Collin Palkovitz is Pure Charity’s Director of Interactive Marketing. Today we asked him to share about topic he recently spoke on and finds near and dear to his heart.
————————————————————————————————————————————-
Earlier this spring I had the privilege of attending the 2013 JCI Conference of the Americas. It was truly inspiring to spend the week with a group of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing positive change to their communities.
JCI’s president, Chiara Milani challenged conference participants:
Dare to Act. Talk is cheap. We don’t need more protesters in this world. Anyone can protest. That is easy. Even a baby crying is protesting something. What we need are people courageous enough to take action and make a tangible difference in their community and in the world around them.
I was asked to speak in 3 different conference sessions. While each one was fantastic, my favorite topic that I was asked to present was “U.N Millennium Development Goal #8: How Partnerships can be used to address the world’s most pressing problems.”
This topic is particularly meaningful to me. I studied Applied Anthropology in college. In my coursework, I examined various approaches to responsible and sustainable community development. I loved examining how to best affect positive change. I loved studying change theory. I have since had the great privilege of co-founding several community development initiatives in rural Kenya. These efforts have been both meaningful and foundational in how I see the world.
Over the past decade, the majority of my professional efforts have been spent on digital marketing. I have worked with some of the world’s biggest brands and I have been fortunate to work alongside of cutting-edge marketers in the digital space.
For many years, the nonprofit and the corporate efforts in my life remained largely unlinked.
A friend of mine told me about Pure Charity when I was living in Los Angeles and working for a digital marketing consultancy. What excited me most about Pure Charity was the concept of using corporate partnerships and consumer spending to meet the financial needs of nonprofit organizations who are working on the ground to bring positive change to communities all over the world.
Did you know that there is a $167 Billion gap between aid funds committed and actual disbursement by donor countries? There are many incredible organizations working every day to solve complex problems around the world and they simply don’t have enough funding.
Did you know that last year, online shoppers like you and me spent $226BN online? That is a 45% increase from the previous year. Online spending is projected to double within the next few years.
Pure Charity is uniquely positioned between the corporate and nonprofit sectors. We are working to create partnerships between these two great forces to close the funding gap that hinders nonprofit organizations from realizing their full potential.
Pure Charity has over 1,000 merchant partners (Apple, GAP, Walmart, Target, and many more) that will donate money back to nonprofit causes every time a Pure Charity member makes a purchase through the Pure Charity Rewards Network.
This model of corporate donations tied to consumer action truly has the power to change the face of global development. These corporations are ready and willing to participate in bringing global change. Nonprofits are already working hard on the ground. You and I are the link that will forge these partnerships.
We have the power to change the world through our daily actions. Let’s use it.
Recent Comments