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DJ David Guetta: a Humanitarian Campaign for Love

David Guetta is a Grammy Award winning international DJ who is best known for his electro-house dance club hits and has worked with the likes of acts such as Akon, Usher, Lady Gaga, Tegan and Sara, and Jay-Z. Recently, the 46-year-old French producer teamed up with the United Nations for “The World Needs More” campaign which integrates social media messaging and sponsored humanitarian campaign donations. Launched in support of World Humanitarian Day, “The World Needs More” campaign encourages fans to hashtag a Sponsored word on Twitter or Facebook which will unlock a $1 donation of that sponsors choosing. Fans are also allowed to donate via text message.

Whether that word is #Empowerment supported by Intel or #Strength promoted by Gucci, all sponsored words that are sent in with in company of the hashtag #TheWorldNeedsMore, will be turned into aid which will go towards specific humanitarian efforts around the world. Considering Guetta included the term Love in the title of his debut album, “Just a Little More Love,” and one of his most popular singles, “When Love Takes Over,” it comes as no surprise which word he’s sponsoring. “There’s been a lot of my songs about love and that’s the kind of person that I am, the biggest energy in the world. Universal love. Have a little bit of compassion and love for each other.”

Joining Guetta’s campaign are various countries and organizations including the UN Foundation, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Council of Volunatry Agencies (ICVA), and advertising agency Leo Burnett New York. The campaign was initially launched in August, though it was recently rebuffed at the knowledge of the costly devastations occurring in the Philippines at the hands of Typhoon Haiyan. Additionally money raised by Guetta will provide much needed food relief to those suffering from shortages in all parts of the world.

Guetta was also inspired to create an exclusive song to go along with his #Love campaign which he titled, “One Voice” featuring Mikky Ekko. His recent interest in global matters spurned his decision to create a song with a deeper meaning, “I’ve never had songs that are like this kind of subject, so I’m really excited about this. It’s a big change lyrically, but also sonically. Just, you know, growing up, trying to do something bigger than myself. It’s a big stretch from Sexy Chick.”

The visuals for the song were projected onto the face of the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York on November 22, 2013. Succeeding the broadcast of “One Voice,” the building was used as a backdrop for an interactive twitter wall which displayed tweets from across the world. This event was the first promotion of its kind and was hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who began his week with a visit to an Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Mr. Ban praised Guetta for his “courage to change and create a new future for us all.”

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: Rolling Stone, Lubbock Online, UN, World Humanitarian Day
Photo: Radio

3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Life

shirley_temple_donating
Sometime the desire to help others is smothered by the strain of life. Work, bills and other obligations can quickly pile up until any offer of assistance is impossible to carry out. But what if you could help others just by living? Here are three super ways to give something back and get some chores done at the same time.

1. Update Your Wardrobe

Cleaning out your closet can be tedious work, but it can also be therapeutic. Experts say that organization can improve a person’s mental and emotional state. Will Edwards, founder of White Dove Books, explains that organization has been proven to lower stress, boost motivation and save someone valuable time and energy. De-cluttering your wardrobe can help de-clutter your mind. Anything that hasn’t been worn in the last six months should be pulled. “Placeholder items” waste valuable closet space. Put unused clothes to use by donating to a local shelter or donating funds from a yard sale to your favorite cause.

For those needing to add to their wardrobe, online retailers offer weekly sales. Some sites, like Amazon, allow shoppers to donate a percentage of their purchase amount to their favorite charity. Beginning at their favorite charity website, donors locate the Amazon link and shop to their hearts’ delight. After checkout, a certain percentage is sent to the selected organization.

Need to compare different retailers? Some search engines donate change for each internet search generated.

2. Clean Out Your Pantry

Have a pantry full of staples that never seem to get used? Clean it out and donate non-perishables to the nearest food bank or volunteer your time. Fall and winter are the busiest times for charities and any assistance is appreciated. For those lacking the time, there are other ways to help others.

Non-governmental organizations worldwide have committed to providing food relief to developing nations. They recognize that people cannot focus on stimulating the economy if they go to bed hungry. Groups like Food for Life provide food relief for millions of impoverished people on a daily basis and donations are readily accepted.

3. Put On Some Music

When the stress of cleaning gets to be too much, turn on some music. It has been reported that music can greatly reduce stress and even reduce pain. Be sure to take a break and buy a new cd or check out a concert. But taking a break from chores does not mean that you can’t give back.

In recent years, musicians have redirected global focus to the plight of the world’s poor. Every genre has at least one song about poverty and recent collaborations have generated an explosion of music relief efforts. Organizations such as Music For Relief have raised over $5 million since 2004 and music providers like iTunes have designed a variety of apps to assist non-profits in fundraising.

– Jasmine D. Smith

Sources: Amazon, Ezine, Food for Life, Huffington Post, iTunes
Photo: All Posters

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3 Rules of Smart Giving

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Can someone really be wrong when he or she decides to give to charity? There is no concrete answer, but sometimes certain types of giving can do more overall good than others.

Eric Friedman, an actuary and philanthropist, argues that there is a right and wrong way to give, and many people are doing it wrong. Today’s generation of givers prefers to become more deeply involved in their philanthropy, for example, by mentoring young people, creating a foundation, or asking to learn exactly what good their money did when they donated to an organization. While this philanthropic trend is positive, Friedman claims that people still need to be smarter when it comes to giving by focusing on these three areas:

  1. Consider global problems and weigh them against your personal priorities. Maybe you feel drawn to give your income to a group that is close to your heart, such as your college or a sports team. First, though, consider how far your money will go with those organizations compared to how many homeless or hungry people you could help with that same money. It’s certainly not that personal causes don’t matter, but your donation may not make as much of an impact as it would for other global causes.
  2. Do some research to find out which charities have the most effective philanthropic programs. Friedman suggests using websites such as givewell.org and givewhatwecan.org, both of which help donors find the charities that give you the most bang for your buck, enabling you to help the most people possible.
  3. Investigate the organization to which you’re giving before donating. Only 35% of donors do any research about the charity to which they give their money, and just 9% do more than two hours of research about the organization. Donating money is an investment that people should not take lightly, and knowing exactly what the charity stands for and how they plan to solve problems is half the battle.

If Friedman is correct, this type of smart giving could make a much more significant impact when it comes to issues like global poverty and world hunger.

– Katie Brockman

Sources: TIME, Give Well, Giving What We Can
Photo: WPFD

Tickets-For-Charity

Tickets For Charity
Tickets-For-Charity has a simple business model: they sell tickets to fans and a portion of the proceeds go to charity. Jay Whitehead, CEO of the for-profit company, explains that the company sells tickets for sports games and concerts, and they sell two types of tickets. One type is when a sports team, for example, tells the company how much money per ticket they want back, Tickets-For-Charity keeps a $17 service charge, and the remaining money goes to charity. Another type is when a corporation gets 100% of the ticket value as a tax deduction, Tickets-For-Charity takes the ticket and deducts the $17 charge, and then the rest goes to a nonprofit organization.

Whitehead also explains that the charities that benefit from Tickets-For-Charity’s work depends on who is donating the tickets. Many sports teams have their own foundation, and 75% of the funds raised from the ticket sales go to these types of foundations and charities. The remaining 25% of money from the tickets goes to charities chosen by the buyers, as long as the charity is one that is part of Tickets-For-Charity’s platform.

Ticket buyers also receive a special receipt when they choose to buy a ticket through Tickets-For-Charity that shows the amount donated and the name of the charity. This gives the buyer the ability to write off the donation on their tax returns. The tickets are also normally for good seats instead of the bottom of the barrel, nosebleed section seats. Sometimes tickets are donated by companies when their employees can’t make it to a sports game, so those lucky ticket buyers could get front row or suite seats.

Tickets-For-Charity is also excited about their recent deal with Major League Baseball. Whitehead states that other sports typically follow baseball’s lead, so by earning MLB as a customer for their business, they are hoping for increased business with other big names in sports.

– Katie Brockman
Source: Boston Globe
Photo: Tickets-For-Charity

Should the Government Demand Transparency?

Transparency
In John Tyler’s book “Transparency in Philanthropy,” the author discusses the idea of allowing the government to demand transparency among charities and other philanthropic organizations, and whether or not it would be beneficial to the charities and the people who support them. Tyler draws the seemingly paradoxical conclusion that “transparency is complicated” in his book, because even though transparency in charities can help make business processes simpler by removing secrets, it can also prove to be a challenge, especially if it is mandated and not voluntary.

Many organizations choose to be transparent in their work, and some philanthropic groups will readily supply all the numbers about how much they donated, received, paid in salaries, etc. This is a good thing because it 1) ensures that there are no secrets being kept behind closed doors about the donations, and 2) encourages trust. If people know where their money is going when they donate to a charity, they may be more likely to give and give more often. Tyler also mentions that foundations with stakeholders are legally obligated to share their information with them, but there is a difference between legal and social transparency.

There is a down-side to demanding transparency in the philanthropic sector, though. If the government demands a charity to be transparent, that means people can easily research to find these companies’ tax returns. While this may not seem like much of a problem, “in countries with weak rule of law, such information could be used to harass and pressure donors.” Then, because of these pressures, people are frightened away and donations dramatically decrease, which hurts everyone.

Philanthropic foundations are necessary to organize donations and charity around the world, and sometimes transparency is a good thing, especially when it’s voluntary. But at other times, it can lead to results that don’t help anyone.

– Katie Brockman

Source: Forbes
Photo: FDA

8 Steps To Start a Charitable Foundation

Start-A-Foundation
Have you ever considered starting your own charitable foundation to give back to your community? Charitable foundations are a great way to contribute lasting and meaningful social change in a community, and can be a much-needed resource to those in need. Creating and running a charity is very similar to creating and running a business, except for a couple differences. It requires much more financial support to keep a non-profit organization going, because most, if not all, of the proceeds are naturally not retained by the organization. There are also different laws that founders must be aware of when starting their own foundation, which can often be quite complex.

Here are 8 steps to take that will get you on your way to creating your own charitable foundation:

1. Make (and keep) your commitment to the foundation.

2. Get advice from an experienced attorney who is familiar with non-profit laws and regulations.

3. Create bylaws to govern your organization.

4. Develop criteria to determine which organizations or programs you will support with your funding.

5. Find an experienced group of people for your organization’s board.

6. Create a plan to keep your foundation alive as long as possible, which includes how you will fund the organization’s day-to-day needs and pay salaries, as well as how you will raise money for the programs you support.

7. Avoid conflicts that could turn your charitable foundation into a profitable business.

8. Know how to manage your funds and be sure that the money you use to run your organization is not the money you receive from donors.

– Katie Brockman

Source Entrepreneur

David Beckham, Award Winning Philanthropist

David-Beckham
David Beckham can now add award-winning philanthropist to his long list of accomplishments.

On May 13th, the world-renowned athlete will be presented the Global Gift Gala Philanthropist Award at the Global Gift Gala in Paris. He is being recognized for his work with various charities, particularly the Malaria No More UK Leadership Council, UNICEF, and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The soccer player/spokesperson/philanthropist has also contributed to charities through large donations, including donating part of his salary to a children’s charity in Paris.

The Global Gift Gala honorary chair is Eva Longoria, who will present Beckham with his award. She explains that the Global Gift Gala Philanthropist Award has been established to recognize the contributions and efforts made by prominent social figures, adding that Beckham’s philanthropy and humanitarian work will be particularly honored at the event.

Longoria will also host the award ceremony and all of the proceeds will benefit both the Eva Longoria Foundation and the GREAT Initiative.

– Katie Brockman

Source: Female First, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian

Art4Sight Raises Funds for the Blind

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Forty Arab and international artists donated a total of 47 pieces of artwork to raise funds for Noor Dubai Foundation’s Art4Sight art auction on April 24-25. Held at the Zabeel Ladies Club, the auction helped raise AED 1.2 million (approximately 327,000 USD) for the Noor Duabai Foundation and programs to provide housing, prevention, education and training programs for the blind in various countries, specifically the United Arab Emirates.

Participating artists included Abdulqader Al Rais, Najat Makki, and Fatima Lootah, and Her Highness Sheikha Latifa Bint Maktoum. A young artist, Aliya Hussein Lootah, donated a piece that was made in honor of the UAE’s 40th National Day and was signed by His Highness Shaikh Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

CEO of the Noor Dubai Foundation, Dr. Manal Taryam, gave thanks to the artists and reiterated the importance of the programs Art4Sight funds. “Providing the gift of sight aids both economic and social development in countries of need,” she said. In the last year, the foundation has helped raise AED 5.6 million (approx USD $1.5 million) to fund humanitarian and social aid programs to needy citizens and families living in the United Arab Emirates.

On the second day of the event, a panel discussion was held and addressed the specific topic of supporting art and philanthropy services in the UAE.  Participants in the discussion included eminent personalities such as director of the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group and chairwoman of the Young Arab Leaders Muna Al Gurg.

With the success of the auction, the Noor Dubai Foundation is planning the third mobile eye camp for 2013 that will be held in Tamale, Ghana.

-Kira Maixner
Source: Khaleej Times
Photo: Oasis Unedited

Your Old Clothes Could Be Hurting Africa

Old-Tshirts-Africa
How is it possible that your old clothes could be hurting Africa and its economy and you may not even know about it? The answer is not so simple.

Often times when Western countries have used, unwanted clothes they cannot get rid of, they end up a landfill. More recently though, charities that collect used clothes in North American and European nations can sell them to wholesalers who package and re-sell them to other countries, particularly those in Africa. Instead of decaying in a landfill, these clothes are desirable and affordable for people in lower-income countries.

“What’s the problem with that?” you may be asking yourself.

In the short-term it could be a win-win situation. People can donate their old clothes to charities, charities can sell them to earn revenue, third-party wholesalers can re-sell them to other countries, people in Africa have access to affordable, well-made clothing, and everyone’s happy. In the long-term, though, the African clothing manufacturers may not be so happy. If African countries continue to rely on Westerners giving away their old clothes, they may not be able to support their own clothing businesses within their borders. In fact, several Africa clothing industries have already gone out of business because of the cheap clothing coming in from other countries, which cuts jobs, decreases revenue, and increases reliance on Western nations.

So what can be done about this problem?

Some African countries are banning imported second-hand clothing to try to rebuild their own clothing businesses. But even with the ban on Western clothing, there is still access to hand-me-downs from other areas of the world – particularly China and the Far East, where clothing is even cheaper. Sylvia Owori, a clothing designer in Uganda, realizes the problem but is forced to accept reality. “As much as I don’t like second-hand clothes to be in the market, I don’t have an alternative,” she says. “I cannot make enough clothes to support a population of 33 million.”

– Katie Brockman

Source CNN