I’ve come across an article from the New York Times that I think is of great importance to the world of helping people.   For to truly help lots of people, you need to first HELP lots of people HELP lots of people.

Here’s what I mean:  people in Durham will continue to give less than 1% of their income to local charities until they are engaged in real personal stories.  The best way to do this, is of course, to get them engaged with real people.  Ideally this happens during an committed, sustained volunteering relationship…....one in which the volunteer finds that it’s been THEIR life that’s been transformed by the experience.  That is, of course, what we at DurhamCares are committed to helping people discover with placements with great local and international organizations.  Just short of these real world experiences are the individual stories that can be told via multi-media.

You see, people are moved by stories about other people…..not statistics.   Durham’s (and the world’s) charities need to fully appreciate and embrace that fact and have it evident in their communication strategy if they want to play the role that they can in dramatically moving the needle (up to 2,3 or even 4%).

I’ve probably gone on about this already too much, particularly when this author nails it…..please read on, and then help the organizations that you are involved with to apply what is in this article.  Durham and it’s donors and donees will both be transformed by it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/opinion/09kristof.html?_r=2