It has been said that in a capitalist society, citizens vote with their dollars.   It’s true.  Think of all your choices as a consumer as mini elections.  Think about the shops, restaurants and even foundations that you vote for with your money.  Why are you voting for them?  I am sure you have your reasons…

Times are tough right now.  Incase you have not heard our economy is in the biggest recession since the Great Depression.  I don’t know anyone who has not been affected by this.  The company I worked for went out of business in November and as a result, I now have significantly fewer votes than I did in the past.  I would love to give lots of money to causes that are near and dear to my heart but can’t.  Obama has changed some of the tax shelter policies that have made large donations less attractive to the ultra rich. Between lots of us having fewer votes and rich loosing tax benefits what are charities to do?

I think that Boarding for Breast Cancer and several other charities are on the right track. Check out their store. They have partnered with a lot of amazing companies to produce all kinds of cool products that, when sold, raise money for a good cause. I think that this model is perfect. Pro snowboarder Barrett Christy, Even donates a percentage her pro-model board royalties. You get the cool products that you want and money is raised for a worthy cause. Win, win. Lots of other companies and foundations are doing this as well. If you think a company or foundation is doing a good job with this model please leave a comment with their URL in it so others can check it out too. Let’s make sure our dollars are voting for the right candidates.

Thanks for reading!

mike