A 2005 YouGov poll found that a majority of the British population (56%) had only a 'fair amount' of trust in international charities like Oxfam and Save the Children. Only 15% of those surveyed had 'a great deal' of trust - even in the ones that do well in charity ratings. Charity Watchdog Scares Faith in charities has fallen drastically in recent times. But who can blame the general public? Charity watchdogs give us unsettling stories of astronomical CEO salaries, charities gulping down as much as 60% of donations for overheads, and massive global fundraising events whose funds disappear into thin air (Live Earth). Studies show that the average costs of fundraising in the UK and Australia are 18% or 22% respectively. In America, the Association of Fundraising Professionals found the number to be around 30%. These figures do not even include administrative costs which are often higher. Some charity givers see this as a major issue. Social Enterprise Solves Charity Fundraising Problem A new global social enterprise, Buy1GIVE1Free (becoming known as B1G1), partners businesses with worthy cause and charity organisations. Buy1GIVE1Free cuts these massive fundraising and administrative costs down: promising to take no more than 8%. Similar to successful online entities like Kiva.org, recently endorsed by Bill Clinton; Buy1GIVE1Free is an alternative to the traditional way of direct giving to charities. Many find them a more efficient way to make contributions while gaining significant value in return. Business leaders who are looking for opportunities to give back in effective ways will see the great value and well-defined key marketing advantages Buy1GIVE1Free offers here. Each sales transaction makes a difference - and not just in an altruistic sense. With powerful 'impact-matching', businesses are gifted with an eye-opening, attention-grabbing marketing story. Compare the business that gives away a million dollars to charity with the one that lets their customers experience the joy of giving with Buy1Give1Free. Maple Muesli in Australia has partnered with Midday Meals in Mumbai, India. With every bag of muesli bought, a hungry child in India is fed. Midday Meals is a charity that feeds 125,000 Mumbai children every day for just US 30 cents per meal. The meals are provided in schools to keep kids off the streets and encourage learning while reducing begging and child abuse. Just imagine the global impact that the Buy1 Give1 concept created and delivered by Buy1GIVE1Free, will have when applied to hundred's of thousands of everyday consumer products around the globe. Effective Giving - The Era for Plain Charity Donations is Ending We will surely see a change in the landscape of the top 100 charities over the coming years as new and innovative and far more effective ways of giving are created. These days we are spoilt for choice on how we can make our charitable giving. Not all of them are efficient ways to make a difference. We analyse some of the different ways to give in the table below. It's better to start looking for organisations that have a bigger vision of the entire playing field - those that have a wide social network that spreads across to charities in different regions, non-profits with different needs and non-government organisations (NGOs) of different calibre. Too much contributions here or too little there, and effective giving can be compromised. ALTERNATIVE CHARITY RATINGS
CHARITY COMPARISON POINTS | The Salvation Army | The Body Shop | Product (RED) | LIVE Earth | Buy1GIVE1Free™ (B1G1™) | | | TRANSPARENCY | B Lack of transparency - Sum of money is contributed - but result is not fully measurable. | B Lack of transparency - sum of money is contributed for every purchase - but result is not fully measurable. | B Lack of transparency - sum of money is contributed for every purchase - but result is not fully measurable. | F According to Intelligent Giving, no one involved could account for where the proceeds of ticket sales went. | A
 One for one giving ensures funds given are used for what they were intended. Customers know their giving translates into real change (e.g. numbers of trees planted, numbers of children fed). | MARKETING VALUE TO BUSINESS | C Businesses' one-off contributions to Salvation Army may be mentioned in the press. | A-
Customers are happy to be involved in community trade and are motivated to buy more. Visibility could be a lot better. | A
People and businesses love to support (RED) as it is backed by adored personalities like Oprah & Bono. Marketing results a little hard to track though. | B Business sponsors got good coverage - but it was only a one time event and it is not easy to test and measure results. | A+
Great marketing value because of: * Measurable giving * Media attraction * Good stories * Word of mouth * Repeat customers | FUNDRAISING COSTS | B Spends millions of dollars annually to raise funds. | A
Lower costs - Successful business model that makes donations and boosts community trade. | C Spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising - could have just given that money to Africa. | C Spent millions of dollars on advertising on an unsuccessful event, which had no real goals. | A
Low costs - B1G1 can take care of a charity's fundraising needs including a large percentage of admin as well. | CONTRIBUTORS'CHOICE OF CHARITY | B For direct giving, you can have a lot of charities to check out before settling which one is best. | A
Businesses can choose where their money goes. | C Partner businesses do not have much choice in the charities that receive their contributions - all are in Africa. | C Only three charities received funds. | A
Business givers can choose their charity or elect to give to a charity cause such as food or education, etc. | POTENTIAL FOR REAL GLOBAL CHANGE | C Nothing new to offer in terms of market change. | B Businesses' giving back is great - but very few take the added effort to push for change like Body Shop. | B Products (RED) only partner huge companies and all their profits go to Africa. | C These events are usually held one-off or annually. Money is often given to larger, more established charities. | A
Exponential. If more businesses partner charities globally, the potential for real change is massive. | PATH TO GIVING | Direct Giving One of the Top 100 charities in the world - The Salvation Army is a charity that individuals and businesses often donate to directly. | Business Trade & Giving The Body Shop engages in community trade helping Third World countries; and makes huge donations to charities from their profits. | Marketing Campaign Product (RED) is a brand licensed to partner companies, to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa. | Event Fundraising Live Earth was a series of worldwide concerts held on 7 July 2007 that initiated a three-year campaign to combat climate change. | Social Enterprise B1G1 is a brand licensed to any business - partnering them with any charity anywhere in the world. A truly global concept. | "You Would Think Giving Money Would Be Easy!" You would think that giving money is easy - pull out a wad of cash, write a cheque or punch in your credit card details. Yet, billionaires philanthropists like George Sores, have gone on the record as saying that effective giving is one of the hardest things to do. Developing nations receive billions of dollars every year and yet it often seems like nothing changes much. People asking smarter questions will bring about the needed change. Social Entrepreneurs like Mohamed Yunis, Nobel Prize winner, creating innovative solutions to poverty and environmental issues are carving the way to a new future where business initiatives, social enterprise and conscious consumerism transform our world. Initiatives like The Body Shop's 'Trade - Not Aid' need to be replicated. New ideas like Buy1GIVE1Free need to be embraced. The value of social enterprise needs to be recognised. Bill Gates, when asked how one can make a difference in the world, pointed to the Internet. Kiva.org and Buy1GIVE1Free (www.b1g1.com) are organisations that add value to the giver. With Kiva.org, people can receive email journal updates from the business they have sponsored. This happens with Buy1GIVE1Free as well. Businesses also get the added benefit of marketing stories to tell their customers: buy a laptop with us, and we give one computer to someone who cannot afford it. The next step to take Adopt a questioning mind, hop onto a wired laptop, and with a few hours to spare - you might just do justice to your effective giving! 
written by Eliza Ida Thomas,
Singapore.
© Eliza Ida Thomas 2008 This article can be reproduced in print and on the web without direct permission as long as the whole article remains intact and as is without anychanges whatsover.
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