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lavendertook Sep. 2nd, 2005 12:40 am)
lavendertook Sep. 2nd, 2005 12:40 am)Perhaps like me, you are but a cog in the corporate wheel, a lowly employee of a big corporation, company, or even a thriving small business, but you want to help out the survivors of Katrina and you want to make your contribution count. You may not have a lot of money to give, but your employer certainly does. They may be the wealthiest resource you have contact with and your employer can contribute much more than you. Work this contact!
If you or any of your coworkers are planning to donate funds, encourage your employer to match those funds so what you give will be doubled. Your $25 contribution instantly becomes $50, your $100 becomes $200.
Talk to, call, and email your Human Resources Manager, your CEO, or your boss, and ask them if they are planning to make matching contributions. If you have the time and inclination, offer to spearhead any work that needs to be done to get the ball moving on this project. Tell them you'd be glad to solicit your coworkers, distribute the necessary forms, and spread information about the company's generous offer. For your employer, this move will be a good tax write-off that could garner them some positive publicity; remind them of that if they are hesitant. They just may need someone to give them the nudge to commit to this. It's worth a shot. I'll let you know if I have any success with my employer.
Here's the approach I used in my email to my HR manager; feel free to borrow it:
Dear [name of HR manager, administrator, boss, or CEO]:
I'm [your job position] here at [your company's name] and I was wondering if [your company's name] was considering giving matching funds to employee contributions for Katrina disaster relief, and if there is anything I can do to encourage this. The best charities I have found for helping in the immediate aftermath are the Red Cross at
http://www.redcross.org
and the Humane Society at
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005 .
Please let me know if there is anyone I should contact to get the ball rolling on this, or help out in facilitating [your company's name]'s effort to offer matching contributions.
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
[your name]
[your title or job position]
And here's another way to mobilize wealthier sources than yourself: If you live in a managed community or development, or in a rental property, call and email your landlords and encourage them to offer temporary shelter to survivors. This way they could probably count the lost rent on such units as charitable donations that they can use for tax deductions. Give them this website that will advertise their offer:
http://www.hurricanehousing.org .
I'm calling my landlords first thing tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes, too.
And you'll find a good list of reputable charities, as well as which charities to avoid if you value the separation of church and state, here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sunfell/561704.html
We live under an administration that has been diligently working to dismantle the kind of infrastructure that should already be in place, and that would make this appeal to charity unnecessary. Hopefully, more people will realize that paying taxes is a good thing and the only way to ensure that such infrastructures are already in place when disaster strikes, and that this support must come from the wealthy and from the business sector. But since they have been given so many tax breaks and shelters, we need to work the system and solicit their aid ourselves.
Even with the administration's diverting of funds for levee restoration to wage war in Iraq, having the resources that were given away in corporate tax breaks already in the hands of the government would have saved many lives. We can only hope that corporations will step into the breach and help in the aftermath. But we shouldn't have to hope. We should have control over these funds as taxpayers rather than waiting for them to be bestowed by the kindness of corporate strangers. Remember this when the 2006 elections roll around.
Thank you to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
twistedchick, sunfell, and annlarimer for the links.
*puts soap box in the recycling bin*
If you find any of this useful, feel free to pass it on.
If you or any of your coworkers are planning to donate funds, encourage your employer to match those funds so what you give will be doubled. Your $25 contribution instantly becomes $50, your $100 becomes $200.
Talk to, call, and email your Human Resources Manager, your CEO, or your boss, and ask them if they are planning to make matching contributions. If you have the time and inclination, offer to spearhead any work that needs to be done to get the ball moving on this project. Tell them you'd be glad to solicit your coworkers, distribute the necessary forms, and spread information about the company's generous offer. For your employer, this move will be a good tax write-off that could garner them some positive publicity; remind them of that if they are hesitant. They just may need someone to give them the nudge to commit to this. It's worth a shot. I'll let you know if I have any success with my employer.
Here's the approach I used in my email to my HR manager; feel free to borrow it:
Dear [name of HR manager, administrator, boss, or CEO]:
I'm [your job position] here at [your company's name] and I was wondering if [your company's name] was considering giving matching funds to employee contributions for Katrina disaster relief, and if there is anything I can do to encourage this. The best charities I have found for helping in the immediate aftermath are the Red Cross at
http://www.redcross.org
and the Humane Society at
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005 .
Please let me know if there is anyone I should contact to get the ball rolling on this, or help out in facilitating [your company's name]'s effort to offer matching contributions.
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
[your name]
[your title or job position]
And here's another way to mobilize wealthier sources than yourself: If you live in a managed community or development, or in a rental property, call and email your landlords and encourage them to offer temporary shelter to survivors. This way they could probably count the lost rent on such units as charitable donations that they can use for tax deductions. Give them this website that will advertise their offer:
http://www.hurricanehousing.org .
I'm calling my landlords first thing tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes, too.
And you'll find a good list of reputable charities, as well as which charities to avoid if you value the separation of church and state, here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sunfell/561704.html
We live under an administration that has been diligently working to dismantle the kind of infrastructure that should already be in place, and that would make this appeal to charity unnecessary. Hopefully, more people will realize that paying taxes is a good thing and the only way to ensure that such infrastructures are already in place when disaster strikes, and that this support must come from the wealthy and from the business sector. But since they have been given so many tax breaks and shelters, we need to work the system and solicit their aid ourselves.
Even with the administration's diverting of funds for levee restoration to wage war in Iraq, having the resources that were given away in corporate tax breaks already in the hands of the government would have saved many lives. We can only hope that corporations will step into the breach and help in the aftermath. But we shouldn't have to hope. We should have control over these funds as taxpayers rather than waiting for them to be bestowed by the kindness of corporate strangers. Remember this when the 2006 elections roll around.
Thank you to
twistedchick, sunfell, and annlarimer for the links.*puts soap box in the recycling bin*
If you find any of this useful, feel free to pass it on.
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No luck getting through on either count today--I think everyone's been off early for the labor day holiday. So will try again next week.Whee--4 day weekend--I'm hoping I'll actually get some diss work done.(-:
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