December is a big month for charitable donations. Many nonprofit organizations receive the lion's share of their annual contributions between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, according to philanthropy expert Charity Navigator.

Though the economy is still wobbly, many people feel it's important to give. More than seven out of 10 say they expect to donate the same or more in 2011 as they did last year, according to a recent American Red Cross poll.

Civic Ventures announced winners of the 2011 Purpose Prizes today, awarding $100,000 each to five social entrepreneurs over 60 who founded projects to aid orphans, refugees, impoverished families, the unemployed and the environment.

"This year's Purpose Prize winners saw systemic problems -- like institutional care for orphans and global warming -- and used their experience to come up with big, systemic solutions," says Alexandra Céspedes Kent, who directs the Purpose Prize program. "Like so many other encore entrepreneurs, they want first and foremost to make a difference."

Okay, say you like to help people out, maybe with your time and money. Usually, we do that by finding an effective, trustworthy nonprofit organization.

Problem is that there's more than a million of 'em in the U.S., and the news has alerted us that many don't get anything done, and some are outright scams.

Psychiatrist Judith Broder, founder of The Soldiers Project, is one of 13 Americans who will receive the Presidential Citizens Medal at the White House on Thursday.

SecondAct profiled Broder last year and detailed her organization's efforts to provide free counseling to returning veterans and their families. To date, 700 volunteer therapists have provided more than 10,000 hours of confidential psychological services to more than 300 military families. The organization has expanded far beyond Broder's Studio City, Calif., home, now helping soldiers in Chicago, Boston and New York.

Patti Booterbaugh's Italian sojourn was not nearly as glamorous as Julia Roberts' foray in Eat, Pray, Love. There was no wine tasting, no slurping up pasta at a little bistro in Rome and definitely no basking under the Tuscan sun.

Instead Booterbaugh spent two months on two different farms, where she pulled weeds, picked vegetables and helped prepare meals. She loved it.

Lynn McPherson (far left) loves making Napoleon desserts, but not the traditional kind with custard cream and white topping. The former pastry chef can whip up a pumpkin mousse Napoleon with a pomegranate caramel sauce, or a lemon verbena shortbread Napoleon with vanilla bean clouds and fresh blackberries.

"Nothing I do is typical, both with my pastries or my life," says the 55-year-old Portland, Ore. resident.

It's not unusual for public libraries to set aside a large section or even an entire room for young readers.

But as the population ages, many librarians are pondering how to better serve older visitors.

Empty-nest travelers Allan and Silvana Clark are ready for their next big adventure, and they want you to help pick the destination.

After spending more than a year crisscrossing the country in a motor home handing out shoes to the needy, the Bellingham, Wash., couple is holding a contest to decide where to take their next philanthropic road trip. The winner will receive a $500 donation for a favorite charity.

As an art historian and curator at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Cori Wegener specializes in American and European decorative arts. But this past year, Wegener got a different view of the art world.

She has spearheaded the Smithsonian Institution's Haiti Cultural Recovery Project, an ongoing effort to restore art treasures buried under rubble during the island nation's catastrophic 2010 earthquake.