The economy is changing the way businesses and employees celebrate the holiday season. Adrienne Hill reports people are thinking creatively as they scale back.
A lot of people have suffered reversals of fortune this year — some have lost jobs and homes. Kai Ryssdal visits the Union Station Homeless Services center to see how people are coping.
Whether you have millions or just a few dollars, how do you know which causes to support? Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon, co-authors of "The Art of Giving," talk with Tess Vigeland about how to make every charitable dollar count.
With unemployment high and budgets low, employers are grappling with the idea of ditching their annual holiday party. And some offices are using the time as an opportunity to let employees donate efforts to charity. Jeff Tyler reports.
Sherman Wilburn of Minneapolis has often given his time and money to others in need. Now he finds himself asking for help. He talks with Kai Ryssdal about the difficult times facing him and his family.
Donors to charities get satisfaction from thinking their money is going to a particular person or project with which they then have a special relationship. But those relationships sometimes aren't so special. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Decades of violent conflict in Afghanistan have left much of the country homeless, hungry and jobless. Greg Mortenson is trying to address those problems by building schools there. He joins Kai Ryssdal to talk about his efforts.
The overhead ratio is commonly used when deciding whether or not to donate to a particular charity. But judging activity versus administrative costs may not be the best way to determine a group's effectiveness. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.
Philanthropy consultant Lucy Bernholz talks with Kai Ryssdal about the top charity-related buzzwords of 2009, a year in which she says necessity was the mother of social innovation.
