In March, Bill Gates launched the i’m Initiative, a program that makes it possible to give to one of several major charities with every IM you send using Windows Live Messenger (which used to be called MS Instant Messenger).
You don’t pay anything. Microsoft makes the donation. Gates has pledged that each charity will receive a minimum of $100,000 dollars this year no matter what, and there’s no maximum.
What struck me about this program was that one of its goals is clearly to awaken and sensitize the young to giving, while also giving them the means to do so. That’s why I’m blogging about this.
I don’t use Instant Messenger, and I don’t usually promote Microsoft products, but I do admire Bill Gates for his philanthropic activities and think this program is worth talking about.
I had a teenager not that long ago. In their teen years, as you all know, kids struggle to assert themselves and take control of their own lives, often in not very constructive ways.
This program can help channel that energy in a positive direction and reduce kids’ sense of powerlessness in a very meaningful way. Besides, anything you can do to encourage American kids to be less self-centered is a good thing. They grow up altruistically challenged thanks to the values of their culture…
There are over a quarter billion Live Messenger users, but this program only applies to IM’s originating from the US.
These are the currently participating charities:
- American Red Cross
- Boys & Girls Clubs of America
- National AIDS Fund
- National MS Society
- ninemillion.org
- Sierra Club
- StopGlobalWarming.org
- Susan G. Komen for the Cure
- UNICEF
Watch one of these adorable videos with your teens! Empower them! It’s your job.
What a brilliant idea! It might get me motivated to start doing IM’s. I wish he would give a dollar for every email–that would be great for us non-Hanna Montana crowd.
I think it’s a great idea too, especially the way kids live on these things. My son did, for a while when he was in Alaska and his friends were all in CA. But now he pretty much exclusively does SMS with his pals. I actually use Skype. It started when Vincent and I were living on different continents, but these days I’ll open it sometimes in the afternoon and usually find that my early bird sister-in-law in CA is online, so we chat a little. It’s really handy for quick chats/questions/comments when you have far-away friends (of the computer-oriented variety).