Does it take a celebrity to speak for the majority of Americans?

Oscar-winning actor Matt Damon has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it’s not because he’s promoting a new movie. Damon, who is low-key about his personal life, comes on strong when he’s passionate about a political issue or a philanthropic cause. He has lit up the blogosphere, YouTube, print media and even late night television with his recent, high profile interviews on his philanthropy, Water.org, and his opinions on the state of education in the U.S. today and the recent U.S. debt agreement.

How much weight should we give celebrity opinions? People (and especially children and teens) are often swayed by celebrity endorsements and strive to emulate them, so when celebrities talk, many people listen. As a society, we eat up what they are wearing, what they are doing and who they are doing it with. Sometimes that means we are treated to diatribes about tiger’s blood, an episode of couch-jumping, or homophobic jokes during a stand up comedy act.

Celebrities don’t have to worry about being re-elected; they can simply say what they believe, whatever that may be. Damon’s opinions have gotten so much attention that outspoken Democrat Michael Moore has commented that he should run for president.

The July/August issue of Fast Company profiled Damon and the nonprofit organization Water.org that he co-founded with Gary White. Water.org is working towards providing safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Ellen McGirt described Damon’s immersive involvement in the organization as far and above the level of normal celebrity cause spokesperson. Damon has turned himself into a “development expert.” McGirt explains that, among other things, Damon can talk knowledgeably about microfinance with rural bankers, give reports from the field at the annual Clinton Global Initiative, and has personally thanked donors like Pepsi’s Indira Nooyi. Damon has also put in the time researching, studying and listening to experts in the field and visiting the very people it affects. This has garnered him a level of quiet respect.

Damon has been in the spotlight before for his opinion. A staunch Democrat, he supported President Obama during his campaign, but recently professed his disappointment in Obama’s handling of some key issues, including education, the Afghanistan exit strategy, and the Wall Street crisis. “I no longer hope for audacity,” he told Piers Morgan in a March 2011 appearance on his show.

On July 30, Damon gave an inspiring speech during the Save Our Schools march in Washington D.C. referencing his mother, a professor of early childhood education, and his public school education growing up. He described how he learned because he wasn’t taught to perform well on a standardized test, but was taught by teachers who were “empowered to teach.”

“This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything, please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.”

Following this speech, a journalist and cameraman baited Damon and his mother, saying that teachers needed incentive to put in effort and that ten percent of all teachers were probably bad. Damon shot back, “Ok, but maybe you’re a shitty cameraman.”

Soon afterward, Damon was back in the news after the debt crisis was resolved, voicing his disappointment with the result.

“The wealthy are paying less than they paid at any time else, certainly in my lifetime, and probably in the last century,” he said. “I don’t know what we were paying in the roaring 20′s; it’s criminal that so little is asked of people who are getting so much. I don’t mind paying more. I really don’t mind paying more taxes. I’d rather pay for taxes than cut ‘Reading is Fundamental’ or Head Start or some of these programs that are really helping kids. This is the greatest country in the world; is it really that much worse if you pay 6% more in taxes? Give me a break. Look at what you get for it: you get to be American.”

Is Damon a rich celebrity? Yes. Should his opinion mean more because he has a high profile? Maybe not, but in a time when people who aren’t lobbyists or wealthy donors have a hard time being heard by those in government who are supposed to represent their interests, it’s what we’ve got.

Image: JustJared

The devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that rocked Japan on March 11th has wiped entire towns off the map, claimed over 10,000 lives and caused ongoing dangers to at least three nuclear power plants. Analysts say that recovery costs could reach $180 billion, and so far, donations to Japan have been a lot lower than those to other countries faced with recent natural disasters. The Japanese people need our help.

You can’t exactly hop on a plane and fly over there, and packing up those extra canned goods and cast-off clothing just isn’t an efficient way to help. So what can you do? Here are 11 ways to send vital medical assistance, emergency shelter, animal rescue teams and much more directly to the affected areas.

1. Donate directly to Japan’s Red Cross: Google has made it easy to cut out the middleman and ensure that your donation funds can be put to good use as soon as possible. Donate directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society on Google’s Crisis Response page.

2. Help send medical personnel and supplies: Doctors Without Borders, a nonprofit medical organization, has expanded its team in Japan, working in mobile clinics in inaccessible areas where the roads have been destroyed. You can help in their relief efforts by donating at DoctorsWithoutBorders.org.

3. Help send emergency shelters, tools and cooking supplies: When you donate to UK-based organization ShelterBox, your money is going toward a waterproof trunk containing a disaster relief tent, blankets, toys, tools, a cookstove and cooking supplies. $1,000 pays for a whole box, or you can pitch in towards one; either way, you get the number of the box you paid for so you can track it on the ShelterBox website and see exactly where it goes.

4. Help rescue displaced animals: Let’s not forget the millions of animals that have been injured or made homeless by the disaster. Animal Refuge Kansai, The Japan Cat Network and World Vets are among the organizations that are currently working to rescue as many animals as possible and they need funds for treatment, food and housing. See this page at PetCaptain.com for more information.

5. Find other legitimate charities: Make sure your money is well-spent by donating to established charities with a real presence in Japan rather than any new charities popping up in the aftermath of the disaster. Charity Navigator has a list of charities rated by efficiency which are currently providing food, fresh water and other forms of relief to earthquake victims.

6. Donate via text message: The American Red Cross is making it easy to donate simply by pushing a few buttons on your cell phone. Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10. You can also text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to donate to the Salvation Army, or TSUNAMI to 20222 to donate to the Save the Children Federation, which has teams within 80 miles of the nuclear reactor at Fukushima to meet the needs of affected children. Sprint and Verizon Wireless have waived texting fees for text donations.

7. Donate through iTunes: If you have an iTunes gift card or just want another easy to way to send money, Apple has set up a donation page directly in the iTunes store. Click this link to open the donation page in iTunes and give anywhere from $5 to $200.

8. Donate on Facebook: Yet another easy way to donate is through the American Red Cross Facebook ‘Causes’ page. The project aims to raise $25,000 over Facebook, and allows you to donate $10 to $500.

9. Donate your airline miles: The American Red Cross accepts donated airline miles from Continental, Delta and United airlines to fly relief volunteers and staff to disaster areas. American Airlines is also offering bonus miles to members of its AAdvantage rewards program when they donate to the Red Cross, giving members 250 bonus miles for a $50 donation and 500 bonus miles for a donation of $100 or more.

10. Add donation links to your website: Insert a little snippet of code into your website to put a plea for help front and center in the form of a red bar at the top of the page. The Hello Bar can be set to appear for a brief period when visitors first reach your site and hide itself afterward, and the message and colors are customizable. Mashable has the code and an easy tutorial.

11. Spread the word: Encourage others to help out, too by spreading the word about the disaster through social media. Tweet about it, provide links to charities and information on Facebook, or share this article with friends and family. Twitter has published a list of hashtags to help filter search results including #JPQuake, #japan and #TSUNAMI (scroll down for English.)

Gone are the days when you handed your money over to a charity organization…and the relationship ended there. If your heart felt short-changed by this business model, you’ll be happy to learn that we’re in more enlightened times, where the dazzling interconnectedness of the online world allows you to see where your money goes and learn how it’s helping the causes you believe in.

But where do you go first? Today we’re delighted to welcome Kathryn Hawkins, the editor at Razoo – a philanthropic site that can justifiably claim to be the only place you’ll need to go to donate to the cause of your choice. Tall tale? Not when you consider the millions of opportunities to give and Razoo’s  top-quality journalism outlining the most pressing charitable stories in the world today. These combine to connect you as never before with the recipients of your donations – to learn the human stories behind the headlines and know your place in shaping them.

Mike: Thanks for dropping by, Kathryn! In your opinion, what the number one way in which Razoo’s approach to charitable giving is distinct and groundbreaking? What features and services are you most proud of?

Kathryn: First and foremost, Razoo is the only online charitable giving platform service in which every single penny of your money goes directly to the charity. Usually, as much as five to 10 percent of your donation is eaten up in transaction costs, but Razoo passes it all straight on. Razoo also has a search engine that lets you browse through more than 1.6 million US-based nonprofits, checking out their ratings and reviews from Charity Navigator and Guidestar, as well as videos, the nonprofits’ newsletters, and any newspaper articles that mention them. If you’re a fan of a particular organization, you can even update the nonprofit’s organization page on Razoo.

What stories have you covered at Razoo that you think aren’t getting the press they deserve, making you want to shout them from the rooftops?

Human trafficking is a big one, for sure. I’ve done a few stories related to that: a Giving Guide to anti-slavery organizations, a story about a group of teen girls who created a nonprofit group to rescue children from slavery in Ghana, and a profile of five former slaves who’ve transformed their traumatic experiences into something positive, serving as activists to help end human trafficking. An estimated 27 million people are enslaved, some even in the United States. True numbers could be much higher, as many cases of human trafficking are never reported to officials. I think it’s an essential issue for everyone to learn about. Also, if you can spare a few dollars, make a donation to an anti-trafficking group like the Somaly Mam Foundation or the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking to fund efforts to shut down human trafficking rings and provide counseling and support for former slaves.

We’re curious about the unusual name ‘Razoo’ – what the meaning behind it and why was it chosen to sum up the company?

A “razoo” is a New Zealand term for a coin of little worth. The word was chosen because it represents our vision of philanthropy – that everyone can make a meaningful contribution, no matter how small or large their individual donations are.

What can regular visitors to the website expect in terms of articles, news, updates and upcoming attractions?

We’ve recently started doing a “Daily News” section, with articles spotlighting current events related to social issues and philanthropy, including information on how the everyday person can help contribute to the cause. We’re also planning some big upcoming features, including interviews with celebrities (secret for now, but all will be revealed soon). But our biggest event of the moment is our March Goodness contest in which Razoo is giving away grants of up to $10,000 to the charities with the most donor supporters on Razoo. If you want to create a fundraising page for your favorite organization, you can also win an iPod. But it runs until the end of March, so there’s not much time left to get involved!

Image: batega

With the Obama administration igniting fervor for hope and change, perhaps the world will take heed of the decade-strong work that has been generating from the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Since 1998, MSF has been producing a “Top Ten” list of the worst humanitarian and medical emergencies in the world. According to their website, the compilation was inspired when a devastating famine in southern Sudan went largely unreported in U.S. media. Drawing on MSF’s emergency medical work the top ten list seeks to generate greater awareness of the magnitude and severity of crises that may or may not be reflected in media accounts.

Massive forced civilian displacements, violence, and unmet medical needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan, along with neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe are some of the worst humanitarian and medical emergencies in the world. The report underscores major difficulties in bringing assistance to people affected by conflict.

Also included on the list is the lack of global attention to the growing prevalence of HIV-tuberculosis co-infection and the critical need for increased global efforts to prevent and treat childhood malnutrition – the underlying cause of death for up to five million children per year.

Learn how you can help Doctors Without Borders.