New Year’s resolutions – such as lose weight, stop smoking, make new friends, learn something new – usually fall by the wayside even before January runs out. But studies show that volunteering has beneficial effects across the board: you become more active, expand your horizons, meet new people and feel better about yourself. So our wish for the New Year:  volunteer!

We at Just Cause also wish that 2008 continues to bring the same kind of excitement to the philanthropic waterfront that the last couple of years have delivered:  Warren Buffett's commitment of $37 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was the largest gift ever and a clear, brilliantly-lit marker on the philanthropy landscape that in order to solve big problems it’s better to collaborate…

The third annual Clinton Global Initiative in September ’07 was a resounding success. President Bill Clinton announced that “over the past three days CGI members have made 245 commitments - commitments that when fully implemented have the potential to impact the lives of over 100 million people around the globe.”

Examples of the impact this year's commitments will potentially have around the world, include:

…8.5 million out-of-school children will be enabled to enroll in school for the first time.

…50 million people will have access to treatment of neglected tropical diseases.

…170,031,331 acres of forest will be protected or restored.

…11.2 million people will be empowered with increased access to sustainable incomes

In addition to the long list of new commitments made at this year's meeting, hundreds of commitments were made by more than 40,000 people who visited the newly launched MyCommitment.org. Through this online tool, nearly 200,000 hours of volunteer time and close to $130,000 were committed.

Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth earned Gore an Emmy, an Oscar and the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and put global warming front row center in people’s minds.

Doing well by doing good. Awareness about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Cause Marketing continues to grow apace. Consumer products have discovered that you are what (and how) you give. CSR is increasingly forming a key part of the 'core values' of modern businesses, large and small. Clients and potential clients want to deal with other businesses that put into practice the principles of doing good. To fail to implement CSR is to be left out of a virtuous loop.

When corporations analyze their opportunities for social responsibility using the same parameters that guide their core business choices, they discover, as PG&E, the Gap, Whole Foods Market, Toyota and Microsoft have done, that CSR can be much more than a cost, a constraint, or a charitable deed. It can indeed be a potent source of innovation and competitive advantage.

At Just Cause, we admire corporations that are doing well by doing good and we will be telling their stories in the months ahead.