Am Delighted To Introduce Adam Braun A Gem

Adam Braun (born October 31, 1983, New York City) is an American entrepreneur, bestselling author, and philanthropist. He is the Founder of Pencils of Promise, a non-profit organization that builds schools and increases access to education for children in the developing world.^[1]

He is the also creator of the “for-purpose” approach^[2] and wrote the New York Times bestselling book, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change.

Pencils of Promise, also known as PoP for short, is a non-profit organization that builds schools and increases educational opportunities in the developing world. Pencils of Promise was founded by Adam Braun in October 2008. It is a 501(c)(3) organization with education programs in Laos, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Ghana. As of January 2015, the charity has served over 33,883 students, built 320 schools and has provided more than 24.3 million education hours.

How It Started

The name comes from an incident in India when Adam Braun was visiting the country. He asked a poor street child what he wished to have most of all. The boy answered: "a pencil", so Braun gave him his pen, a smile erupted and his eyes brightened. Braun then saw the profound power and promise brought through something as small as giving a pencil to just one child. Over the next five years, He backpacked through more than 50 countries, handing out thousands of pens and pencils across six continents. These pencils, these small pieces of potential, led to powerful conversations with local parents and children across countless cultures and languages. From years of listening to their words, it became clear that there was a need for an international non-profit that will led on-the-ground by a staff of locals from within each country, required village participation in each school, and deeply supported, trained and tracked each student to ensure their success. These are the guidelines on which PoP was founded in October 2008.

Where They Work

v GHANA

v  GUATEMALA

v  LAOS and

v  NICARAGUA.

What They Do

Ø SCHOOL BUILDS

They build quality schools to keep kids safe, sound and in pursuit of their promise.

Ø TEACHER SUPPORT

They’re changing the way teachers are trained and supported to ensure that students are learning effectively.

Ø SCHOLARSHIPS

They give scholarship of full year of school resources.

Ø WATER + HEALTH PROGRAMS

They provide water, sanitation and hygiene programme to keeps kids healthy, happy and full of promise.

Mission

Pencils of Promise believes every child should have access to quality education. They create schools, programs, and global communities around the common goal of education for all. Pencils of Promise focuses on building strong structures and sustainable education programs by forming long-lasting, collaborative relationships with communities. Sites are picked taking into account need, sustainability, cost efficiency, impact and commitment. The facilities are built with local labor and material. The charity also supports projects through ongoing teacher training, progression scholarships and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) programming.

Achievement

Since starting with just a $25 deposit, they have now

ü Built more than 320 schools,

ü Served over 33,883 students,

ü Provided over 24.3 million education hours.

Supporters

The charity is supported by a number of celebrities and most prominently by Scooter Braun, a well-known entertainment manager, and elder brother of the founder. Also involved from the first days of the organization is one of Scooter Braun's biggest acts, Justin Bieber who has lent his voice as an international celebrity spokesman for the organization by running ads for the charity and its campaign Schools4All and promising to visit schools that donate the most funds to the organization.  Bieber takes part in the charity's fund-raising galas and donates parts of proceeds of his concerts and line of fragrances "Someday"^] and various merchandising to the charity. DJ BLAU is also a major supporter of the charity.  With the proceeds from his remix "Back to New", 3LAU raised $25,000 for the charity and helped to build Justo Rufino Primary School in Guatemala. For his most recent tour 3LAU raised over $10,000 towards building a second school for the charity.

Discoveries

According to this research, it shows that pencils of promise is currently helping 250 million school children who cannot read and write which is one of my personal experience and my aims of creating a non-profit organization that will improve children education because in my primary school days I could not read neither could i write.  I’m charged by this startling statistic of school children who cannot read and am encouraged to take action.

This research shows how celebrity can be very helpful in fundraising for a charity.

This research also indicates the profound power and promises that giving something as small as a pencil to one child can brought. 

Nonetheless, I discover that if someone that has my name has done this great I can do better as well.

Blake Mycoskie The Priceless Man Who Gives Free Shoes To Impoverished Children

Blake Mycoskie wearing shoe for vulnerable children 

Blake Mycoskie from Arlington is the founder of Toms Company a company that gives a pair of shoe to an impoverished child for every pair of shoes they sell. Read And Be Inspired….    

Toms is a for-profit company based in Playa Del Rey, California, that operated the now defunct non-profit subsidiary, Friends of Toms. The company was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie, an entrepreneur from Arlington, Texas. The company designs and sells shoes based on the Argentine alpargata design as well as eyewear. When Toms sells a pair of shoes, a new pair of shoes is given to an impoverished child, and when Toms sells a pair of eyewear, part of the profit is used to save or restore the eyesight for people in developing countries. Similarly, the company launched TOMS Roasting Co. in 2014. With each purchase of TOMS Roasting Co. coffee, the company works with other organizations that they refer to as “giving partners” to provide 140 liters of safe water (a one week supply) to a person in need. In 2015, TOMS Bag Collection was launched to help address the need for advancements in maternal health. Purchases of TOMS Bags help provide training for skilled birth attendants and distribute birth kits containing items that help a woman safely deliver her baby.

How He Started

Blake Mycoskie first visited Argentina while competing in the second season of The Amazing Race with his sister in 2002. He returned there on vacation in January 2006, and noticed that the local polo players were wearing a form of shoes called alpargatas, a simple canvas slip-on shoe that he himself began to wear. The shoes have been worn by Argentine farmers for hundreds of years and were the inspiration for the classic style of Toms shoes. They are made from canvas or cotton fabric and are now manufactured in many styles including a cordones, botas, wedges, stitchouts, and wrap boots. The sole is constructed of rubber.  Later in the trip, when he was doing some volunteer work in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, he noticed that many of the children were running through the streets barefooted. After discovering that a lack of shoes was a wider problem in Argentina and other developing countries than just this one community, he decided that he wanted to develop a kind of alpargata for the North American market, with the caveat that for every pair sold he would provide a new pair of shoes free of charge to the shoeless youth of Argentina and other developing nations. Mycoskie had learned that the lack of shoes was a problem that had a serious impact upon these youth, threatening the ability of the children to go to school, prevent infection, and so forth.

He took the idea to Argentine shoe manufacturers and began building the company based on this idea, and initially made 250 pairs of shoes. The company first officially began selling its shoes in May 2006.  After an article ran in the Los Angeles Times, the company received order requests for nine times the available stock online,  and 10,000 pairs were sold in the first six months. The first batch of free shoes were distributed in October 2006 to Argentine children; the number was equivalent to the amount of stock sold: ten thousand. The company was self-financed, as Mycoskie sold his online driver education company for $500,000^. to fund the shoe company. The company name (TOMS) is derived from the word "tomorrow," and evolved from the original concept, "Shoes for Tomorrow Project."

In 2007 the company launched an annual "One Day Without Shoes" event where adherents do not wear shoes throughout the day in order to raise awareness for Toms' mission for clothing impoverished children. The day to raise awareness has had partners such as AOL, Flickr, and the Discovery Channel that help to promote the event. By 2011 over 500 retailers were carrying the brand globally; that year it also launched its eyewear line. By 2012 over two million pairs of new shoes had been given to children in developing countries around the world. The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at the University of New Mexico describes the company as "a for-profit business with a philanthropic component”.

Where They Work

Ø Argentina,

Ø Ethiopia,

Ø Guatemala,

Ø Haiti,

Ø Rwanda,

Ø South Africa, and 

Ø United States.

What They Do

Toms' business model has been referred to as the "one for one concept" business model, referring to the company's promise to deliver a pair of free, new shoes to a child in need for every sale of their retail product. The countries to which the free products are sent have included Argentina, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Rwanda, South Africa, and the United States. The business has grown beyond producing shoes and has included eyewear and apparel in Toms product lines. The company uses word-of-mouth advocacy for much of its sales, centering its business focus on corporate social responsibility. Part of this model originally involved a non-profit arm called "Friends of Toms" that recruited volunteers to help in the shoe distributions in foreign countries. Toms trademarked the phrase "One for One" to describe its own business model.

 When Toms sells a pair of eyewear, part of the profit is used to save or restore the eyesight for people in developing countries. TOMS Eyewear launched in 2011, and has helped restore sight to over 275,000 people in need. We give sight in 13 countries, providing prescription glasses, medical treatment and or sight-saving surgery with each purchase of eyewear.

 

Mission

The mission of Toms is that a business rather than a charity would help their impact last longer with the aim of donating shoes to the needy.

Achievement

Volunteers on shoe distribution trips are able to hand-deliver shoes to children. In 2006, Toms distributed 10,000 pairs of shoes in Argentina. In November 2007, the company distributed 50,000 pairs of shoes to children in South Africa.  As of April 2009, Toms had distributed 140,000 pairs of shoes to children in Argentina, Ethiopia, South Africa as well as children in the United States.  As of 2012, Toms has given away over one million pairs of shoes in 40 countries.

Partners

In 2009 Toms partnered with the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project to create limited edition shoes, using the profits to benefit education and medical support to remote areas of Africa suffering from AIDS outbreaks Toms has also produced shoes with a handlebar mustache symbol in place of the traditional Toms symbol in support of the Movember Foundation. Toms is also a supporter of the charity charity: water, with which it partnered with over several years, including its WaterForward project, aiming to bring clean water to underdeveloped countries through giving on behalf of one's friends. An additional partner charity is FEED, whereby when a consumer purchased a pair of shoes the company would donate twelve meals to poor schools in addition to a pair of shoes for impoverished children.

Criticism

Toms has received criticism from the International Development community. For their 'Buy One, Give One' Model, who have charged that Toms' model is designed to make consumers feel good rather than address underlying causes of poverty. Criticisms have also included whether or not the shoe donation is as effective as a monetary one to other charities. Tom's founder Blake Mycoskie responded to these criticisms in November 2013, saying "If you really are serious about poverty alleviation, then you need to create jobs”. Blake said “At first I took that personally, but then I realized that they were right... using our model to create jobs is the next level." The company has announced its plans to have one-third of all its shoes produced in countries receiving aid by 2015.

My Personal Discoveries

Following this research I discover how the company name (TOMS) was derived from the word "tomorrow," and evolved from the original concept, "Shoes for Tomorrow Project."

Before this research I have a single story of Toms Company which is “They sells shoes”. But after this research have discovered that Toms Company are doing much more than selling shoes. It was unknown to me that toms are making impacts with each pairs of shoes they sell by donating shoes to needy children.

Start Something That Matters 

This research has also uncovered how business can be used as a form of charity. 

The Man With The Golden Arm

James Harrison Photo; DANNY AARONS via news.com.au

James Harrison, known as the Man with the golden arm, is a blood plasma donor from Australia whose unusual plasma composition has been used to make a treatment for Rhesus disease. He has made over 1000 donations throughout his lifetime, and these donations are estimated to have saved over two million unborn babies from the condition.

Born in 1936, Harrison underwent major chest surgery at the age of thirteen, requiring 13 litres of blood. He was in the hospital for three months afterwards. Realizing the blood had saved his life, he made a pledge to start donating blood as soon as he turned eighteen, the then-required age. Mr. Harrison started donating in 1954 and after the first few donations it was discovered that his blood contained an unusually strong and persistent antibody called Rho(D) Immune Globulin. Rho(D) IG is given to Rh(D) negative mothers of unknown or Rh(D) positive babies during and after pregnancy to prevent the creation of antibodies to the blood of a Rh(D) positive child. This antigen sensitization and subsequent incompatibility phenomenon causes Rhesus disease, the most common form of hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). [Source]

As blood plasma, in contrast to blood, can be donated as often as every 2–3 weeks, he was able to reach his 1000th donation in May 2011. This results in an average of one donation every three weeks during 57 years. [Source]

The Billionaire Who Is Trying To Go Broke

Chuck Feeney; 

Photograph via New Decade

I just come across this wonderful story about Chuck Feeney and I found it inspiring and I decided to share it with you. Enjoy your reading..

Charles Francis Feeney (born April 23 1931 in Elizabeth, New Jersey) is an Irish-American businessman who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Duty Free Shoppers Group. The concept of “duty free shopping”—offering high-end concessions to travelers, free of import taxes—was in its infancy when Feeney founded DFS on November 7, 1960. DFS would soon became the world’s largest travel retailer. During the same period, Feeney banked nearly $334 million in dividends that he in turn invested into hotels, retail shops, clothing companies and tech startups. In 1996, his DFS interests were acquired by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) for $1.63 billion. Over his career Feeney amassed a $7.5 billion fortune that he intends to give away entirely in his lifetime.

His foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, has funnelled $6.2 billion into education, science, health care, aging and civil rights in the U.S., Australia, Vietnam, Bermuda, South Africa and Ireland. The remaining $1.3 billion will be spent by 2016, and the foundation will be shuttered in 2020. [Source]

According to Forbes, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett credit Feeney as a major inspiration for both the $30 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. As of July 2013, 113 billionaire individuals and couples and one family group have signed the pledge. [Source]

“I had one idea that never changed in my mind—that you should use your wealth to help people. I try to live a normal life, the way I grew up,” Feeney says. “I set out to work hard, not to get rich.” [Source]