Opportunity International Australia Blog

Small loans, big changes
Opportunity International
Opportunity International

Opportunity International Australia exists to provide opportunities for people living in poverty to transform their lives. With over 40 years’ experience in microfinance and support services, we use a business approach to solve poverty. Rather than a hand-out, we provide our clients with a loan as small as $100 to help grow their small business. This enables them to earn an income and afford food, water, shelter and an education for their children. Visit www.opportunity.org.au

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Wishing for 'peas on earth' this Christmas?!

Opportunity International Australia has just launched its new charity gift catalogue, 'Something Bigger'! Check it out at www.somethingbigger.org.au.

You'll find quirky gift ideas for family and friends this Christmas, ranging in price from $50. Each tax-deductible gift is used to help provide microfinance loans to people living in poverty in developing countries, allowing them start a small business and earn a regular income. Plus, because 97% of loans are repaid, the funds spent on your gift purchase are constantly at work – helping more and more people out of poverty over time. We're not sure you can give something bigger than that!

While we hope you find Something Bigger a fun, fresh alternative to traditional gifts this year, there is also a more sobering reality behind the creation of this catalogue. This Christmas, there will be approximately 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty – people who are too poor to afford proper nutrition, adequate shelter or even medicine when they're sick.

Make a difference – give Something Bigger this Christmas! www.somethingbigger.org.au

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Stand Up Against Poverty 2010

Stand Up Against Poverty 2010 is here this weekend! Get involved between 17-19 September.

Learn more here: http://www.opportunity.org.au/Latest-News/Stand-Up-2010.aspx

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Warren Buffett and Bill Gates pledge to give away half their fortune

The Giving Pledge

 

Last week saw Warren Buffett and Bill Gates – two of America’s richest businessmen – launch the ‘Giving Pledge’ – a website for the country’s wealthiest families and individuals to join with them and pledge to give away at least half their fortune to charity.

 

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have dedicated the majority of their lives to accumulating wealth, made the decision to give more than half of it away – within their lifetimes.  Buffett, CEO, chairman and primary share holder of Berkshire Hathaway, decided in 2006 (then worth about $44 billion) to gradually give away 99% of his fortune to charity. Buffet and Gates (who, alongside his wife, is well known for his focus on philanthropy) have now issued a radical call to action to their fellow billionaires to do the same. Currently, 40 of America’s wealthiest have signed up.

 

By taking the ‘Giving Pledge’, the 40 generous families and individuals have pledged a combined sum of $125 billion to charity, based on Forbes’ estimates of their net worth. Giving may occur either during the donors’ lifetime or after their passing, and commits at a least 50 percent of their net worth, with many choosing to pledge even more.

 

Though the pledge is non-binding, many politicians, entertainers, tycoons and executives have embraced the moral commitment, publicly signing their names to letters posted on the Giving Pledge website. Donors include New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, filmmaker George Lucas, media mogul Ted Turner, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and oilman T. Boone Pickens. Says the site “We are inspired by the example set by millions of [people] who give generously (and often at great personal sacrifice) to make the world a better place.” Opportunity International Australia agrees.

 

Visit the Giving Pledge at www.givingpledge.org

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