by Jill Iscol
The season of giving 2015 may be history now…but giving never really goes out of season. The good news, as we begin the New Year, is that philanthropic giving is projected to rise nearly 5 percent in 2016, according to Indiana University researchers, exceeding the average rate of growth in gifts since the recession of 2008.
So as we all ponder our usual well-intentioned (and often broken) New Year’s resolutions, like giving up chocolate, soda, cigarettes, gossip, why not consider giving something instead?
So many people in the world need a helping hand. You can read about some of them in the stories of our Hearts on Fire Visionaries.
Social changemakers like Susanna De Anda and Seth Maxwell are working to ensure that all families have access to clean water.
Josh Nesbit and Amy Lehman are already improving health care options for people living in remote areas of Africa. Tammy Tibbetts and Jacob Lief believe education is the key to lifting children out of poverty so that is their focus. AndReshma Saujani is teaching girls that computer coding isn’t just for boys.
There are so many more visionaries like these doing life-enhancing work in all parts of the world, including this country. But, as all of them will tell you, there is so much more to be done…and so many global problems that could be solved or ameliorated if everyone pitches in.
In their New Year’s message, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is asking Americans and all global citizens to help alleviate the suffering of refugees around the world, particularly those streaming into Europe from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
When images of these desperate people appear day after day in the media, it’s easy to become jaded, to become insensitive to their plight, to see them as someone else’s problem. This New Year, resolve not to let that happen.
Make 2016 the year that your resolution is not just about you...but about what you can do to impact the lives of others. As the saying goes:
Just do it! And make this a year to remember.