Pass it forward

Image by Twenty Questions

Can social networks and virtual communities revolutionize charitable giving?

This is the question that Georgia Levenson asks in a post on Slate entitled “The Facebook Philantropos” (link). Although many people expect that philantropy will be democratised by viral marketing tools like Facebook’s ‘Causes’ application, or MySpace’s Impact add-on, the cold reality is that philantropy is yet another area of modern life where the 80/20 Pareto rule still is alive and kicking: 80% of the contributions to social causes come from 20% of contributors.

Should this discourage us from active participation? After all, a primary motivation for those donating money or time to worthwhile causes is to ‘make a difference’. When you put your contribution into context, it begs the question of ‘is it wortwhile’?

Because only you can answer that question, I’d like to share my perspective on the question. Every time I decide to conduct a Randm Act of Kindness, to donate money to a wortwhile charity, or to give some of my time to making a difference, I remind myself of the following: Only I can give my time, my money, my kindness. And when I do, I make a difference – no matter how small it may be – to someone’s life. To the millions of people that get helped by the millionaire’s contributions, my assistance meant nothing at all. But for the one person that my action helped, it meant the world. And that is why I choose to continue giving to others.

Should you focus on doing Random Acts of Kindness, or on systematically being good to others?

According to Stanford University’s professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, you should do both. Her research proves that our ability to ‘Be Happy’ is determined 50% by your ’set point’ for happiness (ie. genetic influence), 10% is determined by the circumstances in your life, and the remaining  40% is determined by your own attitudes, values & behaviours link.

In that article, she suggests a number of personal strategies to increase your levels of happiness, and amongst them is the following gem:

 - Practicing Acts of Kindness
These should be both random (let the dad with the crying baby go ahead of you at the check-out counter) and systematic (read a newspaper to an elderly neighbor). Being kind to others, whether friends or strangers, triggers a cascade of positive effects : it makes you feel compassionate and capable, gives you a greater sense of connection with others and earns you smiles, approval and reciprocated kindness. These are all happiness boosters.

So go crazy and start doing RAKs or SAKs every day – not only will you make someone else’s day, you will also be making yourself happier!

To learn more about Sonja’s work, head over to  http://chass.ucr.edu/faculty_book/lyubomirsky/

Who would have thought you could get paid good money for spending one year doing charity work?

Today I found out about Vodafone’s “World of Difference“. Here is another corporate citizen trying to do their bit for leaving the world a better place.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I wish I had incorporated “Pass It Forward” as a registered non-for-profit organisation, so I could offer all of you the challenge of nominating yourself to work on promoting the PIF movement for a whole year – and get paid for it!

Maybe I will look into it for next year’s (2009) entries and get some excitement happening around here.

What do you think? If we were a registered charity, would you nominate yourself to work with us for a whole year? If yes, why yes? If not, why not?

Amazing!!!

Today I came across an article that describes how a US-based bank started giving 5% of its profits to employees, and asking them to pass the money forward to someone who needs it. You can read the full article here.

One thing that many Australians don’t realise is just how socially responsible one of their banks, Westpac, really is. One of their HR policies allows employees to take one day off every year to donate to charitable organisation. As bank with over 30,000 employees, this effectively translates into about 82 years of labour for non-for-profit organisations – EVERY YEAR!! It is absolutely staggering. Obviously, not everyone is disciplined enough to make the most of the policy and use one day every year for someone who needs it; but even if only 10% of its’ workforce uses the entitlement (8 years of labour every year? Not bad!), it is still a significant amount of time that non-for-profit organisations would not have received from volunteer.

One product I have really loved from this same bank that makes it far easier to give money to those in need is the Westpac Gift card. You go to a branch; decide how much money will the gift card have; add $5 to cover the cost of the card, and you get back a DEBIT MASTERCARD. Yup, that is right. It is effectively the same as a “pre-paid” credit card with a limit you chose. You can then give this card to whomever you choose: a single mum you know is going through some trouble; a homeless person; or your neighbour whose car got smashed by a tree in the latest storm.

I wish more banks thought of – and acted on – ideas to make the world a better place…