High Net-Worth Individuals Have the Power To Change The World

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No matter how much financial success you have, the best entrepreneurs are those who give back to their communities. Instilling philanthropic values in the people around us is crucial in bettering our society. The best way to reach success and to be a well-rounded business professional is to incorporate philanthropic values into business planning from the very start.

The key to philanthropy is to make it engaging. For example, partners show their children the importance of helping others through hands-on activities such as donating toys or helping elderly neighbors. This makes philanthropy engaging and even more likely to make a difference in the lives of everyone involved.

If you’re a high net-worth individual, you have the opportunity to connect with your giving on a whole new level. Not only can you make your work engaging, but you can implement structural processes that will lead to the highest amount of impact possible.

High net-worth individuals with a lot of generosity have a large means to put their plans into action. The best way to go about this is for individuals to convene and share their information from various resources in order to create change at the grassroot. High net-worth individuals are typically driven by the simple agenda of doing good.

So why exactly is it that high net-worth individuals have the power to make a large difference? People with high net-worth are often able to work side-by-side with nonprofit organizations. The most effective giving occurs when these people empower the NGOs they work with. This involves learning more about the NGO’s challenges, finding solutions to red flags, and taking advantage of opportunities for growth. High net-worth individuals who truly make a difference don’t simply donate to companies; they create an effective partnership with the companies.

One example of this is an American family that funded School-on-Wheels, an education program in india that transformed a commercial bus into a mobile classroom that traveled from one slum to another to bring education to children on the streets. Because of the family’s funding, thousands of vulnerable children benefitted, and the NGO’s capacity was increased. The funding was critical to helping the company create a lasting impact. The funding continued for many years, building capacity and systematically addressing the needs of School-on-Wheels.

School-on-Wheels was able to reach its full potential largely due to the honest evaluation, clear reporting and constant dialogue between the organization and the family that funded it. The organization has since grown to enormous heights. In fact, Prince William and Kate Middleton chose this NGO as one of three nonprofits they visited in India.

It is important to structure your company so that you can maximize impact. One way to do this is to create a shared value system. Think about what problems are most important to the company and why solving those problems is so important. Then think about your investment philosophy. Consider whether you will make long-term investments or single-year grants. Once you’ve thought about your values, your mission statement should come naturally.

Evaluation and reporting is an important part of the upkeep of a philanthropic campaign. Create a simple quarterly or bi-annual report that clearly outlines the positives and the negatives. Evaluation of your grantees allows you to brainstorm about the ways to empower your grantees and how you can build capacity. It’s also a great idea to collaborate with other high net-worth individuals and philanthropists who want to work toward the same goal.

There is no one right way to make a difference, but if you incorporate philanthropy into your business strategy from day 1 and collaborate with others, your efforts are sure to create change in the world.

 

5 Tips to Craft an Engaging Corporate Philanthropic Campaign

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5 Tips to Craft an Engaging Corporate Philanthropic Campaign

Whether you’re launching a new program, revitalizing a stale one, or just want to make sure you’re following best practices to maximize both your reach and impact in your company’s corporate social responsibility program. Below are five steps you should follow in order to create an environment of success when it comes to promoting a certain charitable cause or mission.

Setting goals for your mission

Before actually starting this process, you need to sit back and reevaluate what the exact goals are when it comes to defining “success.” Consider how key causes map to the interests of your employees and goals of your business. Remember: the best philanthropy programs with solid support come from a set purpose with employee engagement. Authenticity is absolutely essential stepping stone.

Plan

Plan for a system that works the way you work and assemble your team. Reduce or eliminate inefficient tasks or processes to funnel or cultivate long term success. Basically, maintain flexibility and decide how to adapt during the evolving process of your corporate social responsibility program.

Secure a strong online presence

Enhance your overall brand message and share your philanthropic story with a website dedicated to the cause. This not only makes it clear for your supporters to find you, but it is also easier for potential volunteers to engage. In other words, utilize this site to give examples of your work , latest/upcoming events, and ways individuals can get involved at both micro and macro levels.

Launch time

The system before launching is essential when it comes taking small steps to success. After all the preparation leading up to this point, take the time to make sure everything is in place.  Depending on the  locale or area your company is targeting, partnering up with a business or other establishment to help in this stage.

Effectively communicate your results

At the end of the fundraiser or digital campaign, craft a comprehensive report underlining all the success with the use of social media channels, your website, and support from employees. Follow-up after each donation to collect data and send any stories to your communications/marketing team for promotion. Also, be sure to gather photos, stories, and anecdotes to help promote next year’s event.

The Future of Corporate Philanthropy

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The Future of Corporate Philanthropy

 

Within the vast digital space, the development of tools, websites and campaigns used to gain user engagement continues to increase year after year. An employee engagement tool called “Benevity” eases the sometimes confusing process of donating, volunteering, and grant making as a means to make this user experience as simple and hassle free as possible.

At a recent conference in San Diego, the director of employee engagement for Benevity publicly discusses the various trends, and emerging areas for improvement in relation to the “digital philanthropy” moving forward.

The director of solutions at Benevity, Saunders, also highlights the fact that the volunteer space is changing due to more companies offering volunteer opportunities to employees not only in corporate headquarters, but also across multiple offices under the business umbrella.

According to several data sources, 77% of companies allowed non-headquarter employees to engage with certain volunteer opportunities or programs implemented by the firm. On the other hand, around 58% of companies reported that at least one program was made available to their international employees.

During the conference Saunders also printed out the recent trend centered around the overall demand of employees increasingly becoming more aware and engaged in corporate philanthropy. While “volunteer” within the corporate world can tend to be fairly broad, these opportunities generally consist of these bodies offering ways their employees can get involved.

Studies have shown that increased employee engagement in corporate philanthropy, not only increases loyalty internally, but also increases loyalty internally, but also augments the donation revenue with relation to individuals giving money to the cause.

Benevity also spoke on behalf of the vital importance with regard to the qualities of collaboration, teamwork, and integration that comes with volunteering. In addition, there has been evidences indicating that individuals more inclined to volunteer actually results in giving far more money, resources, and time to a wide array of philanthropic causes.

On average, these individuals give roughly around 41% more than the average Americans, further underlining how much of an impact volunteer programs make within the mentality of “paying it forward.”

Also, Benevity makes it clear that providing potential and current employees within corporate philanthropy the necessary tools to guide their success is more than important, it is absolutely essential to grow. The ability to utilize technology to effectively guide volunteers in this process is a cornerstone tool. Volunteering is centered around integration, sos it is only fitting that this quality is the basis for technology use in volunteer programs and opportunities.

One program that continuously proves to be successful is called the “Dollars for Doers” opportunity, which has shown to boost engagement for employees. Essentially, this program donates on behalf of a high-performing employee who not only exhibits genuine interest in the cause, but also is an active member, trying to better the overall engagement experience.

Not only are the Dollar for Doer programs some of the best functioning ones in the world, but they have also increased in popularity during the last few years. Around 5% of Benevity clients offer their employees this program in order to boost and further develop their firm’s philanthropic arm.

To improve any program to a higher standard, a fair share of creativity is needed to raise certain standards to the next level. Even though less restrictions within the program allow for more leeway in terms of how operations (volunteer) run, creativity has no doubt moved to the forefront of future program implementation.

In this regard, companies are making it easier for volunteers receive cash rewards and other complementary opportunities in the program. Another added benefit of this program is the increased appeal from nonprofit partners to work with companies that provide this opportunity for their employees. The creativity and less restrictions on the rewards side within the Dollars for Doers program will foster an environment geared towards more companies adopting this process.

With a forty percent increase of pro bono service across companies throughout the country, private institutions actually have the highest growth rates. A pro bono or highly skilled volunteer is someone who donates his/her professional services for a nonprofit, or on behalf of another philanthropic organization.

A pro bono volunteer is different from other volunteers in that they bring expertise to an organization on a project basis that includes clear guidelines, deliverables and work that is tailored to their skillset. Pro bono and skilled volunteers range along a continuum of technical expertise and experience in terms of skills, levels of commitment, and the types of projects that appeal to them.

A great way to reflect on the work you or your team has completed when working with a charity and their partners is to discuss the project a few days after participation. Evaluating what and how to improve certain aspects of the volunteer project after completion allows not only employees to be more effective, but it also allows for increased awareness moving forward.

Effectively Engaging with Millennials Through Branding

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As many millennials share this common notion of making a unique or interestingly crafted mark within the digital space, brands have taken this message into consideration in content production related to their brands. In this sense, many digital advertisers and marketers agree that creating GIFs and emojiis have become a new, image-based language for these young individuals to interact with each other on various social media platforms.

Other marketers agree that the creation of these GIFs and emojiis are accurate representations of millennials expanding their own world of communication with a basis in moving pictures or images to get their message across to others. In terms of devices, both iOS and Android mobile platforms have integrated emoji keyboards into their software, while Tumblr users engage over twenty-three million GIFs on a daily basis.

Unlike generations before their time, millennials, for the most part, have always been exposed to content within the vast digital media atmosphere. From inception, millennials have taken it upon themselves to acquire and mold content in a way that specifically fills their communication needs in that moment in time.

heart eyesTo illustrate, take the GIF as a primary example of this new form of communication that has swept and continues to be heavily used across social media properties. In other words, GIFs are crafted to express anything from political standing, to a positive emotion that is evoked with this individual’s favorite concert tickets are purchased. In this regard, many believe that we are currently living in a world in which millennials are consistently molding our digital space.

With Clinique’s campaign successfully producing an innovative campaign in the UK, brands need to generate stories that would make its mark amidst the endless communities that appeal to thousands of millennials on a day to day basis. This Clinique campaign which received over 600,000 social media engagements, had drawn upon not only emotional connections, but also this notion of the future as an environment to interact with oneself.

For brands still trying to make a huge impact on millennials across social media platforms, a great piece of advice to keep in mind is to evoke a profound level of inspiration when pitching a campaign to this audience. Crafting a product-based campaign that forces this generation to question, challenge and reconnect with specific emotions will create a long-term impact. By sparking this new, innovative conversation, millennials will have no choice but to pay attention to your brand’s tailored message.

Disconnecting from the Digital Space

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The increase of wifi spots across New York City, along with a wide spectrum of global, cosmopolitan cities have all been participating in a digital connectedness as a means for locals, tourists and passerbyers alike to all stay interactive on their devices. While this was primarily initiated to further connectedness on social media platforms, to promote engagement via text messaging and internet browsing, both Olson and Roder of Horizon’s TrendSights have concluded that becoming a “smart city” may not necessarily spark an overall increase in user engagement.

With this in mind, Horizon’s TrendSights has concluded that there is an increase of consumers who have essentially opted to not connect to wifi kiosks or hotspots in order to maintain face to face interaction. In short, the intent on becoming more connected through the implementation of everything wifi has resulted to a response that has produced a quest to for more personal, undistracted personal space from their devices.

Although both Olson and Roder have noticed this trend gradually appearing in consumer and social behavior, they agree that the increased effort on the consumer’s behalf to distance themselves from their devices has been far more noticeable in the past six months. Olson comments on this trend by stating that “Most people have had smartphones for awhile now, but I think people had to kind of live with them for a while and internalize all the effects the phones have on one’s life before they felt this itch to return to a more disconnected life.”

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As this concept of distance from devices has augmented within the last year or so, consumers have been responding in different forms in order to counteract what they feel is the lack of meaningful social engagement.

More concretely, one interesting that has been making a strong statement as an overall response to the digital connectedness as a whole, is the fad of adult sleep-away camps that mandate an environment which calls for no devices or anything digitally related.

An adult sleepaway camp called “Camp Grounded,” has locations from New York to Northern California and offers features like typewriters, stargazing, sweat lodges and gourmet cuisine in the hopes of visitors to take a step back from their busy, digitally occupying lives.

This essentially highlights how adamantly digital consumers of all ages are actively attempting to create more authentic, face to face human interaction in their daily lives. To read more about how consumers are disconnecting from the digital space click on this link.

 

Charity Paired With Youtube

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Unlike a good portion of stars that come from the Hollywood pool of affluent celebrities, there is something quite refreshing about online sensations that work their way up to achieve talent. Comparing these two levels of celebrity could not only be more drastically different within the spectrum of fame. Although these two different types of celebrity interact with their fan base on digital or social media platforms, it is an interesting trend that youtube celebrities have the tendency to socially engage their fans in a more intimate way. On the other hand, Hollywood celebrities are more inclined to maintain social relations with fans, but can sometimes engage them at arm’s length which intentionally creates a level of emotional distance.

Nonprofit organizations and other charitable causes heavily depend on financial resources to not only fund their national or multinational campaign, but also the voice of an influential celebrity who in essence, possesses the ability to fundamentally change the nature of the cause. As many of the present day Youtube sensations come from modest households, it is commonly seen that these online celebrities are more willing to promote or engage in philanthropy. In regards to cultivating a massive, loyal following for a specific cause or charity, it is evident that Youtube sensations have the potential of replacing Hollywood celebrities as the main forefront for generating a following for a cause.

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Moreover, pairing the needs of digital influencers and brands alike, the organization called Reelio Cares has been examining the needs of both parties as a means to create a symbiotic partnership between the functioning entities. Ava Kelly, the manager of Reelio Cares, points out some key highlights that her organization has accomplished in regards to this innovative way of combining the power of youtube celebrity and charity in order to complete the goal of helping those less fortunate.

Ava Kelly offers some insight of this trend that could redefine the way we generate philanthropic engagement by stating, “It’s been a great learning experience so far,” “Seeing how far behind the non-profits were when it came to [influencer] marketing and working with digital influencers to educate them about working with non-profits, that’s probably been where a lot of my time has been spent. These digital influencers are very different than Hollywood celebrities.”

Reelio Cares has mastered the art of finding charities’ digital equivalent with YouTubers such as DigDeep, which supports the notion of clean water for every human. The success of this campaign resulted in three youtubers generating social media buzz when they decided to live on no more than four liters of water for a single day. Along with hitting around 1.1 million subscribers, the campaign generated a 9.9 engagement rate which is more than twice the average rate of a branded campaign of this nature.

It is safe to say that charitable bodies can benefit from this advantageous partnership which marries the influencers of Youtube digital entertainment to philanthropy. Check out Forbes’ article that delves deeper into charity and the digital world.

 

Digital Ad Revenue Soaring

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According to Laurie Sullivan from MediaPost.com, the Internet Advertising Revenue or IAB recently released a report showing that the American digital advertising revenue increased by more than fifteen percent in 2014. Last year, total revenue in this space was just below the $50 billion mark. $14.2 billion of this came in Q4 of 2014, which was a 17% increase from the previous quarter.

increasesalesIf you take a closer look at this data, you will see that ads in social media rose an incredible fifty-seven percent to over $7 billion in 2014. The growth of this number over the course of the year is even more impressive. Of this $7 billion, $4.1 billion came in the final six months of 2014. Over the last three years, the compounded annual growth rate sits at a remarkable fifty-five percent.

David Silverman for PWC notes how brands have finally determined how to make money from the investments they have made in social media over the last few years. The market for this platform has really matured.

Sullivan reports that the cost per click for advertisements that appear on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. have increased in recent years. Sullivan also points out that these higher prices could influence how brands allocate their money in the future.

Brian Wieser, an analyst form Pivotal Research Group, believes that the numbers, if you dive into the data, indicate something else. The lion’s share of the growth can actually be attributed to that of Google and Facebook. If you remove these two tech giants from the data, digital advertising revenue only experienced a marginal increase.

In this article, Sullivan also reports that investments in the mobile space increased twenty-five percent last year, and now sit higher than $12 billion. Search remains the leader in advertisement revenue with it accounting for nearly $20 billion in 2014.