Every New Year we promise ourselves we will read more, eat less, cut down on the booze, beef up the exercise, listen better, talk softer. Usually the resolutions collapse faster than an O.J. alibi or the U.S. real estate market.

Perhaps it's time to resolve to do something for someone else. Fortunately, some innovative, efficient non-profit organizations make it possible to help others with a click of a mouse. The good you do resonates far beyond your computer screen.

The following are three groups that enable you to help put an end to malaria deaths, give needy children a chance to play and needy adults the opportunity to work. And while they are about helping others, your participation will probably let you feel a little better about yourself in 2008 as well.


Little Feet - www.littlefeet.com
In 2006, American Airlines pilot Trevor Slavick and Denver Radio news anchor Steffan Tubbs discovered what they thought was a simple but powerful truth: a simple soccer ball could unify the world.

Slavick, a lifelong soccer player, took a ball along on his travels so he could work out in-between flights. On a trip to Honduras early in his career, he gave the ball to a shoeshine boy he met at the airport before he left. While taxiing for takeoff, he says he saw the boy, with a group of other shoeshine boys, playing soccer on an open field at the end of the runway. "They were doing what they were supposed to be doing," says Slavick, "playing, not shining people's shoes." 



Malaria No More - www.malarianomore.org
While malaria has been eradicated in most of the developed world, it still ravages Africa. According to the Centers for Disease Control, an African child dies of malaria every 30 seconds, with millions dying each year.

The economic costs of malaria are just as staggering. World-renowned economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs says the scourge of malaria costs Africa an estimated $12 billion a year in lost productivity, lost tourism and setbacks to the education system due to teacher/pupil absences.

The greatest tragedy is that malaria is one of the most easily treatable and preventable diseases. A regimen of anti-malaria drugs can eliminate the debilitating symptoms of the disease or keep them under control. A simple and cheap mosquito bed net, treated with insecticide, is priceless in helping prevent transmission through the bites of parasite-carrying mosquitoes.



Kiva - www.kiva.org