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Promoting Tolerance in Cyberspace and the Real World

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), 602 hate groups were active last year in the United States, up 10 percent from 1999. And 366 of the groups had web sites, up 20 percent from the year before.

Organizations that promote tolerance and diversity have responded in various ways to Web-based hate: filtering, public awareness campaigns, pressure on major Internet service providers and portals, even purchasing hateful domain names in order to redirect misguided surfers to a site that teaches tolerance.

SPLC has just initiated a new response to the problem. In addition to launching Tolerance.org, an educational site funded by major corporate partners in the Internet and media industries, SPLC will begin serving targeted tolerance ads to Yahoo visitors searching for racist sites and chat rooms.

Over the next three years, Yahoo will donate $3 million worth of ad space to the effort. SPLC is seeking similar donations from other Internet companies.

Yahoo has been criticized for accommodating 100 "white pride and racialism" clubs among the thousands of community groups it hosts. In an interview with USA Today, University of Pennsylvania professor Joseph Turow, an expert on Internet advertising, said he believes targeted ads have never before been used to address "political controversy." He praised Yahoo for "trying to be a good corporate citizen in an area in which they're being criticized."

Read Patrick McMahon's USA Today article by clicking on the link in the previous paragraph. To visit SPLC's new site, go to:
www.tolerance.org

The Patient Advocate Foundation

The mission of the Patient Advocate Foundation is to serve as a mediator between critically ill patients and their insurers, employers, and creditors. It offers a broad array of consulting services and publications designed to help patients and families cope with cancer and other chronic illnesses.

The Foundation's site is a repository of resources and suggestions for navigating the multiple bureaucratic mazes that all too often accompany the physical discomforts and disruptions of the illness itself. Clinical trials, insurance appeals, debt counseling, job discrimination, and legal assistance are among the areas covered on the site.

If you are coping with the upheaval of serious chronic illness -- your own or that of a loved one -- PatientAdvocate.org may be a source of help and hope.

To visit this site, go to:
www.PatientAdvocate.org

"A Smarter Way to Give"

Unlike most online giving sites -- the best-known of which is probably The Hunger Site -- JustGive is a dot org, not a dot com. Founded last fall by Kendall Webb and a team whose experience spans the corporate, IT, and not-for-profit sectors, the mission of JustGive.org is to foster online charitable donations, volunteerism, and corporate philanthropy.

According to Webb, JustGive.org is unique among click-to-donate sites because all of its costs are covered by donations, pro-bono services, and volunteers. As a result, it is the only online giving site that passes 100% of each donation along to the receiving organization, without having to deduct even the usual 2% to 5% transaction cost.

In addition, JustGive.org serves as a portal to some 640,000 charities dedicated to a wide variety of causes. Besides transferring donations, the site provides a growing repository of content on philanthropy and social causes. It also makes connections between needy organizations and would-be volunteers.

To visit this innovative site, go to:
www.justgive.org

Dress for Success

Low-income women seeking to enter the workforce, whether after an absence or for the first time, face a daunting Catch-22: "If a woman doesn't have a job, she can't afford career-oriented clothes -- but without the right clothes, she can't get the job."

Dress for Success, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1996, is dedicated to helping women make "tailored transitions into the workforce." Major corporate sponsors provide financial support; homeless shelters, job training programs, and similar agencies refer the clients; and more fortunate women in 70 cities worldwide contribute their time, their energies, and the contents of their closets.

Dress for Success accepts only contemporary business attire in excellent condition: suits, blazers, blouses, scarves, handbags, and shoes that the donor would be willing to wear to a job interview herself. For those who have nothing suitable to donate -- perhaps because their closets are filled with men's clothing -- financial donations are warmly welcomed. Those who wish to donate online may do so at Helping.org.

Clients of Dress for Success, assisted by volunteer "personal shoppers," receive one suit prior to the interview and another after accepting the job. In addition, once they are employed, clients in a number of cities attend monthly meetings of Professional Women's Groups. The meetings offer expert speakers on various career-related topics, along with opportunities to network.

Although Dress for Success serves women only, the organization maintains a directory of similar services for men.

Each year, Dress for Success sponsors "Clean Your Closet Week". To learn more about how to participate in the work of this innovative organization, go to:
www.dressforsuccess.org