I see a lot more giving these days.  And more thought for those in need.  Which is a wonderful thing.  And I’m plotting to boost our own efforts in a big way.  Bear with me……

I reckon that I must be a very slow learner or maybe a bit brainless, or maybe a bit of both   But it’s taken me decades to ‘get it’.  Younger generations seem to get it, but us ‘oldies’ have maybe taken longer to come around.  Or maybe it’s just me?  Probably.

So what have I finally ‘got’ over the last few years?

Two things really.

1. That there are a lot of people out there in desperate need and in most cases it’s through no fault of their own.  And that a little, can go a long way to helping them.
2. That first impressions are often wrong!  I’d say in the majority of cases.  OK three things……….and….
3. That giving rewards the giver, just as much as the receiver.  It’s like seeing the joy on the faces of little kids at Christmas.  Well kind of.

So I was delighted back in 2012 to be introduced to an organisation that makes giving really easy, widespread and effective.   It’s called B1G1, or Buy One Give One.   Get it?

Quite simply it works like this:

• B1G1 ‘audits’ hundreds of charities and those that pass are added to their ‘list’.  To pass, a charity has to undergo a strict eview of finances and operations to make sure they are ‘doing the right thing’.
• B1G1 then provides a giving ‘portal’ for members like us, to give directly to each charity.  And 100% of the donation goes to those in need.  Nothing is deducted by B1G1 or to cover ‘overheads’ of the receiving charity.
• It becomes so easy, that we are able and encouraged to give a proportion of our revenue, each time we transact with a client.  Which we do.

How easy is that?   I Love the program so much that once we joined I couldn’t wait to give.  Paul Dunn the CEO of B1G1 laughs that I was probably the fastest ever member to register and make a donation

OK, so what is the point of telling you this?

Well, we keep setting ourselves giving ‘targets’ in terms of giving impacts.  That’s the term we use.  A giving impact might be providing shelter, a meal, education for a day, planting a tree and so on.  Little things in themselves, but when added up they start to make a huge difference to lives and the environment,

And those ‘little things’ are certainly adding up!   Our next target is to reach 3 Million giving impacts!  That’s a lot of ‘impact’ so far……

So…..I’m doing a couple of things to accelerate our progress towards our next giving target.   Things that YOU can get involved in

The first one is easy.  We have added a widget to this website, that enables our friends to also give to some of our favourite worthy cases.  You can do that right here.

You too can join our ‘World of Giving. If you would like to make a difference to those in need, you can personally give to some selected projects below.

And the Second thing is; we re going to start running industry events where all the income from ticket sales go to a range of worthy causes that YOU can help select.   Our first event will be coming up in November 2016 and still ‘under wraps’ but I’ll be announcing it very soon, so watch this space

Giving is Good

Best Regards

Rob O’Byrne