Soropa Blog

I expect you know that volunteer work can help build stronger communities as well as helping the poor. But how much time does it take to arrange this? You’ll find it’s less hassle to get involved when a professional has organized the event. And don’t you agree that if you had your friends from work working alongside you, you’d all enjoy yourselves more while volunteering? Companies like Adaptive Marketing LLC, a Connecticut-based firm that innovated shopping programs like Leisure Exclusives that bring value to customers, are making themselves the points of organization enabling their employees to make time for reaching out.

Such initiatives were always annual, minor occasions — in today’s world, so much more can be accomplished. Looking at a specific company, Adaptive Marketing has offered staff members the chance to help with anything from athletic shoe recycling campaigns to tree replanting weekends. By centralizing the organization individual initiatives became events, with specific dates, times, and locations made public in advance to make time management easy for those signing up.

Of course, it’s essential to let volunteers find projects in line with their own interests. Businesses providing this kind of service like Adaptive Marketing, allow their staff members to choose from a wide range of projects in the local area. You’ll find there’s so much to be done, after all; working with children, helping with green programs, or supporting local theater to name just a few. Often, the more they enjoy it, the more gets done, consequently, by providing such a variety of programs Adaptive Marketing guarantee that their workforce will make progress on as many as possible.

Typically a company supported charity program — getting involved with a local school, for example, or assisting at a homeless shelter — is done either as a one-off event or on a regular schedule designed to achieve a bigger goal. Even if you can only find a few hours to assist at the public library’s used-book sale or a Saturday morning park clean-up, you’ve still got plenty of time to help. You’ll find plenty of examples of firms finding ways to help the people who live around them. Goodwill is created by the volunteer work done by Adaptive Marketing’s staff, and the staff of companies like it, over the course of company-supported programs like the ones touched on earlier. Another aspect is, one of the benefits of volunteer work is the knowledge that you’ve done something worthwhile — a positive feeling that uplifts the entire corporate culture.

As I expect you know, volunteering is a great way to strengthen community bonds as well as bringing help to the needy. Doing it yourself, however, freeing up the time to volunteer is liable to to consume very time that could be put to so much better use. So, some socially-conscious companies are integrating points of organization to help their employees work for the community through volunteer activities. One of the leaders in this is Adaptive Marketing LLC who developed programs like At Home Rewards to consumers.

If you were asked for examples of company-backed volunteer work, you’d most likely talk in terms of giving blood, maybe an annual donation drive, but that’s simply not true in today’s world. The staff of Adaptive Marketing have been given the opportunity to take part in a wide variety of community initiatives. Once all the pertinent information — date, location, time, specifics, etc. — had been displayed in advance it has become very simple for staff members to decide how much time they could give and what they’d be doing as they did so. It is essential to let volunteers select projects that fit their strengths. Businesses involved in this like Adaptive Marketing, the developers of the membership program At Home Rewards, allow their staff members to choose from a wide assortment of events. These may include green initiatives and more. The result is that Adaptive Marketing volunteers have the opportunity to find the most effective way to work and enjoy their time volunteering. If firms encourage their staffers to get involved at homeless shelters, it tends to be in support of a single event or a regular, ongoing job. No matter how short the time you can spare, there’s going to be some project to match, which means time is no block against volunteering. It’s common practice for firms to assist the community which they serve. The good worksefforts of the staff at Adaptive Marketing spread precious goodwill around their home base. What volunteer work is sure to do is provide your employees with a reason to feel good, producing a motivated company.

Myth: Wind turbines spoil the landscape. Fact: This is a matter of opinion. Compared to mountain top removal from coal mining, oil extraction, nuclear power plants and other energy developers, wind farms run by wind power are quite elegant. If we don’t switch to cleaner forms of energy, climate change will severely and irrevocably alter much of our landscape as well as the animal and plant life it contains. And in the United States, over 24,000 people are dying prematurely each year because of dirty power plant pollution - we obviously need to change our energy sources fast, and wind provides a clean, safe alternative. Myth: Wind turbines threaten bird populations. Fact: Studies show that for every 10,000 bird fatalities, less than one is caused by wind turbines. For comparison, cats cause about 10 percent of bird deaths and nearly half are caused by collisions with buildings or windows. In fact, a recent study published Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows that 40 percent of all species could face extinction because of global warming. Monitoring of existing wind farms suggests that with proper location and construction, there is no adverse impact on bird populations. It’s important for wind farms to conduct a thorough analysis of the risk to bird life as part of the environmental impact assessment of every proposal. With rigorous review, thorough monitoring, and sensitive design, wind power can be deployed without significant harm to birds (and other wildlife). Myth: Tourists hate wind farms. Fact: There is no evidence to suggest that wind farms deter tourists, indeed many wind farms are actually tourist attractions. For example, in Swaffham, Norfolk, over 50,000 tourists have climbed the wind turbine tower to see the spectacular views from the top of its the 214-foot high viewing platform In Denmark, many tour agencies run boat trips to take visitors to see the offshore wind farm at Middelgrunden, near Copenhagen. Here at home, the wind farm in Searsburg, Vermont consistently fills educational tours of its facilities almost as soon as they are announced. Myth: Wind turbines are noisy. Fact: Modern turbines are actually very quiet! Thanks to advances in wind turbine technology, well designed, well-sited turbines can be quiet enough to cause no disturbance to people living just a few hundred yards away. At these distances, any noise they do make is usually drowned out by the natural noise of the wind itself in the trees and vegetation. To protect nearby residents from any undue disturbance, proposals to install wind turbines are required to meet strict noise standards. Having read exaggerated claims in the press, people visiting wind farms are often surprised at how quiet they actually are. Myth: Wind power isn’t reliable. Fact: Yes it is. There is actually a lot of confusion about the reliability of different sources of electricity. No power stations are able to operate all the time. Many so-called reliable sources such as nuclear plants suffer from unexpected “outages” when reactors must be shut down for essential safety maintenance.

Cancer of the mesothelium is a infrequent cancer of the tissues that line people’s internal organs. Around two thousand brand new occurrences are detected each year in the whole US. Of this group, aboutthree out of four of cases affect the sac around the lungs, named the pleura. Also known as pleural mesothelioma. In nearly ten to 20 percent of cases, mesothelioma could involve the tissue that encircles abdomen organs, called the peritoneal membrane, resulting in what is then referred to as peritoneal mesothelioma.

Exposure to asbestos is positively the main risk factor for this uncommon sickness. After exposure to asbestos, the delay to progression of the mesothelioma disease might be twenty to forty years. As a result of work introduction, mesothelioma is nearly 3 times more routine in males, than in women. Because the amount of cases moves upward with age, there are nearly 10 times more instances in the males over age 64 than in the men in their midlife.

Being diagnosed with Mesothelioma is a grave disease, that, at the moment, has a incredibly bad rate of overall endurance. Nonetheless, if it is recognized quickly, regimens are then available that might seriously prolong the patient’s life. All new approaches continue to be and are being developed through the use of clinical trials.

First Ph.D. in Philanthropic StudiesThe United States is well-known for its robust philanthropic outreach programs. It seems mildly ironic and surprising then that the first recipient of a Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies is not American, but Chinese. Yue (Jen) Shang, a resident of Beijing, took up her Philanthropic Studies at the Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. Eventually, she will soon enter the ranks of the institution’s faculty and help educate fund raisers and officials of non-profit organizations about donor behavior and other aspects of philanthropic drives, including fundraising, nonprofit marketing, and how to refine the giving decisions of officials of nonprofit organizations. Shang, who was funded by a grant from the Hewlett Foundation and who delved into the study of why nonprofit organizations and individuals reach out, has commented that she has plans to return to China and do research on the psychological aspects of philanthropy there — specifically motivations for donating and the aspects that influence such actions. Yue Shang is one of the 10 foreign students who enrolled in the Ph.D. program, which commenced back in 2004. The other students hail from Taiwan, Germany, Ghana, China, Latvia, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and South Korea. She was honored at a hooding ceremony last May 10 at the Center on Philanthropy in Indianapolis.

Carlos Abadi is a philanthropist and prominent investment consultant.

Learn more about active philanthropist Carlos Abadi on Faces of Philanthropy.

Carlos Abadi is part of the RGE Monitor Team.

The current European strategy could be seen as an innovative one favoring change more than improvements. Change in the sense of the admission of “new” member states. Recently the European Union has been extended with 10 new member states and two more will probably follow in 2007 (Bulgaria and Rumania). The admission of Turkey or Croatia is not clear yet.

The question is how much innovation will be acceptable?
The style of any organization deals with innovation and conservation. No organization can do without innovation, but too much innovation without having fully exploited the current possibilities will not benefit the organization. Conservation is needed to stabilize the organization and to improve inconsistencies.

Recently (2005) France and the Netherlands turned down the (new) European Constitution. Even if you may argue that this “NO” was filled with emotion, the message was very clear; “wait a moment you European Union, you are going too fast!” If an organization innovates too fast it will loose its (current) supporters.

Rather than focusing on extending the union with again new member states, the EU should focus on those countries that are the current exceptions;

• The UK, a EU member, but not accepting the Euro nor the contribution rules for which it has negotiated a discount
• Norway, not a member
• Sweden, a member but with exception for the Euro

And maybe also Switzerland, but that will probably remain the last exception to the rule.

Credibility is at stake. And a stronger Europe will be more credible. It is quite human to procrastinate problems. It is not the best tactic to start with the easy part, but it is often a practice. Risks and problem are common enemies for many of us.

Yet for Europe, a larger union is only possible if the foundation is strong. The focus on innovation and new members has been on the agenda for long. Maybe it is time to look at the other end of the balance and to focus on a stronger core group. Less innovation, and conservation. Less changes and more improvements.

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
You can apply for a free demo account.

As of late steroid use in sports has been the topic of
conversation by the media. From Jose Conseco appearing on Donnie
Deustch’s “The Big Idea” which airs on CNBC to Congress looking
to pass legislation to regulate steroid use in professional
sports.

Is steroid use a problem in pro sports?

Well it depends on who you asked, but steroids weren’t developed
in 2005, they have been around for quite some time. Most people
associated bodybuilding with steroid use so football and
baseball players that may have used them just flew under the
radar.

As sports enthusiasts question records that were broken and bash
those pro athletes that have been singled out for steroid use,
the big problem isn’t the use of steroids by pro athletes but
the use of steroids by the youth.

Of course kids that are playing baseball in the schoolyard look
up to their role models and try to emulate them. So laws being
passed to eliminate the use of steroids in pro sports may have
an impact, but having a law isn’t enough. There has to be an
educational process developed so that the youth really
understands the dangers of steroid use.

Legislation without Education in this instance would be a big
error.

When educators and politicians thought that speaking about drugs
or sexually transmitted diseases might increase the use of drugs
or sexual activity with the youth, they found out that kids knew
more than they thought. So they have to take the same stance
with steroids early on.

They have to assume that young athletes are aware of steroids
and some perhaps use them. Then move forward accordingly and
educate the youth on what they are and the harm that they may
cause.

I am amazed that a pro athlete would come out via a book and
admit their steroid use but does not take the responsibility of
publicly denouncing steroid use with the youth and making public
statements along those lines. Perhaps tainting the careers of
other pro athletes was good enough but any pro athlete that has
thousands if not millions of kids looking up to them have a
responsibility to the public.

Maybe congress should work with MLB, the NFL, NHL and NBA and
create PSA’s warning of the dangers of steroid use and begin a
program in schools educating the youth on steroid use. Another
good idea would be to develop a program to educate the parents
as well.

We will see what develops in the coming months and hopefully
legislators will keep in mind that they have to include
education with legislation as it relates to steroids.

Louis Victor New Age Media Concepts 646-403-9972