Posts Tagged ‘charity’

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Millionaire Moves To Ugandan Mud Hut

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Successful British businessman Jon Pedley is leaving behind a life of luxury to move to Uganda and start a charity.

  • A self-made tycoon, Pedley experienced many setbacks in life – a criminal record, struggles with alcoholism, and a serious car crash that left him in a coma for 6 weeks.
  • Inspired by a friend who works in Uganda, Pedley is selling real estate and businesses to fund his new charity, Uganda Vision.
  • Uganda Vision connects troubled British youth to children in Uganda who are struggling with AIDS and poverty.

Facts and Figures

  • The 41 year old is selling his 16th-century farmhouse to move to a mud hut in Uganda.
  • Pedley is also selling Empowered Communications and Eme Tech to raise funds.
  • After fully recovering from his car accident, he gave up alcohol and found religion.

Best Quote

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.” – Jon Pedley

Paul McCartney is involved with PETA?

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Yes, that is right, the former Beatle is a spokesperson for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).  There are many reasons why celebrities would get with a involved a charity, foundation, or organization.

The most important reason is that celebrities can bring attention to a cause that may otherwise be ignored – ordinary people tend to notice when famous people do things, including an advertisement or a commercial for a specific charity. Charities will often ask a high-profile individual to attend a benefit or a function for these purposes.

The celebrity has his or her reasons also. Any PR rep would tell you that having your name attached to a charitable cause is good press and good exposure.  Additionally, a lot of celebrities do not want to seem one-dimensional, and being part of a charity or foundation shows their multi-dimensionality.  Finally, for some it is a personal issue: Sheryl Crow, a survivor of breast cancer, is one of the main proponents for the nonprofit Stand Up To Cancer.

How do you decide whether to give anonymously?

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Ultimately, there is no correct answer to whether or not you should attach your name to your donations – it’s entirely a personal choice. However, there are valid arguments for either option.

People who want their donations to bear their names often want the recognition that comes with giving, but sometimes there’s a deeper motive. By making your donation public knowledge, you’re setting an example for others – saying, in effect, that this is a worthy cause to which your peers can and ought to donate. To some people, giving anonymously can feel like they’re somehow ashamed of their donation or that they don’t want to own up to it. Public donors want to give the exact opposite impression.

People who do decide to give anonymously often believe they are being more genuinely altruistic by doing so. If they give privately, they get no recognition for giving, and some people think this makes their motives more pure. In addition, some people who want to give outside their own foundation or organization choose to donate to other causes anonymously, basically in order to avoid the question, “If your organization is so great, why are you giving to another one, instead of sending all you can spare to your own cause?” (The answer, of course, is that there are always multiple causes worthy of attention, and you can’t necessarily be involved on an administrative level in all of them.) Since you’re already doing good by giving in the first place, choosing whether to be anonymous or not is basically a win-win situation – just pick whatever option, in your opinion, makes a good thing even better.

A Nonprofit is…

Monday, October 5th, 2009

A nonprofit is an organization that exists mainly to address a social or public issue – not to earn profits for its owners or stakeholders. Sometimes, nonprofits are called charitable organizations or charities.

A nonprofit can pay its employees reasonable salaries, but all the money it brings in from grants, fundraising, or other activities is supposed to be used for charitable work. Nonprofits are exempt from paying many taxes that for-profit organizations (businesses) have to pay.

Battered Bonuses, Dropping Donations

Friday, September 25th, 2009

You may find it interesting which type of charities see the most decline during bad economic times. Just like certain industries might be hurting more than others, charities see uneven declines as well – this piece might help you when thinking about different donation strategies.

  • In 2008, charitable donations fell drastically as the effects of the recession were being fully realized.
  • Even with such a decline, total giving was still at at an historic level – higher than every previous year except 2007.
  • Charities are uncertain how the recession will continue to affect donations, but they are pretty sure that giving will keep declining for a while longer.

Facts & Figures

  • In 2008, gifts and pledges decreased 5.7% to $307.65 billion.
  • Charities that provide basic services (food banks and shelters) saw an estimated 15.95% decline in donations for 2008.

Best Quote

“We saw corporations begin rethinking their giving in greatly different ways, and we saw individuals begin to revisit their philanthropic priorities.” – Del Martin, Chairman of the Giving USA Foundation

Should you give down the street or across the ocean?

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

There’s no cut-and-dry answer for this. You should give to a cause you believe in because it makes you feel good and it’s the right thing to do. Giving to a local charity might be especially satisfying because you’ll more easily be able to see the results of your giving firsthand. However, if you can travel abroad and get involved in or at least see close-up the cause to which you choose to give, that could also be a worthwhile, gratifying experience.

The tax breaks you can get for making charitable contributions come with certain limitations. Foreign charities are not eligible for tax deductions, so you won’t save any money on your taxes if you donate to these charities. Many charities that do work in foreign countries are based in the United States and are still eligible.

How much do you have to give to make your contribution count?

Monday, August 10th, 2009

How much you give to charity really isn’t as important as the fact that you give something. However, you might consider that charitable organizations spend a whole bunch of their time and money just asking you for more cash. If you only give a couple dollars a year to an organization, it might get eaten up just by all their continued efforts to get you to give more. So it makes sense to focus on the causes that you really care about, and give more to them. To learn more about which causes matter to you, check out the TILE GIVE section.

Why do some nonprofits have a for-profit arm?

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Frequently (especially in tough economies), nonprofits struggle to meet their costs on grants and donations alone. When these organizations consider their options for a financially sustainable future, they sometimes choose to create a for-profit arm – though the goal of the for-profit business is generally just to finance the nonprofit’s mission and activities when its members can’t do so by other means.

Like any other organization, nonprofits need money to accomplish their goals, or even just to pay employees and keep the lights on, and there isn’t any way around that. So if they can run a business that doesn’t conflict with their mission or ideals, how is that so much different from throwing fundraising parties or soliciting donations? But having a for-profit arm doesn’t turn a nonprofit into a full-scale business. Why? The difference is that, in a regular company, the goal is to make money for the owners of the business. The more money the company makes, the richer its owners (and stockholders) get and, by extension, the more they’re willing to pay their employees. But even if a nonprofit has a for-profit arm, the extra money generated goes toward the nonprofit’s mission, not in its CEO’s wallet.

A Trustee Is…

Monday, July 27th, 2009

A trustee is a person or member of a board chosen to direct the funds and the policies of an institution, often a charity or a foundation.

Why does the United States give more aid to developing countries than anyone else?

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

In absolute numbers, the U.S. gives by far the most money in Official Development Assistance (ODA) – in 2008 it was nearly twice that of the next biggest donor, Germany. Compared to how much money we have, however, the U.S. actually gives the least of any developed country. Does this mean Americans are the least generous people of all the nations of the industrialized world? Hardly. ODA is just foreign aid give by governments under the watch of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). It doesn’t take into account private contributions from individuals, foundations, and other institutions.

American people, foundations, and institutions send more money and aid abroad than private citizens and organizations in any other developed country in the world by far. Why? It might be easier to understand by examining why people in other countries give less. In Europe – where most of our fellow developed countries are located – there are tons of big social programs based on the philosophy that the government should take care of the poor and other issues that Americans generally think should be taken care of by private individuals, religious organizations, and stuff like that. In order to pay for these big social programs, these countries have equally big taxes. Even more so, the U.S. gives tax breaks to people who give to charity – almost paying you to give money away.

Living under the assumption that the government should pay for all social ills, and having less money to give away because of higher taxes isn’t a recipe for huge private donations.

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