Thursday, January 15, 2009

Easy Math Yet Hard To Comprehend

I'd like to take the time here to mention a very charitable cause and a very charitable man. It's the 12 for 12K cause.

Each month a specific charity is chosen. For January, it's War Child. By the end of the year, that will mean there are 12 charities that are helped through this cause and countless people.

The goal is to raise $144,000 in 2009. This breaks down to $12,000 per month (per charity).
It may sound like a lot of money, so let's break it down even further. If 1200 people get involved in this cause, they only have to donate $10/month. If 2400 people get involved, it's only $5/month out of their pockets. The more people that get involved the less money per month is needed. Or, if everyone commits to donating $10/month then the goal will not only be met, but it will be surpassed.

1200 people may sound like a big number, so let's break this down. If I tell 10 people and each of those people, tell 10 more, etc, you could reach out to over 1000 people in just three steps:

First, I tell 10 people.
Second, if those 10 tell 10 others, that's 100 people.
Third, if those 100 tell 10 others, that's 1000 people.

So if I, plus 10, plus 100, plus 1000 are donating $10 month then we just raised $11,110 per month! That's not quite the goal, but if we all do this then we've reached 93% of the goal and it only cost us $10 and 10 minutes.

All you need to do is write an email and send it out to everyone in your address book. You know there are more than 10 people in your hotmail/gmail/yahoo/outlook account, I'm hoping you reach 10 people and they do the same.

This cause has been running now since January 1st. In 15 days, they have only reached 6% of their goal.

This is what I cannot comprehend. $10 is not a lot of money, and 10 minutes is not a lot of time. I understand the economy is low, but if you can make your coffee instead of buying it for one week - that's $10 you can put towards a charity.

If you make your lunch for two days instead of buying it, that's $10 you can put toward a charity.

If you can rent a movie instead of seeing it in the theatre, that's $10 that you can put towards a charity.

And my personal favourite (yet hardest for me), if you can go to the library for one book, instead of purchasing it, then that's $10 that you can put towards a charity.

It's not a hard thing to do, and it's not too much to ask. Think about all the people you will be helping. You're helping to build schools in Africa, you're helping to find cures to diseases, you're helping to clean up pollution, you're helping to find clean water, you're helping animals find homes. You're helping.

It took one man to have a vision. He put all of his time and resources into this project and it's completely selfless. If one man can donate 100% of his time to this project, surely you can find 10 minutes? If you are absolutely without money, surely you can find someone who can help.

Ask your parents, ask your siblings, ask everyone. Spread the word. The more people who get involved, the more people we can help. It's simple.

Spread the word, open your hearts, find the money, check the link. http://12for12k.org/

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes the easiest thing is the hardest to do. Sad, but true. Hey ho...