Everyday Giving
November 12, 2009
Tags: Eugene Cho, One Day's Wages
Posted in: Cause, News, giving
NY Times article on the everyday giver. Namely, YOU.
It’s easier than ever for you to make a difference.
Nice to see Eugene Cho and One Day’s Wages featured here.
Similarly, One Day’s Wages, a new charity established by Eugene Cho, a Christian minister in Seattle, asks donors to give up a day’s income to charity. The idea came to Mr. Cho during a trip to Myanmar a few years ago when he visited a school in the jungle whose teachers were taking better-paying jobs in bordering Thailand.
He asked a village elder what it would take to retain teachers, and they said about $40 each. Not a week. Not a month. “I realized he meant per year,” said Mr. Cho. “It hit me: $40 can make a huge difference.”
He started a Facebook group, Fight Global Poverty, and pledged to donate $1 for each member who joined, up to a total of $100,000. The group now has more than 1 million members, and Mr. Cho and his wife will contribute about $68,000 this year — representing a year’s wages — and the rest next year. One Day’s Wages received tax-exempt status in May and started its Web site last month at www.onedayswages.org. “It’s easy to be drawn to the multimillion-dollar donations, but we’re doing ourselves a disservice by not elevating the stories of the working mothers and fathers who also contribute what are significant amounts to them,” Mr. Cho said.
Bookmark and Share:
Leave A Comment