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If you're like us and you don't want the time you waste to, um, go to waste, consider visiting www.FreeRice.com.

FreeRice.com is an on-line vocabulary game which donates your winnings to the less fortunate. Each time you identify the correct definition to a word from a list of four options, you feed someone ten grains of rice. The grains add up and when you're done the site donates the equivalent amount of real rice to a starving family through the United Nations World Food Program. You play, they eat. And because sponsors pay for the banner ads it doesn't cost you a thing.

We like the concept in principle but wish the site would offer 100 grains of rice for each correct answer and not just ten. Realistically, we don't think people are going to go to the website daily and spend the time it will take to get the 110 correct answers necessary to fill the bowl of 1,100 grains (which is the equivalent of one full serving of rice). Eleven correct answers we'd aim for every day, not 110.

That said, if you're one that feels guilty for the time you spend on daily crosswords or Sudoku, consider increasing your vocabulary and help end hunger at the same time. And while you're at it, we need your help. What the heck does 'aphonia' mean anyway?!

]]> 1263998640 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:44:00 -0500 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1263570080&archive=

We're horrified by what's happened in haiti and we want to help. But how? Canada's federal government announced yesterday that it's earmarking up to $50 million to match Canadians' donations to charities aiding relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda said yesterday morning the government will match the contributions of individuals to eligible Canadian charitable organizations in support of humanitarian and recovery efforts in response to the earthquake, up to a total of $50 million. The money contributed would be managed through the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, run by the Canadian International Development Agency, said Oda according to CBC News reports. We encourage you to make a sizable gift TODAY knowing that it will do twice as much to bring desperately needed help. Our prayers go out to everyone in Haiti. May help come fast to them.


]]> 1263570080 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:41:20 -0500 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1259177792&archive=





A few years ago we heard a marketing guru boast that “Harley Davidson doesn’t sell motorcycles; it sells 43-year-old accountants the opportunity to dress up in black leather, drive through small towns and scare people.” What are you selling?


]]> 1259177792 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:36:32 -0500 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1259177166&archive=

When creating new work on behalf of one of our clients we first do what we can to make it personal. We read voraciously on the subject. We ask questions. We spend hours searching the internet for gold nuggets of critical insight which are hidden in blogs or videos postings, in images, essays and opinions.

We ask who amongst our staff has a connection and we delve deeply into what might motivate someone to give.


]]> 1259177166 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:26:06 -0500 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1258053660&archive=

In my hometown an older couple without children has given millions to support the local hospitals. They've given so much in fact that the cancer center now bears their name on the building in huge capital letters! Given that the husband is a consummate smoker and is rarely seen in public without smoking a cigarette or puffing on a stogie, it seems to me that theirs is less a generous gift and more a shrewd investment. That’s a bit catty, perhaps, and I mean them no disrespect but, as one senior fundraiser said, “I don't so much believe in people’s generosity as I believe in benevolent self interest.”


]]> 1258053660 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:21:00 -0500 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1257621540&archive=

Years ago you no doubt read the story of Tom Sawyer. If so, you’ll no doubt recall a charming story which opens chapter two and which began, “Saturday morning was come, and all the summer world was bright and fresh and brimming with life…. Cardiff Hill… was green with vegetation, and it lay just far enough away to seem a Delectable Land, dreamy, reposeful, and inviting.” Into this scene walks a young boy named Tom who “appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden.”


]]> 1257621540 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:19:00 -0500 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1256494560&archive=

Do any study and you will surely find that the primary reason for giving to any charity is almost always personal. Take for example the late Murphy and his wife Helen Hull who donated $10 million to Humber River Regional Hospital. As announced with a full-page ad in The Toronto Star on Saturday, June 6, 2009, “Murphy Hull was one of Canada's pre-eminent real estate developers, and one of Humber River Regional Hospital’s most dedicated community champions. Forty years ago Mr. Hull's drive to make a real difference in the lives of his fellow citizens resulted in the founding of the York-Finch Hospital.
]]> 1256494560 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:16:00 -0400 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1255889580&archive=





Donors aren’t dogs, they’re cats! Dogs come when you call them. Cats and donor prospects alike will get back to you but only if and when it suits them.

As man’s best friend, dogs willingly fetch the paper or your slippers on command. But how often is it that when you ask a donor for a lead gift, they offer something more akin to a dead mouse; the promise of funding a project or program which not only isn’t in your proposal, it’s not even in your plans?


]]> 1255889580 Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:13:00 -0400 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1254765960&archive=





When bad - really, really bad - things happen to good people, there’s a place to go where it’s not your fault. There’s a place where you’re safe. That place is Nina’s Place. Named for Nina de Villiers, a 19-year old who was abducted and murdered while jogging near her home in Burlington, Nina’s Place is a sexual assault, domestic violence crisis centre where people can go for immediate and compassionate care.


]]> 1254765960 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:06:00 -0400 http://creatingthegreatergood.com/?subaction=showfull&id=1254332880&archive=

Good news for those named Garcia, Patel, Tremblay, Williams and Zhang (and everyone else, come to think of it)

Your name is your brand.

Your name is, therefore, your most valuable gift.

Your name does more than simply identify you. It tells people who you are and what you stand for. It signifies your reputation, prestige, character, history, values, accomplishments and aspirations. Your name encapsulates the meaning of your life. Your name is your most valuable possession.  So you just don’t give it away willy nilly.


]]> 1254332880 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:48:00 -0400