How can you help to fight poverty?
October 15, 2008
Today is blog action day, which means that bloggers around the world unite to write about a current issue. This year blog action day is about poverty, and at the point of writing nearly 10,000 bloggers have participated in the event, raising awareness on the subject through writing personal opinions, ideas, suggestions and the bare facts of poverty throughout the world. Worldwide poverty is a huge global issue and I won’t pretend that I understand all the politics and reasons behind it, because I don’t. As my site is HR-related I thought I’d look instead at a couple of ways in which employers and employees can get involved in the fight against poverty:
- Organise company events to raise awareness and money to help towards specified charities or organisations that fight poverty. There’s loads of links to such organisations on the blog action day site.
- Some companies have implemented schemes where employees are able to donate money to charity through their salary before tax is taken. Whilst the individual employee may not be able to make a large contribution to the wider debate about poverty, regular donations to charities and awareness-raising groups gives these organisations the resources to continue their vital work in the continual battle against poverty. Search ‘payroll giving’ to find providers.
- Apply to sit on the board of trustees for an organisation that works to reduce and eradicate poverty. This could be a really small organisation that concentrates on one small area of the country, or a more national establishment. Either way, these organisations need experienced leadership and governance, and giving your time and experience to an organisation that fights against poverty can be a really effective contribution.
If you have a blog and want to join in blog action day, go to the site and register now!
Volunteer Africa Online
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