Archive for August, 2010

40 Wealthy Families Join Gates and Buffett

The last time Bill Gates introduced a new concept to the world, a total revolution took place, Microsoft was eventually born, and the rest as they say, is history. In this case, the non-profit world is passionately hoping that history is about to repeat itself with an equally revolutionary concept: the return to charitable giving.

Earlier this year, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett launched a campaign to encourage other high wealth individuals (read that: billionaires!) to donate the better part of their amassed fortunes to charity. Now, 40 wealthy families – not all billionaires – have signed the “giving pledge” and are shown on the Giving Pledge web site.

It appears their efforts to personally reach out to their “peers” is making a difference. More >

New Organization: Pacific Northwest Search & Rescue

Click. Buy. Help. is pleased to welcome Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue!  PNWSAR is an all volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to providing Search and Rescue assistance for people who are lost or injured out of doors. Their organization exists to provide ground search teams and other types of assistance to the official agencies responsible for search and rescue activities in our region (by Oregon law, the county Sheriff).

PNWSAR’s specialty is ground search operations. They focus their training on the development and maintenance of outdoor navigation, search, patient evacuation and survival skills. They also have a certified mountain bike team to augment their ground searches when it’s appropriate. All field operation team members meet PNWSAR and Oregon State Sheriff’s Association basic search and rescue certification standards. They work primarily with the Clackamas County Sheriff Department’s search and rescue coordinators for training and testing to meet this statewide requirement. They also train to develop skills that will be utilized in command post and base camp functions during an SAR incident. All PNWSAR members are registered “Emergency Service Workers” with Clackamas County Emergency Management and Oregon Emergency Management. More >