Guidelines On The Value Of Giving
A new experiment is completely changing lives in the rural areas of India by bringing luminosity where there used to be darkness.
The New York Times published an article titled, “Husk Power for India”. Electricity, which is prevalent in the lives of many in developed nations, is a pure luxury in remote areas of developing ones. What was once fed to animals now is used to generate electricity – rice husks.
Growing up in rural Bihar State, Manoj Sinha knew what it was like to sit in the dark. Being an engineer with Intel Corporation he had all the skills to make a lifelong idea come alive. He led the development of his electricity equipment that generates power from rice husks and other farming waste and now he sells it to villages across India.
Sinha is what could be called a social entrepreneur because he feels business is a solution to key social issues. “Business leaders must realise that the world’s poor need investments more than handouts,” he says, adding, “these are customers, not victims.”
The article stimulated me to think about gifting in a different way prompting me to ask myself, “what is the most ideal form of giving?” Is it learning, business transaction or aid work? There are so many methods to make a difference. One way of gifting can appear to be more effectual or maintainable than other ways based on the way it is conveyed, seen or applied.
I then came to define there were eight parts to giving as a way to look at this. So, let me map out the eight distinctions; which in effect are often ‘stages’ of giving as well.
Stage one: Urgency – rescuing and supporting others who are struck by natural disaster, epidemic diseases or other uncontrollable circumstances.
Phase two: Respite – providing respite from enduring need, poverty, ill-health, disadvantages or prejudice which otherwise would continue or deteriorate because of the lack of awareness, training or resources.
Charity Ratings Are Unpredictable – How To Increase Rating
Charity ratings are a fickle thing with highly rated charities holding the number 1 position today being overtaken by new charities coming from nowhere. Charity Water is a recent and amazing example of this. Originality and the power of the Internet, are driving the ratings of brand new charities through the roof. A charity may not know today with a non-existent rating, but tomorrow it can be rated as number one by the New York Times as being the most amazing charity ever, and wham their rating goes from zero right to the top overnight.
Because of the power the mass communication media have over the people, when a charity is in the good books of the media, it expands very quickly and manages to get a lot of charitable giving. By that same yardstick, when media do not have much interest in propping up a given charity, its rating also plummets in the same proportion.
Charity rating directory listings
With cynicism a bit on the higher side and eagle eyed guardians of charity practices ever on the lookout for malpractices, with huge amounts of money spent on managing or misuse of funds, directory listings of charity ratings are having a field day. It is rather strange that altruistic organizations, the purpose of which is to give others, themselves come under the scrutiny of guardians of ethics. Altruism is becoming a knotty issue!
Organisations like Givespot.com and Guidestar.org list detailed charity ratings. Givespot.com has a detailed list called the GiveSpot 100 list, which shows its top 100 rated charities. Other organisations like charitynavigator.org have charity check systems as well as a charity Top Ten list so that look up a charity is easy. Guidestar.org is probably the biggest US charity directory offering an amazing array of charity information some free some at a cost. The Better Business Bureau in the USA, despite its name is also charity directory that lists both business and non-profit organisations.
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.
About B1G1 – A New Global Giving Service
Buy1GIVE1 is the home of transaction-based giving.
STOP. Take a breath. And imagine you were part of a world where every transaction made a difference.
Imagine, for example, you bought a TV, and automatically a cataract-blind child got the gift of sight. Automatically. Or imagine if today you bought a cup of coffee and someone in Africa got access to clean, pure water as a direct result. Again automatically.
It’s all happening right now. Already Buy1GIVE1 (B1G1) has become a true global giving ‘village’, bringing together businesses, their customers and worthy causes in a way that’s never been done before.
It’s happening globally, every second, every day and in every way with a staggering 556 projects already underway and making a difference.
That’s because in the Buy1GIVE1 world, every single transaction, be it buying a beer in Jamaica or renting a car in Reno (and everything in between) gives forward in a well-defined, resonant and measurable way.
Nowadays, when both corporations and charities have seen a decline in gains and contributions, cause-related marketing seems to really be catching on. Cause-related marketing is a business scheme involving a partnership between a company with a merchandise to trade and a charity with a cause to advance. As opposed to “corporate philanthropy,” which simply includes a company making a tax-deductible charitable donation, cause-related marketing benefits both the company (by helping to increase sales, and therefore, profits), and the charity (by giving donations and calling attention to the cause.)
You buy a book, a tree gets planted. You dine out, a child gets fed. Buy One Give One – simple. The list goes on forever and the giving simply happens automatically, every second, every day and in every way.
And it is beautifully simple. Buy1GIVE1 is now becoming a global movement as more and more businesses jump on board and enjoy the incredible benefits of transaction-based giving.
In Buy1GIVE1, they make it a point that in many, many cases, the consumer is not just involved in CSR initiatives on a daily basis. Buy1-Give1 gives answers to that and it does it every second, every day and in every way.
Discover more about how Buy1GIVE1 (BOGO) can transform your business using Cause Marketing. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
Your Body Craves For Whole Food, Your Soul Longs For A Whole Life
As the age old adage says, health is wealth. Here we are speaking about soul’s wealth. Nutritious food is good for one’s health because body can absorb its essence – it is ditto with our life. When we espouse life in its entirety, enjoying all the impressions and sensations in it, our soul will be able to take in its ‘quintessence’, coming to terms with the core of our existence, and helping us to live our lives to the highest. Masami Sato shares the mystery of living a complete life in this excerpt from her latest book, ONE.
Why is it many of us (in fact, most of us) occasionally experience some kind of empty feeling in our life? It is like being hungry. When we eat, we feel satisfied and become less interested in food. But as some time passes, we get hungry again. Then all of a sudden we feel so attracted to the smell and thought of food. We can also feel some kind of hunger when we are not even physically hungry-just after eating something. Some of us stay being hungry all the time.
Persistent emotional thirst is not the happiest feeling to have. Then how can we live our lives to the brim? How can we be more contented enduringly?
Maybe the answer is simple: just live our lives as a whole. The word ‘whole’ holds the meaning of completion. Then the secret to live a complete life is simply to live it as a whole.
Let us begin by looking at an example of this ‘completion’ with something very close to our mind – our stomach.
Whole Food VS Semi Food
Discover Your ‘Giving Bumblebee’ Type
Bees are all giving by nature. They give naturally to maintain the world of abundance. But each bee actually takes a different standing in maintaining the colony as well as the flower garden. So, I thought human beings are the same. We are all naturally giving and sharing. But we often express our giving in different ways. So, here it is a ‘giving bee’ chart where you can find your bumblebee type. Watch out for the following bee analysis! The more you share your value as a giving bees, the more we can all do together to make a difference.
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Bumblebee type analysis
1. Change-making bumblebee
A giving bee who likes to see change – who spots every opportunity to do something better and worthwhile. A change-making bumblebee often starts up new exciting projects for others to participate in. A flexible thinker who can collaborate well with others while often taking a leadership focus in making change. Many business people and inventors are this type of giving bumblebee. They are not afraid of experiencing change.
2. Believing bumblebee
A giving bumblebee who believes in one core philosophy very strongly and inspire others to follow. Rather than changing all the time and being way too flexible, this giving bee attracts people by being solid like a rock and integral to the unwavering belief and vision. Some of the religious leaders as well as politicians are this type of giving bee. Believing bumblebees makes for a great leader who attracts masses of followers. This bumblebee also can be a great follower who strongly supports an existing belief and excites others to come together.
3. Caring and nurturing bumblebee
A giving bumblebee who may not stand out as a strong leader but often are the biggest heart focused giver. A caring and nurturing bumblebee is egoless in giving and is always first to take the giving action when seeing anyone in trouble. Though this bee seems gentle and subtle, the strong desire to give and care for others drives this giving bee to demonstrate some unbelievable giving acts. Many people who dedicate their lives to giving (volunteering, community service etc) are this type of bumblebee. Giving is more natural to them.
The Secret Of Happiness Is Relationship
Why do we live? What are we here for? Day after day we asked these questions of the purpose and meaning of our lives. And most of us constantly look for the answer. How can we achieve happiness? This is yet another question urging us to look for its answer every day. What if the answer to those questions is simple? What if it is all simply about ONE thing? Connection. The secret of happiness is explained thoroughly in the clear and refreshing voice of Masami Sato in this excerpt of her book, ONE.
What are we searching for?
There are so many things that we carry out in our lives.
However, have we ever wondered why we do what we do? What are we actually looking for?
The world is a confluence of millions of people of all continents, races, religions, and ideologies, doing different things. They look different and also act in different ways. All of us have different interests and each have a different viewpoint. We converse differently using different languages. We have different emotions and desires.
Nevertheless, if there was ONE thing that ALL of us are searching for, what could that be?
As I travelled around the world, I often asked people a simple question, “What would you like to achieve in your life? What do you really want?”
At first, it seemed everyone was looking for different things as they randomly said, “Good job”, “My own house”, “A nice partner”, “A loving family”, “A soul mate”, “More money”, “Wealth”. “Freedom”, “Peace of mind”, “A life purpose” There were many more answers.
I did notice that some of these requirements were of a more earthly nature while others were of a permanent nature. Earthly desires are those that we want because we do not yet have it, or think that we do not yet have it. As against this, permanent desires are not about getting things we do not have. It is about a ‘feeling’ that we yearn for, so that it does not come to an end, whatever we get or accomplish at every moment or our lives.