A couple months ago, my mom sent me a link to a video about The Giving Pledge -- billionaires's commitments to give much of their wealth away. This link came at an interesting time: in October, Microsoft had a huge giving campaign in which employees were encouraged to donate their time and money to worthy causes. I've been pleasantly surprised by how charitable the company is: employees' donations are matched 100% up to $15,000, and volunteer time is met with a $17/hour donation to the organization from the company.
On this, the last day of 2013, I've scrambled to make some last-minute charitable contributions that, as a bonus, Microsoft will match. The organizations I've chosen to support today are:
Andrea and I have consistently asserted that we are very fortunate, that we are wont for nothing, and that we should help others to the greatest extent reasonable. Videos like this TED Talk, entitled How a Penny Made Me Feel Like a Millionaire, reinforce this view in me:
Happy 2013 to all our friends and best wishes for the new year!
