Good evening you winter wonders! 💙
Tonight, I’m writing to you from Chios – an island famous for producing one of antiquity’s most celebrated wines (purportedly after Bacchus flew over one night and ‘inseminated’ its fields with his… seed!). Today I’ve got another fortnightly selection of social ideas for you. As ever, these are little things that have come my way over the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!
1. A call for generous donations: Urgent support for Chios – As Solange and I spend 2 weeks on Chios shipping pallets after pallets of AFE’s education equipment to NGOs across Greece, the truth is that the situation here is much as it was all those years ago when we started. But there’s less and less support available. As we sadly pack up, we’re rallying together another time to raise €1,000 for two fantastic grassroots groups still providing essential shelter items, food, and legal support to refugees and asylum-seekers stuck here. At the time of writing, we’re at €676 – chip in for an orange in your stocking this Christmas!
2. Charity policy I smile at, so as not to cry: Catholic Relief Services LGBTQ Discrimination – CRS provides wonderful support to its staff and to their partners and spouses too. There’s all manner of ‘Equal Employment’ policies, ‘family-friendly’ allowances and cosy perks. That is unless your partner’s of the same sex. Unfortunately, “CRS designs and conducts its benefit programs consistent with Catholic values and teaching. This extends to the nature of the services provided and determining eligibility for dependent coverage, as well as the definition of marriage and spousal relationships.” In effect, same-sex partners aren’t eligible. Here’s to hoping this brave employee can win this right as he takes CRS to court over the issue.
3. Your feedback please: The Solidarity Lottery – Lotteries are a big deal. So is there not scope for engaging many more people in donating to small charities by offering them big cash prizes at the same time as making a donation? ChatGPT helped flesh out this idea for me. What do you think? A sensible fundraising model? Why aren’t more people doing it? Want to get involved? 💸❤️
4. A habit I have to change: 45 days a year watching television – Ok. Here’s the thing. What with films and the occasional series binge, I might be watching up to 2 hours of TV a day. In perspective, that’s 56 hours a month = 672 hours a year = 42 waking days. Almost a month and a half of my year on Netflix and HBO. Looking forward, that’s over 6 years out of the next 50 spent streaming. Am I happy spending 12.5% of my life watching whatever Netflix sells me next?
5. Funding tool I’ve come across: Choosing Cows: A ‘Go-No Go’ Checklist – I love this not only for its playful metaphor, but because I always see small charities throwing away time on funding bids that – chances are – they’ll never get. When time is so tight, and money too, taking time to strategically choose where to send an application is so important! Waste less time on wild cows and start milking! 🐮 (Thanks for the great find, Jude!).
📣 Callouts from me and my network
👨💻 Need an awesome website? – check out GSF Creations, my new sustainable web design agency
🧡 Fundraising Trustee at Refugee Biriyani & Bananas (where I’m also a Trustee)
📱 Honest Mobile – use referral code jacobwarn1994 to join the UK’s most sustainable network
That’s it for this fortnight. As ever, please let me know your thoughts and feedback – and send anything you’d like me to include in upcoming editions this way.
