Upon arriving to the One Day’s Wages’ office in Seattle, our initial observation was regarding the size of the office. We were pleasantly surprised at the smallness and simplicity we found there because it appeared that the focus was on the immediate task at hand, rather than spending money on the “decor and ambience.” This illustrates that they are truly good stewards of the finances they have been blessed to receive and disburse. The task for One Day’s Wages is to end extreme global poverty. They believe that at this time we have the capacity to do this and I firmly believe this as well. ODW realize that they are not alone in this task, thank goodness, and so their efforts are not to re-invite the wheel, but rather to collaborate and partner with others. The goal is to come up with creative ways to fundraise and create awareness, beginning with giving away one full day of your annual wages…or your monthly wages, or weekly even. Whatever you are willing to do to make a difference!
So let’s back up to the beginning. Picture this: Typical Christian family of five, living in Seattle and earning an average income of about $68,000 a year. The not so typical part is that in 2009 Eugene Cho and his wife Minhee made the decision to donate their entire year’s income to the cause of fighting extreme global poverty. The Cho’s want to practice what they preach, as well as inviting others to participate with them in this generous endeavor. The expectation is not that everyone participating donate their annual salary, of course, but just as the namesake goes-One Day’s Wages. There are other creative ways to go further and give more. You can actually make a personal, global impact in a variety of ways, such as birthday for a cause, idea for a cause, or work for a cause. In fact, ODW doesn’t even care if you don’t choose to give through them or by another means, they just want you to take part in the giving and utilize what you have to help improve the lives of the world’s poor!
For the Cho’s, who were very “in the know” about the social justice issues of the world and the immense needs out there, it took a trip to visit Burma, Africa, and Southeast Asia where they actually met the people and heard the stories face to face. Being in the midst of such desperate need, confronted by children, women, and men, dramatically changed their hearts. The numbers they knew so well came to life in individual people and their stories, and The Cho family returned to America with a completely renovated mindset regarding poverty. During this time, they saw firsthand that all of these precious people desperately wanted out of poverty and craved their dignity and respect, but lacked opportunity because of the situations surrounding them in their communities and countries. They are not so blessed with resources, finances, and opportunities as we are in America.
My first thought when I learned about ODW was: “Why start something new and play a middleman, if that is going to take part of the donation away from the nonprofits receiving the money?” But the fantastic thing is that ODW has three standards in place: 1. 100% of your donation goes toward ending extreme poverty. 2. You choose where to invest your donation. 3. ODW will always be transparent. Admin fees are covered through grants and other fundraising, so that your donation can fully support whatever you want it to! There are two main ways that ODW funds. The first is through partnerships with more widely known NPO’s for larger amounts of money. The second is the general fund, which works to grant money to smaller organizations around the world, typically in developing nations, which don’t have opportunities for grants or much fundraising. Many don’t have the ability to create websites to attract donors, so without supporters like ODW they wouldn’t be able to meet all of the needs.
One fantastic project under their belt is a home they partnered with Not For Sale to build on the border between Nepal and India, where young girls are frequently trafficked. Women that have been rescued out of a life of sex slavery work in the home and they rescue girls BEFORE they are trafficked through because they know how to spot them and how to help them before it’s too late. Another partnership ODW has is with NURU, an organization we met with last month in California, supporting 75 families with agricultural loans. They also partnered with the Disaster Relief Fund to raise $100,000 for Haiti and are currently in the process of raising $20,000 for Pakistan’s flood relief. ODW have their hands in all sorts of different areas of need, so that you can get involved with whatever you feel most passionately about. And guess what else…every bit of the money you give is shown on their webpage through progress bars and tracking devices to SHOW exactly where it is going and what funds are being completed. Transparent.
The first, basic criteria they use for choosing who to fund are the Millenium Development Goals. If you aren’t familiar with these, you probably want to be! So here they are: 1. ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER 2. ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION 3. PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN 4. REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY 5.IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH 6. COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA, AND OTHER DISEASES 7. ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY 8. GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT. They also track how the organizations use the money they are donated, how much success they and similar groups have, and of course whether or not they are legit nonprofits.
What can you do? You can give a day’s wages, for starters. They have a wage calculator on their site so you can speedily figure out what one day’s wages is for you, and then donate it! You can create a profile with them and fund projects through their “idea for a cause” and “birthday for a cause” tools. Go explore and have fun creating new ways to put an end to poverty in many families lives!
