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As we transition Change You Can Afford into a charity, that site will be dedicated to the charity and no longer host the blogging archives.

Friday, August 13, 2010

And now for something different!

Often times when Stumbling around the web, I am amazed by the wasted bandwidth on things such as cats. Now don't get me wrong, I love cats (crazy cat lady in training!) it amazes how much of the Internet is those sites instead of sites dedicated to trying to better ourselves or create change. Although, there are days where my mental capacity is not much beyond lolcat jokes, so I do understand the appeal.

However, today I stumbled to a site called One Day's Wages, whose site is premised of donating a day's wages to various charities and I was so impressed.
"Our vision is to change global issues of injustice affecting millions of people, regardless of race, culture, sex, age, or religion.
Our vision is to inspire people around the world to simply donate one day's wages and to renew that pledge monthly, quarterly or yearly -  or to start campaigns with a cause by donating their birthday, one day of work, or numerous other ideas - to the cause of alleviating extreme global poverty.
If your wages for a single day cannot save the world, they can dramatically impact another person’s life; consider, then, what millions of you giving your daily wages - annually or through our causes campaign - can accomplish"

"Why should you give one day's wages?
  1. It's simple: One day's wages is about 0.4% of your annual income. Simply donate one day's wages or another amount you want to invest.
  2. It's transparent: 100% of your giving goes directly to organizations and projects already on the ground. Through our site, you will learn how our collective funds are being invested to fight extreme poverty.
  3. It's empowering: Your voice matters, since you help us find, research, and evaluate the organizations we fund. You don't have to be a rock star or a celebrity to be influential in this global movement.
  4. It's global: You're not alone. Join hundreds and thousands of others through the movement of One Day's Wages in making an impact."
And I have to admit, I am in love with their concept. Its brilliant and shows how much we can do even if we are not making a huge amount. So today I will be donating one days wages to their Haiti Relief fund. I would be honored if anyone would join me in this.

As a bonus, here is a story on their blog about a First grade class who donated money to the cause. It made me smile and gave me hope for the future of our world.  "You're right. It won't change the entire world but let's put it in perspective. 
  • Approximately 80% of the world live on less than $10US/day.
  • Approximately 3 billion people live on less than $2US/day
  • Approximately 1.4 billion people live on or less than $1.25US/day (the definition of extreme global poverty)."
Instead of complaining about how little we make here in the Global North, I think we should all recognize our wealth compared to the rest of the world. As a challenge, I encourage you to go to Global Rich List and enter your annual income. Then see how wealthy you are, if you are in the US you are probably in the top 10% of the world wealthiest. After seeing how much you have, I challenge you to donate One Day's Wages with me.

Thanks all and have a great day.

2 comments:

  1. I'm a numbers person. I make a pretty good hourly wage and at first pass a day's wages seems like a lot of money. Heck for a lot of people my day's wage *is* a lot of money.

    But one day's wages is only .38% of my total take home pay for the year. That is less than half of ONE percent.

    A teeny tiny percentage of my total pay. That is, like less than that bikini the Beach boys sang about.

    Opps, dated myself. Oh well, "C'est la vie".

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  2. nja - Thats a great way to think about it. Though the whole number may be large, it really is such a small percentage of out total yearly income. And I believe, most of us can spare .38% of our yearly income to help others. :-)

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