Charities Blog

Giving Something Back

Insights from Charities on Recent Japan and Ecuador Disasters

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Japan earthquake relief efforts

Natural disasters such as earthquakes can wreak havoc on the lives of people and properties. The trauma that they bring can last for a long time but thanks to humanitarian efforts, victims of these disasters get their much needed financial help and emotional support. With charities lending a helping hand, people were able to rebuild their lives.

Last year, Nepal suffered greatly from two major quakes that affected its more than eight million citizens. This April, two more countries were shaken by deadly earthquakes, Japan and Ecuador prompting charitable institutions from the different parts of the world to take action. [Read more…]

Two-Year Old Girl from the Philippines Needs Cochlear Implant

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Rhyka Tiangco turns two today but there won’t be a big birthday party for this girl from the Philippines. Her parents, Rhyan and Kathrina Jane, need all the money they can get for a cochlear implant for their daughter. Rhyka was born with profound deafness in both ears, noticed only when she was 15 months old and unable to say a single word.

Rhyka was delivered by emergency caesarean section due to her mother’s condition of having low amniotic fluid in the sac that held the baby. This condition hinders the proper development of the child in the womb and may even lead to death. To complicate matters, her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. Born premature and underweight (1.6 kgs), Rhyka was in the NICU for 10 days.

What Rhyka needs now to grow up as normal as kids her age is to be able to hear other people talking so she can learn how to talk. Her doctor has recommended a cochlear implant since hearing aids cannot help her. She had tried them but can only hear if the sounds are very loud.
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A cochlear implant is a device inserted by surgical procedure directly to the damaged cochlea (inner ear) to enable the person to hear sounds from the environment and other people talking. In little children, they will learn how to talk when they are able to hear, and awareness makes them feel more secure with their surroundings. The sooner the implant is done, the better the chances are for the child to grow and develop normally.

But funds are scarce. Rhyan and Kathrina are both working, but their combined salaries for a year can’t pay for the device and attendant costs of hospitalization, etc., let alone their daily expenses. A cochlear implant costs approximately $19,000 (P800,000 pesos) and hospital fees cost $4,700 (P200,000) for a total of $23,700 or P1 million pesos.

Parents will do anything for their children, and Rhyan and Kathrina are no different. After exhausting all resources, they are now appealing for kind hearts to help them give their daughter a chance at a normal life. Any amount is welcome. A few dollars from many people adds up and hopefully, Rhyka can have her implants. If you would like to see this little girl talking and playing with other children, please donate to her cause. There’s a fundraising campaign on Go Get Funding where you can send your donation. Rhyka, Rhyan and Kathrina Jane Tiangco will forever be grateful to you.

Related Posts:

How to Choose Charities in Asia that Help Poor Children

How to Encourage Teens to Donate to Charity

Common Fraud Involving Charity Organizations

How Much Should You Really Give to Charity

Is Revenue-Based Financing for Nonprofit Organization Possible?

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The biggest challenge that nonprofit organizations face is the ability to get their cause across people. In order to do this successfully, they need funds to implement their marketing campaigns, which is another problem they have to face.

Funds are a limited resource to these organizations that don’t intend of making money off their efforts. This is a reason why some charities requested protection from bankruptcy due to rising overhead and dwindling donations.

“When there is not enough money to cover all your bills, it is easy to feel overwhelmed,” according to bankruptcy lawyer Simon Resnik. “Financial distress can also make it difficult to concentrate at work, as well as cause you to avoid social situations.”

The idea of losing funds for your NPO or any organization can set up you up for the fall, especially if you’re not fully prepared for bankruptcy.

But this is just part of the bigger issue that drives NPO out of business, which is why they need to find other ways to build funds so they can execute their plans.

An idea is to institute a revenue-based funding for nonprofit organizations. What this does is investors back small businesses with a financial capital. Investors will get back their capital through regular gross revenue up until the fifth year. Aside from paying up the full amount, the business will also have to pay up a multiple or a cap.

Unlike other forms of loan, revenue-based funding does not get equity of the business, but instead takes a warrant instead.

While this appears to be an option that nonprofit organizations can take to pump life into their floundering finances, this is impossible and forbidden by law. Below are the reasons why..

Inurement

The inurement prohibition, also known as non-distribution constraint, prevents the organization to distribute the money it earns to individuals that has an interest in the organization. This includes employers, employees, and donors. While this law ensures that profit is not siphoned by insiders, it also puts investors at risk. As a result, revenue-based funding is impossible for this very reason. Investors won’t be able to get back their capital because the law forbids it. If an NPO is proven to have violated this law, they will lose their tax exemption.

Private benefit rule

The inurement prohibition is in line with the private benefit rule, in which nonprofit organization operate for qualifying exempt purposes (charities, causes, etc.). If an organization serves for the benefit of an individual or organization not part of the exempt purposes, then these transactions or transfer of funds are considered taxable. In relation to investors and donors, they will and should not get their supposed capital back according to this rule.

Unrelated business income rule

This type of income is defined as the amount received that go over the qualified asset account limit. Income received from unrelated parties such as investors should not be set aside as these are taxable.

Final thoughts: By crossing our revenue-based funding from your list of possible avenues to build finances, nonprofit organizations much look for money-making alternatives to sustain their cause. It is just a matter of being creative and coming up with a ingenious strategy to drive more donations that you don’t have to pay back.

More on nonprofit organization:

How to Register Your Nonprofit

Charity Foundations are Non-Profit Organizations

How to Get More Donations for Your Fundraisers

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When done correctly, fundraisers will raise money so your nonprofit organization can increase awareness to your cause and help make the situation better in any way you can.

The challenge now is to get more people to donate to your fundraisers. Since money is a limited resource for these organizations, they rely on donations and sponsorships. Both come from fundraising activities in line with the organization’s mission and objectives.

If your organization is having trouble in generating donations for your fundraisers, here are tips that you should follow to get the most out of your events. [Read more…]

Common Fraud Involving Charity Organizations

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Charity organizations do a valuable job for underprivileged people and communities. They find ways and go the extra mile to raise funds to launch campaigns that are aimed at helping the poor and underprivileged and improving their lives even if only for a temporary basis.

Unfortunately, there are people who are using these charities for their personal gain. There have been numerous cases around the world involving individuals swindling other people to support their own personal causes.

charity fraud

On the other hand, there are also organizations that are not true to their mission. In the U.S., for instance, the worst charities have been discovered after a year-long investigation done by CNN in collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting. [Read more…]

How to Encourage Teens to Donate to Charity

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It’s a fact that children learn from example. As such, they get to imitate the things they see their parents, teachers and older siblings are doing.

Yes, role modeling is still an effective way of teaching children the right way to do things. This is despite the modern techniques people and psychologists now use to raise kids. Even the teens can still be influenced by what they see their mom or dad are doing inside and outside their homes.

donating to charity

This being the case, parents need to instill in their children the value of giving to charities while they are growing up. Not only should this be done in their early years but even in their teens. [Read more…]

Should Charities Issue Receipts for Donations?

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Giving to charity is an admirable act and one that should be taught even to small children. Some kids exposed to charitable giving at an early age find it worthwhile to donate part of the monetary gifts they receive when they reach the age of 16 or 18. Some adults, however, start out in this endeavor at a later age.

There’s no age limit to the act of giving to charities and regardless of when you start donating, what matters is you are sincere in what you do. It’s a different kind of personal fulfillment if one is able to share his or her blessings, particularly hard-earned money.

dollar and Donation Box

But the question is, “Do you need to ask for an official receipt every time you donate money to a non-profit charitable organization?”

Ideally, a charity should issue receipts to donors. It is a legal obligation of a non-profit group to do so. Also, people who have donated money will need official receipts in order to make a claim on their annual income tax returns. [Read more…]

Charity on TV – Fundraising on Air

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Charity work is essentially about the voluntary giving of help or assistance to people who are in need. Systematic charitable work is carried out by organizations. In order for a charitable organization to pursue its objectives of helping the needy, it must be able to address its main concern about fundraising.

Charitable organizations usually have benefactors who may provide their main source of funding. However, it is quite possible that they will still need to do fundraising activities to further support their programs. One of the more popular forms of soliciting funds is charity on TV or fundraising on air.

Fundraising through TV is primarily carried out through Telethon events such as the UK Comic Relief and the Children in Need. A Telethon is basically a fundraising event which goes on television broadcast that may be held for a number of hours or days.  The main purpose of course is to raise money for a worthy cause.

A telethon is distinct in offering entertainment similar to a variety show while receiving pledges for donations.  The work itself is derived from the words television and marathon.  It has totally changed the face of fundraising from the basic face-to-face interaction to a highly technical way of moving funds from one source to the beneficiary.

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On-air fundraising on TV makes use of the power of media to create awareness for a cause and provide a convincing call to action for viewers to give, donate, or contribute typically in cash.  Some telethons however also receive donations in kind especially for causes related to extensive natural disasters.  Through telethons, it has become easier for viewers to give.

Early forms of telethons mainly relied on pledges made over the phone.  Today, it is possible to text donations on the day of the telethon and the handling organization can report millions of dollars in raised funds within the same day.

Telethons can be done once for a specific purpose or annually for a much larger beneficiary group.  Causes such as those related to child welfare have continuous needs for funding and will require a systematic way of getting it.  An annual or even a semi-annual telethon is a good way to go about it.

TV is not merely limited entertainment as it can be used for more noble causes such as charity work.  Service providers such as DirectTVDeal.com have made it possible for viewers to have access to more TV shoes including charity TV shows.

About the Author:
Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information to provide readers.

 

Image: fanpop.com

azbarez.com

Healing With Mirrors

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Around the world today, there are people taking on valuable missions on their own to help other people. Some do get publicized a lot while the others don’t get much exposure. But just the same, they continue to pursue their mission with as much help they can get or sometimes through their own personal funds.

One very inspiring man pursuing a unique humanitarian mission is Stevo (Stephen Sumner) of Me & My Mirror.org. He is actively helping less fortunate people with disabilities notably in Southeast Asian countries. His main objective is to ease the suffering of amputees in poor and conflict-prone areas around the globe through the power of the mirror.

Stevo is an amputee himself who rides a cargo bicycle to deliver mirrors to amputees in the villages. The mirrors are no ordinary ones as they are hand-made and created using the acrylic material. His goal is to alleviate the so-called “phantom limb pain” normally experienced by amputees and improve their quality of life amid the depression and ostracizing they get from other members of their community.

Stevo is currently running a crowd fund raising campaign at StartSomeGood.com, he needs to reach the target of $5,000 for all the money to go to helping people in Cambodia who have lost limbs. Please give what you can.

me-and-my-mirror

This particular therapy using mirrors was started by VS Ramachandran in the 1990s. Ramachandran is one of the world’s renowned neuroscientists.

The mirror therapy uses a visualization technique that allows a patient to look at a mirror image of his limb in place of the one that was amputated. When this procedure is done regularly at least 10 minutes twice a day for about a month to five weeks, the amputee can be treated and cured for the rest of his life.

The therapy works by helping the brain re-wire and stop sending warning signals that causes the phantom limb pain. In fact, this form of treatment is now being utilized by the U.S. Military, the American Pain Foundation and the American Automobile Association.

Stevo believes that if only the less fortunate people in conflict-torn areas are given the chance to learn about this mirror therapy, many would greatly benefit from it. It is a very cost effective technique in that patients don’t need to buy medicines, visit the doctors or hospitals and travel to the town centers to seek treatment.

Stevo has initially helped amputees in Cambodia where landmines were widely used in the past through his own personal funds. He looks forward to collecting additional funds until February 15 from kind-hearted people to carry on his next mission for three months until May this year. Other Asian countries he plans to visit are Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Haiti and the Balkans among others.

About the author:
Teresa is a freelance blogger and mom of two. She gets inspiration from the success stories of people strongly supporting humanitarian campaigns.

Fundraising for a Cause

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Image: rosettathurman

People and organizations gathering and soliciting voluntary contributions from individuals and companies for a specific purpose  are said to be doing fundraising for a  cause.  The reason for fundraising is the most important factor that will determine its success.  The contributing public must be convinced that the reason it is done is true, valid, and needed.

Almost all organized charitable works require some fundraising activity to be performed.  This is of course unless the organizers have so much funds between them that they can manage without outside funding.  In charitable works however, there is usually a big group that needs to be served that it is always advantageous to have more funds than less to complete a project.

Charity works start with a desire to help a particular person, group of persons, a community, a country, or a worldwide cause.  The initial desire to be of assistance to others is fired up with the passion to make it work.  Charitable causes are usually planned by unpaid volunteers who only have their genuine sincerity to serve as their main weapon.

The determination to make it work is the most valuable factor that can ensure the success of any charitable endeavour.  Fundraising is especially difficult to do since it requires the organizers to convince donors to part with their money and goods, or render service for free.  No one would be willing to contribute to a cause that is clearly self-serving.

Fundraising activities, especially those that cover a large territory, requires permission from authorities.  This is to ensure that the fundraising activity is carried out for the intended purpose.  If the fundraising activity is to be carried out in the name of an established institution, the permission of such organization must also be obtained.  It makes sense however to know the critical information required to effectively promote the cause of the organization.  Some of the more popular manner of fundraising is through selling products and organizing any event, the proceeds of which shall go to the beneficiary organization.