Charity Spring Patch Digest: $4 billion for Lucasfilm and Star Wars goes to education

Tanushree’s Reflection: 

...I will show you something different from either

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

“The Wasteland,” T.S. Eliot

While I live in India, Charity Spring exists in Fairfield County. I know from my friends there that you are enduring suffering and for many your suffering is made easier by the sacrifice of others. In India today we celebrate Karva Chauth, a day-long celebration of love that a wife has for her husband. She sacrifices food and water for the whole day until the moon rises. This tradition is thousands of years old. Only true love and concern give rise to sacrifice. In our contemporary world, whether in the East or West, the word “sacrifice” seems to be fast vanishing. And yet all about us, in earth and air, wherever eye or ear can reach, there is ever breathing itself forth in signs an invitation to sacrifice for others. When we do sacrifice for others, when the signs without and the longings within become one, then there is no need to fear that we are but dust, for even our short lives can have meaning. Charity, I think, always has more to do with sacrifice than giving from surplus.

Fairfield County Funding Opportunities

QUESTION: Will Hurricane Sandy significantly impact the all-important calendar year-end giving that charities depend upon?

GEORGE LUCAS: The $4 billion Disney is giving Lucas for Lucasfilm is going to education. “I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race," Lucas said in a statement. "We have to plan for our collective future—and the first step begins with social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children. As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt—as educators, storytellers, and communicators our responsibility is to continue to do so.”

Fairfield County Charity & Donor News

WARNING: Nearly 1,100 Internet addresses related to Sandy have been registered since last Friday, according to Internet domain research site DomainTools

TRENDS: CT Voices for Children offers this astute report on trends in state appropriations from 1992 to 2012.

Donor Relations

DESIGN: Here is a good post about how to create an Infographic that tells the story of your cause at-a-glance.

Media Tips

PR HOW-TO: 10 time-tested essential PR skills.

CONTENT PR: The marriage of content marketing and traditional PR is opening new communications opportunities.

Social Media Tips

The new Facebook Gifts permits users to donate directly to an organization. The effort is separate from Causes, an application that allows users to donate to charity through Facebook and other social-networking sites. Facebook Gifts is not yet available to all Facebook users, but it is expanding.

INFOGRAPHIC: on which country uses the Internet best.

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Charity Spring

See what nearly 4,600 people around the world are reading at Charity Spring (live since October 4th). For many additional links to help you build financial support and awareness for your Fairfield County cause see the Charity Spring Patch Digest homepage. Please comment here to let us know what news and opportunities you want us to find for you or to simply let us know what you think.