Posts tagged charities
Friday foybles: Pets without parents (updated)
Apr 30th
Note: the Friday foyble of the week (FFOTW) is a once per week post where we single out one of our favorite foybles from the many over at www.foyble.com. We don’t have any criteria for the foybles we pick- it’s pretty random. Email us at contact@foyble.com to nominate someone for the honor!
This weeks Friday foyble comes to you courtesy of user Gabi Ragusa. Pets without parents is an organization that Gabi has volunteered to work for- one that she clearly cares about, based on her other foybles and the fact that she has committed to them by going through an orientation process.
Pets without parents (www.petswithoutparents.net) is “no-kill, non-profit shelter for dogs and cats located in the Clintonville area of Central Ohio.
I wanted to draw some attention to this foyble not because of the act, but because of Gabi’s profile. She is setting such a wonderful example for her friends, peers, and family. She has logged 16 foybles on the site- many of them with the same theme. She clearly likes to help animals, and she likes to help hungry people around the world.
This little glimpse into Gabi’s life is one of the things I love about foyble- you see these 16 acts of goodwill she committed and you know that she is a generous and principled person. And this gets to one of the things I feel strongly about in regards to social media. Of all the things you can choose to share with *literally* the entire world, these types of stories seem like a no brainer to me. If you go to an average person’s profile on the the standard-issue social media site, you’re generally going to immediately know things like their favorite book and their political affiliation. But why would you want a stranger to know that about you immediately?
One of questions we get all the time about the site is about “bragging” about the things that people do. Some people are uncomfortable with this notion- they often say that it seems narcissistic to them. But I think I point them to Gabi’s profile page with her list of foybles and honestly say that it never even occurred to me that Gabi is all wrapped up in herself. Her stories are an inspiration to me! We hope you feel the same way- please take a moment to check her profile out and consider learning more about the causes she has devoted her time to!
Thank you very much for being a part of our community Gabi. You certainly deserve more, but here’s your internet high five all the same. Boom. Update: I donated to pets without parents!
Posted by Brian
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Pets without parents: www.petswithoutparents.net
Free Rice: www.freerice.com
Kiva: www.kiva.com
Thanks for reading the foyble blog and for your continued support of foyble. You can join our movement at www.foyble.com. You can reach the author of this post, Brian Foy, via email at BJFOY@FOYBLE.COM
Who knew? Habitat for Humanity is an international organization
Apr 26th
That’s one of two things I learned about Habitat for Humanity in this article about three Edmonton builders giving away three homes to the organization.
The other thing? Habitat does not give their homes away- homeowners must put 500 hours of sweat equity into the building of the home as a down payment. At least one parent in the family must have a full-time job and there is a mortgage to pay- although it has a zero percent interest rate. The mortgage must not be more than 25% of the homeowners total income. ”Habitat gives families a hand up, not a hand out”, says Susan Green, who chairs Habitat’s Edmonton board and is quoted extensively in the article.
Posted by Brian
via the Edmonton Journal – Local Builders Pay it Forward with donations
Habitat for Humanity- http://www.habitat.org/
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Thanks for reading the foyble blog and for your continued support of foyble. You can join our movement at www.foyble.com. You can reach the author of this post, Brian Foy, via email at BJFOY@FOYBLE.COM
The Giving Consumer: Some thoughts on Compassionate Capitalism
Mar 22nd
Recently, we have been thinking about the notion of “compassionate capitalism”- that is, the idea that a business can or ought to seek profits responsibly or that people can decide to choose to do business with companies that meet some standard of philanthropy before they make a purchase from them.
This idea is not new, but is gaining mindshare. More >
Five Winter giving ideas
Jan 12th
Never mind. I'll use the valet.
It’s been pretty brutal here in Chicago and all over the midwest, weather-wise, for the last few weeks. We’ve had a few snow storms and temperatures in the teens or twenties for a few weeks straight. But we think it would be shame to waste a whole season just because the weather is terrible. Below are a few ideas we have for making the cold winter months productive giving months.
1) Use the time to research some new organizations to get involved with once the weather breaks. So you’re stuck inside because it’s 10 below and the driveway is unpassable? Go with it. Stay inside and let your internet do the walking. Use our resources page to find a new organization. Or search for them on your own- using your fave search engine use search terms for things that you’re interested in like “soccer” or “little league” or “gardening” and pair them with good giving ‘action’ words like “giving”, “volunteerism”, or “helping”. Throw in your city or a nearby larger city for good measure. Check this ‘gardening volunteerism’ search result on google.
Tools for givers: Dexterity Consulting
Jan 4th
Happy New Year! We’re hitting the ground running with a post about another great giving tool: Dexterity Consulting.
From their site: Dexterity Consulting approaches philanthropy the same way you approach your wealth management. By aligning your values with your philanthropic goals a community investment plan is developed. More >
The foyble holiday gift giving guide for givers
Dec 16th
It is holiday time! We all know what the holidays are about- family, food, gifts. Many of you may know someone who is devoted to giving- this post is for those folks. Here are some ideas on what to give the giver in your life.
To begin, we think you first must recognize the human nature (character) of a giver. They are unselfish, empathetic, recognize the world is all sorts of shades of grey, prefer action over inaction, and holistic. Believe in the good and that they can make a difference. Even if none of our ideas seem like the one for you, remember these traits as you hunt for that perfect gift for the giver you know.
On to the list:
- Find our their favorite charity and make a modest donation. Better yet, try to get lots of your friends to donate with you.
- Offer to tag along the next time they go to volunteer. Even better, agree to recruit two people to bring along to the event on the day of their choosing.
- Make a donation in their honor to heifer international. Heifer.org offers the possibility to give a gift that keeps on giving!
- If the giver in your life does a lot of hard work volunteering (habitat for humanity, volunteering at races, etc) consider getting them a massage or some other rejuvenating service. When you do it make sure to acknowledge their hard work.
- If the person you know saves money in order to have more to give, consider getting them something that allows them to enjoy the finer things- a gift card to a coffee shop, some Belgian chocolate, a few days in that time share you’ve got.
- Make a coupon book with favors that help the recipient keep on giving. Our friend Dan told us about how his Mom used to participate in a 24-hour cancer walk-a-thon every year. What a great opportunity that would be- make a coupon book for a foot massage, or to get a pedicure, or to participate with her!
- Agree to participate in a charity walk/run with a race that is important to someone. This could be an even more meaningful gift if fitness is not something that you normally do as a hobby.
- Try a global giving gift card. Available in eco friendly and convenient e-card format.
- Don’t like our list? Try this one. <—click this link. The list is REALLY good.
- Want more inspiration? There are nearly 250 foybles over at foyble.com for you to browse!
The key is that you need to be mindful of what the person is passionate about and then ensure that you convey that you are willing to sacrifice on their behalf. You may not be as passionate as they are but that you support their commitment enough to sacrifice yourself.
Happy Holidays from foyble!
Posted by Brian
Social Media for Charities: five people we love to follow on Twitter and why
Oct 27th
We here at foyble HQ really like Twitter. At first we really didn’t know what to make of it. Once we found some people to follow who really get it though, it clicked for us. Twitter can be a fantastic tool for finding articles and news on subjects and topics that interest you. It’s also great for finding content you don’t normally gravitate to in the other media formats you typically consume. Foyble uses Twitter to tell all of our friends about great new foybles that our users have posted, to alert followers on new blog posts, and to find out what is going on with our favorite charities, users, and social media personalities.
Since we spend a lot of time looking for people to follow on Twitter, we thought we share with you a few of our favorite ‘Tweeps’. We’ll do a post like this from time to time to give you some ideas on more folks we find interesting. Got a suggestion? Leave it in the comments!
1) Mashable (Pete Cashmore): Mashable (twitter.com/mashable) is a social media news site that gives tips on the most popular social media tools and sites. Mashable also provides lots of content on how to use social media. There is an incredible amount of useful content on the site. Anyone charged with creating a social media strategy for their organization needs to be checking mashable.com out. Same goes for their Twitter feed. Get the latest on breaking social-media and tech related news. Also get links to the most popular and useful content on their site. Mashable has plenty of content aimed for those of you needing advice on your non-profit or charity.
2) Deepak Chopra (twitter.com/deepak_chopra): If you fill your Twitter feed with nothing but social media aggregators and news services, you’ll quickly become inundated with tweets that have content that you’ll never be able to get through. So you need to throw some personalities in their for good measure. Folks who don’t tweet too much, but enough to be useful, and tweet the types of things that you can consume right there in the moment without having to click a link. Dr. Chopra is a physician, an extremely prolific author (over 50 books), professor, scientist, and as far as we can tell, a big thinker. He uses his Twitter feed to tell fans where he is, to pitch his latest titles (rarely, and respecfully), and to tell us profound things through quotes of his and others. You get the sense that the man in constantly in motion but that he is at ease with this lifestyle. Definitely inspirational and worthy of a follow from you.
3) Charity navigator (twitter.com/charitynav): Charitynavigator.com is a useful website that provides visitors a ‘guide to intelligent giving’. Charity navigator empowers users with information on charities so they can make informed decisions on where to donate their money. The site claims to evaluate the financial health of the largest 5400 charities in the country. Their twitter feed is an extension of this service. They typically post interesting articles they have found or written on their blog, link to some of their top ten lists, or post clever advice for those interested in finding a charity to donate to. A useful service for potential donators, those with organizations that need donations, or those that are just learning how to use Twitter!
4) Tim Feriss (twitter.com/tferriss): This is a personal favorite of mine. I have read Tim’s book “the four hour work week” and swear by it. It is an excellent book for anyone who must spend time doing anything they wouldn’t normally do if they didn’t need to do it. If you work in a corporation it’s a must read. If you are trying to run a business or a non-profit or charity, the time management tips he offers are invaluable. Tim is fun to follow on Twitter too. He isn’t too obtrusive, meaning he doesn’t over-tweet. He is an interesting person so his tweets will often be about his travels or his experiences learning new languages, or the things he is reading online or in print. This can be useful because he can challenge you to think a little differently or expose you to things you wouldn’t normally get exposed to. Read Tim’s book and follow him on Twitter. You won’t be sorry!
5) Michael Hyatt (twitter.com/michaelhyatt): Michael is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. I have to admit, I didn’t find Michael. I poked around on my friend Dan’s Twitter profile (@dstummer) because I knew he’d be following people foyble would like too, and found him. As far as I can tell, Mr. Hyatt doesn’t have any obvious connection to charities or starting the give. He definitely goes to an insane amount of conferences. He seems like a really interesting and good man. He does tweet from time to time about being stuck in traffic or what he is having for breakfast, but he balances that inanity out with solid posts on the conferences he is at and the blog posts he writes- both useful bits of information for anyone trying to develop a presence for themselves or their organization online.
So there you go. Five folks we like on Twitter. We think these people are using Twitter in a good way, that their updates are meaningful and/or useful. We like their updates and the services these folks provide outside of Twitter. If you are working with an organization that has a strategy for social media we think these are some pretty good examples of ways that using Twitter is functional and entertaining. Leave your suggestions in the comments!
Happy Tweeting!
Posted by Brian
@name, full name, who they are, why we like following them.
10 foybles in 10 days
Sep 27th
Inspired by christianpf.com we here at foyble will be performing 10 foybles in 10 days- one per day for the first 10 days of October. Join us! We’ll update you via twitter (follow us here) and right here on the blog. We have set up a 10 day give group on foyble.com- we’ll connect all of our 10 day give foybles to that group. If you participate, please do the same! Read a story on the 10 day give here too.
The 10 day give culminates in our booth at the Columbus Italian Festival. If you’re in Columbus check out the fest and be sure to stop by the foyble booth.
Consider joining us for the 10 day give. Since we have a few days until October 1st you have some time to plan ahead for this event, maybe you can “schedule” a few good deeds ahead of time. Here are some ideas for you (don’t forget you can browse over 100 foybles on foyble.com for inspiration):
1. Bake some bread for your neighbors like Chad and Lynn did.
2. Buy three $5 giftcards to your favorite coffee shop and give one away each day to friends or family.
3. Do something nice for your work colleagues- bring some bagels in, offer to help someone out if they seem stressed out, consider letting your team out a little early on a nice day next week. Think of something that might be relevant to your work or industry that might resonate.
4. You don’t have to spend money on the GIVE- resolve each day to do something completely random based on some interaction you have during the day. Keep your eyes, your mind, and your heart open to helping someone. Like this gal or these guys did.
5. Pick 10 charities and give a small donation to each every day. You can find charities associated with foyble here. Don’t be afraid to give small donations to charities. They all add up. If you can’t afford to give money to your favorite charity try giving them time. Contact them and see what they’ve got going on next week.
No act is too small. Don’t be intimidated by the 10 day give. If you’re having a crazy day or you’re tired or you simply forget just spend an hour complimenting as many people as you can. Keep that energy up and the good vibes flowing.
So follow us on twitter (@foyble_org), check out this blog, and look for new 10 day give posts connected to the 10 day give group on foyble.com.
Thanks!
posted by Brian
