What’s in a Name? Hi-4 Entertainment

In this new “What’s in a Name?” feature, we’ll highlight New York-based organizations and programs that have clever, quirky, mysterious, revealing, or non-traditional names.
I was browsing NYC organizations listed on Idealist and came across Hi-4 Entertainment. The name puzzled me: Shouldn’t it be “Hi-5″? Or is it like a 4-H club? And where does the [...]

“I’m Green!” Drinking from a Box

The New York Times had an interesting Op-Ed about some wineries switching to…boxes! And you thought it was bad enough when bottles started going screw top or using plastic. It seems packaging wine in a box instead of a bottles makes it lighter and easier to transport:
Switching to wine in a box for the 97 [...]

Great Advertising for a Cause

If only every nonprofit could figure out a way to make funny, strange commercials for their causes.  This one is from American’s For the Arts promoting “Raisin Brahms”:

(from boingboing)

Outdoors and Online with NYC Wireless

Most of us probably think of using the internet as a solitary, indoor activity.  NYCwireless thinks differently.
In the latest Community Podcast, we look at how NYCwireless is working to bring the internet to everyone in New York City, both in and outside of their apartments. By “lighting up” public parks with free wi-fi access, the [...]

Recycle Your Clothing: Our Purge with a Purpose

I’ve mentioned before that our New York team recently moved into a swanky new office space. The one downside to moving is that we have been forced to confront our dark, dark past. We’ve done terrible things at Idealist, namely: over-buying t-shirts.
We have so many t-shirts from events gone by. I have no idea [...]

Meet the Fun-O-Meter

Good ideas for 50 cents! That’s right folks, coming to a corner near you is a vending machine fully equipped with novel ideas for everyday use!

From the Urban Prankster:
Jake Bronstein recently bought a toy vending machine off the Internet. He filled the toy capsules with ideas of fun things to do and started placing the [...]

“Floating NGO” Trapped in New York

It wasn’t too long ago that the Idealist staff was floating around from space to space as we waited for our new office to be completed and ready for our move in. I thought that our constant moving was bad, but clearly I never contemplated a work life at sea.
Enter Peace Boat, an organization [...]