Karen Jones of is founder of BenevolentPlanet.com and author
of the award-winning  ,The Difference a Day Makes: 365 Ways to Change
Your World in Just 24 Hours and an expert on ways to give back
without giving up more than a few minutes or hours. She kindly put together this great list of resources. Thanks Karen!

Writers, designers, photographers, musicians and other artists occupy a unique sphere when it comes to influencing public opinion and inspiring action. Because you regularly see things from a broad perspective and have a gift for identifying universal truths, you can create messages that move the masses. For example:

Kaziah Hancock, an artist in Manti, Utah, known as "the goatwoman" for her unconventional animal companions, paints portraits of fallen U.S. soldiers in Iraq and sends them to the soldiers’ families as part of her Project Compassion.

Forty-six-year-old New York City artist Steve Mumford made four trips to Iraq over 11 months to paint scenes of the war in and around Baghdad, much like a photojournalist, but with a lingering focus. He paired his paintings to journal writings about his experiences.

Canadian artist Cheryl-Ann Webster makes plaster casts of women’s nude torsos to show young girls that real bodies aren’t perfect and come in all shapes and sizes – and are beautiful, naturally.
 
Jila Nikpay, an Iranian native who lives in Minnesota, combined her photographs of breast cancer survivors with poems she wrote for The Heroines Project.

Renowned designer Christopher Radko each year creates holiday ornaments whose purchase benefits causes such as pediatric cancer research and animal welfare.

Designer and illustrator Diane Gray of Pasadena, Maryland, has taught art classes to at-risk kids in the juvenile justice system and is currently developing a line of licensed characters, Green Street Garden Party, that inspires kids to care for community and nature.

Roderick MacIver, founder of Heron Dance, offers his watercolor paintings of the natural world free of charge to environmental nonprofits who auction them at fundraisers.

Songwriter Harry Connick Jr. wrote "All These People" to recount what he saw in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He is donating his royalties from the song to New Orleans Habitat Musicians’ Village, which is building homes for Katrina survivors.

Speaking of Katrina, filmmaker Spike Lee generated his acclaimed documentary, "When the Levees Broke" to shine a light on the plight of those affected.

Quilters are making a better world, one square at a time. Most are familiar with the AIDS Quilt, but the threads of change are also providing blankets for sick and needy infants via Project Linus, honoring the experience of September 11, and keeping homeless people warm on urban streets.

The list of writers whose words have changed the world is long indeed; just open your favorite book of quotations for a satisfying sampling.

Your creative gifts can be a powerful force for change in the world, on a grand or individual scale. Here are just 10 ideas for putting your talents to work on behalf of what matters to you:

1 Design a donor thank you or holiday greeting card for an organization whose mission you support.

2 Host a creative gathering and make projects — collages, birdhouses, painted glassware, pottery — then auction the items off for a local charity.

3 Teach your talent — be it art, writing, photography, music — to kids at a community center or shelter.

4 Create a poster that expresses the mission of a favorite organization; offer it for them to use on their website.

5 If you like acting, dress in appropriate costume and read, in character voices, to kids in a community center or safe shelter.

6 Form a team with the members of your arts group, wear identifying tee shirts, and participate in a community project such as a home build, playground cleanup or garden planting.

7 Have a contest for kids to submit their creative works — artwork, poetry, photography, song/rap lyrics — with a social issue theme. Ask a local business or gallery to display the entries, and/or a local printer or newspaper to publish them.

8 Donate a percentage of the sale of your work for a month or a year to the nonprofit organization of your choice.

9 Offer to paint a mural in a school, community center, shelter or ill person’s bedroom.

10 Create an inspirational packet — a handmade card with special materials, stickers, confetti, envelopes-inside-envelopes and other fun enclosures — for a homeless or domestic violence shelter resident or hospital patient.

Thanks Karen and spread the word and share the podcast with everybody you know!