Raising Entrepreneurs

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Technology has helped breed this new generation of givers and social entrepreneurs. The Web facilitates global communication and network-building as well as ease in donating.

Talia Leman, an Iowa teen, got her feet wet in philanthropy after Hurricane Katrina. At age 10, she started a project called TLC – trick or treat for the levee catastrophe. She wrote a news release on lined paper and sent it to TV stations, urging kids to ask for loose change on Halloween as well as candy. With the help of an adult friend who set up a website, she connected with children in 4,000 school districts across the United States. They raised $10 million, what ABC News said was equal to the giving power of the top five US corporations.

That experience led Talia to create RandomKid, which supports children in the US and elsewhere in carrying out their own project ideas. “When I speak at schools, kids often come up and say, ‘I have this great idea. How can I make it happen?’ ” says Talia, the nonprofit’s CEO. RandomKid has worked with children in 50 states and 20 countries.

Last month, they held an Internet video conference involving schools in five states with the South African entrepreneur who developed the “playpump” system to provide safe water to rural communities. The students had raised enough funds for their second pump. Hearing that, “entrepreneur Trevor Field said he knew of a community in Malawi that desperately needed one, and he’d get moving on it right away,” says Anne Ginther, RandomKid’s president.

On Nov. 13, Talia was recognized for her efforts with an award from World of Children (WOC), which sponsors what some call the Nobel prize for children.

“Talia is being recognized as a changemaker because she has put together a new cohort of philanthropists – some 600 kids across the US and the world,” says Harry Leibowitz, WOC founder. “What she’s doing has sustainability.”

Source: CS Monitor