Starting today, Canadian credit union Servus is handing out CDN 200,000 in ten-dollar bills, giving 20,000 people the opportunity to create a Feel Good Ripple by giving that money to someone else. Servus is asking customers "How will you use ten dollars to make someone's day?" Suggestions include 'buy flowers for the grocery store cashier', 'buy the coffee for the person behind you in line at the drive-thru' and 'give $10 to a homeless shelter to pay for lunch or dinner supplies'. By pledging CDN 200,00 to the effort, the company hopes to start a ' kindness movement' that will positively affect at least 20,000 people.

Servus is distributing the bills through its branches throughout Alberta, and asking participants to write up stories of their kindness—monetary or otherwise—on feelgoodripple.ca. By sharing their experience online or at a branch, participants have a chance to win one of ten CDN 500 donations to a charity of their choice. While the contest will end on December 1st, Servus hopes the Feel Good Ripple will continue long afterwards.

This type of sponsored charity—actively seeking customers' collaboration—is meant to underline the cooperative mindset of credit unions (as opposed to, say, banks). It's a prime example of a company applying the principles of Generation G, as our sister-site trendwatching.com calls the societal and business shift to a more generous mindset. (Related: Grocer lets customers direct its community giving — Customers deliver donated TOMS shoes.)

Website: www.feelgoodripple.ca — www.servuscu.ca
Contact: www.servuscu.ca/site+tools/contact+us

There's little enough gratitude to go around during the best of times, let alone when everyone's being put upon by tough economic conditions. Following in the footsteps of hotel group Sage Hospitality, whose "Give a Day, Get a Night" program to reward volunteers we covered this summer, none other than Disney is gearing up to launch its own equivalent.

Much like Sage's effort, the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day program aims to celebrate and inspire volunteerism. Specifically, Disney is working with HandsOn Network to highlight a variety of volunteer opportunities with participating organizations across the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Starting Jan. 1, those who contribute their time need only have it verified by HandsOn; then, in exchange, they'll get a voucher from Disney good for one day admission to a Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme park. Says Disney, "We want to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service."

Since spending on travel and leisure activities is down, along with spending on pretty much everything else, it's a smart move by Disney (and, for those of you outside the US, one that's being heavily promoted through prime-time TV commercials). As laid out in our sister-site's briefing on Generation G, share some love now, and you could win hearts forever. And of course there are immediate bottom-line benefits, too: the entrance tickets may be free, but those volunteering visitors will still be buying food, drinks and merchandise at Disney's parks.

Website: disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day
Contact: home.disney.go.com/guestservices/contact

Random acts of kindness are almost always met with a warm reception, whether they're motivated by a game, a hotel's philosophy or the premise behind a clothing brand. Now aiming to make such acts more frequent, New York-based KIND Snacks has launched an effort to use cards to remind people to be kind.

KIND is an award-winning brand of Australian-made all-natural fruit and nut bars from PeaceWorks, a “not-only-for-profit” healthy foods company that hand-produces its bars. Kicked off by the KIND team, the KINDED movement aims to encourage people to surprise others with unexpected kind acts. Those interested can start by getting a card via instructions on the KINDED website. Next, they perform some kind act for someone else, whether it's helping them carry heavy bags, sharing an umbrella or paying for their coffee. When they do, they simply pass on their card to the recipient of their generosity; that person, in turn, can pass it along by doing something kind for someone else. Perhaps most interesting of all, however—particularly in light of what our sister site would call the OFF=ON trend—is that each card that gets passed along has a unique code that can be mapped online, enabling participants to track how far their chain of kindness travels and view kind acts happening around the world.

The KINDED website explains: "KINDED cards are meant to help overcome the social awkwardness of doing unexpected kind acts by serving a 'license' to do the act, and explaining why you are doing it. So, when that person at Starbucks hands you a KINDED card along with [a] coffee, you'll feel comfortable accepting since they're just passing on a kind act that was done for them." More than 700 "KINDINGS" have been performed so far; as extra motivation, the card code with the longest chain of such kind acts by Jan. 29 will win those involved a chance to get a real wish fulfilled.

So many brands over the years have been associated with self-indulgence, with ego gratification and—yes—with downright greed. In this era of widespread consumer disgust with the corporate world, there's never been a better time to focus on the kind!

Website: www.kinded.com
Contact: www.kinded.com/contact

Spotted by: Petz Scholtus

Proving that the internet’s information doesn’t always have to appear on-screen, Question Box brings the web’s intelligence to offline communities. At the heart of the venture is a solar-powered intercom box that features a large green button. By pressing the button, a user is connected to an operator sitting in front of a computer. The caller asks a question and the operator does a web search to find the answer.

Two Question Boxes are currently operational in the Indian state of Maharastra, where the first box was installed by California-based non-profit Open Mind in September 2007. In March 2009, the Applab Question Box service was launched in Uganda—tweaking the model by enabling callers to contact call centre operators from their own mobile phones. Both services log previously answered questions in local databases, speeding up responses to future enquiries and providing information offline in case of lack of connectivity. Queried topics range from crop prices and cricket scores to exam results.

The free service brings almost limitless information to poor and rural areas, in a format that transcends literacy. As the scheme expands, it will be interesting to see whether the boxes begin to focus on specific niches: health advice or political updates, for instance, or be adopted by corporate sponsors offering a similar service in exchange for airing commercial messages. (Related: Internet-in-a-box for areas without electricity.)

Website: www.questionbox.org
Contact: www.questionbox.org/contact.php

Spotted by: Susannah Haynie

With USD 714 billion outstanding student-loan debt hanging over graduates in the US, it's no surprise that more and more people are turning to free educational content on the web. Earlier this year we reported on Academic Earth, a US enterprise that makes lectures from Ivy League colleges free and accessible to all web users. Now, featuring over 1,500 videos the website is broadening its scope by offering courses for high school high-flyers.

The new lecture series is aimed at students taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams, which give them a chance to study college level material and potentially earn credit towards their future degree. This year there are 10 video courses on offer, each featuring up to 50 lectures from MIT, Yale, Berkeley and Stanford. Subjects covered include computer science, calculus and psychology, and along with the videos there is also the option to download the lectures as podcasts. According to Academic Earth's 23-year-old founder, Richard Ludlow, more AP courses can be expected in future years; in the meantime the site will be concentrating on providing supplementary materials such as lecture notes, transcripts and related books.

Academic Earth is one of a flock of 'edupunk' enterprises on the web, ranging from peer-to-peer universities to fully-fledged state-funded institutions that award accredited degrees. Open content is going to play an increasing role in higher education, and with it comes a host of opportunities for social entrepreneurs.

Website: www.academicearth.org/subjects/advanced-placement
Contact: hello@academicearth.org