Category: Charity

Introduction

It has being observed that serving the humanity for a noble cause not only brings welfare, well-being, but also the prosperity to ones inner soul and overall life. The humanity turned towards civilization when it came to realize the importance of helping and assisting the other human beings, caring living things and supporting a civilized society which turned the cave age stay of men into a modern civilized and much more compact world.

The concept of humanity does not end with the concept of living and caring in a digital, technological and modern world, but starts and ends with the global noble and human cause of bringing a feeling and sense of care for all living and well beings on this single planet. We call it the black age where human miserably fought the worst wars of the human history, taken of vast land just for the cause of creating dominance on the map of the earth or killing each other in the name of the desperate revenge.

Hence, these all events lead the scholars and intellects around the globe that these aggressive occupation of land, dominance of ethnics, or any sort of power that brings one entity as supervisor or superior on another, would take nowhere.

And it leads to the emergence of the world’s most generous, kind, man loving and peace widen individuals around the world who not only sent a message of serving humanity, serving mankind, spreading peace, and making world a better and lovable place for all generations to come, but also did them in their own lives as practice so as to pursue people for the cause of loving and serving humanity.

Mother Teresa would be the name to mention here who in her whole life, dedicated her each breath for the nurturing and well-being of humanity without any discrimination of creed, cast, ethnic or religion and hence leaving behind us all an example of deeds that would remain immortal in this life as well as in the life here after.

Blood Donation is one of those noble and enduring deeds. Blood works as a fuel in our body and is the main constitute of keeping our body alive and fresh from the day of a human birth till the departure from this planet and during all the seconds a body lives, enjoys and works in any part of the world, at any temperature and at any condition.

Hence, this main module of a body must be maintained to a certain level inside the body to keep it healthy, fresh and in workable condition to perform daily life task and procedures. The procedure of taking oxygen in and carbon dioxide out from the body is all performed by Blood. It acts as a transporter of carrying those gases inside and outside the body perpetually and periodically. Blood also helps the body from getting infections or becoming vulnerable to the bacteria’s or germs from the outer world of the body (Steane, n.d).

Blood also provides delivery service of rotating different daily meal compounds inside the body to different locations or cells for body nurturing and growth. The process of taking water, separating the necessary tissues or cells or energy from them and converting them into urine is also a function of blood inside a human body. Blood take out the necessary minerals and energy cells from the healthy foods, and eatables for the nourishment and growth of the body as well as good circulation of it’s inside the veins (Zoology Homework, n.d).

The human blood constitutes of four essential parts which are “Red Cells”, “Platelets”, “Plasma”, and “Cryoprecipitate” (ARC, 2011). Pint is the standard unit of measuring Blood around the world which different slightly in its accepted values in continents across the globe. In the U.S. Customary System, the value of 1 pint of blood varies from 0.473 liters to 0.551 liters whereas the same 1 pint is equal to 0.568 liters in British Imperial System (TheFreeDictionary, n.d).

Hence, the procedure of Blood Donation varies upon the requirement of the patient or the receiver that is the Blood can be donated as a group of those mentioned Blood Components above or it can be donated in specifically for the required of any of those parts or blood components.

A man body has an average of 4.5 to 5 liters of Blood in the body as compare to 4 to 4.5 liters of Blood in woman’s body with 14-18 pints of average blood in the adults or mature human being (KarmaYog, n.d).

Blood donation is a very simple and healthy procedure. According to an old saying, the blood donation keeps your blood rotating and hence leads to a healthy and refreshing life after the procedures.

Hence, donating blood is a four stride function i.e. the donors’ registration, examination of medical background along with a partial physical health check (the check up of body temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate etc), the blood donation, and finally refreshing juices.

At most, a blood donation time is observed around 15 minutes (i.e. the actual time of filling the empty white bottle with blood during donation). And on an average, one pint is transferred or donated from the total of pints in a human body (ARC, 2011).

Hence, the blood donation process is beneficial to both the donor and the recipient because during blood donation, the excessive consumed body of products containing high amount of iron releases that amount and take them to the normal average human level i.e. sometimes we call them obese or fat which can cause heart and diabetes problems . Hence, the blood donation reduces the chances of heart attacks or diabetes (Leong, 2008).

Role of UAE Government regarding Blood Donation

Almost all around the world, local governments, nongovernmental organizations and health institutes are busy for the noble cause of blood donation. Blood is among the scarce minerals that the digital and technological world cannot produce or supply through any other mean but human being.

Hence, it is the only process of transportation from one human body to another human body, the latter called patient or recipient while the former is called the blood donor, and beneficial to the health of both the donor and the patient. The patient get healed through the blood transformation and the donor gets rid of many of the possible health hazards that can be cause of heart and diabetes, in case of high amount of iron inside the human body.

The Health Minister of United Arab Emirates (UAE), H.E. Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, initiated a nationwide blood donation campaign in the United Arab Emirates in the last quarter of 2010 following the international accreditation of Sharjah Blood Transfusion Centre. The Minister elaborated the vision of the blood donation campaign to be the self complacency in Blood donation and transfusion in the UAE and accredit ate globally.

The Minister applauded the efforts and hard work of the donors of age group in their twenties or thirties for this splendid cause of blood donation (Ministry of Health, 2010). The minister also emphasis and vision for launched blood campaign for an increment of blood donors from an average of 9 percent to 10 percent a year.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been nominated among the five biggest blood donor and transfusion countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (Emirates247, 2010). The UAE also takes the prides of holding World’s Blood Donor day 3 years back in 2008 which is the first Arab country to held such internationally recognized day.

The Reason for selecting such category among others in the UAE Society

The world is developing and developing at a rapid pace towards more and more advancement in science and technology, to gain excess power over excessive land and control overseas, to have an arguable share in everything that can make an impact towards their national interest all around the globe. That includes every nation, every country and every part of this planet. Governments are thriving for enough in their national and domestic favors and interests.

The worlds’ worst wars have been fought in the past centuries. The planet sees the magnificent use of its natural resources, also when those blessed resources were made bane for the humanity and human life. That era was the era of doing everything and advancement just for the benefit of one’s own interest and favor, everything aside was out casted or ignored.

And hence, just after the world war I, when the Great depression hit very hard and severely the great and all economies around the world, the leaders of the time decided to sit under a common roof to take humanity out of this disaster where hundreds and thousands of people lost their jobs, lost their homes, lost access to food and nutrition and hence human life became miserable to survive.

The history saw the worst part of human nourishment. Hence, leads to the solution of the Leagues which even did not prevent any further collision. And hence we saw the World War II.

Just when everything was lost and those who wanted to have control over the global took over the control, then people realize what have been lost and what still can be done to avoid further catastrophe to the generations to come.

Hence, we saw campaign for global causes in the form of Millennium Development Goals which includes two similar goals on health improvement and development globally around the continents i.e. goals of improving maternal health and fighting and solving HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases, not in national or domestic interests but for a sustainable global planet.

From Education, Transportation, modern Telecommunication, Housing and Construction, and hence in all the fields via which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can compete, with the emerging challenges from the developed countries, it has done and done impressively well and hard enough.

Today, Dubai is considered as a hub of world Trade, Tourism and Investment. Enriched and blessed, this land, with the wells of Oil, people of the UAE worked extremely hard to make this desert a healthy, living, and touring spot of the world. Enough, but more than enough, has been written or is being written for the sustainability of all the mentioned sectors in the UAE by many organizations, firms or institutes as their own stack is attached with the normalization of all stated factors.

Out of these all factors, humanity calls for something that can cure their pains, heal their wounds and assist them towards nurture and affection. Health is the sector that is the centre of development of almost all the government around the world. Most of the worst diseases, that the human life can see, exist today that includes the curse of Malaria, Cancer, AID/HIV and others.

Also, the casualties that the latest and technological world causes i.e. casualties from accidents be these via mean of road or air, ultimately their victims need blood. Hence, causing an alarm for an effort that can alone be lauded across the world is the cause of sustainable measure for good health and being of locals and populous.

Hence, in the light of above mentioned facts and text, the topic “Blood Donation” is the most valuable and enlighten among all those that relate to technological development or nuclear enrichment programs or all those that have nothing to do with serving and assisting humanity but making human life miserable through their certain functionalities.

Stages of Group Development

For teams to perform efficiently and effectively in collaboration and assistance of each participating member, the following five are the most essential steps toward positive, fruitful and productive output via stepping upward in the stages of group development model.

Not only does it increase the performance of the department or organization or the cause for which they are working together, but it also results in productive output of the work which that group take over. The members increase their contacts in the inside and outside world of their firm.

Since, this model is also followed by multiple organizations working for the same cause, this can help the members to have quality understanding of mutual communication and delivery of words or point towards the ultimate objective of the group. It also increases the efficiency of the human resource at the organization or firm for any of their future deals or communication with entities inside or outside their business.

Therefore, the work for “Blood Donation” task is divided according to the following five stages and uniformly divided among the members of the group.

Forming

A very first meeting is held to discuss the procedure of how the group can proceed towards the completion of the task regarding “Blood Donation”. Since, the formation of random groups in the classroom requires initial time for members to have effective and clear communication between them, hence, the different aspects of contacting a blood bank, procedure to run the awareness campus and others are vaguely discussed.

Storming

The ideas are blurrily discussed with the group members in the group formation stage. Now, the members are busy discussing and brain storming the following undertakings that would eventually help in the report making.

• Contacting a nearby Blood Bank
• Analysis of regular blood donation
• To contact a particular Company so that an awareness program can be launched within its premises.
• Material required for the Blood Donation awareness campaign
• Activity day i.e. exposing employees to this charitable act of blood donation

Norming

After the brain storming activity in the storming stage, the group is all set to clear out the procedure for the campaign to begin. Hence, the duties are uniformly divided amongst the members.

1. One member is going to contact a nearby blood bank
2. One is going to contact a company XY to have their idea implemented and;
3. Third member is going to collect information about the publishing and printing of material required for the campaign.

Performing

As all the directions are set for the task to be initiated, members have got the chance to perform the awareness activity within the XY Company they contacted in the earlier stage. The members also remain successful in publishing and printing the material for the activity to take place. The material that is printed for the campaign includes flayers, hand outs, pamphlets and t-shirts.

Adjourning

In the last stage for the preparation of their report for the Blood Donation task, members have successfully visited and ran a fascinated awareness campaign on blood inside the XY Company building. The employees are happy to be a part of this charitable awareness program inside their offices.

The employees are participating with all their interest and responding to our queries at ease. Members have distributed the flayers and handouts with the workforce. A pamphlet regarding the activity, to take place in the building, has been posted on the main notice board at the welcome entrance of the building. A small presentation on this charitable activity is also being given to the employees and staff of the XY Company all through the day.

Conclusion

Blood is that constitute of the human body that supports and live the refreshingly bio system of the living body. Hence, it is viable and has monopoly in its production and wide spread use. By monopoly or wide spread use means that the only source for getting blood is human for supporting and healing a human.

It is found to be a noble cause for the serving of humanity all around the globe. Though technology and digital world have produced an ease for human lives, but they are unable to produce Blood, a natural mineral, up to such advancement in the technology.

Governments, nongovernmental organizations and institutions around the world are constantly thriving to increase the blood donation each year to cure and heal thousands of patients waiting for this constituent of human body to cure them. WHO has been encouraging those stakeholders to motivate their populous to show generosity towards this universal goal that would ultimately be in favor for a sustainable and health environment and world for us, for people around us and for generations that are to come.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been the most active member in this regard. After internationally accreditation of the Sharjah Blood Transfusion Centre, the Health Minister H.E. Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim originated a nationwide blood donation campaign in the UAE in the last quarter of 2010 with a mission to increase the blood donation from 9 percent per year to 10 percent per year.

Hence, envisioning and revitalizing the self stipulating in Blood Supply and Donation not only inside their territory (UAE) but across the globe for the common humanity serving.

Hence, beside the soaring economy, developing infrastructure, high pumping of billions of dollars in its territory for a complete modern, developed and self sufficient city and centre of the world, the government in the UAE i.e. the Ministry of Health is taking its best efforts towards the “Blood Donation” topic discussed above with various quotes and references from online newspapers and ministry of health UAE website.

This not only because health is the sector which is ignored by most of the governments in developing countries but also because it is the uprising issue of hundreds and thousands of people around the globe awaiting the help from those who are capable of delivering them a inspiration of hope and life. The example of which is given as the Millennium Development Goals which incorporated two of its goals related to health. One is the improvement in the maternal health and other one is combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases.

Historically fights or wars were fought for individual society’s goal or objectives. But the examples like Great depression, the melting of Atlantic and the deforestation has turned the nature of globalization. It teaches a lesson of immense cooperation and assistance to each other for each cause around the globe to make this planet a worth living and rejoicing place for generations.

Upon reaching the conclusion on the Blood Donation, it is now the role of each member, each person and individual of any society to come and help, all those who are desperately looking forward to us, by all our possible means that can contribute towards the good foundation of serving humanity which would eventually spread peace and tolerance in our society.

Purpose of Charity and expected outcomes

The concept of charity has always been one that was close to my heart. The social and economic inequalities between the rich and poor continue to grow with no end in sight to this trend. I consider giving the underprivileged as a balancing act to curb this trend. I could not have put it better than Anne Frank, who succinctly said, “No one has ever become poor by giving” (Frank, et al., 1989). The purpose of this paper is to provide a reflection on the experiences highlighting the learning and process of achieving it (Hinett, 2009).

Personal experiences

It was with this concept in mind that we attempted to raise funds for a charity. The initial plan was to go to Alton Towers and organize a talent show, and then end up on Broad Street to sell liquor on the street to the people waiting in line for their chance to enter bars. However, this plan did not materialize due to a lack of organization on our part as it was unclear who was willing to participate and whether individuals would back out at the last moment. To me, it also signaled a lack of commitment towards charity from certain members of the group. I realized at that moment how difficult it would be to motivate people for this task of raising funds for the charity as the concept does not appeal to everyone. Maybe, it was not that; it could have been for the sole reason that people were not simply willing to participate or be part of a team. A properly functioning team is a rare experience as I witnessed later.

After the Alton Towers fiasco, if I may call it that, we decided to book Martin Luther King to host a talent show, but it did not work out as the platform size was not sufficient to cater to what we had in mind. We, then, thought of selling popcorn and smoothies with a chocolate fountain and photo booth. The photo booth idea was cost-prohibitive so we ended up posting photos on Facebook and allowing people to vote, but that act elicited disappointing results. So, we ended up with food and drinks. Although results were mildly satisfactory in terms of funds being raised, I was left with a guilt-ridden feeling in the pit of my stomach that we could have done better.

Henry Ford was famously noted for saying the following, “Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success”. By that definition of success, it is clear in my mind that we did not gel as a team to achieve the desired goals. To dwell deeper into the mystery, I asked myself two questions: what were the actual goals? And Were the goals of individuals the same as those of the group as a whole? I subjected myself to this scrutiny and can safely say that our personal goals from this exercise were not in coherence with those of the group. The goals and thoughts of a person, who chooses to conceal them, can remain obscure to every other mortal being (Tracy, 2010). So, the only way to make assumptions about the other team members’ goals is by observing their actions first hand. Initially, everyone who took part in this event seemed excited with the idea of having a fundraiser for charitable purposes. Ideas were shared, and then plans were made. However, when it came to the actual implementation of the decided plans the participation dwindled. Although people were physically present, the drive that was evident in the planning phase was missing.

This showed to me that it was possible that people were motivated more by the thought of being perceived by others as being generous rather than actually being generous. Pure altruism is explained by Phelps (1975) is different from “cooperative egotism” in which case a person gives to charity while expecting something in return. The expectation of a benefit in return for giving to charity disqualifies the act from being one of pure altruism. Therefore, it becomes a simple act of giving and take. For example, if a person gives any sort of assistance such as financial, moral or voluntarily helping in order to raise charity, and expects any recognition, rewards, or any sort of self-glorification then that person is not exhibiting altruistic behavior (Bolton, 2010). Rather only selfish ulterior motives are dictating his actions. I believe that is what happened on that particular day when we tried to help. I would not be as bold or vain to claim that I was the sole exception in the whole process.

All of us were motivated by various reasons, which ranged from having a great time with friends, and gaining a good experience in the process, securing a good rapport with our professors for engaging in such a worthwhile cause, feeling good about ourselves (and possibly boasting to others of how noble we are), to just going along for alcohol. These are all intangible benefits of the process of charity and we were all culprits in this act. Just by reflecting on how behaviors of the group changed when we discovered that the activity was going to involve selling food or drinks rather than alcohol, I can assume that there were definitely ulterior motives involved. I can also vouch for myself that although I do not partake in this ritual of drinking alcohol so frequently, I too had been anticipating what it would be like, experiencing selling of alcohol to a potentially large crowd and observing effects that it had on people. Therefore, I too was not completely innocent in this whole scenario.

Personal learning

For people who wished to be recognized for their efforts, and gain some admiration, there is a quote in Matthew (6:3) which is, “But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does”. As per my knowledge, this quote means that giving for charity is supposed to be a private affair and the person involved in this generous act should choose to remain as anonymous as possible. This includes the person receiving the charity, if possible. Try and give charity through discreet channels with a pseudo name. This would possibly be as close to true altruism as we can hope to achieve in these times. Of course, that was not possible in this case with more than one person involved in the acts of fundraising for charity and all our advertisements claiming to help charity letting people know what we were doing. However, the point is that charity is supposed to be for a simple act of giving and not expecting any returns from it. Since people were not sufficiently motivated by this noble cause, therefore, it is safe to assume that none of us have truly grasped what charity is all about. It is not about giving or helping people with an aim to get something for the efforts, whether it is money or recognition or any other prize.

Achievements

The fact that we were able to raise ninety-four pounds for charity in less than a day is not a minuscule achievement for a group of young people having their first experience regarding something of this magnitude. However, I still feel some guilt that all of us could have done better. I am sitting here writing this while blaming the entire group for our failure in not doing as much as we could. I could have spoken to the group, taken over as a leader, and tried to inspire my team members to consider a broader spectrum rather than sit back.

Overall reflection on the experience

We could have gotten off our backs to try and approach customers rather than relax and consider it ‘un-cool’ to go and ask people to purchase our products for the sake of charity. We were all conformist in our approach in this regard, while we might be suffering from the delusion that we were displaying individuality with our laid back approach. Sante (1999) explains that this behavior is not individuality, but rather the lack of it, with the following words:

“Even if you engage in some kind of radical piercing, like encasing both eyebrows in tight rows of small rings, and by this means emphatically announce to the world that you are not employed in middle management at a Fortune 500 company, you are hardly doing something unprecedented. The fact that you have carried out such a thing virtually insures that you’ve taken notice of all other humans in your town or on your travels who have done the same” (para 3).

A similar observation is made by Niedzviecki (2006) where he mentions how individuals now claiming to be different are all actually the same. This sums up how it feels about the “fiasco” for the lack of better work that took place that day.

List of References

Bolton, G 2010, Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development, SAGE, London.

Frank, A, Barnouw, D & van der Stroom, G 1989, The diary of Anne Frank: the critical edition, Penguin Books Limited, New York.

Hinett, K 2009, Improving learning through reflection – part one, Web.

Niedzviecki, H 2006, Hello, I’m Special: How Individuality Became the New Conformity, City Light Books, Canada.

Phelps, E S 1975, Altruism, Morality, & Economic Theory, Russell Sage Foundation, New York.

Sante, L 1999, Be Different! (Like everybody else!). Web.

Tracy, B 2010, Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want — Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, CA.

Summary statement

Due to the rise in the number of needy students in need of funding to raise their school fee, I have proposed that we organize a five-kilometer race for life event for the school that will assist in raising the fee for orphaned and needy students in the school. The event will also be used to raise money to support the poor living around the school community.

This event will be jointly sponsored by Airtel Company, which is a leading global communication company with operations in 19 countries across the globe and any other willing donors. The cost for the entire event will be budgeted for by the sponsors and other well-wishing donors who will ensure that everything is in place for the event.

The event will be scheduled yearly in the middle of the term since there will be no serious class work and fewer school activities during this period. Mid-term is the best time since there is enough time to publicize the event during this period.

The participants in the two races are expected to pay a registration fee of $80 for the 5-kilometer race and $40 for the 3-kilometer race. There will be a five-kilometer race as the maximum distance race. A three kilometer races will also be organized especially for those participating in this event for the first time.

Importance of the event

This event shall be made a permanent fixture on our calendar and will be crucial in raising the fee for the needy students, supporting needy families across the community and uniting members of the community and the globe. The students too are expected to benefit much from these events ranging from financial scholarships to part-time career development.

Alongside running for life, the students will richly benefit by getting an opportunity to exercise their talents that may later turn to be their source of income. It will also enable the students to acquire the spirit of endurance in life. The whole excitements for the big day will be fun. It will enable students to learn more outside the class environment.

Although this event is objectively held to raise money in support for the poor and needy, it will also play a vital role in spreading awareness on poverty and the need to support the needy across the world. This event will also assist in raising funds to initiate various projects within the community; hence it will be vital to the community dwellers.

The winners of these events get full scholarships for their education and are also rewarded with some extra prizes such as money and trips to luxurious places across the globe. The five-kilometer race is a better test for the students to give them a challenge and prepare them to run for significant races in the future as a lifetime career. The Relay for Life Event and other events of a similar type are excellent ways of getting students interested in sports and making them fitter too.

Venue and Organizers

The venue for the events will be organized within the school campus with the help of nearby roads to reduce the cost of hiring a bigger venue. The event only needs a 2.5-kilometer path where students can go and return for the 5-kilometer race. The event will be organized by the student’s leaders, the school committee and the event sponsors who will play different roles in ensuring the success of the event is achieved.

The student leaders will assist in leading the students in the preparation of the event venue for the two races. The school committee will help with the collection of the event registration fee and coordinating with the sponsors for any funding required for the events.

The event sponsors will organize for the overall funding of the event. They will cover the initial expenses and fixed costs. Friends and the school alumni who are willing to chip in the sponsorship of the game will also send their donations.

How the event will be publicized

I propose that the event be publicized through the school magazine found in the school library and an advert in the school website for the student’s awareness. A school publication shall also be released showing the various activities scheduled in the school calendar every beginning of the year. Every term, the school shall send circular through letters and emails on the calendar of events to parents for the forthcoming terms.

This will keep the parents up to date with the current school events. Similar adverts will also be made available to the public willing to donate or participate in this event through News (major papers, radios, televisions, and local journals). These adverts shall be written concisely, informational and be of interest to the public.

Flyers will be made and posted around the school campus and in public places when the event date approaches near. Tickets will also be produced and sold to the public as a form of an invitation to this event. People will be hired to sell the ticket books to generate extra money for the event. A ticket will be charged $4 for adults and $2 for children.

Different types of businesses are treated diversely for tax purposes based on the various charitable contributions available. For instance, the way a tax is imposed for a sole proprietor is different for a partner in a partnership business. Moreover, the same tax variation is noticed in the 100% corporate shareholders and S corporation business. The current study aims to provide an understanding of such alterations, deliver an example of a prerequisite of an eligible charitable contribution, and explain how the diverse rules might impact a decision-making process in charitable contribution.

A Sole Proprietor

All sole proprietors are required to pay and file business taxes on their individual form 1040, indicating that they are a pass-through entity in tax filings. All business taxes are filled in a Schedule C, with all charitable contributions taxes filled in Schedule A because a sole proprietor files as a person or as a joint. A taxpayer needs to be entitled to partake in a documented deduction; otherwise, such charitable contributions will be tagged below the standard amount. The taxpayer must also ensure that all general restrictions are adhered to (Rupert & Anderson, 2019). For instance, one cannot claim more than half their adjusted gross income (AGI) in a particular year.

100% Corporate Shareholder

Corporate shareholders, especially the 100%, indicate a different tax entity and its file is dissimilar to other tax forms, as long as an individual does not choose to file another taxing entity. In this regard, deductions are imposed for charitable contributions as demanded in the tax form 1120 for all corporations rather than personal taxes. However, according to Rupert and Anderson (2019), certain situations can lead to higher charitable contribution deductions. For instance, an endowment of inventory by a C corporation to particular private aids can result in such large deductions (Chu et al., 2018). Therefore, corporations should note the different available guidelines in donations to maximize benefits during charitable inferences.

Partner in a Partnership

Just as the sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership is another good example of a pass-through entity in tax filing. In essence, all expenses and joint income, including the charitable donations, are shared accordingly and based on the partner’s Schedule K-1, noting each individual’s contribution as a percentage. Once shared with regards to each person’s percentage, the amounts are then filed on the Schedule K-1, necessitating the claims to be made concerning gains, losses, or other charitable contributions as reflected in form 1040.

100% S Corporation Shareholder

As illustrated in the partner in a partnership, the 100% S corporation shareholder is performed the same way. However, since they are 100% ownership, their form includes the Schedule K-1, which is responsible for 100% of the contribution. According to Murray (2020), there is a limitation of up to $250, which can be overlooked if the particular charitable company formally writes to the tax revenue body, an acknowledgment indicating all amounts of cash contributions. Disclosing all the valuations of properties and values of goods and services can also result in the by-passing of such limitations as $250 limits.

Example of a Necessity and Its Effect on Contribution Decision

A prerequisite qualification for charitable contribution tax deduction is only attainable if it is made against an eligible corporation. Such a company must be: a) a corporation, foundation, religious entity, educational group, or any other non-profit company; b) domestic fraternal society; c) war veteran’s company; d) the U.S., or any other state in the U.S.; d) cemetery which is a non-profit corporation. Assuming a 100% C corporation shareholder is a director of a religious group, who wants to donate to a member of the same organization, in this case, if the director donates directly to the member, there will be no deduction. However, donating to the religious group with an indication of the purpose of the donation, then it would be treated as a deductible charitable contribution. Therefore, one should be cognizant of the prerequisite charitable contributions before making decisions on certain types of donations.

References

Chu, L. Y., Li, G., & Rusmevichientong, P. (2018). Optimal pricing and inventory planning with charitable donations.Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 20(4), 687-703. Web.

Murray, J. (2020).How to deduct charitable donations. The balance: Small business. Web.

Rupert, T., & Anderson K.E. (2019). Pearson’s federal taxation 2019 individuals (32^nd ed.). Pearson.

Advance payment to suppliers

Regeneration through Education (RTE) is a Charity Organization formed by several trustees where majority of them are directors of different Companies. The Organization is a Non-profit Organization whose main objective is to influence people in society through rejuvenating their education potential.

This applies to the young people in society who have the urge and interest of pursuing their education but do not have the funds to see them through the system (Hartigan, 2006). However, the biggest challenge that RTE face is that it needs to make an investment worth £100, 000 in fittings and furniture for the new building.

However, The Vital Office Furniture Limited, which is the Firm to supply the materials, demands 50 percent deposit from the Charity before they deliver the materials to Charity Organization. To make it worse, they demand the balance to be paid within 10 days of delivering the goods (Snyder, 2006). The only problem is that the supplier is demanding a lot of down payment and yet the Charity Organization members have no record of accomplishment of the goods.

The trustees are very right to be concerned about this issue because they should not risk their investment since it might cost them a lot. In fact, it might cause them to shut down if the goods are not delivered since it is a Non-profit Organization meaning that it might take a long period to meet its objectives.

Nevertheless, there are several ways through which such investment risks can be reduced as far as this transaction is concerned (Drucker, 2002).

To begin with, RTE Charity can reduce these risks through diversification. Instead of purchasing all those goods from Vital Office Furniture Limited, they may opt to purchase other goods from other stocks so that they reduce their worries about paying too much to an Organization they have no records of accomplishment. For instance, they may decide to purchase fittings from a different stock Company and purchase furniture from Vital Office furniture.

Secondly, they can decide to purchase the goods from industry or manufacturers direct without getting them from stock Companies. Besides, they should also employ the system of diversity meaning that they buy the goods from several distinct industries to protect themselves from industry risks. Yet, they can still reduce portfolio risks through employing global diversification (Malamut and Blach, 2008).

For instance, The Vital Office Furniture Limited located in US is charging them high deposit thus; they may opt to purchase the goods from a UK stock Company where they charge little down payment than that demanded by Vital Company. The following are other ways of reducing financial risks.

1. RTE Charity Organization can employ hedging method, which is known to be a very strong tool to minimize risking within the stock market. The most famous hedging products in the market today are options and futures. These insurances contracts help to hedge against deteriorating stock prices. It is the best system for RTE Charity Organization because insurance can help them secure their investment against doubtful Firms like Vital Furniture (Arnott, 2005).
2. RTE Charity should also set aside good some of money as it pays down payment to any stock Company so that it can remain financially secure. This is because the Firm’s objective is to help the society in education matters and not profits making. Therefore, in case it does not secure its finances then it may eventually be declared bankruptcy. Any Firm without sufficient funds that get into financial problems may end up selling all its stocks for fewer amounts before closing down (Block, 2002). This means that with that £100, 000, RTE Charity should not spend more than 40 percent of the funds on supplies especially if they are not sure about the accomplishment records.
3. The other better option is that the RTE Charity Organization should carry out thorough research concerning The Vital Furniture Company and all about investment before opting to risk that entire sum on unaccomplished records. This will give the trustees good knowledge about the Company and help them to avoid risking their money on it. Furthermore, research can help them come up with a good stock selection thus maximizing their investment returns.
4. Lastly, the RTE trustees need to understand fully the choice of strategy because they must strive for independent advice from financial advisors (Salins, 2000).

Charity reporting research

The trustees of RTE are to file their annual financial statements to certain about transparency of their financial affairs. First, the underlying principle behind the filing requirement for the RTE Charity is, identify the advantages and disadvantages of renting a room to offer education courses to the society and to build their own structure.

Advantages of renting a room over building their own

Renting a house or a room is a good deal because to begin with, the RTE Charity Organization is not a profit-oriented Organization meaning that they may begin establishing a building and fail to complete it or take longer time than expected to accomplish it. The process may be time-consuming because they may fail to meet their objectives in time due to the length of time the building may take to complete (Drucker, 2002).

Therefore, it is advisable that they decide to rent a room and build their own at later time when they have stabilized and doing well. Besides, renting a room is somehow stress free because after paying the rent, they may now be free to do whatever they wish since the room is under their care. They may be free from expenses such as wear and tear, repairs of the building, heating and lighting among others.

The RTE’s annual income is £2.5 m, which is a good amount that can make them expand quickly if they begin by renting a room. Moreover, they may be successful and accomplish their educational mission where they intend to start from and opt to move somewhere else. With rental room, it is very easy to shift from one place to another without feeling any difficulty (Block, 2002).

In fact, their Organization must be very flexible in terms of movement because they may expand and decide to move to other regions. Lastly, they can only take a little period to settle and stabilize when they are in a rental room whereby they can establish great investment.

However, when they decide to construct their own building, they may take a very long time before they accomplish the building and may as well fail to do so the construction can take more than they have (Baird, 2000). The best way to approach it is to employ Organizations like The Rent a Room Scheme, rent control and rental Real Estate Company.

These ensure no losses of money to brokers and ensure an individual acquires quality rental room. Nevertheless, renting a house also has some disadvantages in comparison to having own structure where a Company can do whatever it wishes to do with it. Several people and Organizations rent rooms privately and it greatly depends on how well they can get along with it when ordinary areas are encompassed.

Disadvantages of renting a room Over Building their Own

First, renting a room means the RTE Charity Organization will have to be situated at a place where there are either residential rooms or other Organizations. The problem with that is that if the people under that roof eventually dislike one another due to one reason or the other, the common areas will be in problem (Hartigan, 2006). For example, if it is an Organization, problem like noise making and destructions will be highly experienced as well as the hygiene.

May be they share washrooms; they may begin differing on the procedure of cleaning them as well as the way they are used. For instance, the RTE Charity Organization will be dealing with young people who wish to pursue their education meaning that the place will be receiving many guests who will definitely use the washrooms. There is no guarantee that they would not dirty them up thus causing a lot of noise and disagreements with the other party[s] (Ramirez, 2010).

Therefore, as far as common areas are involved, there is high probably that misunderstanding may occur making the neighbors not to live in harmony. Therefore, it is better for the trustees of Charity to re-examine that situation and opt to construct their own room to avoid such differences and misunderstandings. Besides, another major difference may occur when it comes to paying bills, which include power bills, water bills, communication bills, and network bills among others.

For example, if they rent a room at a residential area, the other tenants may claim that the Organization is using a lot of power on its daily operations while they are using very little power. This means that the Organization may be forced to pay half of the entire electricity bill. At the same time, the residents on that same building take advantage of the Organization and maximize the usage of power (Arnott, 2005).

For instance, one resident may have a television, a sound system and fridge but since he or she want to take advantage of the Organization, he or she opt to add on heaters, electric iron, coils, and many other electricity gadgets in order to make full use of the electricity that is majorly paid by the RTE Charity Organization.

The same case would be experienced in communication bills, network bills, water bills and many other involved bills. That means the Organization may slowly decline and after sometimes, close down due to lack of funds that according to me would have been misused (Malamut & Blach, 2008).

Therefore, to avoid sharing of bills with other Organizations or residential, it is important for the trustees of the Charity to decide to structure their own room and carry out their activities in peace as well as maintain peace with their neighbors.

Besides that, building their own room would mean having an extra asset, which they can rely on even when they close down their business. They can rent a person or an Organization and still earn out of it. In fact, they may as well wish to shift to another area, which does not mean that they would have lost their money putting up the building, they will still earn out of it.

To wind up, through building their own room, the Charity Organization can design it according to their wishes and modify it later according to their interests (Baird, 2000).

However, in a rental room, the land load might be too lazy in the sense that he cannot even renovate the room when some faults occur. In that case, the trustees would not be satisfied with the place they are thus opting to move out. Eventually, they may shift from one place to another without settling down and meeting their objectives. Construction of their own room would minimize such movements and help them to settle very quickly (Kleiman, 2010).

Comparison To Company filing requirements

There are several differences between Profit Company and Non-profit Organization like RTE Charity Organization. At the outset, the ultimate aim of profit Organizations is to make profit while the aim of Charity Organization is to help and support the community in one way or the other.

The profit Organizations have to create profit in order to grow and expand as well as survive in the competitive market field (Salins, 2000). Charity Organization on the other hand focuses on helping the community meaning that it is not into any other competition in the market field. However, most of them strive to excel in whatever they undertake in order to attract donors and well-wishers to support them.

Therefore, since most of the trustees of Charity are directors of their own Companies, their focus should not be to make profit. The trustees should not become reluctant particularly in contributing money so that Charity may not fail. The other difference is concerning ownership of business.

A profit Company is developed when investors combine and transmit assets, money and talent to initiate the new corporation. The corporation then becomes a fictitious individual as far as the law is concerned, takes title and possession of the assets as well as gives back the assets and possession shares to those who contributed the assets (Malamut & Blach, 2008).

With a Non-profit Organization such as the RTE Charity Organization, people come together and issue out assets, money and/or talent to establish the corporation. However, with this type of Organization, the individuals who create it do not acquire any legal possession in the corporation and, in addition to that, have no assurance that they will be in a position to preserve control of the corporation once established.

All the assets contributed are now to be put to ground to issue service for which the Organization was established for by the Organization’s board of directors. Therefore, the trustees of Charity should be aware of that and try to focus on the purpose of establishing the Organization (Snyder, 2006). Lastly, there is a major difference between for profit and Non-profit businesses in terms of the board of directors.

In both scenarios, the same individuals establish the board of directors who initiated the corporation and in both cases, directors are issued with rigid principles. However, things change when it comes to time to re-elect and replace these members of board. For a profit Organization, every shareholder is entitled to one vote and owners of manifold shares contain manifold votes.

These votes are termed in terms of percentage shares whereby a group possessing 51 percent or more of the assets takes control of both the board and the business with their controlling number of votes (Ramirez, 2010). A Non-profit Organization on the other hand has no shares meaning that no votes thus nobody is controlling the board. The board itself elects its controllers and is free to replace the persons according to its terms.

References

Arnott, R., 2005, “Time for Revisionism on Rent Control?” Journal of Economic Perspectives 9, no. 1 (1995): 99–120.

Baird, C., 2000, Rent Control: The Perennial Folly. Washington D.C.: Cato Institute, Washington.

Block, W., 2002. “A Critique of the Legal and Philosophical Case for Rent Control.” Journal of Business Ethics 40: 75–90.

Drucker, P., 2002, “What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits”. Harvard Business Review: 1-7:54-65

Hartigan, P., 2006, ‘It’s about people, not profits’, Business Strategy Review: 1-7: 60-65

Kleiman, L. S., 2010. Management and executive development. Business Strategy Review: 1-7: 70

Malamut, E. & Blach, J. 2008, ABA Code Revision Raises Concerns for Democracy and Parliamentary Law in Nonprofits. National Parliamentarian, Volume 69, No. 1

Ramirez, Jr., L., 2010, “The Case for Social Benefit Organizations”.MiniDonations.org Blog.

Salins, D, 2000. The Ecology of Housing Destruction: Economic Effects of Public Intervention in the Housing Market. New York: New York University Press.

Snyder, R., 2006, Nonprofits: On the Brink: How Nonprofits have lost their way and some essentials to bring them back. New York: New York University Press.

In the given paper, the outcomes of my practice as a volunteer for a charity shop called North London Hospice are discussed. After my work as a volunteer has been done, the necessity to take a look back and evaluate the lessons learned appears. Hence, the given paper summarizes the learning outcomes and suggests the possible ways of my further development as a professional. In the given report, such methods as sampling and qualitative analysis have been used to produce accurate and objective data.

In the course of the analysis, it turned out that my skills as a manager have grown, as well as communication skills. An important experience in how theory is put into practice, the work in the charity shop has allowed for more options concerning my professional growth. Speaking of the charity shop and its policy, I could recommend that it should introduce the model of transactional leadership for more efficiency.

When the Time to Grow into a Professional Comes: Trying out as a Volunteer in a Charity Shop. Experience and Lessons Learned

Introduction: Welcome to the Charity Shop

Specializing in Management, I was supposed to undergo a practical course in a specific organization. I chose a charity shop called the North London Hospice. Working there for relatively short time, I learned much about the job of a manager, which has shaped my idea of a retail manager’s functions a lot.

History and background, intentions and hopes

It the help of the SMART framework, the experience at the North London Hospice is going to be assessed. The SEEC framework is going to be used for evaluation.

Aim and the key objectives: what management means

The goal of the given paper is to evaluate the acquired experience and to draw conclusions concerning its significance. In addition, the given report considers the alternative solutions for some of the considered problems and draws the outline for further training.

Methodology: creating the theoretical foil

To evaluate the acquired experience, the method of qualitative analysis is applied in the given paper (Guest & MacQueen, 2008). Analyzing experience, achievements and failures at the North London Hospice, I will be able to define the course of my further professional growth.

Getting Down to the Basics: The Valuable Experience

Retail industry and its many faces

Though the North London Hospice is doubtlessly a charity organization, which is based on completely voluntary work, it also has to face the economical and financial complexities that most organizations do. Therefore, the specifics of retail industry are no longer a closed book for me.

Such retail skills as the ability to understand the market and to access it easily are crucial for me as a professional. In addition, I have mastered the specifics of till system and its application. I have also learned what knowledge and skills the process of stock preparation requires, which will, doubtlessly, help me in my future work.

Job satisfaction as the key ingredient of a perfect work

However, soon after I started working in the North London Hospice I realized that money, no matter how preach that might sound, is not the only issue that matters in the choice of a job. It is clear to me now that job satisfaction is also a crucial aspect of being an employee, and that without the given component, becoming a successful professional is impossible.

Personal development: feeling a dignified and skilled professional

Another important aspect of being a part of a company, even a charity shop, is the sense of dignity that it gives. After the experience ends, one can feel that his/her professional skills have improved and that (s)he has finally seen the practical application of the management theories. Though the given experience was relatively short, I can still say with certainty that it helped me polish the skills that I had already had by that point, as well as acquire new ones.

Lone-term benefits: the acquired skills as the opportunity to develop

Needless to say, the experience in the North London Hospice also helped me grow as a professional. As it has been mentioned above, I have learned much about the specifics of the retail business. Understanding the processes behind the retail industry and, which is even more important, knowing how to make these processes run smooth will definitely help me become even more competent in my job.

Evaluating the Results: What Has Been Learned

Professional skills: everything an expert needs

In a broader sense, the retail industry information mentioned above also helped me understand the specifics of a job of a retail manager from the prospect of a theory of knowledge. Coming in handfuls every day, new information has to be processed and used in the production process. Therefore, the work in the charity shop also taught me to make efficient use of the available information by learning to unite information with the context (Syed, 2011, p. 104)

Problem-solving: when it is necessary to think fast and efficiently

Another important skill was the ability to solve problems. After working as a retail manager, I realized that there is a unique solution to any problem.

Communication skills: when having a talk is essential

Another important information concerned the importance of communication skills. Though the problems have to be voiced, they need to be addressed in a tactful manner.

Working together: the real meaning of “team spirit”

I also learned how important it is that the employees should cooperate and share knowledge with each other. Though the given experience is extremely important for me, it does not actually break any new grounds in terms of learning theories in general and the theory of knowledge in particular. According to what Darroch said, the correlations between knowledge sharing and overall performance are always positive (Darroch, 2003, 51).

Conclusion: There Is Still a Long Way to Go

Of course, the given experience was rather short and relatively scarce compared to my future professional career. However, this experience has shaped me as a professional. It was the best way to learn the specifics of retail industry and evaluate the difference between theory and practice. The SEEC D2–7 framework is going to be used to draw the future development plan. Being at the SEEC D6 stage, I will have to work my way up to SEEC D7.

Recommendations: What Could Be Improved

In a retrospective, I realize that the North London Hospice could have been run in a much better way. For example, the emphasis on the visual merchandizing could have been much stronger. Thus, more people would have been attracted and, therefore, the shop would have received much more revenues.

In addition, the analysis of the target market could have been done in a much more accurate way. Since the customers often took their children with them, it would have been a good idea to offer candies, small toys, etc. as well. Anyway, the experience at the North London Hospice was priceless and provided the reason for my further professional development.

Reference List

Darroch, J, 2003, ‘Developing a measure of knowledge management behaviors and practices,’ Jpournal of Knowledge Management, vol. 7 no. 5, 41–54.

Guest, G & MacQueen, K M, 2008, Handbook for term-based qualitative research, Altamira Press, Lanham, MD.

Syed, A U, 2011, ‘A theory of knowledge management,’ Journal of Contemporary research in Management, vol. 6 no. 1, pp. 103–119.

Abstract

The report discussed social media marketing in the context of a charity organization working with vulnerable groups, regionally or globally. The focus was on the different media platforms such as Twitter Facebook, RSS Feeds, and YouTube integrated in an organization’s homepage.

The purpose was to explore ways in which a charity organization can develop and be engaged in social media marketing to raise awareness and communicate with clients. The theoretical research largely informed the recommendations suggested for the social media marketing. It identified cross-media cooperation as essential in online marketing for a charity organization.

Introduction

Social networking, otherwise referred to as social media, is a new trend. It involves engaging customers by using web-based tools. Nora Ganim and Mattson (2008, p. 56) define social media as the Internet-based applications that facilitate the sharing of information among people in diverse locations.

Thus, social media primarily entails networking; networking in a way that establishes trust among parties resulting to evolution of online communities. The common websites that allow users to interact online and share views, information, and opinions include sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace among others.

Social media employ crowds to disseminate information in a collaborative way. It can take various forms of web-based applications such as weblogs, pictorial, Internet forums, and wikis, each centred on a specified aspect including online networking. It uses highly accessible techniques to facilitate interactive communication among users.

Social media marketing encompasses the use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis, and others to disseminate information and enhance social interaction. Currently, social media, previously used for social cause, come in handy for organizational cause, where corporations seek to interact with their customers through the online platforms.

However, the explosion of the social networking phenomenon and the high pace at which it is expanding presents a challenge to corporations seeking to integrate social media into their advertising strategies. Trust is fundamental to social networking and by extension, social media marketing.

Social media can enhance free communication, accountability, and transparency among consumers and the organization. In this regard, corporations, realizing the potential of social media marketing, have developed innovations and technological solutions to power their social media advertising.

For charity organizations, social media present two benefits; increased fund generation from well-wishers and reduction of costs through the identification of the needy and deserving cases (Cross, Parker, & Borgatti 2002, p. 48).

It can enable an organization to respond effectively to emergencies, engage donor agencies and individuals through evangelism, and allow stakeholders share knowledge and expertise. Thus, the benefits of social media range from creation of awareness, mobilization of people for a common cause and aid management.

The aim of this report is to develop online marketing tools for a charity organization that integrates social media applications. Further, the report will highlight the potential online opportunities associated with a move into the social media environment (Cross, Parker, & Borgatti 2002, p. 49).

Additionally, it will give a detailed evaluation of the current online advertising tools for the charity corporation before its development with new ideas informed by studies from different sources of information.

Social Media Applications for a Charity Organization

Social media presents an opportunity for charity organizations to enhance collaboration and engage people towards a common cause. The assembly of applications, that is characteristic of social media, transforms websites (web 1.0) from a non-interactive communication with limited interconnectedness to platforms that enhance social interaction with the end-users as the content producers (web 2.0).

Thus, web 2.0 comprises of web-based technologies and applications that facilitate access to the right information at a convenient time to the end-users. This feature is critical in marketing as it satisfies that 10Cs of internet marketing mix.

They include cost, customer value, convenience, computing, communication, community, content, customer franchise, and customization; which meet the customer needs. Thus, a charity organization with a mission to increase its reach to its clients, must adopt these technologies in order to tap into the intelligence of many.

Social media represents a coalescing of enterprise 2.0 technologies for the Internet marketing including blogs, RSS feeds, social networks, wikis, aggregators, mashups, Ajax, media sharing, tagging, and folksonomies.

The adoption of these technologies for internet marketing primarily aims to create customer relations, brand awareness and reputation and attract new customers. For a charity organization, the purpose is to enhance usability and collaborative work among donors to fight poverty or social injustices regionally or globally.

The traditional web 1.0 application, organizational website, serves to provide information on the operations of the charity organization. According to Gordon (2010, p. 49), the business function of enterprise 2.0 has two aspects viz. leading and lagging.

Leading entails creating public relations and marketing/advertising while lagging involves collaboration and sales. For a charity organization, enterprise 2.0 is critical in public relations, collaboration, and marketing of a given cause.

Often, websites have features that redirect users to social media applications. Blogs are common enterprise 2.0 features on websites, which allow users visiting the website to provide commentary or news on a specified subject.

Thus, blogs are a critical feature of a charity organization’s website; it allows people to create a personal blog and comment/report on diverse topics including humanitarian crises (Mangold, & Faulds 2009, p. 157). Blogs integrated with search engines, such as Technorati, can allow bloggers to search for given information posted by other bloggers.

The importance of enterprise 2.0 applications in marketing can be explained in two ways: social networks and crowd sourcing. The relationships that underlie social networks can be explained by a network theory: relations between individuals in terms of interconnectivity by social media.

The nodes would represent the stakeholders interlinked by enterprise 2.0 technologies forming a charity network. In other words, the network theory can be viewed as communication exchange among donors, the organization, and with the people in need of assistance.

This results to networks at different levels facilitated by a two-way communication, which plays a critical role in mobilizing stakeholders towards a common cause.

Crowd sourcing is another notable web 2.0 technologies; it delegates roles to a large group of people (crowd) by use of online resources. For a non-profit/charity organization, crowd sourcing can facilitate collaboration for a specified cause.

Online Marketing and Advertising Campaigns

In order to build the basis for the need to develop and improve the advertising and marketing in social networks for a charity organization, it is essential to provide an evaluation of social networking in the context of online marketing environment.

The goal of expanding to other social media, besides the traditional online media, is to create a positive image of the charity organization online marketing environment and address the seven P’s of the marketing mix.

It comprises of people, process, promotion, place, price, product, and physical evidence, which are essential to a strong marketing campaign.

In any organization, marketing is integral to its success plans. Marketing or advertising entails the creation and management of effective customer relationships (Stelzner 2010, p.122). This implies that, clients or stakeholders’ satisfaction and collaboration are the core purpose of marketing for charity organizations.

In a charity organization, stakeholders, (donor agencies and victims), play a bigger role; for instance, they are part of an incorporated society comprising of multiple organizations.

Secondly, orientation towards the victims helps create a communication channel that links the activities of the organization with people interested in joining the various welfare causes. Furthermore, according to Stelzner (2010, p. 121), “the purpose of marketing is to accessibility to as many people as possible”.

Thus, for a charity organization, expanding its online marketing to include the social media will help the organization to reach many people on the various social networking platforms. At this stage, the idea is not to access selected target population; instead, the aim is to reach as many people as possible, using the social networks as per the 3R framework (Wells, & Gobelli 2003, p. 67).

Unlike in the past, current technical advancements have changed the processes of online marketing. Online marketing tools enhance the visibility of the web presence; a phenomenon that has opened up borders of nations to reach more target groups especially by charity organizations.

In the wake of financial crises, a charity organization oriented towards advertising is bound to become more successful. Wells and Gobeli (2003, p. 98) argue that marketing/advertising is an essential tool for facilitating a company’s success.

Thus, focus on the essential features of modern marketing is vital in today’s business environment. It allows the clients/donors to identify the location of the humanitarian crisis and respond appropriately. In particular, in the charity sector, marketing and or advertising enhances authenticity of the cause and helps identify the affected people.

Marketing on the social media capitalizes on the social behaviour of the consumers. In this regard, the charity organization can use the same approach to raise awareness and attract possible clients.

As social networks have resulted into the evolution of online communities such as Facebook, Twitter and other social media, charity organizations can utilize online communities to access more clients. The online communities influence clients / users as they share the same values and norms (Good 2008).

Other characteristics such as age or race do not apply when it comes to identifying the users of the different social media channels. Thus, the Facebook page and Twitter webpage of the charity organization should comprise of people who share common interests with regard to fighting hunger and poverty globally.

Different social media channels contain different features that confer them distinct advantages or disadvantages.

The charity organization can adopt an intra-media selection, where a user can disseminate information to online communities through Facebook, Twitter, and RSS Feed to update content or upload images through YouTube. In particular, the RSS Feed feature can be integrated into the website of the charity organization.

The feature contains aggregators that check feeds entered by different users on behalf of the organization and only displays updated articles on the website.

The intra-media feature would allow the organization to reach a wider audience as some channels have many users than others. Of all the media marketing channels, Facebook gets the highest attention.

The major advantage of the intra-media selection feature in a charity organization’s webpage is essential as it allows sharing of content across multiple media platforms.

For online social environment, this feature is beneficial as it facilitates the transfer of content in a fast and cost effective manner. According to Kaplan and Haenlein, “sharing of information is integral to marketing/advertising as it largely influences the opinions and behaviours of users” (2010, p. 59).

In this regard, the organization can use online media to access wider audiences during critical humanitarian causes.

The Social Media Platforms

The charity organization can engage in various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Facebook is arguably the largest social networking platform globally.

According to Charlton (2011), the founders of Facebook intended to promote online marketing and develop features that minimize visits to websites. An example of such a feature is the community pages that contain content from other sources that have relevance to a specified topic, which increases user visits.

According to Li (2010), Facebook ranks number two in terms of traffic behind Google. The users re-direct themselves to Facebook on searching for given information.

The other platform for the charity organization could be YouTube, which is useful in sharing of video content. YouTube ranks number three after Facebook in terms of traffic with over 25% internet users visiting the site daily (Alexa.com 2010, Para.3).

For instance, charity organization dealing involved in hunger and poverty prevention can use YouTube, in the sense that it allows people to upload videos and highlight needy cases globally. Facebook users also re-direct themselves to YouTube to follow up certain events.

The organization can also join Twitter, which allow users to exchange ‘tweets’ and form online communities with regard to a particular humanitarian cause.

Communication on Social Media

For any charity organization, knowing the characteristics of the target audience/clientele is necessary. With regard to social media, it is vital that the charity organization knows the users of its different social media channels, why they use them, and interests the audience shares.

This would help in designing content that meets the needs of users and appropriate for the target audience (Wells, & Gobeli 2003, p.101). Additionally, cooperative marketing is another strategy of ensuring a larger influence by involving many organizations in addressing an emergency.

Response to humanitarian crises requires joint efforts from multiple partners. Thus, through the social media channels, the organization, through the Internet forums or moodles, can call on other charity agencies to unite with it towards a common cause.

Communication strategies used in social media marketing are of three levels (Patrick 2008, p. 12). The first level involves informing the target client. At this level, there is no intention to influence the opinions of the clients. The second level involves content that address the emotional concerns of the target population.

The third level entails combining the effects of both emotional level and the informative level to elicit a response to message.

Consequently, online communication informs and influences the audience; allows a company to present itself to the public. Additionally, social media give the clients an opportunity to respond to public concerns and allow deliberations amongst the clients.

Thus, the social media channels would allow the organization to establish a direct contact with its customers in different countries. However, direct communication in this case does not mean that charity organization would directly contact its clients, but rather it responds to communicate and articulates the opinions of the organization.

For any organization, especially charity organization, it is critical to give a response to client questions. In this regard, the organization would provide multiple opportunities for employees to communicate with the target audience. This can be through the official website page, in-built social blogs or use of social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter) that the organization would join.

However, the organization has to consider four pivotal issues to ensure a successful online marketing: direct marketing, find-ability, web-design & usability, and popularity. Regarding, find-ability, the organization should ensure that keywords associated with the company image are tagged with videos, textual messages or pictures posted by the organization to its social media communities.

The organization can also improve the visibility of its website on search engines through search engine optimization that promotes its ranking un-paid or “natural” search results and thus, attract more visitors to visit the homepage. Alternatively, the organization can subscribe to paid inclusion to encourage users not searching for the company profile to visit its website.

According to Hinchcliffe (2007), the internet accords a company the opportunity to source relevant clientele for which to target their content and messages (Para. 1). By contrast, social media results to online communities who seek for content of their interest from the internet.

For instance, when a charity organization creates a webpage or a topic in its Facebook account, users interested in the topic will search more information individually but share within the community. The organization’s Facebook page should facilitate flexibility and accessibility of content at any time.

The capacity to promote interactivity is another significant advantage of social media over traditional online media. In the organization’s website, a user should be able to contact the website administrator over the content of contained in the web page through the Ajax application.

Important Business Features of Social Media

Various fundamental principles underlie communication in the social media, and online communities. Transparency is of essential in social networking as it promotes trust and a sense of equality. This means that disclosure is necessary for an organization active in social media.

Thus, the social media provide the means through which an organization can disclose its operations (company description). Besides the company description, hyperlinks on the social media, which lead to the company’s official website, would allow users to learn the details of the company.

It also creates a positive image and allows users to understand the rationale for its presence on a particular social media channel. Another way the organization can establish a connection with social media users is by visual elements and logos that represent its activities (Lazer, & Kelley 2003, p. 89).

By creating an honest presentation in the social media, the company would build trust relationships where the users understand the charity activities of the charity organization. In effect, the organization would gain more acceptances in the social networking environment.

It would also minimize the risk of encountering accusations associated with advertising on public web pages (Gay 2006, p. 159). In social media environment, users connect with hundreds of friends and others within online communities. Thus, one user’s post distributes itself within the community, which means that it is visible to users who again share with more others.

This means that the message spreads on a larger scale in social media than when using other online media. This shows the significance of multipliers in the social media environment especially for charity organizations. Furthermore, users are active in more than one social media channel to which they can spread the message.

Thus, the charity organizations should extend their representation into several media platforms and interlink them. In this way, one can display a post from one user in another social media channel with the similar content and the process increase value of the user’s content (Gay 2006, p. 157).

Online communities are an integral part of the social media communication. They are active in social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. The charity organization can benefit from online communities, as they comprise the main audience for the organization’s messages.

In the social media, users search for relevant information on specified topics, which they share with other users with common interests. Thus, creating an online community for the organization should provide relevant and informative content that captures the user’s interest.

The charity organization can create an online community by starting discussions on topics relevant to its mission and to the users, as well (Dotsika 2011, p. 177).

Charlton (2011, p. 80) observes that users often avoid irrelevant information distributed via the social media. Thus, irrelevant messages to users or communities can adversely affect the image of the organization and result to loss of its online community members.

Waters, Burnett, Lamm and Lucas describe four levels make an online community appealing to users (2009, p. 102). The first level is locality; locals often identify themselves with organizations that operate within their locality. The second level is identity, which an organization creates to define its image and that of the community.

The third level regards the provision of content that is largely appealing to attract more users. Lastly, the nature of the online environment and the community influence the level of attractiveness of an online community.

Thus, an investment of time and resources is essential in creating an attractive picture of the company to attract users (Olsen, &Livingstone 2009, p. 6). On the other hand, lack of resource commitment results to reduced use of the social media and the disintegration of the online community.

Additionally, most organizations that enter the social media environment do not utilize the available resources sufficiently. For example, Facebook allows community members to post videos, pictures, texts, and audio messages; however, most organizations use text and picture to pass their messages (Blackshaw, & Nazzaro 1999, Para. 5).

A major challenge that faces organizations involved in social media marketing is that fewer users post or generate content online. For example, Wikipedia with over 7 million registered users, only 1% of these users contribute content to Wikipedia (Gordon 2010, p. 45).

In addition, only 1-4% of the total social media users contribute content to their respective communities. Thus, for an organization to encourage active participation of users in its communities, rewarding the users who contribute content is essential in developing value of its community (Dotsika 2011, p. 172).

The charity organization should endeavor to establish close relationships with the present and potential clients. Repetitive communication, through the different social media platforms, would serve to remind the community members of a given cause and allow them to explore more about the offerings of the organization.

For an organization operating in the social media environment, posting regular messages or news updates on the various channels is vital. However, one needs to consider several factors in order to communicate effectively.

The personnel responsible for writing the messages should be knowledgeable of the organization’s current services and be able to respond to client questions. The regular posts should be of the same style and fashion to avoid causing confusion to community users (Charlton 2011, p. 79). Posting a message should involve a short topic with external links that provide more information about the message.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The theoretical research indicated that online social marketing is constantly evolving. Nevertheless, there are different factors that determine the success of social media marketing. For a charity organization such as charity organization, inter-media selection in the online media is a necessity.

Additionally, one can establish public trust and transparency through enhanced communication among the users, online communities, and regular feedback from the organization. Therefore, charity organization should implement new features in its social media to enhance communication, reach out to needy cases, and attract more clients/donors.

Recommendations

The ideas developed from the theoretical research in the above sections have a strong influence on further adoption of social media by the charity organization. In the social media environment, the enhanced communication is an indispensable tool for marketing/advertising the organization.

The organization can utilize this strategy to raise awareness of its operations. The purpose of this strategy is to allow exchange of opinions and information among social media users and with the organization. However, the message content should remain the same across all the media platforms.

The recommendation is to create a communication plan for marketing across the different platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and its own webpage. This should involve the use of news or social networks aggregator to integrate data or information from different users.

The communication for the organization on the different media platforms should be repetitive in order to create a reminder and awareness among the clients who receive the messages. Additionally, given that social media have an emotional aspect, linking the content with uploaded pictures would encourage users to respond to the particular humanitarian crisis.

For Facebook and Twitter, textual information can be combined with videos and pictures to elicit an emotional response from the users. YouTube can also convey videos on selected topics. The concerned parties should develop videos into a playlist to allow users to follow a given topic.

To develop a better image of the organization, communication on the social media is essential. The recommendation is that, in YouTube and Twitter, the organization should use its logo to increase trust and authenticity of the message communicated to users.

The organization should increase its branding efforts with the involvement of a company logo on uploaded pictures. Additionally, watermarks in user uploaded pictures or videos on its website can be useful in branding efforts. It allows users trace the origin of content and enhances disclosure: an essential aspect in social media environment.

An important feature for successful marketing communication for charity is that the messages sent out should be suitable for the given purpose. Aggressive advertising on social media can result to a negative impression among users. In this regard, to achieve a higher multiplier effect in social networks, the messages should be subtle rather than excessive.

Additionally, weekly quizzes on the different social media pages such as Facebook page could encourage users to read the profile of the organization. There is the need to recognize winners of the quizzes alongside the donors. This will generate more traffic to the Facebook page and in the process attract more donors.

References

Alexa.com. 2010. Facebook Site Info. Web.

Blackshaw, P., & Nazzaro, M., 1999. Consumer Generated Media: Word-of-mouth in the Age of the Webfortified Consumer. Web.

Cross, R., Parker, A., & Borgatti, P., 2002. Making invisiblework visible: Using social network analysis to support strategic collaboration. California Management Review, 44, 25-46.

Charlton, J., 2011. Public sector use of Social Media takes off. Social Media Today, 2(1), pp. 78-81.

Dotsika, F., 2011. Measuring the Influence of Social Media. Public Relations Review, 23(30), pp. 172-178.

Gay, R., 2006. Principles and Drivers of the. New Marketing Environment: Online Marketing, a Customer Led Approach. New York: Routledge. Print.

Good, R., 2008. Content Tagging: What are Tags and Why are they so Important for Web Publishers. Web.

Gordon, J., 2010. The Coming Change in Social Media Business Applications. Social Media Today, 14(2), pp. 45-48.

Hinchcliffe, D., 2007. More organisations shift to Web 2.0 while IT departments remain Wary. Web.

Kaplan, M., & Haenlein, M., 2010. Users of the world, unite! The challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), pp. 59–68.

Lazer, W., & Kelley, J., 2003. Social Marketing: Perspectives and Viewpoints. Homewood: Richard D. Irwin.

Li, A., 2010. Connecting to Everything You Care About. Web.

Mangold, G., & Faulds, D., 2009. Social media: The New Hybrid Element of the Promotion Mix. Business Horizons, 52(1), pp. 357-365.

Nora Ganim, B., & Mattson, E., 2008. Still Setting the Pace in Social Media: The First Longitudinal Study of Usage by the Largest US Charities. University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research, 1(1), pp. 56-62

Olsen, K., & Livingstone, G., 2009. Through Social Media: 5 Steps to Successful Online Campaigns. Network for Good, 1(1), pp. 1-7.

Patrick, K., 2008. Social Networking/Social Media in a Business Context: Consequences, Concerns, Benefits? New York: New York Institute of Technology.

Pingdom, R., 2010. Study: Ages of Social Network Users. Web.

Stelzner, M., 2010. Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers are using Social media to grow their businesses. Social Media Examiner, 2(4), pp. 121- 123.

Wells, J., & Gobeli, H., 2003. The 3R Framework: Improving e-strategy in Business Horizons. London: Springer Books.

Waters, R., Burnett, E., Lamm, A., & Lucas, J., 2009. Engaging Stakeholders Through Social Networking: How Nonprofit Organizations Are Using Facebook. Public Relations Review, 35(3), pp. 102-106.

Introduction

Corporate philanthropy or corporate social responsibility is a commitment to improve community well being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources (Aras & Crowther, 2010). It is a voluntary commitment made by a business to implement practices that benefit both the business and society (Kotler & Lee, 2005).

How an organization discharges its responsibilities under corporate philanthropy is an important manifestation of what it stands for and also determines whether employees, retirees, and share owners can proudly tell their friends about the organization’s good works. When a company aligns itself with the aspirations and beliefs of its employees, powerful sources of energy are unlocked and common bonds are discovered (Reynold, 1999).

Corporate philanthropy is distinct from private foundation and individual giving in a number of ways. Whilst an organization can authorize the use of its facilities, donate surplus or state-of-the-art equipment, and stimulate continuous interaction between the beneficiary and the donor, neither foundations nor individuals can so readily harness these powerful sources of assistants to nonprofits organizations (Reynold, 1999).

This paper looks at the extent to philanthropy can make a difference to the society or to an organization.

Ethical Frameworks for the Evaluation of Philanthropic Motives

Ethical issues arise in philanthropy based on the premise that companies are given the right to exist by society and as such, they have a social obligation to do what is right for the greater good (Burlingame, 2004). Ethical frameworks therefore play a big role in encouraging management to advocate for contributions that will maintain the business as a partner in addressing societal needs.

According to research, India has had a strong tradition of business and corporate philanthropy with education and other social welfare activities being funded by companies since pre-independence days (Fernando, 2010). Although Indians are inclined to believe that they are highly ethical than most other nations, there is still a challenge in maintaining high ethical standards in philanthropic activities with corruption being associated with poor leadership (Fernando, 2010).

Companies have put in place codes of conduct that vary in content and quality from company to company, to ensure that corporate philanthropy is carried out correctly.

The codes cover some or all of the following issues: the treatment of workers, consumer reliability, supply chain management, community impact, environmental impact, human rights commitments, health and safety, as well as transparency and dealings with suppliers (Fauset, 2006).

Some codes are monitored by external verifiers which are usually large accounting firms such as Ernst & Young or Price Water House Coopers. Critics have, however, argued that there is a very high likelihood of these monitors placing the aims of the company, and not the environment or society, at the forefront when carrying out their assessment.

Can Philanthropy Really Make a Difference?

Corporate philanthropy is one of the hot corporate strategies of the present business world. The question that needs to be answered, however, is whether companies should be trusted to live up to their new ideals.

The concept of corporate philanthropy evolved as a response to the threat anti-corporate campaigns pose to companies’ license to operate (Fauset, 2006). The idea of corporate philanthropy is, however, a contradiction considering that companies are legally bound to maximize profits to shareholders.

This duty to make money above all other considerations means that corporations can only be socially responsible if they are being insincere. Any social benefits from corporate philanthropy are often outweighed by losses suffered by the society in other areas.

According to Fauset (2006), corporate philanthropy is an effective strategy for: boosting a company’s public image; avoiding regulation; gaining legitimacy and access to markets and decision makers. To a large extent, corporate philanthropy enables businesses to propose ineffective, voluntary, market-based solutions to social and environmental crises under the guise of being responsible.

This deflects blame for problems caused by corporate operations away from the companies, and protects companies’ interests while hampering efforts to tackle the root causes of social and environmental injustice. Donating to charity, presents companies with a simple way to enhance their reputation.

McDonald’s network of Ronald McDonald Houses to improve the health and well being of children, and BP’s sponsorship of the National Portrait Award are two high profile examples that show how a company’s image can be enhanced through corporate philanthropy (Fauset, 2006).

Conclusion

According to proponents, when well executed, the process and outcome of contributing to nonprofit institutions strengthen the donor as much, if not more, than the recipient. Philanthropy can be no less than a source of sustainable competitive advantage difficult to attain by any other means. It can energize, enrich, and sustain nonprofit causes in ways simply unavailable to private foundations and individuals (Reynold, 1999).

Apparently, claims that corporate philanthropy can greatly benefit companies are not intuitively obvious to most business executives who believe otherwise. Giving money away to nonprofits is thus still viewed by some business executives as a distraction from the central mission of a business which is to increase the value of the shareholders’ investment (Griseri & Seppala, 2010).

Although organizations stand to benefit, the arguments presented in this paper indicate that corporate philanthropy can not really make a difference to the society. Clearly, the motivation for companies is to gain a competitive advantage and make profits. Any attempts to be socially responsible will therefore be met by a lot of suspicion. It is very hard to figure out how a company can genuinely be involved in corporate philanthropy while at the same time it intends to maximize its earnings (Rhode, 2006).

Reference List

Aras, G & Crowther, D., 2010. A Handbook of Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility. Farnham, UK: Gower Publishing, Ltd.

Burlingame, D., 2004. Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 3. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Fauset, C., 2006. What’s wrong with Corporate Social Responsibility? London, UK: Corporate Watch. Web.

Fernando, A. C., 2010. Business Ethics and Corporate Governance. New Delhi, India: Pearson Education India.

Griseri, P & Seppala, N., 2010. Business Ethics. Hampshire, UK: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Kotler, P & Lee, N., 2005. Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Reynold, L., 1999. Give And Take: A Candid Account of Corporate Philanthropy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

Rhode, D. L., 2006. Moral Leadership: The Theory and Practice of Power, Judgment, and Policy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Introduction

Corporate philanthropy is the contribution that business makes to the general population using its finances as part of its corporate social responsibility. The activities undertaken by the organization will have a positive impact on the lives of the beneficiaries and sometimes even the business itself.

Most businesses are involved in various philanthropic activities, which vary depending on the community’s main problems and the business’s interests. In addition, the philanthropic activities are usually focused on improving the quality of life of the workforce of the company, their families and the general population where the company operates or may be intending to operate in future.

It may also be targeting the environment in which the organization operates through the improvement of the natural resources of the area that the organization operates in. primarily, corporate philanthropy can be undertaken through various means, which include giving gifts (products of the company or other company’s product), and having the employees of the company doing various activities which benefit the general community e.g. cleanup of the area near the organization.

In addition, an organization can directly be involved in the philanthropic activities or may form a foundation to carry out its philanthropic activities. These foundations are not involved in any business activities; their sole purpose is managing the philanthropic activities, with funding from the parent organization (Anheier, H K and List R 2005 p 67).

However, corporate philanthropy is not only a means of giving back to the community it also benefits the company in various ways.

Principles of Business sustainability and development

Principles of sustainability explain the measures that an organizations need to put in place to ensure that they are to able cater for the current needs without having to compromise their ability to meet the needs in future (Landrum, Landrum and Edwards, 2009, p 3). In addition, organizations can ensure their sustainability by properly controlling and improving their main assets. These assets can generally be classified into:

Capital provided by nature: the organization should ensure that its activities do not create damage to nature. The organization must ensure that its activities are nature friendly. A good example is where a company produces or uses of products which are recyclable.

Human capital: this refers to the people who are affected by the company’s activities or its products. These may be the consumers of the products which the company produces, people who live near the organization, or the employees of the company.

Primarily, the organization should safeguard the interest of the above groups; by ensuring that the products do not harm the consumers directly when they use them, or the products do not harm employees when they are making them.

The products may also harm people indirectly if they lead to adverse environmental condition in the area where the company operates. Indeed, human capital is important since it provides both the workforce and the consumers for the organization.

Social capital: this refers to the social structure of the people who use the products, are affected by the product or the employees of the company.

Manufactured capital: This refers to the assets which the company uses its production.

Financial capital: The Company must also ensure the sustainability of its finances. The organization must ensure that it puts measures in place to ensure that it continues to have desirable profits. The organization must also ensure that the sale of its products continues to improve as well as the value of its shares (William, 2007, p 19).

Corporate philanthropy as a sustainability and sustainable business practice

Corporations that involve in corporate philanthropy may do so due to varying reasons. They may be involved in philanthropy if the activity will lead to an increase in its profit either directly or indirectly. The corporation may also be involved in philanthropy as a corporate citizen so as to improve the quality of life of the respondents regardless of whether the activity will lead to an increase in its profit or not.

In addition, the organization may be involved in philanthropy so as cater for the social and political influences in the region within their operation. This means that they may be involved in philanthropy so as to self-regulate its activities and avoid government controlling its activities (Anheier and List, 2005, p 68).

Corporate philanthropy improves on the human capital of the organization. Employees who engage in corporate philanthropic activities of the company help their leadership skills and are therefore important assets to the company (Shepp, 2010). The philanthropic activities of a company also lead to improvement in the relationship between the employers and the employees.

This in effect leads to improvement of the motivation and loyalty of the employees. Improvement in the above attributes will lead to increase in productivity of the employees. The philanthropic activities also lead to improvement in the relationship between the customers and the corporation due to the direct involvement between the employees and the consumers.

The money spent on philanthropic activities is not used in vain; and this may act as a form of advertising to the company. The philanthropic activities help to improve the image of the company by showing that it cares for the needs of its consumers and the general population. This helps improve the loyalty of the consumers towards the company since the company caters for its needs as a consumer.

In addition, corporate philanthropy attracts media attention towards the company, helping it to raise its corporate image. The activities that a company undertakes in corporate philanthropy may also improve its image towards the government.

This may lead to its tax exemption or reduction in the tax that the government charges its activities. All these lead to improved financial position of the company; hence, corporate philanthropy, apart from taking money away from the company, also helps in generating money for the company though in an indirect manner (Neryan, 2009).

Corporate philanthropy may also strengthen the human capital of the organization. This may happen if the organization engages in programs to provide education and training of the people who are in institution that offer training for the professional requirement that the organization requires or any other institutions that offer education.

This may be in the form of bursaries and scholarships to students who are in high school or even in colleges (Porter, 2008, p 461). These scholarships and bursaries enable the organization get high quality employees who will as well be loyal to the company since the company helped them acquire their skills.

The organization can also help improve on the quality of products that it produces indirectly through investing in the research and training activities of universities or colleges which deal with its products.

This helps to improve the products of not only its company, but also the product of other companies, thereby making the consumers to get high quality products. Eventually, this will lead to the company having a competitive edge over its rivals even if the initiative benefits even the competitors (Porter, 2008, p 456).

Corporate philanthropy can also help in improving the quality of life of the people who live in the area where it operates. This is through the improvement in the infrastructure, provision of better housing and through support of initiatives which help in improving the environment of the area (Porter, 2008, p 462).

This initiative not only benefits the organization, but also helps in improving the environment in which the business operates. Moreover, improvement in the quality of life of the residents of the area in which the organization operates helps in improving their social welfare, as well as improving the environment in which the organization operates.

Conclusion

Corporate philanthropy is a very vital practice of business sustainability and sustainable business development practice. The benefits that the company gets in engaging in corporate philanthropy outweigh its disadvantages if the corporate philanthropy is carried out in a strategic manner. A company can engage in corporate philanthropy as a means of enhancing its sustainability and improve on its image.

This is highlighted by the fact that, even with the economic recession, companies are still willing to be involved in corporate philanthropy.

This is clearly highlighted by the fact that even after it financial crisis and ultimate bailout JP Morgan Chase, an American investment bank which triggered the economic crisis promised $1 million to the victims of the Haiti earthquake even though the company may have tight budgets to meet its financial obligations (Schepp, 2010).

References

Anheier, H. K. and List, R. (2005). A dictionary of civil society, philanthropy and the non-profit sector. London, Taylor & Francis.

Landrum, N., Landrum, N. E. and Edwards, S. (2009). Sustainable Business: An Executive’s Primer. OK: Business expert press.

Neryan. 2009. CSR and corporate philanthropy. Web.

Porter, M. E. (2008). On competition. MA, Harvard Business press.

Shepp, D. (2010). People at Work: Corporate Giving Boosts Image, Employee Involvement. Web.

Willliam, R. B. (2007). The sustainability handbook: the complete management guide to achieving social, economic and environmental responsibility, London, Earthscan.

Abstract

Create Happiness is a business idea that is intended to generate income for charitable organizations in order to help people suffering from poverty, diseases, and natural calamities. In the given research, the means to attract such target sources of donation as restaurants, hotels and other enterprises involved into the entertainment industry are going to be considered.

By creating a range of links between the Create Happiness organization and such entrepreneurship chains as restaurants, hotels, Carrefours, 7/11 stores, outfit brands, and other companies of the like, Create Happiness will be capable of improving the quality of life of those suffering.

Introduction

Create Happiness is a business idea intended to generate revenues that would be channeled to charitable organizations in this country. The motivation of this business venture came from the fact that people would always want to get involved in good deeds as a way of achieving self-satisfaction (Kyle, 2008).

This organization will be acting as a marketing unit of charitable organization because the whole idea is to generate revenues for charities. Create Happiness will target corporate bodies within this country in the hospitality industry. We will target hotels, restaurants, car rentals, and supermarkets, pharmacies, outfit brands, etc.

Concept and Vision

Vision

As it has been stressed above, the Create Happiness is going to be focused on the regular provision of marketing services to the target customers. However, it is noteworthy that, unlike traditional marketing companies, the Create Happiness Company is going to promote charitable concepts to the corresponding organizations. Therefore, the role that the company is going to play within the given market will concern selling ideas to other companies.

What the emphasis should also be put on is the target audience. Unlike the rest of marketing companies, Create Happiness is not going to be concerned with people as natural persons; on the contrary, the organization will be targeted at other companies and interaction with legal persons. Thus, it will be possible for Create Happiness to expand and reach out for an entirely new level of business relations.

Concept

The Create Happiness Organization will be aimed at signing an agreement with the Red Cross and creating the premises for the Create Happiness and the Red Cross, as well as its equivalent in the East, the Red Crescent. The company envisions its own path as the mediator between major charitable organizations and the companies that provide hospitality services and the services related to entertainment to their clientele, largely, hotels and restaurants.

The Create Happiness Company, therefore, will also try to engage other potential donors, which are major companies within the entertainment industry, such as hotels, restaurants, etc. The Create Happiness will encourage these potential second-party donors by selling its cards and other company products to them. As soon as Create Happiness signs an agreement with these companies.

Market Analysis

The Create Happiness Company is definitely going to face tough competition, since there are a number of companies providing support to charity organizations and serving as mediators between the entertainment industry and charity. In addition, it is noteworthy that the given market, i.e., the hospitality industry, is, though quite competitive, very attractive in that it is always relevant and that it allows for an interrupted stream of revenues within an entire season.

As the latest researches within the hospitality market promotion show, the domestic demand is growing currently, which means that the prices for restaurant and hotel services are escalating. As the statewide statistics shows, the USA was going to host at least 10 million visitors from China in 2013 (Top 10 hospitality industry trends for 2013, n. d.), which means that the competition rates are going to be very high in the 2014.

The problem of marketing strategy to be adopted is also rather urgent, since major companies in the hospitality industry seem to have succeeded impressively over the past five years (Top 10 hospitality industry trends for 2013, n. d.). At present, it seems most reasonable to consider the power of social networking in promoting the Create Happiness cards to large corporations.

Defining the issues that will be crucial for the evaluation of the Create Happiness Company’s place within the hospitality market, the restaurant and hotel business niche in particular, one must mention that the company will have to evaluate its partners based on such important aspects of their operations as the price per room and occupancy percentage.

However, the aforementioned detail will help define the company’s course as per the choice of possible partners, i.e., the choice between the Hilton chain and the Sheraton Company. As far as the rivalry among the marketing companies dealing with the promotion and support of major entrepreneurships goes, Create Happiness will definitely need an elaborate plan, seeing how the competition rates are quite high in the given sphere.

As the recent market research shows, the number of marketing companies is growing, since new and promising marketing strategies appear. Therefore, it will be necessary to deploy the latest technological advances in order to make sure that they are going to work for the benefit of the company. It should be noted, though, that the hospitality market does have certain issues that may later transform into obstacles.

To be more exact, the need to coordinate the work of the industry departments, as well as cooperate with the partners, has arisen. With the advent of a technological breakthrough, the idea of information management between strategic partners seems quite simple, yet, in fact, because of the massive information flood, it is extremely complicated to control the data stream.

PEST Analysis

Graph 1: Pest Analysis

SWOT Analysis

The Create Happiness definitely has a number of strengths that will help it beat the rivals and become one of the most influential charitable organizations within the current market. However, it is necessary to take into account that the company has a few weaknesses, primarily regarding the technological aspect, and that new opportunities for fighting these weaknesses should be sought.

Graph 2: SWOT Analysis

Competition and Positioning

Apart from a cohesive advertising campaign that will help the company land at the top of the marketing charts, the Create Happiness Organization will need to analyze the current market and come up with a compelling positioning idea, which will help the company fight the rivals efficiently.

When taking a closer look at what makes Carte Happiness different from a bunch of other companies of the kind, one must mention the benefit positioning, which comes as a result of the company’s specific vision.

For instance, in a hypothetic situation when the Create Happiness offers its partnership to Hilton and Sheraton and get support from the former, the company will get its benefit percentage from the people who will find out about the case and consider Hilton a more supportive, charitable and, therefore, trustworthy service to use. As soon as the Create Happiness gains the approval of the donor organizations, Create Happiness will market the idea of cards and card devices to the target audience.

Another crucial parameter that needs to be evaluated before launching the company, the suggested input percentage predetermines the company’s future revenues to a considerable extent.

It should also be born in mind that the Create Happiness will have to file the input tax; seeing how the latter amounts to 7%, according to the latest data, it will be required to have $500,000 of the startup capital at the very least, seeing how the company is going to use the latest technologies in order to promote organizations in highly competitive hospitality sphere.

Key Partners

Our key partners in this new business venture will be charitable organization with known reputation in helping the needy in the society. As stated above, the ultimate goal of this new business venture is to help the needy. Partnering with charitable organization is one of the best ways of achieving our objectives.

The Red Cross (Red Crescent in the East) will be our main partner in distributing the revenues generated from different sources. We will deliver the money to the Red Cross so that it may channel it to the poor and other needy members of the society through its well-established channels.

Key Activities

The first major activity would be to seek approval of Red Cross (Red Crescent) in order for them to become our partners because it will be our main distribution channel.

Our key activities are aimed at seeking partnership from the key distributors; once the latter realize that the Create Happiness Organization will be able to promote the concept of charity among the major enterprises, these organizations will decide to assist Create Happiness in its endeavors.

Our main activities involve the process of assigning up service organizations for participation in our charity business. In addition, the organization will aim at convincing the so-called “normal” donors (the personnel) to not only buy cards, but also promote them to the rest of the target audience.

Value Proposition

According to Hougaard (2005), for a firm’s product to be appealing to the customer, it must have some value that offers satisfaction to its consumers. This is a charitable organization with a sole focus of improving lives of the less fortunate members of the society. Our clients will be the poor members of the society. The donors, including both the personnel and the service organizations, will be our shareholders because they will be financing the projects meant to help these members of the family.

Customer Relationship

To maintain customer relationship with the donors, we will always keep them posted on all the activities carried out using their donations. This will be done through our website and direct phone calls. We will also appreciate their work in our journals as a way of marketing their businesses. This will help in creating loyalty with them.

Customer Segment

It is important to understand that our product is unique in that we do not offer direct products to people, whom we rely on for all our income. We offer a form of satisfaction to the donors who give us money, and material support to recipients who give us the moral desire to continue with our charitable programs.

According to Hopkins (2013), segmentation is one of the most important activities in marketing. The clients that will form the market segment will be Red Cross and Red Crescent, who will further distribute the products to those suffering from poverty, diseases and illiteracy. These are members of the society who need our support in order to get basic needs such as food, clothes, shelter, medical attention, and basic education.

Innes, W. (2006). Charities, non-profits, and philanthropy under the Income Tax Act. Toronto: CCH Canadian.

Key Resources

The activities to be carried out will depend on some specific key resources. The physical resources will include cards and card devices that would be sold to the participating donors, i.e., personnel and organizations. Other physical resources include the periodicals that will be old to the donors, and other members of the society as part of income generation activities.

Human resource will be needed for the purpose of marketing this organization, designing of the cards, receiving and distributing of the cards, and other activities relevant in this project. Financial resources will be needed to facilitate movement and other vital activities of this organization. Sources of financial resources are further discussed in sections below.

Channels

One of the most obvious improvements concerning the methods adopted by the Create Happiness concerns the fact that the donors will not have to use boxes or bank services anymore; buying a card and showing it to a stakeholder organization will be all that they will be required to do.

With a list of the stakeholder organizations provided at the Create Happiness website, the process is going to be simplified considerably. After the customers purchase the card, a particular sum will be automatically taken from their account as a part of a charity program.

Cost Structure

In our business model, it is important to understand the cost structure in order to determine the expenditure. The table below shows some of the main areas of expenditure in this project.

Revenue Stream

This business idea can only be sustainable if it has a clearly defined revenue stream to support its planned activities. It is important to understand that some of the sources of income in this business idea that will be able to support activities identified above. It has been made clear from the above discussion some of the planned costs that would be incurred to facilitate the operations of this firm. Below are some of the specific revenue streams for this project.

• Sale of cards
• Sale of card devices

This project will depend on the sale of cards and card devices to individuals who will accept to be members of our charitable organization. All registered members will be expected to have a card (individuals) or a card device (companies) as identifications. They will buy the card at 2 dollars, the revenue received from selling cards going to the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, the Red Crystal, and other charity organizations.

The card devices will cost 25 dollars each. It is estimated that the combined cost of the two items will be 2 dollars. This means that from each member, we will generate 27 dollars. It is also important to make sure that cards should have expiry dates; thus, it will be possible to use them more than once.

• Percentage of the revenues collected from donors

Before going any further, one must mention that the Create Happiness is going to take 1% of each purchase amount for instance if I bought from Carrefour items and I paid 300$ then an amount of 3$ to allocated for donation. 40% of the 3% will be taken by Crate happiness company and 60% will be sent to Red Cross, so we will take $1.2.

It has been stated that the organization will act as a link between donors and Red Cross/Red Crescent, which is the distributing partner. However, we must get some income from this in order to enhance sustainability. We intend to keep 40% from all the donations received from hotels, restaurants, car rentals, and supermarket.

• Sale and advertisements on our periodicals

We intend to publish journals that would tell the stories of the suffering of people whom we are trying to help, how they are neglected by the government, and what members of the society are doing to help them. It would take a slight political tone to attract a wide reading. These journals will be sold to members of the society at $1.5 per copy. The cost of producing one copy is 3 dollars. This means that sale of one copy would give us 7 dollars.

Lessons Learned

The creation of Create Happiness and its introduction into the market obviously offers a lot of lessons to learn, especially in terms of promoting a company that primarily is going to be based on charity. To start with, the seriousness of the competition and the necessity to promote the company among the target customers has been proven.

Another important lesson concerns the reputation of the company in question. As the example of the Hilton hotel chain provided above shows, once people realize that a company has specific moral obligations towards a particular group of people, they feel more inclined to use the given company’s services. Therefore, the necessity to introduce a strong vision and values has become obvious in the process of designing the Create Happiness market strategy.

References

Hopkins, B. R. (2013). Starting and managing a nonprofit organization: A legal guide. Hoboken: Wiley.

Hougaard, S. (2005). The business idea: The early stages of entrepreneurship. Berlin: Springer.

Innes, W. (2006). Charities, non-profits, and philanthropy under the Income Tax Act. Toronto: CCH Canadian.

Kyle, T. (2008). 400 latest & greatest small business ideas from around the world. London: World’s Biggest BooksCom.

Top 10 hospitality industry trends for 2013 (n. d.). Web.