also put her business skills to work in developing a grant-writing system to increase the agency's funding.

Social Service Leave is believed to be the oldest program of its kind in American business. Xerox estimates that through the collective efforts of the program's participants, it has donated about a half-million volunteer hours. The program is just one of the activities that merited Xerox Corporation the 2005 U.S. Community Service Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Corporate Citizenship. Learn more about Xerox Corporation's social responsibility efforts at http://www.xerox.com/csr.

Xerox Chief Executive Officer Anne Mulcahy was one of five persons chosen in November 2005 by President George W. Bush to head up a South Asia earthquake relief fund. With the support of the president, the five private sector leaders have undertaken a nationwide effort to raise awareness and resources to help those in need as a result of this disaster. The other four executives represent General Electric, Pfizer, UPS, and Citigroup. The fund—administered by the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy—can be accessed at http://www.southasiaearthquakerelief.org.

The Gates Foundation was started by Bill (William H. III) and Melinda Gates to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. Bill Gates, founder and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, grew up in a family active in community philanthropic activities. His father, William H. Gates II, was an attorney and a volunteer leader with a number of nonprofit organizations. His mother, Mary, a schoolteacher, was a regent with the state university and was involved in the United Way giving program. According to the younger Gates, dinner table conversations in their house were often about social and philanthropic issues. William H. Gates II is still involved in philanthropy: He helped Bill and Melinda establish their foundation and, as co-chair with them, is responsible for guiding the foundation's vision and strategic direction.

The younger Gates describes his evolution as a philanthropist. With regular encouragement, especially from his mother, as Microsoft and his own personal wealth grew, he began thinking about how and when to focus on giving money away rather than earning it. An early effort was the commitment to support United Way fund-raising campaigns at Microsoft. This led to other philanthropic programs at the firm. Gates says he discovered that giving money away was as challenging as earning it, and he began to tackle giving with the same determination as he has given to building his company.

Two other influences came together to inspire the creation of the foundation. First, as Gates's name began to appear regularly at the top of the list of the world's wealthiest individuals, he and his wife began to consider what would ultimately happen to their fortune. Gates did not think that wealth in that magnitude should be passed along to their children, so they developed a plan to distribute 95 percent of it while they are still alive. At the same time, they became aware of several areas of need, including education in the United States, especially secondary school education. A second major area of concern was the substandard health conditions in parts of the developing world, where diseases largely prevented today in developed countries annually take millions of lives. One day Bill sent an article about such conditions to his father, asking if they could do something. From this quest, the foundation was born.

In 2005, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had assets of almost $29.8 billion, and disbursed $1.255 billion. Deeply involved in efforts to find a vaccine for HIV/AIDS, Gates explains the benefit of having this research supported by a foundation. Governments take a risk, he says, if they fund something estimated to have only a 33 percent chance of success, because most likely they will have to explain to taxpayers and the political opposition why they spent money on something that failed. A foundation, however, is freer to take such risks. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Web site is at http://www.gatesfoundation.org/.

In early 2006, Cuban-American singer/songwriter Gloria Estafan and other celebrities participated in a fund-raising campaign of the Humane Society of the United States titled "Sealed With a Kiss." Timed for the Valentine's Day period, this program of America's major animal welfare organization allowed people to purchase postage stamps designed with the singer's lip prints. Estafan's stamp is shown in the photograph.

This activity is only one of Estefan's many charitable ventures. In 1997, she established the Gloria Estefan Foundation, which is aimed at reaching those who struggle outside the safeguards of society by promoting good health, education, and cultural development. The foundation's mission includes funding annual scholarships for students who need financial assistance. Aside from playing an active role in her foundation, Estefan has a strong commitment to paralysis research that began as a result of a tragic bus accident she suffered in 1990.

Estefan is married to musician Emilio Estefan, with whom she staged a benefit concert raising nearly $3 million for hurricane relief in Florida. The two have also been very successful at mentoring and developing young Latino musicians. Gloria received a Congressional Medal of Honor "Ellis Island" award for immigrants who have made special contributions to the United States, and she and Emilio received an American Spirit Award for philanthropy from California's Pepperdine University. More information is available at http://www.gloriaestefan.com.

Quilts—pieced bedcovers with traditional or original designs—are familiar elements of American folk art. The Alliance for American Quilts supports fiber artists and works to support and promote quilting as an art form. The alliance links the world of quilts, scholarship, and the general public. It develops projects and carries them out in partnership with museums, universities, and grassroots quilt guilds around the country, and hosts the Web site http://www.centerforthequilt.org, where a wealth of material is collected to inform, educate, and connect people everywhere with the rich quilt heritage of the United States. The activities of the Alliance for American Quilts include an oral history project, a project to train people to identify and help preserve rare quilts, an index of quilt information, and a forum for researchers to share information.

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The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.

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