Check out the cool new social networking site, Karmadu.

This site is dedicated to the building of good karma. It allows users to send messages of goodness, kindness, niceness…whatever can be defined as promoting good karma. Each message you send gives you karma points. If the message you send strikes the fancy of the larger community, other users can give you bonus karma points.

What do you do with all of your karma points? Good question. The answer is absolutely nothing. You simply get to continue on in life knowing that you kicked serious karma butt.

With the 05-06 television sitcom season a wrap, I must say that one of the best new shows for the year is NBC’s My Name is Earl starring actor / producer Jason Lee.

The basis of the show is about how a petty criminal and half-wit, Earl, works to redeem his life of bad deeds by doing good ones. Each episode follows the exploits of Earl and his colorfully interesting cast of kooks and characters as they try to find karma by doing good.

After a life-changing brush with death, Earl has a morphine-induced epiphany while watching Carson Daly on a television program explain about his personal karma – that he has gotten as far as he did in life by being good to others. Earl knows immediately that the rest of his life should be dedicated to finding his own karma.

This sets Earl off on his journey to fill up his karma pool, one redeeming act at a time. He has a list of every bad thing he has done – like the time he burned down a local hot dog stand for a couple hundred bucks – and for which he strives to right. I have not seen every episode this season, but those that I have were gems. Earl is oddly the nicest thing of this past network sitcom season. It’s really cool that a primetime network show exists that is essentially all about a guy trying to do good things, albeit in a very off-beat way. Can’t wait for season two.

Check out these Earlesque links:

Official Earl Site
NBC’s official My Name is Earl website allows you to take a karma quiz and study a very Earlesque karma guide.

The Hollywood Reporter
Early review of the show notes that Fox passed on this show and HBO should be envious of NBC’s good fortune.

Some interesting data listed in this Washington Post article showing that African-American communities tend to be more generous than the average American, especially when it comes to giving to churches.

Citing a study published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the article notes that roughly 3 in 4 charitable donations in this country go toward religious causes. In the African-American community that ratio is as high as 9 in 10. Indeed, most of the zip codes in the DC Metro area listed by another Chronicle study of the country’s most generous neighborhoods are of areas with a predominantly black population.

The article continues to offer that African-Americans have a stronger commitment to community and a stronger concept of tithing, or giving 10% of your income to the church / greater good. These values are what make African-Americans amongst our most philanthropic communities in the country.

Those of us in the fundraising field know that there is a big difference between donors of the Baby Boomer generation and those from Generations X and Y. Younger donors are a tougher sale and expect more performance from charities.

This great article from the Baltimore Sun outlines this phenomena nicely. The article cites an Indiana University study that showed Generation Xers gave at a rate of 53% while Boomers and pre-WWII households gave at 75% and 80% respectively.

This is a stunning difference and marks a clear change in attitudes toward philanthropy between the ages.

This Sun article explores the many ways charities are working to encourage philanthropy and volunteerism amongst our young. The basic premise is that humans are inherently charitable beings and that our instinct is to help others in need. But, as with the Gen Xers and Gen Yers, this turn toward the good can quickly be turned off if charities do not pay enough attention. Another study cited in the article showed that 18-month old infants had the instinct to help pick-up a book that was accidentally dropped by a passing adult; however, when the adult pretended to slam a book down, none of the infants in the study made a move to lend a helping hand. Very very interesting.

So, a note to nonprofits and charities out there: Donors are all born nice and with charity in their hearts…just don’t lose their trust or piss them off because the tap can quickly run dry.

The Washington Post raises nearly half a million dollar every year for their Send a Kid to Camp campaign.

This a tremendous amount of money for a company to raise, for any purpose. Raising that much money for a private equity venture would be a feat in and of itself. Raising that much money annually for a nonprofit organization is a significant effort. The Post has been sending local Washington kids to Camp Moss Hollow now for nearly thirty years and they should be very much commended for this perennial act of extreme kindness. Also to be congratulated are the readers of the Post who regularly contribute to this campaign.

The money pays for kids in the city who could not otherwise afford a summer camp a chance to get out of the city for a week in a wooded setting in the foothills of Virginia’s Shenandoah Mountains. Camp Moss Hollow describes itself as having provided camping experiences to at risk youth for over 100 years.

A quick note from a friend in Maine who reports that while paying for a hefty gas bill at a local gas station (in southern Maine) yesterday, the clerk kindly and randomly told him that he didn’t have to pay for his coffee. She spontaneously decided that anyone paying a large gas bill would get free coffee to help ease the pain.

That is radical niceness in this heavy travel season. Going to Vacationland this summer? Make sure you hit the gas stations along the I-295 corridor between Portland and Augusta…apparently there is a crazy nice station owner somewhere in the area giving away free jo. Every little bit helps…

Watch this clip from ABC 7, KGO-TV in the Bay Area, CA about a group of kids and an Army soldier who are taking collections and holding a bake sale to purchase soccer balls for Iraqis.

Calling it “Operation Soccer Ball” this motivated group looks to raise a ton of money today and tomorrow through their bake sale. Kevin Ferguson, the Army soldier involved in this project, served as the inspiration for these seventh graders at his alma mater, St. Martin, back in the Bay Area. Currently stationed in Iraq, Ferguson thought he would just enlist family and friends to pony up for the soccer ball drive. Instead, he got the whole St. Martin seventh grade to get involved. Best of luck to team St. Martin!

I thought this was a timely story in light of the soccer World Cup tournament that will consume most of the globe for the next few weeks. Games begin this Friday (June 9). Team USA plays the Czech Republic on Monday, June 12; Italia on Saturday, June 17; and Ghana on Thursday, June 22. The World Cup is being hosted by Deutchland.

With the universal appeal of soccer / football, is it any wonder that groups have sprouted up touting the sport as a means toward achieving world peace? Makes complete sense to me.

Check out these groups kicking it for peace:

Play Soccer Make Peace!
This group organizes soccer tournaments around the world as a means to promote peace. This is a project of the World Association of Non-Gorvernmental Organizations (WANGO).

Soccer Moms for Peace
This is a small group of, well, soccer moms in Colorado who raises money to “support nonviolent, humanitarian solutions to global problems, provide peace education in the United States or elsewhere, or promote nonviolence as a means of social change.”

Soccer for Peace
“Soccer for Peace is a non-profit organization aiming to unite children of war-torn nations in their shared love of soccer. Based in New York City, the organization is entirely volunteer run with no affiliation; political, religious or otherwise.”

Some other stories about soccer balls for Iraqis:

America Supports You: KiXX Soccer Team Ensures Iraqi Children Have a Ball
A Day In Iraq (blog)
Soldiers Deliver Good Will