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If history is any indication, today tens of millions of people around the world will participate in Giving Tuesday. They’ll donate money, volunteer their time, and perform simple acts of kindness as part of a global movement to unleash radical generosity.
The day is a powerful reminder of how acts of compassion can create ripple effects, inspiring even more people to give what they can to make the world a better place.
In honor of Giving Tuesday, we’ve dedicated this month’s issue to the changemakers and trailblazers who give money, time, and energy to create positive impacts in their communities and beyond.
Happy holidays!
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Inspiring Global Youth to Spark Change
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Khloe Thompson was just eight years old when she launched an effort to help homeless women and families in Los Angeles, starting with a simple mission: giving out 25 handmade tote bags filled with care items. Ten years later, her nonprofit, Khloe Kares, has distributed over 50,000 bags all over the world — and that’s just the beginning.
Thompson has expanded her work to Ghana, where she led efforts to install water pumps and bathroom facilities in schools that lacked access to clean water. She is now building the Khloe Kares Creative Arts Center in Kumasi, Ghana, to provide youth with access to job training, certification training programs, free art classes, a media/computer room, and a library.
However, Thompson’s impact doesn’t stop with her own nonprofit’s work. Wanting to motivate other young people, she reached out to the GivingTuesday organization to ask if she could start a movement for kids. With their support, she helped create the GivingTuesday Spark program to inspire and activate youth around the globe.
Within a few years, the idea led to the formation of a global community of young people who have performed hundreds of thousands of acts of service, said GivingTuesday CEO Asha Curran in a TED Talk.
In a recent interview, Thompson emphasized the importance of using your voice to spark change: “I’ve been using my voice since I was eight. I knew that I could not solve the world’s issues alone, and I needed other young people to stand up as well. So I encouraged other young people, ‘If I can do it, you can too!’” |
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Impact Goes Mainstream in Europe
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| Impact investors gathered in Malmö, Sweden, last month to assess fast-growing trends across the €190bn European market. Hot topics included the rise of AI-enabled climate and energy solutions and the mounting debate over whether defense tech fits within impact. While the market faces challenges, speakers noted the increased allocations from pension funds and insurance companies as a positive sign. As Angela Wiebeck, CEO of Impact Europe, shared in a recent interview, “2025 is the year impact investing has gone mainstream.” |
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| Minority-Owned Businesses Show Strong Growth |
| A new report underscores the importance of Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) to our economy, highlighting their role as engines of innovation, resilience, and generational wealth. In 2024, MBEs contributed nearly $600 billion to the United States economy and supported over 2.2 million jobs. The report shows these businesses demonstrated meaningful progress since 2023, with year-over-year growth of 9.4% in production, 10% in job creation, and 12.3% in wages. |
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