What is Hope Equity®?
Heifer Foundation’s New Approach To Philanthropy
Hope Equity® (www.hopeequity.org) is an online community investing in the end of hunger and poverty and caring for the Earth through Micro-Endowments® (ME). The Web site utilizes social networking software and the latest interactive technologies to provide donors with the ability to contribute to charitable causes, track the growth of their charitable investments, and interact globally with individuals, businesses and organizations that share their values and desire for a better world. Hope Equity features an online Community Center where donors can utilize RSS feeds, join Hope Equity blogs, sign up for news reports from the causes in which they are interested, and use widgets to showcase their own ME on blogs, personal Web sites, or other social media.
You may be drawn to a particular culture because of time you invested in that country’s people; you may have spent a summer teaching English to eager schoolchildren in China; or perhaps you traveled to Guatemala with a construction team and spent a week building homes for needy families. It may be a particular cause that you are passionate about, such as at-risk youth, AIDS/HIV education or protecting the Earth’s dwindling resources. With Hope Equity, your charitable dollars are invested, which, in turn, provides long-term, continuous giving to each of the areas that you choose.
How It Works
Hope Equity was designed to meet the unique needs of each donor, whether it’s making a one-time gift to a specific cause or establishing a ME to allow for repeat giving to the different areas you choose. Heifer Foundation invests your charitable dollars, which, in turn, provides more long-term giving to those areas. By setting up a ME account, you can give whenever you choose, then watch as your charitable dollars grow and provide sustainable support to the programs you have designated. Each year, a percentage of the fund is made available to the countries, causes and charities you support. In return, you are provided with online access to reports on how the funds are being utilized in the field.
Hope Equity also offers E-Card charitable gifts that can be made in honor of a friend or loved one for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and other special occasions, with each card featuring a different design incorporating the Hope Equity logo leaves. The wide array of countries, initiatives and causes available through Hope Equity make an E-Card an ideal gift for those who like to make a difference in the world.
Partnerships For The Future
Hope Equity was intentionally built to be flexible enough for donors from all walks of life and areas of interest to make this their one-stop for philanthropy. Corporate partners can give directly through Hope Equity, or donate proceeds from the sale of a particular product(s) directly to Hope Equity, and then give their customers and constituency direct access to see their purchasing power at work for a better world. It not only builds funds for Heifer Foundation endowments; it builds brand loyalty for socially responsible entities.
Businesses can also utilize Hope Equity as an employee-giving tool to help further demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. Hope Equity is a dynamic tool for partnerships and we have the experience and the skills to meet the needs for partnerships in giving. Hope Equity can serve as a bridge not only to the next generations of donors, but also the next generation of philanthropy. For more information on Hope Equity, visit www.hopeequity.org.
