I recently wrote a blog on how volunteering can be the secret to happiness. In that blog, I shared that altogether, 64.5 million Americans volunteered nearly 7.9 billion hours last year and of those, a third volunteered for more than a hundred hours each year (which requires just two hours each week). The estimated value of…
Altogether, 64.5 million Americans volunteered nearly 7.9 billion hours last year. However, in my home state of Florida, we rank 48th among the 50 states & Washington, D.C. in the amount of residents who volunteer; only 21% of Florida’s population gives their time in comparison to 44% of Utah’s population. States that lag behind us…
What if there was a study dedicated to unearthing the secrets to a happy life? Researchers analyzed data from 40 published papers and found evidence that volunteering, in fact, boosts happiness. Volunteers had lower levels of depression, increased life satisfaction and enhanced well-being. And for those who want to live a long happy life, volunteers…
Our interest in food has undergone a cultural shift in the past few decades with the rise of the Food Network and other specialized food programing like Top Chef and Iron Chef, specialized magazines like Food & Wine and Fine Cooking, growing popularity of farmers’ markets, food-oriented websites like Zagat and Yelp, specialized kitchenware stores like Williams-Sonoma…
There is a debate in the nonprofit arena on how much effort there should be towards recruiting the next generation of donors – the Millennials. While Millennials may not individually donate large sums of money, their collective power can help raise thousands for nonprofits. Nonprofit groups should be aggressively working to involve people in their…
With the recent release of Giving USA’s philanthropy report, which indicates that companies gave over $18 billion to charities in 2012, companies and nonprofits can reflect on all of the good work done by corporate philanthropy. Instilling a culture of corporate philanthropy often takes time, however these three philanthropy initiatives show how companies have turned…
So it has happened. My 18-year-old self would have never believed it. I have fully integrated into being an online shopper. Christmas shopping…done all online. In need of daily household items, no problem, my husband and I order it all online. My last clothing shopping spree, you guessed it, I did it all online. The…
Today, I want to share a personal story. And as I tell the story, I’m going to be as honest as possible with what I was truly thinking throughout the process because it captures the entire essence of the evening. I’m sharing this because for a brief moment last night, I got to experience how…
On September 24th, I started a social media initiative called #DoGoodTuesday. It had been an awful week. The DC shooting had happened a few days prior and the government was on the brink of a shutdown. I felt powerless (for about a second) and then had the thought that we, the people, can change the…
Confession. I am a Type A personality and if you know me, that wouldn’t shock you. For those who “suffer” from this disease, it should come as no surprise that I decided to take on the challenge of creating a series of best practices for corporate philanthropy and answer questions that are industry standards about…