Welcome to our blog!
This blog is about harnessing our collective creativity toward a single objective – Empowering People for Life.
There is only one reason for this company’s existence and that is to walk the talk. Global poverty and inequity is absolutely staggering – and the ability to end it is within our grasp – if we choose to act.
So what can can any of us do about it? Well this is the question isn’t it? The problem is so large that the natural human inclination is to conclude that one individual, one company cannot really change much. And besides, there are so many other pressures on us and demands for our attention.
As the founder of ZOË Alliance, I will have the privilege of hosting us on a journey to answer that question. Together we will experiment with the concept that even a small decision like choosing to spend the budget you have for personal or corporate gifts on products made by people in rural villages can make a difference. That it can make a really big one if we all join in.
Last year in North America we allocated a staggering $849.7 billion dollars toward gift purchases and donations. (Sources: National Retail Federation, Giving USA Foundation, Imagine Canada 2007 Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating)
So let’s assume that over the next 5 years we could find ways to spend even 10% of that on items made by people in developing nations. That would work out to $84.9 billion dollars. To put that in perspective, the total foreign aid that the US and Canada sent in 2008 was $30.4 billion dollars.
We could fundamentally quadruple the amount of foreign aid coming out of North America without actually spending any more than we plan to spend anyway. We just need to spend it strategically.
If we all Think Bigger Than Fair Trade, and look to creating a new way of develop economies, we can help local leaders break the cycle of poverty.
I invite you to join us in this conversation, tell us your Think Bigger ideas, about great work that you are aware of, stay in touch with the villages we are working with, and even tell us how we can do better.
Above all I invite you to join us in realizing the vision of a world where all people can hope, dream and live life abundantly, no matter where they were born.
Walking with you,
Angie
