More Mindset: Supporting Others With Their Something More
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Hi everyone. Normally, the “something more” posts I publish each Friday are only for paying subscribers and focus on mindset coaching. We’re doing something a little different this week. I have some news to share so am making this post visible to everyone.
If what I have to say resonates and you’ve been a free member up ‘til now, you can join in the love and help this community make a difference by upgrading your subscription, whether for a month or a year. I promise to deliver on your investment, plus there’s the satisfaction of supporting something worthwhile. Click below to upgrade your subscription.
When I started thinking about what Something More was going to look like, right from the beginning I made a commitment to do five things:
Freely share mindset and self-leadership tools, resources and stories.
Deliver extra value to those who choose to become paying subscribers.
Build a safe, supportive and engaged community.
Connect and collaborate with inspiring folk.
Channel some of the proceeds towards empowering people to transform their own lives and the lives of others.
This post is about #5: our contribution.
It’s important to me that we get this bit right so I’ve spent a few weeks reviewing projects that we could make a useful contribution to via B1G1.com. If you’re not familiar with this organisation, they provide a platform that enables businesses to identify and support over 400 impactful projects from around the world.
These projects cover a range of themes like the environment, education, human rights and eliminating poverty. Rather than simply donating money, businesses fund pre-defined tangible “impacts”, such as malaria treatments for children, providing access to clean water and planting trees.
Each project has been stringently vetted to make sure it meets high standards of effectiveness and outcome. This gives businesses the confidence to know their support will make a difference where it matters most.
How to choose from so many worthwhile projects?
A few years ago I heard about the radical impact that micro-finance and savings clubs are having on communities where deep poverty and the low status of women were creating major social problems.
? – Imagine you’re a single mother, bringing up children on less than two dollars a day.
? – Imagine trying to educate, clothe and feed those children without a bank account.
? – Imagine being denied education because you’re a girl, and being married off as young as 12 years of age.
For so many women and girls around the world, this is their daily reality.
Savings clubs work by bringing people together – mostly but not solely women – and educating them about money and business. Trainers and mentors encourage members to save money and teach them how to pool their resources sustainably so they can issue micro-loans to support each others’ endeavours and bring greater wealth back to the club.
There’s plenty of evidence to prove that when women are given the means to earn, communities benefit. Through savings clubs, hundreds of thousands of women have been able to set up small enterprises that support their families and communities. As business owners, they also gain status and have more influence in local matters.
I would like Something More to be part of empowering women to have a greater say in their own lives, enabling them to bring prosperity to their families and communities, and encouraging them to live their something more.
How I chose our projects
I came across a charity on B1G1 called Five Talents, which runs several microfinancing and savings training schemes, mostly in East Africa, where there’s a huge need for their services.
Five Talents embraces Christian values and works in conjunction with the Anglican church, however there is no religious or ministry aspect to their projects. This was important to me as I wouldn’t want a religious element to create friction for anyone considering becoming a paid subscriber to Something More.
The focus of the projects is firmly on providing practical training and assistance to people of all faiths (or none). The benefit of the alliance is that the Anglican church can provide access, credibility and connections in hard to reach places where other organised support may not exist. This makes it easier to set up savings clubs in remote areas.
The initial planning and fundraising for Five Talents’ projects takes place in the US and UK but day-to-day operations are run locally, in collaboration with partners on the ground. That was also an important factor in my decision to choose them.
These are the first projects we’re supporting:
EQUIPPING WOMEN TO BUILD A BRIGHTER FUTURE IN BURUNDI
Savings Club meeting in Burundi: Source: Five Talents. With a population of 11 million, this small east African country is ranked 185 out of 188 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index. Since 2008, Five Talents has supported training in literacy, business and parenting skills, and the development of community savings groups. So far they’ve reached over 63,000 participants. Find out more here.
SUPPORT HEALING AND TRAINING FOR WOMEN IN SOUTH SUDAN
Members attending a meeting in their local church. Source: Five Talents. Working in remote, low income areas, this project enables club members to learn to read and write and then go on to develop community savings groups. Over 40,000 members have already been served. A typical small business supports a family of five or more, funding food, medical expenses, school fees for children, and continued savings. Find out more here.
What exactly are we contributing?
Each ‘impact’ we fund means one day of financial and business training for women. At just a few cents per day, the cost to us of these impacts is economical but their value to the women supported by the projects is high.
Our first payment, covering the ten weeks since Something More launched, is on its way and is worth 468 days of training.
I hope this number will continue to rise in the weeks, months and years to come, as this community grows and more members choose to become paying subscribers.
I want to be completely transparent about how this works. After Substack’s and Stripe’s costs are deducted (around 14 percent), eight percent of all income generated will go to fund impacts. Whether you sign up for a month at £12, a year at £80, or choose to join at the highest “Even More” level (which includes one-to-one mindset training with me), eight percent of every net payment will go to the projects. I’m hoping the final amount might be higher, once Gift Aid is taken into account for UK subscribers, but I need to seek advice on this.
I’ll provide an update every few months to let you know how we’re getting on. I hope also to bring you interviews with some of those working on and benefiting from the projects.
That’s it from “More Mindset” this week.
Thank you for reading about these projects. I’d be grateful if you’d 🧡 this post to help it get exposure, restack it by clicking the circle arrows icon and share it with your communities outside Substack.
Until next time, take care and keep being your something more.
x
PS - Remember, if you’d like to be part of creating this impact for good, it’s easy to become a paying subscriber.
