giving back Archives - another jennifer

I’m a Fierce Diva Writing on the Misconception About Philanthropy

May 16, 2013 By anotherjennifer 12 Comments

You may be familiar the real fierce diva, Ilene Evans, author of the Fierce Diva Guide to Life.

She recently wrote a guest post for Philanthropy Friday about how she gives back through fostering dogs.

I love reading Ilene’s blog because her posts are not only extremely well written, but she always has a message to share.

Oh, and she knows how to rock Doc Marten’s and a skullcap.

Today, I am fortunate enough to be guest blogging on the Fierce Diva Guide to Life. My post is about the misconception about philanthropy and the disconnect I saw when people gave to the nonprofit I worked for.

Read my post, The Misconception About Philanthropy.

While you are there, go back and read her previous post, Use Your Words. Ilene always writes a post dedicated to her guest bloggers before she shares their post. The post she dedicated to me was spectacular and really embodies much of what I am trying to convey here on my blog.

Thanks, Ilene!

Filed Under: Philanthropy Tagged With: Fierce Diva Guide to Life, giving back, guest post, Ilene Evans, misconception, philanthropy

Philanthropy Friday: Women Build to Celebrate Mother’s Day

May 10, 2013 By anotherjennifer 14 Comments

Each Friday, the another jennifer blog shares stories of those who incorporate philanthropy into their everyday lives – personally and professionally – in a creative and unique way. If you have a story you’d like to share, please contact Jennifer. You can view past posts from the series here.

To celebrate Mother’s Day, Habitat for Humanity is hosting a week-long event that celebrates women and empowers them to improve their local communities.

The 6th annual National Women Build Week encourages women to devote at least one day to creating affordable housing for all. How? By helping to build a house, of course!

Women Build is Habitat for Humanity’s program for women who want to learn construction skills and build homes and communities. This program brings together women from all walks of life to address the housing crisis facing millions of women and children worldwide.

The timing of National Women Build Week around Mother’s Day is appropriate because a staggering number of families with children are in need of adequate housing. In fact, according to the Census Bureau, more than 16 million children are living in poverty in the US and nearly 48% of the children reside with women heads-of-household.

For Lisa Marie Nickerson, Associate Director of Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build, the program has a special place in her heart. Lisa grew up with a single mom and saw firsthand how difficult it was to find affordable housing. As she became an adult, she realized how important it was for her to give back to other women who work so hard, yet still can’t find a good place to live.

Women Build Week started back in 2008 with 105 locations in the US participating. This year, they have 300 sites across all 50 states participating in events with well over 12,000 volunteers.

And guess what? There’s no experience necessary to participate in a Women Build event. In fact, Habitat for Humanity has teamed up with Lowe’s to offer how-to workshops that help women learn some building basics before they get involved with a project in their local area.

I spoke with Angy Smith, a Habitat for Humanity volunteer and store manager at a Lowe’s in greater Los Angeles, as she was preparing for a hands-on workshop for volunteers helping out in Long Beach. They were expecting 62 women at the workshop as they were getting ready to completely refurbish a house in one day. Angy noted that she sells home improvement every day, but to actually pick up a hammer and saw and to build a foundation that will help a woman and her family to move forward is almost too amazing for words.

Angy says that Lowe’s and Habitat for Humanity empowers and inspires women to give back in a way they may not have realized they could. All you need is little bit of time and effort.

Want to get involved with Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build Week event?

Find a National Women Build event near you
Volunteer with Women Build (you can help out year round!)
Donate to Women Build
Follow along on Twitter ~ #WomenBuild13 @WomenBuild and @Habitat_org
Contact your local Habitat for Humanity affiliate about projects in your area and upcoming Lowe’s workshops for women

And, yes, I’ll be donning my own hard hat (or whatever safety gear necessary) today as I help out with a project in Freeport, Maine so I can experience that amazing feeling myself. I will be sure to post pictures.

Have you ever built a house with Habitat for Humanity?

Filed Under: Philanthropy, Philanthropy Friday Tagged With: giving back, Habitat for Humanity, Lowe's, volunteering, Women Build Week

Philanthropy Friday: Next Jump is Giving

January 27, 2012 By anotherjennifer 1 Comment

As the premium provider of rewards and loyalty programs in the U.S., Next Jump connects over 30,000 merchant partners, 90,000 corporate customers, and 100 million users through its online e-commerce platforms. Charlie Kim founded the company in 1994 in his college dorm room, managing to grow in the dot-com bubble, survive the subsequent bust and move forward at a rapid pace with the help of some generous angel investors. Today, Next Jump is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Cambridge, MA and London.

But Next Jump is more than just a business success. Giving back is “in the DNA” of the core of the company. According to Kara Silverman, Director of Communications for Next Jump, “Charlie believes that everyone should give back to their community, companies like Next Jump included. We give back where we are strong and have expertise and that helps to build the ecosystem.”

Looking at the website, it’s clear that Charlie and his company value their people, emphasizing employee development, health and having fun. Next Jump has a comprehensive program called NxJ Cares that includes tripling their employees’ charitable donations, incubating nonprofits in their offices to help them grow, and encouraging employees to devote two weeks paid time each year to use their web development skills to pursue a cause they are passionate about.

That’s all great and probably above and beyond what most companies do for philanthropy. But it doesn’t stop there. Next Jump also recently launched a partnership with DonorsChoose.org called SA500 Kids, which will donate $500K+ to fund technology resource requests in public school classrooms. The funds for SA500 Kids are raised from purchases made on Next Jump’s shopping site, OO.com (OO stands for Overwhelming Offers), which launched on Black Friday of last year.

Kara used the term social commerce, or consumers spreading the word about your company because of its philanthropy, as part of Next Jump’s culture. “Next Jump is working to redefine what social commerce means with this project. We have invested the funds that would have been our advertising budget in the SA500 Kids partnership, and we are inspired by how fast it has grown. Each week, we are funding 60 plus projects impacting more than 6,200 public school kids. In return, we’re getting the most powerful form of marketing, word-of-mouth.”

Certainly an innovative marketing tactic that benefits the company, their employees, shoppers and the community.

Read about all of Next Jump’s philanthropic endeavors