According to a recent article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, only 31% of the money Americans donate to charities benefits poor people. The article reported on a study conducted by the Indiana University Center on Philanthrophy and financed by Google, and it also revealed that contributions to charities meeting the most basic of human needs, such as food and shelter, were just 8% of all donations from individuals. That's only $19 billion for the entire United States, less than 10% of what this nation is spending in Iraq on a similar time frame basis. The patterns of giving based on income and socioeconomic status also reveal that the least wealthy give at more than a 2 to 1 basis compared with the wealthiest Americans to benefit the needy.
While all who give, whether to the needy, or in other ways that benefit society (such as to education, the arts, cultural organizations, and beyond) are commendable compared to those who do not, it has been both our personal and professional experiences in our lifetimes that beautiful buildings, while indeed, well, glamorous, do not develop people alone. So however you and we give, and please, even when times are rough, keep doing so as we do, in this age of Katrina as more than a hurricane, but truly reminding us of real injustices throughout the entire land, and that the entire thinking and spirit of helping others, especially in real, urgent need, needs to be rethought and renewed. Beyond a hand out, rather a real hand up.
There are new ways we admire, even more as we learn more, and we call on others who tangibly care (not just talk) to walk the talk with us, and catalyze these new ways of human and spiritual renewal, rather than merely writing a check (or not) -- without thinking it through. Please seriously consider as one way we at Sunrise Advisors would like to devote our careers, earn our livelihoods, and join together with you and others in the real world, promising efforts of Common Ground in New York -- http://www.commonground.org -- and its pioneering efforts to not just provide shelter for the homeless, and admirable nonprofit pathways and programs -- but through the first Ben & Jerry's (surprisingly profitable?) social enterprise franchise and job training program in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, some years ago (and several different, innovative initiatives since), transform individual lives with stability and hope. For more about this, please see the light at:
http://www.allbusiness.com/management/104917-1.html
We also hear some are getting caught up with semantics as to whether social enterprises can only flow from nonprofit ownership, or whether definitely for profit companies with a provably enduring environmental and social conscience -- like a Stonyfield Farm, http://www.stonyfield.com -- should be called something else. Who cares! Except that what we have read and witnessed in this regard can just be a lot of unnecessary, worthless background noise, sort of like Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
Please share this widely with others who both care and think, for you then help us through Sunrise Advisors -- http://www.enterprisesunrise.com and http://www.nonprofitsunrise.com
-- to survive and prosper in hopefully, doing well and doing good. And we want all to know, also, that the environment, as we see it is far more organic and local, and integrated in public health and well being than how it is often seen, as more of an abstract cause. So there really is a direct connection between our environment and offering that hand up to those in need.
Much of the spirit reflected in The Rise of The Creative Class -- http://books.google.com/books?id=4AcGvt3oX6IC&pg=PP1&dq=Richard+Florida&ei=fUEJR6uiHZW0pALopsiiDQ&sig=RUra7f-tg72SfXuFyJGLNJrGavo -- and other works by Richard Florida makes a similar case for arts for the public, not elites, too...as well as through addressing head on the issues of homelessness and poverty in America, and how these can damage the quality of life for us all. More on this quality of life, from a together perspective is inspired through Comeback Cities -- http://books.google.com/books?id=o5sbdWh_B8IC&pg=PP1&dq=Comeback+Cities&ei=pEIJR4qPJZrkowK-742nDQ&sig=jxJSx614tvcbkQz35ttAXJdBkpw (including an opening message by Tom Brokaw), and, with special relevance towards building an enhanced social enterprise economy and (truly) eco-system, a more recent book by Michael Shuman, The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating The Global Competition -- http://www.smallmart.org -- related through a karma connection through time, history, and our hopeful future with an amazingly day-to-day and practical, yet profoundly pioneering work first discovered by us 19 years ago (and recently, deeply reconnected with...), Paul Hawken's Growing A Business -- http://books.google.com/books?id=3ZRpM_7lLUIC&q=Growing+a+Business+Paul+Hawken&dq=Growing+a+Business+Paul+Hawken&ei=O0YJR7nGBZeGpwLJhsjDDg&pgis=1
Making the triple bottom line (financial, environmental, and social) truly come to life is our purpose in this life, ours and hopefully yours. A friend of ours described it as the spirit of L'Chaim (the spirit of life, in a broad sense) which transcends all faiths and cultures. Now that's what, to us, further described at our Website, CCEs, Creative Community Enterprises are supposed to be all about. A real hand up!
Indeed, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, as the saying goes. So, please, individually, and with and through community, beyond self, in the spirit of Paul Hawken, Michael Shuman, Richard Florida, Common Ground, and all who walk the talk -- Let's Go Forward Together!
Thanks for listening with both your heart and mind -- and to our insight and innovation through Sunrise Advisors, from which also flows, hopefully with you and others, a new kind of "together."
While all who give, whether to the needy, or in other ways that benefit society (such as to education, the arts, cultural organizations, and beyond) are commendable compared to those who do not, it has been both our personal and professional experiences in our lifetimes that beautiful buildings, while indeed, well, glamorous, do not develop people alone. So however you and we give, and please, even when times are rough, keep doing so as we do, in this age of Katrina as more than a hurricane, but truly reminding us of real injustices throughout the entire land, and that the entire thinking and spirit of helping others, especially in real, urgent need, needs to be rethought and renewed. Beyond a hand out, rather a real hand up.
There are new ways we admire, even more as we learn more, and we call on others who tangibly care (not just talk) to walk the talk with us, and catalyze these new ways of human and spiritual renewal, rather than merely writing a check (or not) -- without thinking it through. Please seriously consider as one way we at Sunrise Advisors would like to devote our careers, earn our livelihoods, and join together with you and others in the real world, promising efforts of Common Ground in New York -- http://www.commonground.org -- and its pioneering efforts to not just provide shelter for the homeless, and admirable nonprofit pathways and programs -- but through the first Ben & Jerry's (surprisingly profitable?) social enterprise franchise and job training program in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, some years ago (and several different, innovative initiatives since), transform individual lives with stability and hope. For more about this, please see the light at:
http://www.allbusiness.com/management/104917-1.html
We also hear some are getting caught up with semantics as to whether social enterprises can only flow from nonprofit ownership, or whether definitely for profit companies with a provably enduring environmental and social conscience -- like a Stonyfield Farm, http://www.stonyfield.com -- should be called something else. Who cares! Except that what we have read and witnessed in this regard can just be a lot of unnecessary, worthless background noise, sort of like Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
Please share this widely with others who both care and think, for you then help us through Sunrise Advisors -- http://www.enterprisesunrise.com and http://www.nonprofitsunrise.com
-- to survive and prosper in hopefully, doing well and doing good. And we want all to know, also, that the environment, as we see it is far more organic and local, and integrated in public health and well being than how it is often seen, as more of an abstract cause. So there really is a direct connection between our environment and offering that hand up to those in need.
Much of the spirit reflected in The Rise of The Creative Class -- http://books.google.com/books?id=4AcGvt3oX6IC&pg=PP1&dq=Richard+Florida&ei=fUEJR6uiHZW0pALopsiiDQ&sig=RUra7f-tg72SfXuFyJGLNJrGavo -- and other works by Richard Florida makes a similar case for arts for the public, not elites, too...as well as through addressing head on the issues of homelessness and poverty in America, and how these can damage the quality of life for us all. More on this quality of life, from a together perspective is inspired through Comeback Cities -- http://books.google.com/books?id=o5sbdWh_B8IC&pg=PP1&dq=Comeback+Cities&ei=pEIJR4qPJZrkowK-742nDQ&sig=jxJSx614tvcbkQz35ttAXJdBkpw (including an opening message by Tom Brokaw), and, with special relevance towards building an enhanced social enterprise economy and (truly) eco-system, a more recent book by Michael Shuman, The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating The Global Competition -- http://www.smallmart.org -- related through a karma connection through time, history, and our hopeful future with an amazingly day-to-day and practical, yet profoundly pioneering work first discovered by us 19 years ago (and recently, deeply reconnected with...), Paul Hawken's Growing A Business -- http://books.google.com/books?id=3ZRpM_7lLUIC&q=Growing+a+Business+Paul+Hawken&dq=Growing+a+Business+Paul+Hawken&ei=O0YJR7nGBZeGpwLJhsjDDg&pgis=1
Making the triple bottom line (financial, environmental, and social) truly come to life is our purpose in this life, ours and hopefully yours. A friend of ours described it as the spirit of L'Chaim (the spirit of life, in a broad sense) which transcends all faiths and cultures. Now that's what, to us, further described at our Website, CCEs, Creative Community Enterprises are supposed to be all about. A real hand up!
Indeed, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, as the saying goes. So, please, individually, and with and through community, beyond self, in the spirit of Paul Hawken, Michael Shuman, Richard Florida, Common Ground, and all who walk the talk -- Let's Go Forward Together!
Thanks for listening with both your heart and mind -- and to our insight and innovation through Sunrise Advisors, from which also flows, hopefully with you and others, a new kind of "together."
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