M

matcarey

8 karmaJoined Jan 2016

Comments
3

I'm a London based IT Consultant and Software Developer, having read Doing Good Better over the summer I realise that I've been roughly Earning to Give for a number of years. I'm here to soak up other people's ideas and float some of my own.

My one-man consultancy company Do Right Digital has been running for almost 3 years, we've always given 10% of turnover to charity. From May we're considering "giving Wednesdays to charity" - any money made on a Wednesday is ring fenced for charity. This would help to communicate the Earning to Give model as well as bridging the gap between the average working week and our (mainly) annual giving.

Since starting my one-man IT Consultancy I've been giving 10% of turnover (not profit) to charitable causes, but never really talked about it with others. In the summer I read Doing Good Better, since then I've spent time since then discussing with colleagues, friends, strangers; anyone who will listen.

I've spent the past few months trying to streamline the time I give to different charities, identifying the places I can make the most difference and giving my time to them. One example is 'Blood Biking' - I deliver emergency blood overnight by motorbike. I'm an advanced rider, therefore good at getting places quickly (and safely) and I live near to the blood storage, in some of these cases a big difference can be made by getting the blood to the relevant hospitals quickly.

I'm now preparing our annual giving and it looks like it'll be a bigger pot than before. There will be new charities on the list and we'll be giving more to one of the more neglected causes.

I'm working through some ideas for sharing the EA approach with groups and being more public about the causes the company support.

I'm a London based Software Developer & Consultant, largely my day job is helping companies to build software (usually web applications & web sites) in long-term-viable ways. Anyone can make a start on a project but to have a successful project that can grow as it needs to requires more craftsmanship.

I've been toying with running a project with the goal of training people up and giving people experience - it would be a charity, open source project but the focus would be on the learning experience. I've met amateurs who could be helped into roles like Marketing, Design, User Experience, Software Development, Server Maintenance, Project Manager, Business Analyst with the right guidance.

I have one specific idea which I'm happy to share if it's relevant but the biggest focus would be the experience of building it. I have interviewed many people for junior roles in different companies who just need a project like this to see how things can fit together, without it they're struggling to get their first break.

Would you see the Social Mobility & Free Education benefits of that sort of project? Would you be more interested in people who are already experienced solving a problem directly?