I’ve helped a number of not-for-profit organizations over the years.  Here are a few that have impacted my life:

1. The President’s Army of Compassion — I helped start an initiative at the University of Iowa in 2000 aimed at helping at-risk children read.  We rounded up a collection of high-performing students and went to a local elementary school and spent time with the underprivileged children, showing them that education can be interesting and fun, if you simply find the subjects you’re interested in and apply some real world features to them.
2. Siouxland Cares (United Way) — What kind of an Iowan would I be if I didn’t give back to the community that helped raise and educate me (First in the Nation in Education = FINE!)?  We donated part of Evolyte’s design, development and marketing services to help educate Siouxland area parents on how to talk to their children about drugs and alcohol prevention.
3. Harley Helping Hands — A cause dear to my heart.   I lost my grandfather to cancer in the fall of 2007 and one of my best friend’s and business partner at Evolyte lost his mother to brain cancer in the summer of 2009.  It’s sad that we all have lost or one of our close friend’s has someone who lost a battle with cancer.  HHH’s goal is to relieve the financial burden of dealing with brain cancer.  We’ve known the founder since we were kids, and she described part of HHH’s goal like an adult’s Make A Wish Foundation.  Read more of Harley Helping Hand’s story here.  We are donating our time, design, development and marketing services to help them gain awareness in the Chicagoland community.  I built a dynamic, interactive event landing page using HTML/CSS/JavaScript to help sell tickets to their April 29th event at the Galleria Marchetti.
4. Bear Necessities – Starting in Chicago, we’re sending Barrett the teddy bear traveling to Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan to meet American soldiers. The entire 15,000 mile journey will be documented to help generate awareness for Bear Necessities, a pediatric cancer support organization. So start voting on your fave photos at Bear Battles (I built this quickly in about a week using PHP)!  And maybe, if we get enough people to play with us, the battle between photos can turn into a battle against cancer. Please Donate Now if you are able.
5. Chicago Youth Centers — an organization that invests in youth in underserved Chicago neighborhoods to help them discover and realize their full potential–from early childhood education to and through college.  I’m designing the flyer for their May 19th event.