Enjoy the Gift of Giving this Holiday Season
The holiday season is a time for celebrating and giving.
During this time of the year we take time out to celebrate and give gift. We
should also take this time to reflect on all the precious possession that we
have not only the material, but the real possessions, our family, friends and
all our love ones.
We already have an abundant of wealth that we many times
overlook in pursue of prosperity. We are blessed to be able to obtain and
retain our material possessions and to pursue our happiness.
This is not the story however for millions of people in the world.
There are millions that are starving and are merely concerned with just trying
to survive. Pursue of “happiness and prosperity” are hollow
words without any real meaning in their lives.
The things we posses and take for granted such as our home,
car, employment, opportunity for education and religion expressions are dreams
for others with no real means of achievement. So we are blessed and should show
our gratitude for all that we do posse. We should show our gratitude not only
during this season of celebrating and giving, but throughout the entire year.
How much gratitude do you really show for all of your
wonderful possessions? It’s said that gratitude bring more abundance into our
lives. The more you express gratitude the more you will receive back in return.
As in the Law of Attraction, that
which you so freely give out and desire, you will attract back.
You have an abundance of experience, knowledge, skill and
resources. Be grateful and share them freely. Giving back make you feel better
about yourself. Giving back also may change the live of those that received
your gifts.
If you give a gift and extent a hand, a gift will be giving back
to you and a hand extended when you need a hand. “You Get What You Believe In.”
When you take the time to give to others, you change not
only yourself but the lives of others and therefore help make an impact in the
world. There are many ways in which you can give back. You can make a donation,
volunteer or mentor by taking someone under your wings and help them grow by
sharing your knowledge, skills and experiences.
It’s a wonderful feeling to know that your gifts have helped
someone in need.
Keep on extending that hand!
Season’s
Greeting and a Wonderful New Year!
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THINGS TO PONDER
- If you are using on-line fundraising
maybe you should still do a creative highly customized “thank you letter and
solicitation” mailing for the year-end solicitation for your top “nearest and
dearest” donors.
- What’s your organization’s story?
That is the question. If you are writing a grant proposal, developing a
fundraising campaign or planning an event, you must be able to tell a
compelling story. What’s your organization’s story?
- What do you think present the
greatest difficulty to your organization’s fundraising success? What are your
plans to eliminate the obstacle in 20010?
- Has your organization utilized
Youtube nonprofit tools? If not you are missing out on amazing benefits for
your organization.
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QUOTES OF THE MOMENT
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we
give.”- Winston
Churchill
“Be grateful for the small things and big things will
follow”-Unknown
“That which is likened unto itself is drawn”. The
Law of Attraction
“The single
greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being
grateful for what you have right now”- Oprah
Winfrey
“Life
is a mirror and will reflect back to the
thinker what he thinks into it.”– Ernest Holmes
“The
best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service to
others.”- Mohandas(Mahatma)Gandhi
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FOR
YOUR INFORMATION
Tidbits, News and
Announcement
- Longtime ACLU Donor Confirms $388-Million
in Anonymous Gifts.
David
Gelbaum, a former hedge-fund manager who has made large donations anonymously,
confirmed that over the past five years he has given a total of nearly
$388-million to three organizations.
See: Permalink
- Americans who volunteer their time
and skills to nonprofit organizations donate an average of 10 times more money
to charity than people who don’t volunteer, according to a comprehensive
national study on volunteering released today by the Fidelity Charitable Gift
Fund ("Gift Fund") and VolunteerMatch. http://www.charitablegift.org/learn-about-charity/news/12-03-2009.shtml
-
Endowment
for a rainy Day. In the current edition of the Stanford Social
Innovation Review, Burton A. Weisbrod and Evelyn D. Asch make a compelling
argument in their article, "Endowment for a Rainy Day." Here's an
excerpt from the summary:" In recent decades, nonprofits have significantly increased the size
of their endowments. Yet during the current economic crisis, they made scant
use of their sizable holdings. Instead of drawing down their endowments to
offset losses of income, nonprofits resorted to cutting programs and personnel,
sometimes dramatically. To prepare for future financial downturns, nonprofits
should treat endowments as rainy day funds, not cut programs to preserve the
endowment." View the full article here
-
Online
Giving Contest Draws Controversy. An online contest run by the banking
giant JPMorgan Chase & Company has drawn criticism for the way in which it
conducted the event, which sought to give millions of dollars to 100 charities
selected by votes from the public, according to The New York Times. Three nonprofit organizations — Students for Sensible
Drug Policy, the Marijuana Policy Project, and Justice for All, which opposes
abortion — say they believe that the company disqualified them because it grew
uncomfortable about associating the Chase name with their controversial
missions.