Archive for category: Nonprofit Organizations and NGOs

Information and stories about nonprofit organizations and NGOs

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Reconstruction After Typhoon Haiyan

In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines and devastated hospitals, schools and other public services. With an estimated $12 billion in damages, the disaster killed at least 6,300 people, displaced more than 4 million and destroyed 500,000 homes.

Six months later, the nation continues to work toward long-term recovery, but there have been clear immediate achievements. Most children are back in school, roads have been cleared of debris, 15 percent of homes have been repaired, nearly all hospitals have been reopened and over 120,000 households have received assistance to rebuild damages.

Of the 14 million people affected by Typhoon Haiyan, 6 million lost their jobs. The United Nations, various NGO partners and the rest of the international humanitarian community have helped accelerate the progress of reconstruction and recover long-lasting sources of income. In the meantime, a number of short-term initiatives have been implemented as well. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and several of its partners have helped many Filipinos find short-term employment, job training and micro-enterprise support. Immediately after the typhoon, the UNDP also offered cash-for-work opportunities for those who helped with debris and waste removal in affected areas. Additionally, of the 42,000 people who have secured temporary jobs through the UNDP’s early recovery program in the Visayas, 35 percent are women.

However, millions of Filipinos still require urgent assistance. More than 5,000 households live in evacuation centers. Those who depend on agriculture and fishing for their incomes are suffering as well. The UNDP estimates that over 1 million farming families are in danger of losing their livelihoods. Nearly 33 million coconut trees – which are one of the nation’s leading crops – have been damaged or destroyed, and around two-thirds of the fishing community has been affected by the typhoon, primarily due to the loss of fishing boats. To help alleviate the issue of damaged coconut trees in Roxas and Ormoc, the UNDP has provided six mobile sawmills and funds to support emergency employment, allowing many to generate quick sources of income from processing and distributing the lumber of damaged coconut trees.

In order to lessen the impact of future disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, the Filipino government is planning to implement more sustainable reconstruction strategies. Recently, more than 150 delegates came together at the Asia-Europe Meeting Manila Conference to discuss new policies for disaster preparation. Margareta Wahlström, a special representative from the United Nations, has supported President Aquino’s policy to “build back better” with new technologies and innovations. Other points of discussion during the conference included improving policies to rebuild communities, strengthening the state and other stakeholders and managing international coordination while responding to disasters. The delegates at the conference also toured Barangay Pago, a resettlement area that shelters 40 displaced families, and the Bislig Elementary School in Tanauan.

UNDP Administrator Helen Clark has stated that full recovery could take over a decade for the Philippines. The UNDP has urged the international community to make long-term engagements that address “crises that could deepen inequality and poverty.” In addition to rebuilding physical buildings and structures, the Philippines must take measures to strengthen its resilience against future emergencies and natural disasters.

– Kristy Liao

Sources: India Blooms, UNDP, UNOCHA
Photo: U.N.

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Kiva Moves Past Traditional Microfinance

A spinach farmer in Cambodia, a hot dog stand worker in Nicaragua, a fish seller in Uganda, a carpenter in Gaza and a bee keeper in Ghana were microfinance organization Kiva’s initial borrowers in 2005. However, Kiva has grown in scope and microfinance methods by combating global poverty from multiple angles. This week alone, 27,704 lenders made loans through Kiva.

Today, Kiva’s mission to alleviate global poverty through small-scale lending has grown far beyond its original scope. In the eight years since its inception, the nonprofit has sponsored loans totaling over $540 million. These loans fund over 1.2 million borrowers in 73 countries.

In its eighth year, Kiva is a leader in platforms for social improvement and poverty alleviation. The organization aims to empower low-income borrowers around the world to begin their own businesses, invest in home improvement and clean energies and more through small-scale loans of greater than $25.

Lenders are able to browse the profiles of people around the world who are seeking loans, and choose who they would like to support. Lenders then receive updates on the progress of their loan, connecting them to a larger global community dedicated to supporting low-income earners.

This concept of small-scale lending can be defined as microfinance. Microfinance is loans, savings and financial services for the poor or those without access to traditional banking systems, and the idea that these small-scale funds ultimately help to lift low-income borrowers out of poverty.

While effective in many ways, microfinance can also be limited in its reach due to high-risk costs and loans for more impoverished borrowers. In some situations, microfinance may not be the ideal way to assist borrowers, and cannot function as the only tool to fight against global poverty. In order to combat these limitations, Kiva seeks to be a more flexible form of microfinance by moving past economics and deeper into issues of agriculture, education and clean energy.

Currently, only 0.3 percent of microfinance borrowers take out loans for energy solutions. Kiva aims to combat the barriers of high cost and availability faced by low-income earners by taking on more creative, pay-as-you-go lending systems for borrowers. With credit delivered in more flexible ways, users are able to benefit from technologies while making their payments over longer periods of time.

Over the next decade, Kiva hopes to see clean energy products become regularities for its borrowers around the world. The ultimate goal for the nonprofit is the use of sustainable supply chains, improvement of health and well being and falling prices for renewable energy products.

Kiva has also increased awareness of microfinance in educational communities around the world. In August 2013, the organization launched Kiva U, a movement for students and educators dedicated to changing the world through microfinance. The initiative provides toolkits, resources and potential curriculum to promote communities where high school students, college-age students and teachers can connect and share ideas.

In October, Kiva hosted its inaugural Kiva U Summit, where 150 students and teachers came together to connect and discuss microfinance in an evolving world. In the same month, Kiva hit its one million lender milestone.

Through creative mechanisms and user-oriented strategies, Kiva has proven the potential for microfinance success in addressing low-income communities.

“Our approach is to see what works and share the results with a global audience,” Kiva President Premal Shah said. “Ultimately, our hope is to get high-impact products to people who have been too long overlooked, and demonstrate their success to the global market.”

 – Julia Thomas

Sources: The Borgen Project, Kiva, Kiva(2), Triple Pundit, MIT Press Journals
Photo: Design to Improve Life

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What is the U.S. Climate Action Network?

In the fight against climate change, nothing is more important than mutual cooperation. Organizations like the U.S. Climate Action Network (USCAN) facilitate networks of NGOs who share the common goal of helping the environment. Such networks maximize the impact of individual organizations.

USCAN operates under a theory of change which includes three dimensions: relationships, process and results. The network provides the space to foster each. Relationships are built on the local, national and international levels between organizations with diverse approaches to climate change mitigation. USCAN facilitates the process of sharing information through issue briefings and coordination. Ultimately, these three dimensions serve to exponentially increase the impact of the organizations.

Members of USCAN have access to information, resources and services from a coalition of like-minded organizations. Members collaborate over policy recommendations for all levels of government, share information on campaign information such as IPCC reports and spread each other’s message.

To become a member an organization must share the vision that climate change must be fought by both mitigation and adaption. USCAN seeks to understand how climate processes and events affect communities, wildlife and businesses. It recognizes that these effects negatively impact not just the environment but the economy as well. This is why USCAN believes it is in the world’s best economic and environmental interest to fight climate change.

The Guardian highlights the importance of coalitions for affecting change and gives “13 tips on building a coalition to tackle climate change.” One tip is given by Robert Laubacher, the project director of MIT Climate CoLab. He writes that even a small level of collaboration can have a strong influence. Laubacher cautions against focusing too much on government progress, which is slow, and instead to see the virtue in small coalitions of non-governmental organizations — coalitions that USCAN helps to build.

Individual efforts to mitigate climate change are organized through societal organizations. USCAN, in turn, coordinates the efforts of the societal organizations, thus transforming the passion and desire of an individual into lasting change in the fight against climate change.

– Julianne O’Connor 

Sources: The Guardian, USCAN
Photo: news.com.au

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Child Labor in Afghanistan

Poverty forces children to work and sacrifice their chance at an education. Today, sadly, child labor in Afghanistan is a common occurrence. Estimates are difficult to come by but through various sources it can be stated that between 21 and 25 percent of Afghan children are part of the labor force. Children as young as 6 are often involved.

 

Cause and Effect: Child Labor in Afghanistan

 

Child labor is hard to overcome in Afghanistan because although it is illegal by law for anyone under the age of 14 to work, many families are so desperate that they need one of their children to work in order to survive. Employers are desperate for cheap labor as well. The government seems to be doing little to enforce this law.

A common job for Afghan children in Kabul is working in brick factories. They can work up to 12 hours for around $1.40 a day. Other potential jobs for these children are working in bakeries, weaving, selling toilet paper and shopping bags, mining, washing cars or farming. Some children even begin to beg.

It is important to look at the physiological affects of child labor. Childhood is a time when people are supposed to be able to play and avoid the stresses of life.  This crucial time period allows them to develop into healthy adults. Research shows that, “75 percent of brain development occurs after birth. Play helps with that development by stimulating the brain through the formation of connections between nerve cells.” It is essential for children to play with their parents and with other children.

If Afghan children are working, they are missing out on this crucial developmental step. It is possible that a work environment would replace play and stimulate a child’s brain but it is not certain if they are gaining the right type of knowledge that a child would otherwise gain from play. The stress children endure when having to work will also cause other stunted developmental issues.

The main reason children are sent off to work is so that they can feed their families. This is due to a loss of a parent or both parents. A child might have to go to work because their father dies and their mother is unable to find work because of her gender. Poverty and gender bias seems to be two of the causes of child labor in Afghanistan.

Poverty in Afghanistan is caused by many factors, one being the fact that it has been in a state of almost perpetual war since 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded, followed by Taliban rule and the post 9/11 American invasion coupled with Taliban guerrilla warfare. But regardless of the reasons as to why poverty exists in Afghanistan, it is essential to raise people out of poverty so that child labor will cease.

The task of raising the Afghan people out of poverty is certainly not an easy one. There are a range of problems arising from misallocation of USAID funds by the Afghan government, the inability of U.S. officials to better Afghan government institutions and just general distrust and confusion between the two countries.

A possible solution to this would be for the U.S. to give money to more grassroots NGOs and intergovernmental organizations who are currently working in Afghanistan. This would get the aid directly to the most vulnerable people in Afghanistan, specifically children. Organizations like the World Food Programme have operations already in place. Activities like school meals, food for training, Food-for-Work, nutrition programs and flour fortification are being carried out in Afghanistan today. They also support programs that try to close the gender gap.

Imagine if the U.S. gave more money to these programs instead of fighting with the Afghan government over misallocated funds?  These programs are already helping thousands of Afghan people, why not help even more? Child labor in Afghanistan is increasing, and with poverty as its main cause, the U.S. government should put more of its aid money toward proven, successful poverty alleviation programs.

– Eleni Marino

Sources: Global Post, Los Angeles Times, Montana State University, The New York Times, UN Data, WFP
Photo: CRI English

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Save the Children

Save the Children helps children in over 120 countries, including the United States, gain access to health services and education while keeping them out of harm’s way. This organization was founded by Eglantyne Jebb in England in 1919. She aimed at helping children recover after World War I in central Europe. Eglantine dedicated her life to advancing human rights and the well-being of all children. Jebb believed that the world as a whole was entirely responsible for their welfare.

Eglantyne Jebb once said, “The only international language in the world is a child’s cry,”–words which have forever changed how the world views saving the children.

Save the Children’s theory of change creates noticeable impacts on children’s lives by investing in the impact of children by forming together to meet the demanding changes of the world we exist in. This notion is broken down into four pillars of impact.

The first pillar consists of being the voice for the world’s children. The focus is working toward policy reforms to help promote better child rights, particularly in areas of poverty. This will ensure that no child’s voice will go unheard.

The second pillar is the Save the Children foundation becomes the pioneer for innovation. This pillar will show the world that there is proof for solutions to helping these children and that it can be done.

The third pillar states that building partnerships and collaborating with other organizations of the same interest can help meet these goals faster by getting the word spread to a larger audience.

The fourth pillar is the final step. This is the achieved results of policy reforms and also the best patterns possible for implementing the right steps to follow through with, making life better for kids.

The Save the Children foundation has changed the lives of over 125 million people and this number continues to grow. An example of the success of the foundation is shown with children living in Kenya. The drought in Kenya has taken a toll on areas suffering from poverty because the land for livestock becomes unusable. This produced a regional wide shortage of milk, causing many of the children to become severely malnourished.

Save the Children has provided over 30,000 children and families with milk through their milk voucher program. A few months after the program began, children received over a 10 percent weight increase because of the program’s success.

Over the past several years, the Save the Children foundation has educated over 9 million children and will be continuing to do so in the future. Save the Children is working to ensure that children around the world survive threats like newborn complications, and preventable or treatable illnesses like malaria, through the use of vaccines. The Save the Children foundation aims to offer valuable evidence to increase government funding and influence global policies. Save the Children is working with governments, schools and nonprofit partners to improve the available access and the role of quality health and nutrition programs.

– Rachel Cannon

Sources: Charity Watch, Save the Children
Photo: Marketing Magazine

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Cordes Foundation 101

In 2006, Ron Cordes and his family started to make some changes. First, Cordes sold his successful business, AssetMark Investment Services, to Genworth Financial. Then, after a short three-year stint as CEO of Genworth Wealth Management, Ron and Marty Cordes started giving back.

After $10 million in donations, Ron had begun devoting his time to the initiatives of the Cordes Foundation, and stayed on as co-chairman of Genworth. Marty had started devoting her time to the organizations that the Cordes Foundation supports — organizations that empower women and girls and promote global human rights.

Three key initiatives pave the way for the Cordes Foundation:

1.  Catalyzing new sources of capital for impact investments.

Cordes started building the foundations of this initiative when he co-founded ImpactAssets, a nonprofit that garners investment capital to achieve the greatest impact possible in various global environmental, social and financial issues. ImpactAssests has its own set of goals, which include creating positive social and environmental impacts that generate a return for investors.

2. Equipping the next generation of social entrepreneurs.

The Cordes Foundation does this by supporting the Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship. It is a university-based center where practice and training are offered to young social entrepreneurs. The center works to instill values of solution-mindedness and innovation in the coming generations.

3. Connect and support global leaders in social enterprise.

As co-chairs of the Opportunity Collaboration, Marty and Ron foster the sharing of innovation between a number of different parties like social entrepreneurs, impact investors and the public sector. The collaboration gets together annually in October, when 300 delegates gather to represent leaders from 30 countries. But the Cordes Foundation is certainly not alone. It serves as a great example of two recent trends that are quickly gaining speed.

Cordes has five pieces of advice for his daughter:

  • Seek Your Passion,
  • Do Your Best
  • Good Enough is Never Good Enough
  • No Excuses
  • Make a Difference

Cordes seems to be doing all of those things as he takes part in the wave of nonprofit family organizations that have the potential to leave a positive legacy across the world. These family nonprofits offer philanthropists a way to better control their giving, and just like Cordes, they work to leave their children and the next generation with values of generosity and compassion.

Cordes says “Since my early 40s, I had an itch that there was something else out there that I could be accomplishing and a greater purpose out that I could be achieving than running a successful business. The opportunity to sell the business gave me the resources so I could pursue that. I went from trying to build the best business in the world to building the best businesses for the world.”

Ron Cordes represents a great example of how the encore career later in life can be beneficial in the fight against global poverty, hunger and other humanitarian efforts.

– Rachel Davis

Sources: Forbes, New York Times

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Point of Concern: Education in Bangladesh

Education in Bangladesh
With roughly 57,000 square miles and over 150 million people, Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It is also firmly entrenched in the rising power narrative that characterizes much of the south Asian region it occupies. For this reason, it is in the context of slow development where education in Bangladesh must be considered.

In 1990, the Primary Education Compulsory Act came into law and primary education became free and compulsory for all children up to grade five. Today in Bangladesh, there are approximately 56,867,000 people under the age of 18, 15 million of which are under the age of 5. There are currently 16 million children enrolled in grades one through five, and only 55 percent of children in Bangladesh who begin primary education make it to grade five. Only 50.7 percent complete all five years. The effects of this low rate of formal education are clear. In the young adult age range of 15 to 24, only 77.1 percent of male and 80.4 percent of females can read.

The many problems of education in Bangladesh can be linked to resources. As of 2009 Bangladesh spent 2.2 percent of its GDP on public education. In that same year the United States spent 5.2 percent. Despite government efforts to prove the contrary, education in Bangladesh remains an area in need of drastic reform. A total of 24 percent of primary school teachers are untrained and the average student-teacher ratio is 49 to one. These figures prove to be debilitating realities for the formative years of youth education.

To right the ship of education in Bangladesh, many private enterprises have lent their assistance. One such organization is BRAC. Formerly known as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee, BRAC is now the world’s largest non-governmental organization. BRAC concentrates on impoverished rural areas. It also actively seeks female inclusion, often recruiting local women as teachers for their schools. These women receive extensive training and regular organizational evaluations. BRAC provides its education services free of charge and focuses on a unique curriculum that steers clear of the rote memorization techniques utilized in government schools. This innovative approach has proven beneficial, as BRAC students regularly outperform their government school counterparts. According to the New York Times, BRAC now administers “the largest secular non-governmental education system in the world.”

However, education in Bangladesh is still a concern. With high dropout rates and little access available to children in rural areas, the compulsory part of primary education in Bangladesh has not taken hold in the two decades since its legal codification. Potential resources remain untapped and a country of millions remains affected.

– Taylor Dow

Sources: The Financial Express, The Guardian, The New York Times, UNDP, UNICEF(1), UNICEF(2), Worldbank
Photo: The World Bank

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How Do We End Global Poverty?

Putting an end to global poverty seems like a huge undertaking, but the world is making itself a better place every single day.

There is no one set way to end global poverty, and it definitely will not be happening overnight. However, so many people and organizations have already taken strides in order to make things better.

When many consider global poverty they think of commercials in which a man comes out and says, “With just a dollar a day you could save this young child’s life.” But global poverty is so much more than that.

There is a lot more work involved, for one, and there are a lot more people that need help. Those children in that commercial are just one facet of what global poverty really is.

So, how do we end global poverty? The answer is different for everyone. Perhaps, the question to ask is: “What am I good at?” and then find a way to turn talents into something that can be good for everyone around the world.

There are hundreds if not thousands of ways people, charities and politicians around the world are trying to help impoverished nations.

There are people who make billboards that can use humidity and rainwater to create freshwater for the surrounding people, or buildings that use special concrete to suck up air pollution, or even the smallest thing such as the “donate now” button from PayPal.

There are business tycoons that use impact investing to help companies that want to give lanterns to children in Africa so they can do their homework and learn by accelerating investments in the solar lighting industry.

In addition to impact investing, there are also businesses like Domino’s Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Wal-Mart that have expanded in the African Markets bringing jobs, food and have even created advocacy and buzz to help provide donations to the impoverished peoples near their companies.

There are numerous nonprofits and charities dedicated to advocacy, food collection, shoe donation, vaccine donation and more. Nothing But Nets is one that’s as simple as giving a family in Africa an insecticide-treated mosquito net to help prevent the spread of malaria. Even the smallest things can impact global poverty in a big way.

There are even charities like Girl Up, dedicated to simply telling young girls and boys they can get through it and become better. Global poverty can be impacted by something as simple as positive encouragement.

The question “How do we end global poverty?” may seem intimidating at first, but once you decide what you can do and see what everyone else is already doing, it seems a lot easier.

The goal of ending global poverty is attainable, all it takes is asking yourself two simple questions: “What am I good at?” and “How can it help end global poverty?”

– Cara Morgan

Sources: The Borgen Project, Girl Up, Nothing But Nets, Shot@Life, Wal-Mart
Photo: World Relief

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7 Things That Make Global Poverty NGOs Successful

Global Poverty NGOs
When it comes to what makes an aid organization truly successful, we usually think first about the numbers and the flashy website. How many children in rural areas get an education thanks to this organization? How many mosquito nets are being handed out to curb malaria? And how fancy is that all-important website?

All this is important, at least to a degree. But we often neglect to consider what is behind the scenes. We forget about the fundamental structure that makes global poverty NGOs effective or not. In order to be successful, NGOs must…

1. Work together
Collaboration is key. No organization can be entirely efficient on its own. While working together sometimes proves difficult because so many voices spout so many different opinions, cooperation allows for greater expansion of ideas and more creative solutions.

Additionally, organizations gain more influence and issues are given more weight when there is a large rallying force of NGOs and aid organizations behind the cause. This increased importance can get the public more involved, as well as proving to governments and policy makers that these topics need to be discussed. For example, the United Kingdom Food Group is the largest network in the U.K. that helps organizations working on food issues to share ideas and expertise by working together, thus creating maximum change.

2. Be narrow enough to do good work
In order to put the most into a cause, organizations must be narrowly focused. This allows them to put the maximum resources into one issue and thus enables them to make a difference that is more than a drop in the bucket. For instance, the Fistula Foundation focuses specifically on healing women who suffer unnecessarily from an injury sustained in childbirth. True, the organization could tackle prostitution and sexual health in other capacities, but because it focuses on fistula treatment, it is able to make a substantial difference for the cause.

3. But not too narrow as to only solve one narrow slice of the problem
All things related to global poverty are interconnected. Food security goes hand in hand with the local economy. Water sanitation plays a huge role in global health. Organizations need to understand that no matter what topic they choose to address, it is attached to all other aspects of global poverty. ONE combines its efforts to address reducing global poverty on top of reducing the incidence of preventable disease. In doing so, ONE accepts that disease perpetuates poverty, and remedying one helps alleviate the other.

4. Be easy to get involved with
The harsh reality is that while most of our society sympathizes with the plague of global poverty, it has no time to go out of their way all the time to do something about it. Organizations must realize that if they are to be successful, they must be easy to reach, easy to get involved with and easy to share. NGOs must have key small ways to get involved like buying a T-shirt, sharing a video or donating a few dollars. But on top of this, they must have larger scale methods that are just as easy.

Many organizations like Charity: Water and Nothing But Nets, ask people to donate their birthdays by essentially asking for donations to the cause rather than gifts. It is a simple, brag worthy and effective way to get people involved and raise money for the organization.

5. Be transparent
People want to know where their hard earned money goes when they donate, and they are more likely to be resistant when the paths their cash takes within an organization are unclear. Therefore, organizations must work twice as hard to show that the donations they receive go directly to the projects they advertise. Charity: Water has found a way to be utterly transparent.

The organization relies on private donors and sponsors to support its offices’ operations, thus allowing it to ensure with absolute certainty that the donations it receives from the general public go straight to water projects building pumps in rural villages. Charity: Water even shows you exactly what well was built by your donations and their annual reports are easily found on their website. Basically, it is key that people know directly where their money goes when they donate to encourage confidence in the NGO.

6. Work with the local population
The only way to create stable, lasting change is for NGOs to work directly with the local population in the target region. Without it, practices put in place and infrastructure built can fall victim to tradition and cultural practice, and thus become ineffective. However, by working with the local population, organizations can change the local perspective and approach to the problem. They can employ local workers to run the operations, thus helping the economy in more ways than one.

Rape prevention organizations tend to be particularly effective when they go straight to the local people. For example, Apne Aap is an organization in India that aims to change the perspective of rape in the culture and protect women through sustainable development of a new, empowered mindset. By going to local women, organizations like this are able to find the root of the problem and work toward a solution that will cause lasting change.

7.  Be memorable
Finally, an organization must be memorable in order to be successful. People need to feel that itch to share the video, to tell their friends, to spread the story in order to ensure that the organization gets the publicity it needs to do effective work and the cause gets the vocalization it deserves. For all the flaws the Kony 2012 and Invisible Children campaigns had internally, they were undeniably memorable. Everyone who went to high school in 2012 had the group’s logo as their profile pictures and now knows a bit more about child soldiers in the LRA. This is knowledge that can be spread in order to get more and more people involved.

Overall, no matter what process NGOs take, their work is beneficial. However, there are certain criteria that will make their efforts more effective and provide for longer-lasting, sustainable change. Simple changes to the structure of the organization can increase the general interest in the topic as well as improving the overall success of the organization.

– Caitlin Thompson

Sources: Overseas Development Institute, The Guardian, UK Food Group, ONE, Charity Water, Apne Aap, Edna Hospital, Fistula Foundation, Nothing But Nets
Photo: Flickr

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Millennials Give Back

The image of the starving college student or struggling young adult seems to juxtapose the image of a citizen willing to give part of their hard-earned salary to nonprofit organizations. However, the Millennials (roughly described as those born between 1979 and 1994) are actually more willing to give to causes they believe in than you would think. Although only seven percent of adults believe that the younger generation is more generous than the previous ones, statistics have shown that Millennials have been unselfish in donating both their time and money.

In 2011, 75% of young people aged 20-35 donated monetarily, 63% donated their time and 70% raised money for nonprofit organizations. In 2012, this increased to 83% that donated financially to an organization while 52% were interested in monthly donating.

We ask ourselves though, what is the motivation driving the younger generation to give? According to a report composed by Achieve titled “The 2013 Millennial Impact Report,” the top four reasons are:

  • They are passionate about a cause or issue.
  • They feel like they can make a difference.
  •  Getting involved gives them an opportunity to connect and network with like-minded people.
  • They can utilize their professional skills and expertise to help others.

Although it was found that the younger generation give relatively small amounts, this can actually be positive because it means they are more concerned in seeing the efficacy of each dollar donated.

“If they can give, I can too!”

You’re absolutely right! There are so many ways to give back to organizations both in your community and internationally:

  • Make a list of causes you care about and set aside a predetermined amount per year you plan to donate.
  • Give clothes you haven’t worn in years or clothes you don’t need to charity.
  • Sell items you don’t use on EBay or host a yard sale and give the profits to a cause you care about.
  • Find volunteer opportunities near you. (Volunteermatch.org is a great place to start!)
  • If an organization doesn’t already exist for the cause you care about, create your own nonprofit.

The reasons to give are endless. Even donating a small amount can give you a sense of community when you see the collective efforts of your small donation combined with the donations of others all contributing to a larger cause. Donating any amount makes you more grateful for what you have, and you are given a sense of wealth by being able to share what little you have with others.

When you donate, it inspires those around you to donate, too. Create a movement among your friends to volunteer together, or pool your money for a cause you all care deeply about and see the effects of your efforts working to make the world a better place.

Whether it’s providing people in developing countries with water, donating to breast cancer research or volunteering at a local soup kitchen, get involved and know that even the smallest donation of time or money can help.

– Kimberly Tierney

Sources: Family Share, Huffington Post, Millennial Impact Report, Philanthropy, Stay Classy, USA Today, U.S. News, World Vision

Photo: Chillicothe