How Do You Have Fun and Do Good on Your (Gasp, 40th) Birthday?

People have started to ask me how I'll be celebrating my 40th birthday next month: Will I be having a party, or a day of solo contemplation? Will I go on a fabulous trip, or stay home with friends? And what would I like for gifts, or do I want gifts at all?

I haven't entirely decided how to celebrate the big day, and would love your ideas about how to celebrate your birthday in a way that is fun and makes a difference.

In his post, What Should I Do On Your Birthday? Seth Godin writes:

"With all due respect to Hallmark, the idea of sending people cards and presents on their birthday seems both selfish and small-minded. It seems to me that we could think bigger. . . .

. . . On my birthday, it would make me really happy if people started a project, launched an idea or engaged in a difficult interaction that made something good happen. Make a difference day."

I know a lot of people have been using the Causes Birthday Wish Facebook application to ask friends to donate to their favorite nonprofit. I may go that route, but I have to tell you, it kinda gets on my nerves when I receive an email every time my friend receives a donation. On the other hand, the application seems to be making a difference according to Susan Gordon's post, $1 Million Donated Through Birthday Wish! on Causes Exchange.

Thing is, I feel like I should be doing something to have fun and do good on my birthday, not necessarily asking other people to do something in honor of my birthday.

For example, Adrian Reif chronicled his "birthday challenge" on his blog, aptly named, Adrian's Birthday Challenge. Inspired by an article about birthday fitness challenges in Backpacker Magazine, Adrian decided to celebrate his 24th birthday with a physical and mental challenge, and a fundraiser for the Nashville Rescue Mission. During the 24 hours of his birthday he challenged himself and his friends and family to:

• 24 miles of bike riding
• 24 kilometers (14.9 miles) of running
• 24 boulder problems (rock climbing routes without a rope)
• 240 total of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups - (100 sit-ups, 90 push-ups, 50 pull-ups)
• 240 Frisbees caught and thrown (it takes two! i need your help)
• 8,760 seconds of reading (1 for each day I’ll have been alive)
• 24 songs listened to from 1985
• 24 - # of strangers to meet and learn their names
• 24 hugs to different people (this means you, too!)
• 24 spoken Chinese phrases (leaving for China in February)
• 24 cupcakes shared with friends

He also raised over $1,000 in donations.

What ideas do you have for how to celebrate your birthday in a way that is fun and makes a difference?

Flickr Photo Credit: Happy Birthday to ME! uploaded by *spudballoo*
Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

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Let's Connect: Twitter, Facebook, Ning & Podcasts

Hello Have Fun * Do Gooders!

I'm back from a relaxing vacation and feeling energized. One of the things I wanted to share with you is other places that we can connect online:

Twitter
I get lots of requests to post about things, but don't always have time so lots of times I "tweet" links to stuff. I use the Facebook Twitter application so my tweets also show up in my news feed on . .

Facebook
You can friend me and join the Have Fun * Do Good Facebook Page. It is a bit barren at the moment 'cause I just set it up and am moving folks over from my old Have Fun * Do Good Facebook group.

Changeblogger Ning Network
I've also set up a Ning network for Changebloggers, people who use their blogs, podcasts and vlogs to make positive change. We've got 172 members at the moment. Join us!

BlogHer
I've been a Contributing Editor, along with Beth Kanter, for the past 3.5 years of BlogHer's Nonprofits and Social Change section. They have recently added a social networking component, so feel free to friend me there as well.

Big Vision Podcast (subscribe via iTunes)
I think most of you already know this, but in addition to Have Fun * Do Good, I also produce a podcast where I interview people who I feel have a big vision for a better world. If you have suggestions for people I should interview, let me know. I also host the Be Bold Podcast: Create a Career with Impact (subscribe via iTunes) and produce the Arts and Healing Podcast (subscribe via iTunes)

See ya around online!

Did I Like The Philanthropist? Not So Much.

I wanted to like NBC's new show, The Philanthropist, but I didn't.

What I did like is that The Philanthropist's website has a resource page with links to organizations like the Nigerian Red Cross, CARE, and the International Crisis Group. That's about all I liked.

The show's premise is that a wealthy businessman, Teddy Rist, has a transformational experience during a business trip to Nigeria and helps save a young boy during a flood. (We later learn that his own young son is dead). Although his company has a foundation, giving money doesn't feel like enough now for Teddy, and he returns to Nigeria to single-handedly deliver vaccine to a village near where the boy he rescued lived.

The problem is, Rist is a jerk. He clearly goes on this one-man mission to assuage the pain of his son's death, which is somewhat realistic since we are often drawn to causes in an attempt to heal broken parts of ourselves. Thing is, he fails to return his ex-wife's emails or phone calls when she asks him to help move everything out of their dead son's room, and then gets angry at her when she does it without him. In my book, being a jerk to your ex-wife who is trying to get over the loss of your child doesn't get balanced out by delivering vaccine to a remote village in Nigeria.

Oh, and then there are all of the women he sleeps with. While working with a Nigerian drug dealer to get the vaccine released from the airport, a group of beautiful women are brought to Rist's hotel room. "They are all orphans," the dealer says. And then there is the Nigerian woman doctor who he delivers the vaccine to who asks, "How will I'll ever repay you?" Oh, he found a way. Not to mention the woman bartender he gives a $1,000 check to listen to him tell his story (the voiceover for the show).

I'm not saying Rist has to be perfect, but appealing would have been nice. The characters of Simon Baker on The Mentalist and Michael Weston on Burn Notice have more integrity than Rist.

Finally, why does The Philanthropist have to be a white man? Why couldn't it have been a woman, like the Miranda Bailey character on Grey's Anatomy, a tough, smart, problem-solver with a soft heart?

Hey, if the show takes off and inspires people to become involved in international development and philanthropy, great, if not, I hope next time a character will be created who, although not perfect, has as much wealth of character as wealth in his or her wallet.

Here's what some other bloggers are saying about The Philanthropist:

• Council on Foundations Statement on The Philanthropist by Sean Stannard-Stockton on Tactical Philanthropy.
• The Philanthropist by Artemis on Gotham Nights
• The Philanthropist: An Englishman in Abuja by Drake Lelane on Film.com
• The Philanthropist - An early look by Kona Gallagher on TVSquad.com
• Did You Watch 'The Philanthropist' Last Night? by Joanne Fritz on Joanne's Nonprofit Blog

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

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The Philanthropist
philanthropy