As Americans, we are a famously generous people. We’re also famously self-reliant and innovative. Ideally, philanthropy should unite the best of our impulses with the best of our abilities, marrying purpose to efficacy. As blind faith in large institutions recedes, enter the golden age of the philanthropic entrepreneur.

You don’t need celebrity status to be a force for good--you, too, can make a difference in many of the same ways actors, athletes, and other high-profile people do. Here's how to get started.

Toy and food drives are a dime a dozen around the holidays. If you want to organize a charitable drive for your office that isn’t the “same old, same old,” here's how to make a difference with a used cell phone drive.

At this time of year, when our attention turns to giving back and products that allow us to do so, we offer a look at social enterprises that are taking innovative approaches to problem-solving and making our world a better place.

It may seem obvious that wealth builders are so self-directed that they naturally want to see their assets devoted to accomplishing their own charitable goals and not somebody else's, especially when that somebody is a bureaucrat. But in fact, that's a new attitude and it represents a seismic shift from the way we historically talked about philanthropy.

There has been a great deal of talk in Washington about levying more and higher taxes on the rich--including on charitable gifts and assets. It's certainly possible to imagine that such a tax would have a dampening effect on philanthropy. But people are used to making lemonade from the sour lemons of the tax code.

Ever had the feeling you weren't making your donations wisely? Hope Neighbor has been there. That's why the nonprofit and banking veteran launched the first in-depth research into how carelessly we give money to charity--and how to create better opportunities for impact investing.

Amid all those candles and evergreens, baked goods, freely pouring cocktails (and the promise of sneaking in a tax deduction) we humans are inclined to give to those less fortunate this time of year. But there isn't much incentive when paychecks have been cut or lost, investments dried up, and health care costs are more than ever. Even the most giving among us may be inclined to wonder: Why should I give?