The Daily Tell

The all-new Chevrolet Volt is one of the most talked-about cars in recent memory. Powered by electricity without being tethered to electrical outlets, the vehicle represents a new era of innovation for much-maligned General Motors, of which Chevy is a subsidiary. Motor Trend magazine recently named the Volt as its "2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year," an annual award that is among the most prestigious honors bestowed in the auto industry.

And while the Volt will be good for the environment and Chevy's reputation, the company hopes it can be good for one other thing, too: education. Chevy plans to auction off the first Volt with the proceeds going to support public schools in Detroit, the former heart of the American automobile industry and a once-booming city of industry that has fallen into disarray in recent years.

In particular, explained General Motors North America president Mark Reuss, proceeds from the auction would support math and science in Detroit's public schools. "Every aspect of the Volt – from its aerodynamic shape to its battery chemistry – is a testament to the importance of math and sciences," he said. "By encouraging Detroit-area students to pursue these topics, we hope to cultivate the next generation of engineers who will build upon the Volt's innovative technologies."

The Volt will retail for approximately $41,000, not including federal rebates, but Chevy hopes the car will fetch a good deal more on the auction block. The opening bid on the very first Volt – which is equipped with every available option – has been set at $50,000, and bidding begins today via the website bidonthevolt.com. Bids will be accepted until 6 p.m. on December 14, with the winner to be announced on December 16.

Mattel, perhaps most famous for making the iconic Barbie doll, is now getting recognized for another important contribution to the world: The company donated an impressive $15 million to charitable groups in 2009.

With the holiday giving season under way, Mattel, the world's largest toy company, wants to remind shoppers that during 2009 it awarded cash and gifts valued at more than $15 million, many of them to needy children around the holidays. For the past six years, Mattel has directed at least 2 percent of its pre-tax profit to social impact efforts, despite the recession that has forced many others to cut back on charitable efforts.

Through a number of charitable partnerships, Mattel and the Mattel Children's Foundation provided support to hundreds of organizations directly serving children, including the Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, Special Olympics, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation and Save the Children. Thousands of children were able to unwrap gifts last holiday season – at home, in shelters or in hospital beds – thanks to the efforts of the El Segundo, California-based toymaker.

"We are so pleased to be able to uphold our philanthropic mission, by serving children in need and enriching the lives of our employees through rewarding volunteer opportunities," said Kevin Farr, chairman of the Mattel Children's Foundation and the company's chief financial officer. "[That mission] speaks to the heart of Mattel's values to play with passion, play together, play to grow and play fair."

Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit organization that works to improve career pathways for underserved youth and adults through its Breaking Through program at community colleges throughout North Carolina, will be able to expand its popular initiative thanks to a two-year, $1.9 million grant from The Walmart Foundation.

"These colleges promote student success through a number of innovations, including contextualized curricula to prepare students for career and technical training and comprehensive support services," said Maria Flynn, a vice president at JFF. "Adult students have unique challenges; families, schedule conflicts with full- or part-time jobs—and many lack the appropriate English and math skills. Our goal is to help colleges respond to the needs of these low-skilled students and keep them on track toward degrees that will earn them higher-paying jobs."

JFF will use the grant to help seven community colleges in North Carolina – Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, Central Piedmont Community College, the College of the Albemarle, Davidson County Community College, Durham Technical Community College, Fayetteville Community College, and South Piedmont Community College – enroll at least 1,000 adult students in programs designed to help them advance through college coursework.

As one of the largest private employers in the United States, Walmart is in a unique position to offer help to adults seeking to return to school.

"The Walmart Foundation is committed to supporting adult learners in their efforts to further their skills and education," said Margaret McKenna, president of The Walmart Foundation. "We are pleased to support this project, which gives adult learners the skills they need to succeed in the workforce."

The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of the United Parcel Service, has announced nine grants totaling nearly $2 million to environmental programs and organizations across the globe.

The grants are designed to address issues related to climate change, renewable energy, resource conservation, and other environmental causes championed by UPS volunteers.

Organizations receiving funding include the Nature Conservancy, which received $600,000 in support of sustainable forestry efforts in China and Kenya, along with continued efforts to develop a carbon offset program in Brazil by cultivation of erva-mate, a marketable herb that thrives on the forest floor; as well as the World Resources Institute, which has been granted $300,000 for its Green House Protocol initiative.

The Earth Day Network has also received $200,000, which will go toward its Sustainable Transportation Project, a comprehensive education initiative that will provide sustainable transportation lesson plans, pilot tests of school-based biodiesel production facilities and a corresponding advertising and media campaign. In addition, Keep America Beautiful received $300,000 for its Community Improvement Grant program that focuses on recycling, conservation, education and employee engagement.

"UPS employees are actively engaged in building stronger and more sustainable communities," said Eduardo Martinez, director of philanthropy and corporate relations for the UPS Foundation. "Our financial contributions support the overall commitment of our people and our communities as they work to improve the planet." 

Sexual assault is one of the most common crimes committed against women and men in the United States, but survivors of rape and other sexual crimes in Dallas, Texas, will have the opportunity to receive care and counseling at a new center made possible by a generous grant.

The W.W. Caruth Jr. Foundation has donated $2 million to Texas Presbyterian Hospital Dallas to improve services for sexual assault victims in Dallas County.

According to a 2003 FBI Report of Offenses Known to Law Enforcement, the forcible rape rate in Dallas is slightly above the national average – but rape and sexual assault are crimes that consistently go underreported due to shame, victim-blaming and lack of proper resources. The grant, however, will allow the Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center and Texas Presbyterian Health to fund a new, 2,900-square-foot treatment facility, to be called the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Center for SAFE Healing.

The center will be the first Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE) suite in Dallas County and will be housed in Texas Health Presbyterian's emergency department. It will provide comprehensive treatment services for sexual assault and abuse victims, including rape kits, counseling and medical treatment when necessary. The generous donation will also help fund a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program, which will train nurses across the state to conduct forensic exams on sexual assault victims and collect court-admissible forensic evidence.

Since many sex offenders are lifetime criminals, a program that could put more of them behind bars is a major step forward in reducing violent sexual crime, said Brent Christopher, president and CEO of Communities Foundation of Texas, of which the Caruth Foundation is a supporting organization.

"Until now, Dallas has been the largest city in the nation without a certified SANE program or an independent rape crisis center," Christopher continued. "This grant will significantly transform the resources accessible to those who are affected by sexual assault." 

Your Twitter feed might be getting updated a little less frequently these days, as dozens of celebrities sign off the site in support of Alicia Keys' HIV/AIDS awareness campaign with Keep a Child Alive.

Frequent tweeters Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher and others have joined a new campaign called Digital Life Sacrifice on behalf of the charity. The entertainers plan to sign off of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter this Wednesday, which is World AIDS Day, and stay off until the charity has raised $1 million toward its goal of providing affordable and available treatment and preventative measures to communities affected by the disease around the world.

For the campaign, participants including Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams and Keys' husband Swizz Beatz have filmed "last tweet and testament" videos and will appear in advertisements that depict them lying in coffins to represent what the campaign calls their "digital deaths."

"We're trying to sort of make the remark: Why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we're all from?" explained Leigh Blake, the charity's cofounder and president.

"It's so important to shock you to the point of waking up," Keys added. "It's not that people don't care or it's not that people don't want to do something, it's that they never thought of it quite like that."

Keys has faith that the event will raise the money the charity needs. She herself has 2.6 million followers on Twitter, while Lady Gaga alone has more than 7 million. If each person donates just $1, the charity will have raised more than nine times its goal.

Nearly 26 years ago, Quincy Jones and Michael Omartin gathered a group of dozens of talented singers to record a single called "We Are the World," written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie. Released on March 7, 1985, the song topped the charts and became the fastest-selling American pop single in history. Even better, proceeds from purchases of the single and album went toward efforts to eliminate famine in Africa.

In January, the song was famously rerecorded by contemporary artists working to raise money for earthquake-devastated Haiti. And now, a number of comedians including Sarah Silverman, Paul Scheer, Thomas Lennon, Doug Benson and Neil Hamburger have come together to produce a significantly sillier version for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

In the opening to the song's accompaying video, Kurt Russell sits in a chair by a fireplace and warns the viewer, "I want to stress that these are not singers, and this does not sound good at all. In fact, a lot of it is just horrible."

In fact, the singing's not half-bad throughout most of the single. But whether or not you enjoy the musical stylings of more than a dozen comedians, you can feel secure in knowing that 100 percent of the proceeds from sales of the song and album will go to the L.A. Regional Food Bank to help hungry families put food on the table this holiday season.

"Laughter may be the best medicine," says Russell, "but food … is the best food."

Over 400,000 children in the Los Angeles region go hungry every day, but you can make life easier for the homeless and impoverished population of Southern California by purchasing the 25.75 anniversary version of "We Are the World" – plus, you'll get to listen to an auto-tuned Weird Al Yankovic whenever you want. 

Children in one region of Virginia will soon see the benefit of a landmark grant for education. This week, it was announced that the Danville Regional Foundation had given a grant totaling more than $5.4 million to Smart Beginnings Danville-Pittsylvania County. The announcement was made on Monday by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation.

The grant, which will focus on early childhood development initiatives, was praised by a number of notable figures, including Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Jeffrey Lacker.

"There is solid research demonstrating the powerful and long-lasting effects of high-quality investments in early childhood development," Lacker said. "Danville and Pittsylvania County are on the right track. Investments like these are essential for healthy economic growth in the years ahead."

Funds from the investment will go to initiatives such as partnerships between faith-based organizations and schools to educate parents, access to valuable learning experiences both in the classroom and at home, and expanded tutoring programs.

Also included is a planned pre-kindergarden facility for the Danville Public Schools that will eventually allow more than 200 4-year-olds to attend. A sum of $2 million is allocated for the VECF to help with this aspect of the overall initiative.

On top of the support it receives from the VECF, Smart Beginnings is also aided by the United Way Danville-Pittsylvania County.

Thanks to the work of some other philanthropists, this branch of the leadership and support organization may soon be connected to others from around the world. Last month, the United Way opened the Mary M. Gates Learning Center in Alexandria, Virginia. Funded by a gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this facility features worldwide communications designed to connect United Ways from all over the globe. 

Houston's highly-regarded Rice University has received a generous donation of $15 million from local philanthropist Rich Kinder and his wife, Nancy.

The money will fund a number of research initiatives in 2011, including the 30th annual Houston Area Survey, a detailed look at the metro area economy, population and culture, as well as similar surveys in New York, Shanghai, Buenos Aires and Mumbai as part of a new multidisciplinary Global Urban Initiatives project.

The gift also will enable the institute to develop a Visiting Scholars and Urban Leaders program, which will bring various leaders to Rice University to interact and network with students.

The university's Institute for Urban Research will be renamed to reflect the Kinders' generosity, bearing their surname as a testament to their contribution to the institution. The newly renamed Kinder Institute was formed in February by the merger of the university's Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life and the Urban Research Center. It's purpose is to promote scientific research and education, engage in public outreach and support improved quality of life in urban areas.

Lyn Ragsdale, dean of the university's School of Social Sciences, commented that the Kinder Institute will "add immeasurably to the depth and breadth of our social sciences teaching and research at Rice."

"We are extremely grateful to the Kinders for both their gift and for their appreciation of the important role played by the growing diversity in our cities and our institutions," Ragsdale added. 

Times have been tough for the Caribbean nation of Haiti. First, a devastating earthquake shook the island in January, leaving thousands dead and many others missing or injured. Then a series of floods struck, destroying even more infrastructure and resulting in more deaths of innocent citizens. Even now, the country is in the throws of a cholera epidemic caused by improperly sanitized water, which has killed more than 1,100 people.

Trying to run a business in Haiti during a year like this is no doubt a challenge, but survivors of these disasters need an income to provide for their families and loved ones. That's why the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has announced a $1 million grant and loan commitment to Root Capital, a nonprofit social enterprise fund dedicating to helping build enterprise in developing countries.

The financing from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will enable Root Capital to leverage an additional $1.6 million in funding from other social investors, such as Sweden's The World We Want Foundation, for loans to promising businesses in Haiti. Growing small businesses, such as farmer cooperatives and food processors, are key to increasing rural prosperity and building sustainable livelihoods in impoverished, environmentally vulnerable places. Businesses like the ones funded by Root Capital are essential to Haiti's economy and play a pivotal role in restoring the nation's autonomy.

"From Liberia to Colombia, Root Capital's clients have shown how well-placed capital and capacity building can propel small and growing businesses to become engines of sustainable growth that build rural prosperity – we expect nothing less in Haiti," said William Foote, Founder and CEO of Root Capital. "Investments from Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and The World We Want Foundation will help Root Capital reach businesses that are currently locked out of opportunities due to markets failures such as lack of access to credit, technology and markets."