10,000 Brilliant Ideas

For governments receiving donations. Let's say a gift of an ambulance, they can receive a larger amount that will go into a fund to buy an upgraded ambulance every 10 years. Once one starts thinking of perpetual gifts, one can also think of perpetual budgeting. Everything has a plan and a funding flow. Nothing falls apart or needs extra money in the future, because maintenance is built in to the original purchase.

I have no idea if this would work, but let's imagine you get some wealthy-enough family from a developed country to buy into this and donate 1000 dollars. - You find a poor community. (The poorest. The kind that even microcredit can't really help.) - Register everyone who's interested and charge an extremely low in fee (like a nickel). Just to get some initial commitment. - Find leaders or have community select a panel. - Have leaders select a timeline and a few competitions that would reward model citizens of that community (like: most neighborly, hardest worker, most athletic, most improved house or whatever the community values that is acceptable to the organizers and donors.) - Also let the donors pick 1 or 2 categories based on a range of acceptable ones from the organizers. - Also have at least one "people's choice" award. - Run the competition for a day, week or month or whatever's appropriate. - Have judges or whatever was decided choose w...

There is a culture surrounding the globe (my data pool consists of Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and Moab, Utah) of young able-bodied, unmarried youth with ideas of changing the world in a hippie-like fashion. Basically these guys and girls got time on their hands which is why they are traveling the world, living in cheap hostels. IHCN takes this wealth of untapped man-hours and connects it with the many under-staffed charitable organizations that could use them. Basically, IHCN has a recognizable logo that these gruffians (my word, make sure I get credit when it hits dictionaries) recognize in the many different countries they visit. There is some sort of expectation, like donate a morning as you're passing through, and essentially everyone gets in on this way to change the world. Guys talk about it, girls talk about it, hostel owners talk about it and possibly offer discounts for people who participate in it. And as folks talk around the crappy table eating ramen they say things li...

The home for street kids in Manila where Alma and I volunteered at had this cool idea where they'd collect paper, shred it, make new paper and then draw a design on it for a greeting card and then sell them for a small profit. Expounding on that idea, have a website where you can set up an account, buy a card, write what you want it to say and where and when you want it sent and a child will write your message and mail it from Manila (or another country). The kids can come up with new designs and fun stuff. The money will go to the children's scholarship fund or something and we'd make whatever precautions necessary that it doesn't become a sweat shop.