This is a guest post by Julia Streuli, a member of the team at the newly launched Bright Funds – a cool platform that allows you to donate to organizations that matter to you, and understand the impact you make. I’ll let Julia do the explaining, but I just wanted to comment briefly.
Much of the last year for me has been devoted to personal and business development. I have been a student of many things and feel grateful to those who have helped me articulate my personal philosophy and become my most authentic self. One thing I had never been able to do before this journey was donate money to the causes that matter to me. I have always been happy to champion the organizations that help change the world – and while that is nice for them, it’s not what they need. Now that I have begun to be more prosperous in so many ways, it is a personal priority to begin a more philanthropic phase in my life. And that is why I am thrilled to introduce you to Julia and Bright Funds. I hope that you will join the community and find that you are also in a position to make positive change.
What if I told you that the best new year’s resolution idea does not require you to exercise more or spend less on clothes? What if the most delightful way to achieve happiness and good health this year was much simpler?
When we set goals like exercising more, having a shopping budget, and eating healthier, we are looking at a vision of a better us – a healthier and happier us. But, most of those goals require commitments from us that can often create more stress and unhappiness.
Think of the last time you felt really good about yourself. That feeling often comes from interacting with things and people that empower us to have an impact and contribute to positive change. And it’s that feeling that is at a core of a happier and healthier life. Even research shows that both happiness and good health are achieved when we support others, especially others who are not as fortunate as us.
So, what is the most delightful way to start off the new year? Make a commitment to give better and to support the work of amazing organizations making an impact in the world.
Introducing Bright Funds, an easy way to kickstart your campaign to become a better giver and to maximize the impact of your charitable giving.
Bright Funds is a new online tool that helps people contribute to the causes they care about and makes the whole giving process simple, effective and enjoyable.
Giving should be a satisfying act, but in reality is often high effort, low joy. Donating to charities that are doing the best work, to more than one organization easily, and tracking those donations can take a the joy out of supporting the work of these organizations.
But giving effectively doesn’t have to be complicated. Bright Funds does the research for you and has selected the world’s best nonprofits to be part of each of its funds.
How Bright Funds works:
Bright Funds is like the Vanguard for charitable giving.
You can create a free account and build your own personalized Impact portfolio (similar to a mutual fund portfolio) by choosing funds of causes that matter most to you: education, poverty, water and the environment.
You can then adjust the organizations in each fund to your liking, and easily make a donation (one time or recurring) to each of the nonprofits in your portfolio– all with the click of a button.
You can also keep up-to-date on the work of each of the nonprofits in your Impact Portfolio by using a feature similar to the Facebook newsfeed, called an “Impact Timeline”.
Even if donating does not make it into your list of resolutions in 2013, consider being a part of the Bright Funds community as a simple and effective step to a happier and a healthier you.
