More than 40 paddleboat teams took to Echo Park Lake last weekend to raise money for 826LA. Teams were required to raise at least $100 for entry and some teams raised well above and beyond to generate an estimated $20,000 in funds for one-on-one writing tutorials and workshops for students age 6-18. 826LA's two locations (in Venice and Echo Park) are staffed entirely by volunteers dedicated to teaching and inspiring students to write creatively. The......

Photo by nailmaker via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The "theme" of this week's PhiLAnthropist is giving back by donating goods. With so many organizations in LA in need of different items, it's hard to know where to go. The following is a brief list of some solid organizations that could use a few things. And even though they have not been specifically listed, many, if not all, of these organizations offer a variety......

For beer lovers tired of all these wine tasting events, your time has finally come! A couple weekends ago, the Pine Meadows Lawn of the Autry National Center was the site of the first annual Brew Ha Ha. A few dozen microbreweries and brewpubs represented at the beer tasting festival, and some great catering was provided to soak up all the beer. Live entertainment was provided by Bill Dwyer, who you may know from watching......

Submitted & Authored by Emily Lerman Photo by stu_spivack via Flickr LOOKING FOR SOMETHING MORE DIY? START A BURRITO PROJECT: Yes, an LA Burrito Project may already exist, and many people may already be familiar with this low-profile group that seeks to remain a "no fame, no faces organization with no leader or head quarters", but that is not to stop one from starting another one; LA is a big city. In January 2006 two......

On Saturday, around 1000 people took park in the first annual Underwear Affair for City of Hope to raise money and awareness for those below-the-waist cancers (prostate, colorectal, cervical, ovarian, kidney, bladder, testicular and uterine) that do not always get the attention they should. It was a first for Los Angeles and the 10K run/5K walk was a success, so they're bringing it back next year (It's good to see an undie run with a......

Saturday afternoon on the Pine Meadows Lawn of the Autry National Center in Griffith Park will turn into the site of the "Brew Haw Haw" beer tasting festival to raise money ($50/tix) for the SoCal chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. There will be microbrews, food, comedy and bands. And in case you missed it, yesterday's weekly PhiLAnthropist post featured the Skid Row Neighborhood Watch Walk, a Venice Beach clean-up and an event with High......

At the Skid Row Neighborhood Watch Walk | Photo by Ed Fuentes/View from a Loft, used with permission Submitted and authored by Emily Lerman JOIN THE SKID ROW NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH WALK: July marked the three-year anniversary of this monthly walk focused on bringing attention and awareness to Skid Row. While the decrease in the number of people sleeping on the streets in Skid Row provides evidence of both improvement in the area and the......

Submitted and authored by Michael Zampelli The Los Angeles Derby Dolls hosted their own contribution to the Mayor's Day of Service with a banked-track skating demonstration for inner-city kids, seminars on self-improvement, a neighborhood clean-up, Thi Chi classes, Yoga, Self Defense instruction and even a hazardous materials disposal unit and oil recycling center. Mayor Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Laker Jordan Farmar along with other local celebrities arrived in the morning to address the crowd and......

Submitted and authored by Emily Lerman Photo by Jasmic is back in the building via Flickr Los Angeles is a big city, which means there are lots of ways to get involved in the community and lend a helping hand. Here are just a few ideas... TUTOR A HOMELESS CHILD: Since 1993, School on Wheels volunteers have traveled to homeless shelters, foster homes and libraries around the city tutoring homeless children from Kindergarten through 12th......

The Mayor has been running these CommUNITY Days of Service since he got into office. Basically, a region is chosen and thousands of volunteers pour into that sector of the city to clean and beautify the neighborhoods. From tree plantings to picking up litter to free community workshops, there's lots going on. Tomorrow's area is in what the Mayor calls the "Heart of the City," aka Koreatown, Thai Town, Historic Filipinotown, MacArthur Park, Hollywood,......

A redneck, a Hasidic Jew, and Michael Jackson walked into a bar. No punchline here ... just some funny photos. This Saturday a flip cup tournament was held in Hollywood to raise money to fight breast cancer. If flip cup and charity seem like strange bedfellows, well ... yes, they are. Some of the outfits were even stranger. Larry and Cheech's Second Annual Flip for the Love welcomed over 200 do-gooders, with most of the......

Need an activity for your inner philanthropist? Try drinking beer. Larry & Cheech's 2nd Annual "Flip For The Love" is a flip-cup tournament benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Institute and the Vail Valley Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. It's going down this Saturday in Hollywood. Teams of four pay an entrance fee of $80 (individuals can enter for $25 each), which includes all beer for the tournament. Spectators can enjoy the madness for $7 and additional......

It was a beautiful night at the Los Angeles Zoo; perfect weather and a perfect setting made the LA Zoo's annual "Beastly Ball" an event to remember. Celebrities and guests wandered the grounds of the zoo, feasting on gorgeous dishes prepared by the city's best restaurateurs and interacting with friendly animals like a boa constrictor, an armadillo, and a gray horned owl. Participating restaurants included Yamashiro, Typhoon, Pink's, Malo, El Cholo, Fabiolus Café and many,......

On the heels of the annual Great LA River CleanUp comes another large do-gooding river activity tomorrow morning. 2,000 people from Heal the Bay, the NAACP, PAVA and ANAHUAK will be cleaning the Glendale Narrows section of the LA River along with Councilman Eric Garcetti and other neighborhood and organization leaders. "The L.A. River is something we all have in common. Only if all communities work together will we be able to restore and revitalize......

Photo by AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes Even the animals in L.A. get top notch chefs cooking for them. Well, they do at least once a year in a preview for the Beastly Ball, an annual bash at the LA Zoo for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, a non-profit that supports the city's zoo. This year, the gala celebrates the California Condor Recovery Project and takes place on June 14 with tickets at $1000. Restaurants......

The Flight of the Conchords play two sold-out (boo!) concerts this weekend via their MySpace page There are two upcoming music fundraising events of interest. At King King on Sunday, Ben Lee, Crash Kings and DJ David Roberti will all play a benefit concert to raise funds for a school that will serve the children of the Tashirat Orphanage and the impoverished children in the surrounding community of Tepoztlan, Mexico. Enough funds need to......

Actor Kirk Douglas gives children at the Lillian Elementary School a high five in Los Angeles Wednesday, May 28, 2008 (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Since 1997, actor Kirk Douglas and his wife Anne have donated about one playground renovation per week to Los Angeles area schools. Yesterday at Lillian Elementary School in South LA marked their 401st and last. The playground project began in 1997 "while Anne Douglas was reading in the Los Angeles Times......

Since billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad has funded Los Angeles institutions such as LACMA's BCAM and UCLA's Stem Cell Institute, Curbed LA asked its readers what he should spend his money on next if it were to be a civic project. The "Subway to the Sea" won with overwhelming results....

February may well be the month of the year we think about love the most, but our local schools are banking on us sharing our love with them right now, too. This month, a project called "LA Loves Its Schools" is taking place. It's a donation drive based on the pages of DonorsChoose.Org that calls for caring individuals to pitch in a little to help local schools, classrooms, and teachers get the things they need......

Just two of the many dogs found this past weekend on a Lancaster ranch. Photo by Laura Gunn Over the weekend we told you about the 400 animals rescued from a Lancaster ranch, and the need for help with donations or adoptions to save the many abused and neglected animals. One of the volunteers who was at the ranch helping with the rescue, Laura Gunn shared with us an update and the photos she......

LAist Featured Photos contributer, mil8, went along with his neighbor and friend on "an annual trip down to Skid Row to hand-out clothes, blankets and hygiene kits to LA's down & out in hopes to spark a better next year for them." This year he brought a camera. More photos after the jump in a YouTube photo collage video.......

Freaking out? Don't know what to give tomorrow? Here are a few ideas with a conscious in mind: GOOD Magazine: This locally based do-gooding magazine has been impressing many across the country over the past year. In fact, a subscription to this bi-monthly publication is one of our favorite ideas. If GOOD is not your giftee's style, there are about a million other magazines to gift them.Greendimes: Give the gift no more junk mail. Starting......

In remembrance of the many lives lost in the 2004 South Asian tsunami, the public is invited to gather at a candlelight vigil with representatives of Sri Lankan organizations on Dec. 26, 6:30 p.m. at the Santa Monica Pier. Prayers will be offered by several religious denominations (Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim), followed by a moment of silence. Participants will release flowers into the ocean as the memorial service comes to an end. The......

Not sure what to buy your environmentally conscious friend or family member for the holidays? Opting to make this holiday season's giving more earth-friendly? You may want to check out this weekend's Eco Gift Expo, which:will provide everything you would hope to find including beauty products, fashion, yoga products, sports, bags, shoes, candles, home decor, toys and much more... and everything at the expo is good for the planet, mind, body and spirit. You......

TOYS FOR TOTS Everyone has that one special moment when it really starts to feel like Christmas. It might be shopping Thanksgiving weekend, baking cookies or buying the tree. For me, it is that magical moment while stuck in traffic when I am taken unawares by a phalanx of motorcycles zooming by carrying giant stuffed bears on the back. That is truly the spirit of Christmas. The bikers are part of an annual Toys for......

The Whole 9 is hosting their holiday party tomorrow (Tuesday) night from 6-9:30PM and would like to invite you to come! What started as an online community where creative, entrepreneurial open-minded people can meet and share, showcase their work and get work has turned into a creative space and art gallery in Culver City. The gallery has shows where the artists are selected from portfolios on The Whole 9 website. The host of the most......

Twisted Sister, Metal Skool, the Iron Maidens, and Jani Lane of Warrant are putting on a benefit concert this Friday to support wounded veterans and the families of soldiers overseas. Expect Twisted Sister to rock hits from their Twisted Christmas album (see video after the jump). Doors open at 5:00pm at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, with the show starting about an hour later. Get there early so you have time to adjust your......

Did you know that residents of Los Angeles County use 6 billion plastic bags a year, and only 5% of bags in the US are recycled? In the state of California the average person uses 552 bags, according to the environmental organization Heal the Bay. These bags are then left to choke up our waterways, landfills, streets, and urban landscapes, causing harm to animal life and our ecosystem. This is why Heal the Bay, along......

The Mods and Rockers invite all Beatles fans, Anglophiles and latent mods and rockers to attend A Holiday Rave-up: A Very British Sixties Christmas! tomorrow night. This celebration of sixties music will feature The Ravers, the premier sixties cover band. Special guests performing with The Ravers will be Stephen Bishop (On And On, It Might Be You) and Spencer Davis (Gimme Some Loving, I'm A Man). I saw Spencer Davis perform with The Ravers......

The 4th annual international food bloggers holiday fundraiser, Menu For Hope, kicks off its twelve day run Monday. The virtual event is hosted by Pim Techamuanvivit, who runs the food blog Chez Pim and whose desire to help out those devastated by the tsunami five years ago in Southeast Asia led her to devise Menu For Hope. Last year US$62,925.12 was raised through the event, and was donated to the UN World Food Programme. Here's......