SEIU is sponsoring “Everybody Wins,” a contest in which a public division member with an innovative idea about how to improve the quality of public services could win up to $5,000 personally and another $20,000 for their local union. To learn more about that contest, click here.

Meanwhile, the Reader's Digest Foundation will donate a total of $1 million to nonprofit organizations through an initiative called "Make it Matter."

Every month, the foundation will select one individual's story of a significant, good deed done for ones community and then grant $100,000 to a nonprofit organization in honor of that person. Reader's Digest magazine will then feature that person in its new column, "Make it Matter." Submissions for "Make it Matter" will be accepted by the foundation on a rolling basis throughout 2008. To learn more about the program and submitting a story, click here.