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A New Way to Give
By Christian Braemer
Cofounder & CEO, Benefunder
We're a few days away from Fourth Quarter and Benefunder is gearing up to launch a series of tailored funds that will allow donors to have more of an impact with their dollars and on society -- from clean energy to improving Veterans' lives, novel treatments for rare and common childhood diseases, aging, wearable health, women's health, stem cells, the Internet of Things, and many more.
To give you an exclusive sneak peek, our Veteran's Impact Fund, for example, will include top researchers across the nation who are advancing solutions for our nation's heroes -- from novel treatments for PTSD to innovative prosthetics, unnamed robots, and solutions for adjusting to civilian life, just to name a few.
In the Clean Energy arena, we have pooled together some of the nation's leading innovators who working on today's most pressing clean energy solutions, from printable solar cells, to energy efficient vehicles, and sustainable energy storage.
Through these special funds, Benefunder is giving donors a chance to be part of a major charitable change and to make a bigger impact on society. We are pioneering the way academic research in America is funded while giving philanthropists unprecedented access to causes that matter most to them.
We plan to start rolling out these innovative, first-time funds in the coming months. Next month, we will have a special newsletter dedicated to our Clean Energy Innovation Fund, while our November newsletter will focus on our Veteran's Impact Fund.
Our nation's academic research institutions are one of our most important infrastructures. Increasing funding in this area is one of the wisest investments we can all make, and Benefunder is here to make it easy, fun, and efficient, while allowing donors to make a deeper impact for current and future generations.
My team and I look forward to introducing our special funds to you, and hope that you will join us in this revolutionary way of funding causes that are impacting our society today and tomorrow.
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Long-Term Giving Strategies
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With the Fourth Quarter just around the corner, now may be the perfect time to establish giving goals based on your values and passions.
According to a recent study by Fidelity Charitable, only 22 percent of donors have a mission statement or set of goals to guide their giving. Working with your advisor now to create a solid mission statement and a long-term giving plan can boost your charitable impact. In fact, according to the study, using a donor advised fund (DAF) improves planning.
Once you have created a charitable mission statement, you can create an action plan.
Whether it's clean energy, veteran's issues, diabetes, Alzheimer's, or women's health care, Benefunder's DAF allows you, the donor, to have an immediate and direct impact on research causes that are important to you. We can even create a special fund with your favorite cause in mind.
To find out how you can create a long-term, personalized giving strategy and make more of an impact, contact Tom Paparatto at
tpaparatto@benefunder.org.
*This tip is for information purposes only and should not be considered tax advice.
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Harvard Partners With Benefunder
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Building upon its philanthropic roots, Harvard University has partnered with Benefunder, the nation's leading research platform for charitable giving, to give donors unparalleled access to some of Harvard's top research initiatives.
From climate change to medical breakthroughs, Harvard University is a global leader in scholarly research and a proven force in bringing new ideas to both the marketplace and through social impact.
One of the goals of the partnership is to help boost funding for Harvard's top faculty, while helping the private, Ivy league university continue its leadership in various fields, including the environment and sustainability, health and medicine, life sciences, engineering and technology, as well as culture and society.
Click
here
for an example of one of the groundbreaking Harvard researchers on our platform -- Snezana Milanovic, who is using cutting-edge tools to combat depression.
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Philanthropy to Impact Investing - This Paradigm Shift is Changing the Investment World
Benefunder contributed to a recent Blossom Wealth Management
article
about the relationship between impact investing and philanthropy.
According to the article, "Investing with the purpose of contributing to a social or environmental change, which benefits both the society and the investor, is now taking on a paradigm shift towards philanthropy. Acts of philanthropy through impact investing give out the best returns, not just financially, but also on a deeper and more meaningful level, i.e. 'giving back'." Read
more
.
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Benefunder Researchers Caught on Film
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David Troutt, a law professor at Rutgers University, talks about poverty and inequality.
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Benefunder media producer Heidi Rataj and her crew recently brought their cameras into research labs at Syracuse and Rutgers to capture a glimpse of the important work being done to benefit society. One of the researchers, Dr. Shridar Ganesan of Rutgers, summed up the importance of philanthropy to research funding: "While the NIH is shrinking, knowledge is expanding."
Below is a small sampling of the other researchers being filmed at both universities. Stay tuned for their videos in the coming months.
Farhana Sultana
, a geographer who is advancing our understanding of the global water crises and finding meaningful and actionable solutions for people around the world.
Jason Fridley
, a biologist who is discovering how plants respond to changes in their environment, which will greatly improve the way we manage ecosystems and the services they provide to society.
Shikha Nangia
, a biomedical and chemical engineer who is working on designing better drugs for diseases such as Alzheimer's.
David Troutt,
a lawyer who focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to civil rights, public policy, and social science that explores legal and cultural assumptions guiding residential organization in metropolitan America.
Alyson Brooks
, an astrophysicist who is working to enhance our understanding of our galactic origins.
Mark West
, a psychologist who is discovering ways to combat drug addiction and binge eating.
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Personalized Lab Tours Give Donors An Insider's Look at Groundbreaking Innovations and Research
 Whatever
cause you are passionate about, Benefunder can create personalized and intimate lab tours with researchers on our platform to give you an inside look at breakthroughs happening in real time.
With more than 650 researchers on our platform, we can connect donors directly with top innovators around the country who are working in a variety of fields -- the environment and education, life science, technology, and the arts and humanities.
During a recent lab visit at UC Irvine, wealth advisors, family offices, advisors in philanthropy, and reps from private, corporate, and community foundations got an up close and personal look at the work of :
Nalini Venkatasubramanian, who is working with the White House and the National Institute of Standards & Technology to create innovative ideas such as SCALE: Safe Community Alert Network, which is designed to help entire communities better respond to risk using low-cost sensor networks to provide communication, emergency response and other functions to the general public.
Gillian Hayes
, who has developed a cell phone app that provides individuals on the autism spectrum with tools and tracking measures for health, wellness, and even social cue reminders.
André van der Hoek, who is designing new software tools that help developers be more creative and productive.
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The Future of Wearable Health
Todd Coleman, a bioengineer at UC San Diego, is making great strides in wearable health technologies using smart skin sensors and cloud analytics.
Although health monitoring systems are already used in hospitals and medicals facilities, they are often large, rigid and confined to the hospital space. Coleman and his team have designed wearable, flexible electronics that bend and stretch with the skin. Through these innovative solutions, the researchers are merging technology with health to enable more productive, functional lives.
To read more about Coleman's research and to find out how your donations will enable him and his team, through multidisciplinary research, to improve clinical outcomes across all stages of life: pregnancy, newborns, chronic diseases and aging, click
here.
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