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Posts Tagged ‘Non-profit Organizations’

The vast majority of web users who buy things on eBay are customers. But as any successful eBay seller realises, they aren’t just buyers. You must remember that the customer is king, the key to maintaining a good feedback rating, and the key to ongoing business that can keep an eBay sales venture profitable. Cultivating ongoing relationships with satisfied buyers is the key to a sustainable business.

To those who sell on eBay to benefit nonprofit causes, customers are even more special: they are donors as well as buyers. They’re people who keep you going and make your activities possible. As anyone who has participated in one of eBay’s community forums can tell you, the internet is a great place to develop close relationships with individuals who share a common goal or interest, in other words, develop relationships with a wide online community.

On eBay and the internet, caring for and feeding donors is as important as it is in the offline world. eBay gives you several ways to maintain good relations with other members. The most important is eBay’s well-known feedback system, which rewards trustworthiness and punishes dishonesty.

You can also volunteer information that helps your donors providing them with the URLs of web sites they might like to visit, on eBay or elsewhere, or answering questions on the message boards. At the very least, you’ll gain the respect of your donors by responding quickly to e-mail inquiries, and making payment and shipping easy. It’s all about helping people to do the right thing.

Customer Support

If you’re affiliated with a charity, you already know about growing your donor base. It boils down to being nice to your donors: inviting them, feeding them, thanking them, and giving them special access and possibly other benefits.

On the web (and by extension, on eBay), nurturing donors is the same as providing a high-Ievel of customer service. But customer service on the Web is different than in other venues.

Nonprofits, like other organizations that sell on eBay or online, need to take into account the special way online consumers behave. In the traditional offline world, customer service is a matter of answering questions and solving problems with orders. Customer service representatives make themselves available to field questions and problems as they arise.

Customer service on the internet isn’t a matter of publishing a phone number or e-mail address and waiting for consumers to send you questions. Such basics are important, but it’s more a matter of making information proactively available to consumers. The customer is in charge on the internet, not the seller. Customers choose to view your items for sale or visit your web site; they choose to make a bid or a donation, or go elsewhere with their money.

Many eBay sellers who receive questions from prospective bidders answer those questions quickly. But they go a step further, also. They also publish the questions and answers as additions to their sales descriptions. This reduces the number of similar questions you receive, which saves you some work; it also raises the level of customer support you provide, which makes prospective bidders more likely to purchase from you.

When you receive a question from a bidder through eBay’s message system, you have the option of simply responding to the buyer privately, or adding the question and your response to the body of your sales description.

It was a beautiful place. The warm waters of the Indian Ocean lapped the silver sand and well-padded sun-beds invited us to stretch out under the shade of the tamarisk trees. Smiling waiters constantly came by with iced drinks, and no request was too much trouble. ‘It is my job to make your holiday happy’ said the pool attendant as I thanked him for bringing me a towel. It was a little piece of paradise, exclusive and gift-wrapped, protected by security men and high fences.

Early one morning we left the beach and the dining tables with their crisp white cloths, which clustered around the swimming pool, and went out into the African village beyond the gates. Here we found a very different world. Chickens scratched at the side of the road, and a little girl walked to school from her one-roomed home with its corrugated iron roof, picking her way carefully down a deeply rutted unmade-up road. Local people squeezed 15 deep into small vans or ‘matatus’, if they were lucky enough to have a job to travel to, while many others simply sat under the trees, hoping that someone would come along and offer them a days’ casual labour. It was a million miles from the comparative luxury that lay just beyond the hotel gates.

As we returned for our breakfast from the ‘all that you could eat buffet’ I felt as if I was slipping back into a gold fish tank, insulated and sheltered from the real world. ‘Hakuna Matata’ - no worries - for the guests at Turtle Bay, even though poverty, disease and need of every kind waited beyond its gates. ‘Father’ I whispered ‘is this how we are as Christians?’ Staying within our protected environment, hugging your lavish provision to ourselves? Caring little for those who are in such need, and failing to tell the spiritually starving where to find bread?’

Of course it isn’t just in the two-thirds world that we find poverty, sickness and spiritual need. In the pleasant market town where I live in Britain, approximately 40 men and a few women sleep rough at night, whatever the weather. Week after week, in the court where I serve as a magistrate, people of every age stand in the dock, accused of shoplifting or other petty crime, because they have a drug habit that demands constant feeding. Old people spend days without a single visitor and failed asylum seekers, live behind barbed wire fences, waiting to be deported to an uncertain future.

All this need just tears my heart out. But the sheer size of the problem threatens to overwhelm me. Like Andrew, when faced with 5,000 hungry men and the scanty supply of 5 loaves and two fishes with which to feed them I’m tempted to shrug helplessly and say ‘Jesus, what is the little that I can offer, among so many? Where do I start Lord? I’m afraid of getting out of my depth. And on the bad days, I want to withdraw into the sanitised safety of my Christian world, and let others get their hands dirty.

Then I remember the story about the little boy who was throwing stranded star-fish back into the sea. His big brother pointed out that the beach was covered with star-fish. What difference could throwing a few back into the water make in the grand scheme of things? The little boy smiled as he hurled yet another of the creatures back into the waves. ‘I’m making a difference to that one.’ he retorted cheerfully.

Jesus cares about the ones and twos. And a cup of cold water offered in his name is noticed and brings him joy. So today I’ll remind myself although as one person I can’t change the world, I can reach out my hand and change the world, just a little, for one person. And inasmuch as I do it for the least, the lost and the little people, I do it for Him.

Marion Stroud lives in Bedford, England. She is a wife, mother of five adult children and grandmother to eleven grandchildren. She is an established, popular author and sought-after speaker whose books have been translated into 14 languages. In her spare time she enjoys walking, supporting and encouraging missionaries and traveling.

Mission work can open your eyes. A charitable mission does not necessarily have to be a religious trip, although many mission trips are sponsored by churches and other places of worship. Mission trips involve traveling to another location in order to do some sort of charitable work, whether it’s rebuilding a school damaged in a storm or constructing a children’s hospital. The location might just be a couple of cities over or another country entirely, but the main point is to help a community that can’t help itself.

Many mission trips involve heading overseas to help rural communities build things needed for basic necessities, such as running water and other things. The reason why so many churches are involved in mission trips is because one of the best ways to spread the word that a certain group of people are kind is to go help a community without asking for anything in return. For example, if a church heads to a rural community and fixes up the school and repaints the city hall, it will get the residents wondering why the group came to their area and did what they did.

This may eventually lead the residents to come to the conclusion that the churchgoers are good people who do good things, and maybe even lead the residents to seek out opportunities to go to church too. Of course, not every missionary has this intricate a goal in mindthere are plenty of people involved in mission work who just want to go do good things for people without really caring if the people they help will eventually seek out a certain faith or not. There is something truly powerful about going to a completely different location and actually seeing the people you are helping. It’s certainly a lot different than writing a check and never seeing your good works in action. If you ever get the opportunity to do some mission work you should know that it’s exhausting and sometimes heart-breaking, but it will completely change your perspective on volunteer work. If you have never actually seen a community in need, then going and helping one will show you just how desperate some people may be and how much you can do to help. Even if you only help to paint a couple of walls you’re still doing some good.

Here are a few websites of the organizations that focuses on sponsoring a child: Compassion International www.compassion.com World Vision www.worldvision.org Food for the Hungry www.fh.org Gospel for Asia www.gfa.org Child Africa www.childafrica.org

These programs allow you to actually pick a child from a database based on age, gender, or location. You receive a photograph of the child and even exchange letters periodically with him or her. You get to watch the child grow and mature through the pictures you receive, and the letters you get in the mail will let you know all about the good things your donations are doing. These programs work because they benefit children who are in the poorest countries and although twenty or thirty dollars a month isn’t much by the standards of highly developed countries, a sum like that can be a veritable fortune in a poorer country.

Perhaps you feel as though the money you give away to charitable organizations might not go to the intended purposes or maybe you can’t afford to volunteer your time to charities. It’s good to be somewhat skeptical when it comes to sending your money somewhere, nothing’s really nothing wrong with that.

This is merely a brief listing of all the organizations that operate to allow people in highly developed nations to sponsor a child in need. If you are looking for a way to give some money, but to also witness the results, then this may be a good match for you. Charities are in need throughout the entire year. Even though the holidays sometimes prompt people to give more generously, you should strive to give monetary donations and some of your own time as much as you can through the whole year.

Doing mission work is truly an eye opening experience. It is common for churches or religious groups to sponsor missionary trips however, it is not always the case since most of the charitable missions are started by different institutions too. Most of the time we see missionary trips involve traveling to different locations with different programs planned out such as rebuilding schools or constructing children hospitals. Since the idea behind mission work is to help those who cannot help themselves, we see charities take action in both local and international scale.

However, we cannot remove the fact that most people have vested interest whenever they do volunteer work. We must remember that volunteering has to be done without conditions because self-interest hinders others to grow. Self-interest defeats the purpose of helping others. We must be skeptical on choosing the right organization. We must always maximize our time and resources on matters worth our efforts.

One way to maximize our scarce time and resources, we must constantly monitor the progress the charity we are involved with. If we believe that the future will be better then we need to invest time & resources to our youth. Sponsor a child who came from a poor community so that you can help shape the future of the child and his community. We must therefore look into volunteering to charitable institutions that support children of great potential who aspire to become successful adults one day.

Here are a few websites of the organizations that focuses on sponsoring a child: Compassion International www.compassion.com World Vision www.worldvision.org Food for the Hungry www.fh.org Gospel for Asia www.gfa.org Child Africa www.childafrica.org

There are certain programs that allow you to actually choose your beneficiary based on their legal age, gender, or location. Helping is rewarding for both us and the beneficiary. Here are a few websites of organizations that allow you to sponsor a child: Compassion International www.compassion.com World Vision www.worldvision.org Food for the Hungry www.fh.org Gospel for Asia www.gfa.org Child Africa www.childafrica.org

Perhaps you feel as though the money you give away to charitable organizations might not go to the intended purposes or maybe you can’t afford to volunteer your time to charities. It’s good to be somewhat skeptical when it comes to sending your money somewhere, nothing’s really nothing wrong with that.

Although most charities do what they say they’ll do, if you really want to see the actual progress made by the money you give then you may want to consider sponsoring an international child.

Leigh Steinberg believes that, in one way or another, we want to give back something in return. However, most of us just don’t know who to approach, and where and when to start. An old saying goes: “We are like birds with wings who wish to fly, but not everyone has enough pressure to really be able to fly.” Leigh Steinberg would like to be the pressure, not just for his athletes, but for everyone else who shares same advocacy and passion. His agency, Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment, has been supporting charitable causes a way of giving back something to the community.

One of the reasons he is known as a top sport agent is not just because of his ability to negotiate contracts for major athletes, but because he pioneered the action of giving back. For example, before signing any athlete into his agency, he ensured that the athlete was willing to donate a portion of their earnings to their school, their community or some related cause that was important to them.

Now, many people want to give to charity, but they just don’t know where to start. One easy way to get involved in charitable causes is to hook up with like-minded individuals people who share your ideas and morals and are passionate perhaps about the same things. This is how Leigh Steinberg, as a top sports agent known for giving back, was able to make a difference. He created an environment where everybody had a requirement to support charitable causes with their earnings.

Whether you are a celebrity or not, you can be part of Leigh’s advocacy too. He has embarked himself into supporting sport-related causes. Surely, you can to, or better you probably have friends who want to help improve the school in your community.

Another way to share in a common cause perhaps could be related to kids. Your friends might all have children and believe in keeping children safe. There are many charitable causes around child awareness and child safety. These types of causes, in fact, have a very large support base both in the community and in the school system, so finding like-minded people should be easy to do.

Another form of group supported charity that you can commit to support to is a service-based charitable cause. Such as, cleaning up neighborhoods, helping organize parking system, or patrolling streets for community safety. Joining a charitable act for the church is a great option too, it can be an amazing environment too for people of similar minds and have interest in such worthy cause.

One type of service that church groups often participate in is asking for used clothing / coats for homeless people. This is a very worthwhile cause because so many homeless people live in deplorable living situations and must live in the streets. This could be tremendously magnified by cold, stormy weather environments.

The only person who has created a benchmark in the sports industry for athletes is no other than the top sports agent, Leigh Steinberg. He successfully had his athletes to follow his lead and share what they are getting. In case you didn’t know yet, he and his athletes have already contributed already almost $300 million for charity.

It was a beautiful place. The warm waters of the Indian Ocean lapped the silver sand and well-padded sun-beds invited us to stretch out under the shade of the tamarisk trees. Smiling waiters constantly came by with iced drinks, and no request was too much trouble. ‘It is my job to make your holiday happy’ said the pool attendant as I thanked him for bringing me a towel. It was a little piece of paradise, exclusive and gift-wrapped, protected by security men and high fences.

Early one morning we left the beach and the dining tables with their crisp white cloths, which clustered around the swimming pool, and went out into the African village beyond the gates. Here we found a very different world. Chickens scratched at the side of the road, and a little girl walked to school from her one-roomed home with its corrugated iron roof, picking her way carefully down a deeply rutted unmade-up road. Local people squeezed 15 deep into small vans or ‘matatus’, if they were lucky enough to have a job to travel to, while many others simply sat under the trees, hoping that someone would come along and offer them a days’ casual labour. It was a million miles from the comparative luxury that lay just beyond the hotel gates.

As we returned for our breakfast from the ‘all that you could eat buffet’ I felt as if I was slipping back into a gold fish tank, insulated and sheltered from the real world. ‘Hakuna Matata’ - no worries - for the guests at Turtle Bay, even though poverty, disease and need of every kind waited beyond its gates. ‘Father’ I whispered ‘is this how we are as Christians?’ Staying within our protected environment, hugging your lavish provision to ourselves? Caring little for those who are in such need, and failing to tell the spiritually starving where to find bread?’

Of course it isn’t just in the two-thirds world that we find poverty, sickness and spiritual need. In the pleasant market town where I live in Britain, approximately 40 men and a few women sleep rough at night, whatever the weather. Week after week, in the court where I serve as a magistrate, people of every age stand in the dock, accused of shoplifting or other petty crime, because they have a drug habit that demands constant feeding. Old people spend days without a single visitor and failed asylum seekers, live behind barbed wire fences, waiting to be deported to an uncertain future.

All this need just tears my heart out. But the sheer size of the problem threatens to overwhelm me. Like Andrew, when faced with 5,000 hungry men and the scanty supply of 5 loaves and two fishes with which to feed them I’m tempted to shrug helplessly and say ‘Jesus, what is the little that I can offer, among so many? Where do I start Lord? I’m afraid of getting out of my depth. And on the bad days, I want to withdraw into the sanitised safety of my Christian world, and let others get their hands dirty.

Then I remember the story about the little boy who was throwing stranded star-fish back into the sea. His big brother pointed out that the beach was covered with star-fish. What difference could throwing a few back into the water make in the grand scheme of things? The little boy smiled as he hurled yet another of the creatures back into the waves. ‘I’m making a difference to that one.’ he retorted cheerfully.

Jesus cares about the ones and twos. And a cup of cold water offered in his name is noticed and brings him joy. So today I’ll remind myself although as one person I can’t change the world, I can reach out my hand and change the world, just a little, for one person. And inasmuch as I do it for the least, the lost and the little people, I do it for Him.

Marion Stroud lives in Bedford, England. She is a wife, mother of five adult children and grandmother to eleven grandchildren. She is an established, popular author and sought-after speaker whose books have been translated into 14 languages. In her spare time she enjoys walking, supporting and encouraging missionaries and traveling.

If you’re thinking about a charity car donation I’m going to outline some of the facts you should know. You can receive a nice IRS tax deduction for your old car or used car and help someone in need in the process.

Make sure to ask if the charity handles the car donations - have their own charity car donation program or pays an outside company to do it. If the for-profit company handles the car or vehicle donations, find out just how much money the charity receives from the sale and how much will go to the for-profit company.

Some of the car donation charities you might see are: Target, Purple Heart, Kidney Foundation, Salvation Army, Goodwill Industries and various cancer organizations.In any case you will greatly benefit for your charity car donation both in claiming a nice car donation tax deduction or benefit and in helping charities continue to operate so they can help people in need.

Look around the yard, do you have an old car you want to or should get rid of? Is the car just taking up precious space and slowly deteriorating from lack of maintenance and proper care because you don’t need it? Then for you a charitable car donation may be worth more than using the car as a trade-in or in any other way. If you decide to donate a car and the car donation is accepted, the charity arranges for and takes care of any towing expenses and provides you with the necessary documents for your tax return.

Donating a car eliminates the expense of any advertising, the loss of privacy and possible security risk from potential buyers. No need to pay for annual vehicle registration and/or emissions testing or insurance, and no need for any repairs to keep your car in running condition while you wait for a buyer. It’s easy, just fill out the forms the charity gives you and have them ready for the driver when he comes to pick up the car. A large chunk of your car donation money when it’s received by the charity after they sell the vehicle, should not taken out for administrative fees or investments. Make sure to find out how much of your donation money goes for these fees.

Sometimes charities will use the car donations themselves in their daily charitable activities - sometimes to transport people. Perhaps they may use it to transport people in need to doctor’s appointments, social worker appointments, hospital tests, etc. More often though the vehicles will be sold at auction or off their car lots to raise money for the charity’s programs or their general fund. Yes it is not common knowledge that many charities have their own car lots. Many Goodwill Industry stores have their own.

Many people do choose to donate their used and unwanted cars in order to help others. If you buy a new car or own a car that isn’t running, you can consider donating the car, truck, or other vehicle. You can also donate boats, RVs, ATVs, airplanes and other vehicles or even real estate depending on what your charity accepts. Your donation is tax deductible which helps you and the organization that you donated the vehicle to.

Charities don’t need to send you a form for cars that eventually sell for less than $500, but you’ll still be able to deduct up to $500 on your tax return.If it’s necessary to go through a car donation program middleman, which you can find online, find out what percentage of your donation will go to charity and shop around for the best deal. There are a quite a few of them online.

As for your benefits, you as the donor of the car benefits from the donation by receiving a tax receipt for the highest possible value of the vehicle. Make sure you have easy access to the title of the vehicle. If you have an unused vehicle just sitting around, you never know when a storm might cause damage to your vehicle or if it might get vandalized or if it’s on the street get involved in an accident.

When you give your car to charity you are given a charitable gift IRS Tax Receipt. The vehicle donations when made to a reputable and bona fide charitable organization are tax-deductible. The IRS allows the donor-taxpayer to claim a tax deduction on the estimated value of the vehicle up to $500. The donor of the car or vehicle must have title, so make sure you have it handy when you start the process.

Charity ratings are highly unpredictable with highly appraised top ranking charities being overtaken by new charities that suddenly make their appearance in the horizon. Charity Water is a rather new but typical example of this. Innovativeness and the all-powerful Internet are causing charity ratings of brand new charities to skyrocket. A charity that could be relatively unknown today might get rated as the best the next day by the New York Times. And then the rating of that charity might shoot up from nowhere to the top of the chart within the matter of a single day.

As the public can be easily influenced by the charity ratings that the agents of mass media give, it is very easy for a completely new charity to grow very fast and be able to attract a wave of charitable donations to their side. For the same reason, when they become less popular with the media, their charity ratings also go down.

Charity rating directory listings

With steadily rising distrust and morality guardians of charity being ever suspicious of charity problems like transgression, having pretty large amounts of money spent on the running of charities or mishandling of funds, listings of charity ratings are booming. It is real quaint that humanitarian institutions that are meant for giving others are under the watchful eye of charity watchdogs. The whole idea of benevolence is getting a bit problematical!

Institutions like Givespot.com, Guidestar.org etc. provide comprehensive listings of charity ratings. GiveSpot 100 list is the list of the 100 highest ranking charities that is provided by Givespot.com. Another one that provides similar data is charitynavigator.com which has a list of the top ten charities as well a charity check system. Finding out charities is made easy by this. The biggest charity director of US is Guidestar.org with lots of free data on charity as well as information that can be availed for payment. Though its name gives a different impression, Better Business Bureau is a charity directory that gives a list of both commercial and non-profit ventures of USA.

With enough charity rating guides, there is no data shortage for anyone who wants to get information on the 100 top charities, but what constitutes real rating is something different. What in reality makes a charity superior has nothing much to do with its ratings. There are characteristics that make an organization, whether charity based or otherwise, stand out from the rest.

Charity Ratings and trust in the public

A 2005 YouGov poll published that the majority of the British population - 56% - had only a ‘fair amount’ of trust in the global charities like Save the Children and Oxfam . Only 15% of the charities surveyed had ‘a great deal’ of trust - even in the ones that do well in charity ratings.

Charity Critics’ Warnings are profuse

Trust in charities has dropped a lot in recent times. Yet who can blame the public. Charity watchdogs tell unsettling stories of very highmanagement salaries, charities taking as much as 60% of donations for overheads with their being little left for the actually charitable giving.

Recent analyses reveal that just the cost of raising funds could amount to about 18% in UK and 20% in Australia. The studies of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in USA put the amount to be about 30%. Administrative expenses are in addition to this and could be higher. Many charity givers find that this is the main problem, more so when charity giving grabs media attention as was the case in Singapore a couple of years ago. Such unwelcome focus becomes conducive to a decrease in charity giving which is quite unpleasant.

Charity ratings secret revealed

There is not much difference in the way in which charity organizations and commercial organizations try to get money. How they eventually use that money may be different, but their modus operandi for attracting that money is essentially the same.

To increase the charity rating as well as attract better flow of funds the secret can be found in a single word - attraction.

When we see a thing and might prefer to buy it, or would consider putting money in it, or creating a bond with it, we are likely to make the decision based on how enticing the whole idea is. If it is a very attractive proposition, we might instantly choose to opt for it while if it is not very enticing, we may not do it immediately.

Charity Water made it to the top of the chart in charity rating and got media support because of its unique and attractive image. The way they sold a bottle of charity water for the best price and projected the idea of using the profit for making clean water accessible to those who required it was very enticing.

The elements making up the attractiveness for Charity Water and boosting it’s ratings are quite obvious.

* They have the perfect name - Charity Water that makes people easily respond to the obvious passion of the founder to the idea, and his eagerness to share it with others.

* Their idea of the vocation and their message is lucid, plain and remarkable - sell water and give water - Buy One Give One

* Their focus was on how to solve the problem and not the problem itself. It is important for charities to properly define their focus if they want people to rate them highly. No one has interest in getting their attention turned to the unpleasant things in life. People want a positive focus. So when they are told that they can make a positive change in the lives of others by buying a bottle of water they feel happy.

How to instantly reduce one’s Charity Ratings

The quickest and easiest way to lose attraction or attractiveness and thus your ratings is by focusing on the problem. No one wants to listen to anyone complaining how bad things are. Yet everyone will listen to someone who has high energy, enthusiasm, drive and determination to create something better.

All we have to do is see ourselves with our own kids and understand how we easily answer in the affirmative when they request for things in an eager and happy and excited way. But when they prefer to make their demands in a peevish or weepy way, we may tend to refuse.

The ratings of a charity depend substantially on the image it projects in front of the public. With a motivating and inspiring image people will be swayed to its ideas. They will then be ready to contribute well to the cause of the charity.

Social Enterprise raises Charity Ratings and reduces Fundraising Problems

Social Enterprise is a new business pattern that evolved a few years ago. This combines trading with a social purpose. This pattern is a result of the interest of some businessmen who have social objectives but does not find the type of functioning of charitable enterprises satisfactory enough.

The medium of a conventional business enterprise may not be suitable for many businessmen whose ideas of ethics and integrity would be contrary to the way decisions are made in a commercial world. Such people use a social enterprise to use their acumen and ability to create a profit and effect great changes in the social arena. A typical example of such a social entrepreneur is Muhammad Yunus who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his rich contributions to improving social conditions.

Buy1GIVE1 commonly known as B1G1 (Buy 1 Give 1), is a global organisation that is a recent entrant into the world of charitable giving. It is a perfect blend of business and valuable causes functioning at the global level. Buy1GIVE1 has so minimised its expenses of fundraising and management that it is able to give for charity all the funds collected. The institution is similar in its attributes to the online organization Kiva.org, which has been promoted by Bill Clinton; unlike conventional charities, Buy1GIVE1 involves direct giving to charities. Many people are convinced that it is a better way for contributing things and receiving richly in return.

Successful businessmen, who are searching for a chance to give back richly to the society and to provide for deserving charities, fully understand the importance and properly structured working credos of institutions like Buy1GIVE1. Every single sale is able to affect a change somewhere - not only altruistically. It has also the ability to forcefully influence things in such a way that each act becomes a unique marketing story. There is a world of difference in the way in which Buy1Give1 works and those charities which give away thousands and thousands of dollars work, because Buy1Give1 lets their customers know what the joy o f giving is. Buy1Give1 transaction-based giving is a perfectly beautiful way of giving.

All ventures like Buy1GIVE1 particularize charities and these are mostly charities where help is considered to be fully necessary, with enough potential to attract contributions. Businessmen obviously understand how poignant situations attract customer interest and as such they tend to support such causes rather than give importance to the organisation’s rating. They are only too conscious of the customers’ proclivity to bond better with a stronger story than worry about charity rating.

The Australian company Maple Muesli collaborates with an Indian charity called Midday Meals in the city of Mumbai. Whenever someone buys a bag of muesli, the contribution from it feeds a needy child there. A meal for a child costs only the equivalent of 30 US cents and the charity in this way feeds 125,000 kids in Mumbai every day. This makes the children desist from begging, keeps them away from streets, and makes them remain in school.

Maple Muesli has helped to put Midday Meals on the map as a worthy and well-rated cause in Australia. Maple Muesli share their giving story with all their customers increasing the natural rating of this amazing organisation in Mumbai without Midday Meals doing anything other than feed children. Effective Giving - The Era for Plain Charity Donations is ending

We will surely see a change in the landscape of the top 100 charities over the coming years as new and innovative and far more effective ways of giving are created. These days we are spoilt for choice on how we can make our charitable giving. Not all of them are efficient ways to make a difference.

Other choices in Charity Ratings

Some of the new and different ways to give are highlighted and rated in the table below. Charity Comparison Points

Some better known and not so well-known charities as well as Social Enterprises are evaluated and rated below so as to be of help to those who contribute to these.

THE SALVATION ARMY

PATH TO GIVING : DIRECT GIVING

The Salvation Army comes among the top 100 charities globally - contributions are made directly by both businesses as well as individuals.

CANDOUR - B - Insufficient candour - Lots of money is donated - but result is not completely quantifiable.

BENEFIT FOR THE BUSINESS - C - Contribution to Salvation Army gets mention in the press even if it is a one time contribution.

COSTS OF FUNDRAISING - B - Huge amounts are spent every year for raising funds.

DONOR’S CHOICE OF CHARITY - B - There are many charities and the contributors can decide to which one they would like to give directly.

PROMISE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE -C- No potential noticed for bringing about a market change.

PRODUCT (RED)

PATH TO GIVING : MARKETING CAMPAIGN

Product (RED) is a brand licensed to collaborate with companies, and collect money for their Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Africa

TRANSPARENCY - B - Lack of transparency - sum of money is contributed for every purchase - but result is not fully measurable.

BENEFIT FOR THE BUSINESS - A - Popular among business ventures as well as people as it is supported by charismatic personnel like Bono and Oprah Winfrey. Marketing results are however not fully traceable.

EXPENSES FOR RAISING FUNDS - C - Spends huge sums of money on advertisements - giving that money directly to Africa would have been more practical.

DONOR’S CHOICE OF CHARITY - C - Limited choice for collaborators on deciding to which charity they should donate - all their charity work is in Africa.

PROMISE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE - B - All partners of Products (RED) are huge ventures and the entire profit is spent on helping people of Africa.

THE BODY SHOP

PATH TO GIVING : BUSINESS TRADE & GIVING

The Body Shop engages in community trade helping Third World countries; and makes huge donations to charities from their profits.

TRANSPARENCY - B - Lack of transparency - sum of money is contributed for every purchase - but result is not fully measurable.

ADVANTAGE TO BUSINESS - A-tve - Clients are by and large happy to become part of the community trade and are encouraged to buy more - the enterprise could afford to be more visible.

EXPENSES FOR RAISING FUNDS - A - Costs are kept low - Business design is good enough to attract large contributions and further community trade.

DONOR’S CHOICE OF CHARITY - A - Enterprises are at liberty to choose where their contributions should go.

PROMISE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE - B - The potential for giving back to the community is substantial - but not everyone have the impetus and the extra energy to impel the change.

LIVE EARTH

PATH TO GIVING : EVENT FUNDRAISING

Live Earth consisted of a string of global musical programmes which set in motion a three-year campaign to battle climate change and was held on July 7, 2007.

CANDOUR - F - As per the reports of the site Intelligent Giving, satisfactory accounts were not produced on the proceeds from the sales of tickets.

ADVANTAGE TO BUSINESS - B - The sponsors of the business benefitted by the good press coverage, though by being a single occurrence results were not properly assessable.

COSTS OF FUNDRAISING - C - Huge amounts were spent on advertising and according to some the whole event was a damp squib without any actual goals.

DONORS’ CHOICE POTENTIALS - C - Funds were made available only to three charities.

PROMISE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE - C - Such events can be held just once or at the most once a year. The amount collected generally goes to better known charities.

Buy1GIVE1 (B1G1 )

ROUTE TO GIVING: SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

B1G1 is a brand licensed to form a partnership with any business - connecting them with any worthy cause in any place. A truly universal precept.

CANDOUR - A - By giving for particular causes, makes sure that funds go exactly for that which it is intended. Customers get information on how exactly their money has made a change - i.e. the children whom it helped, or the environmental cause it protected.

MARKETING VALUE TO BUSINESS - A+tve - Great marketing value because of:

* Calculable giving * Media interest * Effective stories * Person to person * Returning customers

COSTS OF FUNDRAISING - A+tve - Absolutely no cost - B1G1 can oversee a charity’s needs for raising funds and also manage much of the administration as well. So the funds go entirely to the charity.

CONTRIBUTORS’CHOICE OF CHARITY - A - Business givers can choose their charity project or elect to give to a charity cause such as food or education, etc.

ABILITY FOR AFFECTING A CHANGE - A - Infinite. If increasing number of businesses can team up with charities worldwide, the possibility for real change is boundless.

You Might Think Giving away Money Would Be simple!”

Giving away money appears simple on the face of it - it just involves pulling out notes or writing a cheque or punching in a credit card. But reality is a bit different. George Sores, who has donated billions to charity, insists that effective giving is a very complicated business. Underdeveloped nations receive a lot of money in aid year after year but the changes effected do not seem to be proportionate.

Asking the right questions is necessary for bringing about the required changes. Social entrepreneur Mohammed Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, has done pioneering work in the field of Microfinance and is revolutionizing the ways in which indigence and environmental problems can be tackled. People like him are showing the way as to how consumerism and social enterprise can change the face of the world. Another such example is the ‘Trade - Not Aid’ of The Body Shop. The ideals of Buy1GIVE1 are equally potent and are a model for charities. Social enterprise needs total recognition.

Bill Gates, when asked how one can make a difference in the world, pointed to the Internet. Kiva.org and Buy1GIVE1 (www.b1g1.com) are organisations that add value to the giver. With Kiva.org, people can receive email journal updates from the business they have sponsored. This happens with Buy1GIVE1 as well. Businesses also get the added benefit of marketing stories to tell their customers: buy a laptop with us, and we give one computer to someone who cannot afford it.

Next steps to increasing your Charity Ratings

Make sure that you have an open attitude, use the laptop effectively, and keep apart a little time to observe the novel and wonderful systems of charity that are being born. These function through the internet and are mostly network based.

As of now if one is not connected with good international networks via the internet, the chances of losing out are substantial even with good charity rating, tomorrow things are bound to change - totally.

Lots of companies nowadays make their appearance out of nowhere and are sold a few years later for billions of dollars. This was a scenario that would have been considered impossible a decade ago. But today this is a normal phenomenon. What every one of these internet companies primarily do is to tap into global networks or even perhaps create one themselves.

Buy1GIVE1 (Buy One Give One)

Buy1GIVE1 is a rather new entrant to the world of Social Enterprises and was launched in 1997 by a Japanese lady called Masami Sato. Any business can avail a membership in Buy1GIVE1, and membership charges for smaller ventures will only be one dollar a day and donations can be as little as one cent on a sale. Buy1GIVE1 is in the forefront of the Buy One Give One transaction-based giving world movement. Joining hands with Buy1GIVE1 is totally uncomplicated for businesses as well as charity needs. The working pattern of Buy1GIVE1 is perfectly controlled and practical. It connects the products or services of any given business to a needy cause (Buy1GIVE1’s or their own) and after that whenever a sale is closed, it has to be recorded and the contribution percentage sent to the charity at the end of the month or end of quarter year directly or through Buy1GIVE1.

If you are not forging an alliance with Buy1GIVE1 and encouraging your business sponsors to become Buy1GIVE1 members you will be missing our more and more as this amazing enterprise makes a huge impact in the world of giving.

A new epoch in charity giving

Institutions that no one had heard about even a few months ago, are today bombarding the cyber world with booming user acceptance. People strongly prefer have a place on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, NING or TipJoy. One should also create strong bonds with companies like Buy1GIVE1, Kiva or The Present. These are the realities of the future which are imperative for sustaining and building charity ratings. Now is the chance to fashion an ideal new future.