Download Songs from FairShareMusic & Help Charities

What if you could help make the world a better place with the click of a button? With FairShareMusic, you can.

Since 2010, the London-based company has offered top songs for download in its online music store. And with one click of the “Buy” button, consumers simultaneously get their favorite tunes and donate money to charity.

It’s simple: You pick the songs, you pick the charities, and a portion of your payment goes to an issue that you care about.

FairShareMusic, which donates 50% of its net profits to charities, touts its selection of more than 18 million tracks, with Carly Rae Jepsen’s viral hit “Call Me Maybe” currently listed among the top downloads. The songs integrate into your iTunes or Windows media libraries seamlessly, with no extra software required.

“We stimulate change in giving by promoting social action, connecting people and charities through music.”

“We stimulate change in giving by promoting social action, connecting people and charities through music — making it easier for people to give directly to a cause through something they’re passionate about, whilst promoting further a culture of giving and increasing the amount existing donors give to charity.” co-founder Lee Cannon said in an interview with Mashable.

FairShareMusic has seen steady growth in the past 12 months with sales and customer numbers increasing.

“Unique visits are converting into registrations at approximately 6%, with 98% going on to purchase. 62% of registered customers have bought more than once, and our average basket size is almost double the UK average at £7.20,” Cannon says.

FairShareMusic is optimizing the store for mobile and will eventually release Android and BlackBerry apps.

Here’s how the company divvies out your money to British and international charities, such as Amnesty International, British Red Cross, Centrepoint, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam, Teenage Cancer Trust and World Wide Fund for Nature, among others: FairShareMusic pledges to always donate at least 4% of each track’s price. The other portions of the cost get doled out to the “tax man,” record label, music publisher and bank.

Cannon says the larger charities do well, as do the ones with strong associations with music such as War Child, TCT, Youth Music and Nordoff Ronbins.

He and Jonny Woolf launched the store, which operates in pounds and pence, in June 2010 after having dipped their toes in other music and charitable ventures.

Would you use FairShareMusic? Let us know in the comments.

Create a ‘kindness budget’ at work

try kindness

I read this story about Ole Kassow whose Danish company (www.wemind.dk) works with companies to create happier cultures. One example was working with a Danish mobile phone company.

Most European mobile phone companies have customer turnover rates of over 40%. Yes, they lose 4 in 10 customers each year and have to spend millions winning over new customers to replace them. Ole was working with them to focus on spending some of that money on making their customers want to stay and recommend the service to others. I liked this story he told:

“Call Me, the mobile phone company, has started working with Random Acts of Kindness. It’s really exciting to work with, and really powerful. One story I was told was of Bitten, from Call Me’s customer service department, who had been helping a customer reduce her bills. This customer uses all her savings to fight for better animal welfare, so it’s important to her that her mobile phone bill doesn’t exceed her budgeted amount.

“Bitten spent time helping her check her minute usage and the customer subsequently asked Bitten if Call Me was really so happy and kind as they sounded or if they just pretended to be . . . Bitten assured her that ‘Call Me’ was genuine all the way through. And she ended up thanking the customer for her great efforts to improve animal welfare.

“When Bitten explained the story to her manager, they made the decision to give the customer a present from Call Me. They credited her account 2,000 kroner ($355). When Bitten called her she was so happy that she cried on the phone — and Bitten nearly cried too.”

Making that customer very happy has several effects. She is going to be a loyal customer and tell her friends about Call Me. Plus, it makes Bitten feel good about herself and remember she works for a great company.

What would happen if your company allocated some of its marketing budget to surprising your customers with acts of kindness?

Male Professionals with Higher Ethical Standards Earn Less

I found this short snippet about ethics and income mentioned in the Harvard Business Review Daily Stats email*. I can’t say that I’m surprised by the findings, but I would like to see the full study to see if there’s any explanation or reasons presented for the difference between men and women.

Here’s the short article. What do you think?

Although companies have focused greater attention on the need for ethical practices over the past few decades, male business professionals who self-report high ethical character earn, on average, 3.4% less than their peers who don’t report having such standards, according to an analysis of data on thousands of students by Andrew Hussey of the University of Memphis. Moreover, men who reported that their MBA programs enhanced their ethical standards received 6.5% lower wages than men who reported no such gain.

For women, the situation is different: Female professionals who self-report high ethical standards receive no pay penalty, and women who said that their schooling had raised their standards received a premium averaging 5.5%.

Source: “The effect of ethics on labor market success: Evidence from MBAs”

 

*If you would like to subscribe to the HBR Daily Stats email, click here.

Mass Random Act of Kindness by Reddit Users

This is an amazing story I found in my Mashable news feed yesterday.

 

 

Scott Widak and his family recently received the greatest gift anyone in their situation could receive — a viral act of encouragement and kindness from complete strangers.

Widak, 47, has Down’s Syndrome and is terminally ill with liver disease. After frequently checking in and out of the hospital, Widak is now at home with his 85-year-old mother, who’s helping with his in-home hospice care.

To cope with such a challenging situation, Widak’s nephew, Sean O’Connor, turned to the Reddit community to see if anyone would be interested in sending a letter to his uncle.

“One of my uncle’s favorite things to do is open mail, and I thought that if he got a lot of mail it would cheer him up,” says O’Connor.

Within three hours, the post received more than 1,300 comments, most of which expressed interest in sending mail. O’Connor then included a link to a news article about Widak and his art, along with two photos of him and his mother, a P.O. box address and a few things he’s interested in, like Johnny Cash.

Due to the amount of personal information, Reddit removed the post four hours later — which was apparently enough time for most of the commenters to copy the address.

Following the post, Widak received hundreds of letters from all over the world, including the United States, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and Mexico. According to O’Connor, there is still mail coming in.

In addition to beautifully written letters, Reddit users have sent custom artwork, art supplies, DVDs and personal keepsakes that they wanted to pass on to Widak.

Sony Music Entertainment sent him 15 CDs/DVDs, which were mostly by Johnny Cash.

“The mail that’s arrived has all been extremely positive and thoughtful,” says O’Connor. “My family and I are amazed at how so many strangers could come together for a random act of kindness.”

Templeton Prize 2012 – the Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. – The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader whose long-standing engagement with multiple dimensions of science and with people far beyond his own religious traditions has made him an incomparable global voice for universal ethics, nonviolence, and harmony among world religions, has won the 2012 Templeton Prize.

For decades, Tenzin Gyatso, 76, the 14th Dalai Lama – a lineage believed by followers to be the reincarnation of an ancient Buddhist leader who epitomized compassion – has vigorously focused on the connections between the investigative traditions of science and Buddhism as a way to better understand and advance what both disciplines might offer the world.

Specifically, he encourages serious scientific investigative reviews of the power of compassion and its broad potential to address the world’s fundamental problems – a theme at the core of his teachings and a cornerstone of his immense popularity.

Within that search, the “big questions” he raises – such as “Can compassion be trained or taught?” – reflect the deep interest of the founder of the Templeton Prize, the late Sir John Templeton, in seeking to bring scientific methods to the study of spiritual claims and thus foster the spiritual progress that the Prize has recognized for the past 40 years.

The announcement was made this morning online at www.templetonprize.org, via email to journalists, and on Twitter via @TempletonPrize by the Templeton Prize office of the John Templeton Foundation in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

The Prize will be presented to the Dalai Lama at a ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on the afternoon of Monday, May 14. A news conference with the 2012 Prize Laureate will precede the ceremony. Both events will be webcast live at www.templetonprize.org and to global media on a pool basis. Photography from the events will also be pooled.

Valued at £1.1 million (about $1.7 million or €1.3 million), the prize is the world’s largest annual monetary award given to an individual and honors a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.

The announcement praised the Dalai Lama for his life’s work in building bridges of trust in accord with the yearnings of countless millions of people around the globe who have been drawn by the charismatic icon’s appeal to compassion and understanding for all.

“With an increasing reliance on technological advances to solve the world’s problems, humanity also seeks the reassurance that only a spiritual quest can answer,” said Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr., president and chairman of the John Templeton Foundation and son of the late Prize founder. “The Dalai Lama offers a universal voice of compassion underpinned by a love and respect for spiritually relevant scientific research that centers on every single human being.”

He also noted that the Dalai Lama’s remarkable record of intellectual, moral and spiritual innovations is clearly recognised by the nine Prize judges, who represent a wide range of disciplines, cultures and religious traditions. The Prize judges evaluate – independently of each other – typically 15 to 20 nominated candidates each year and then individually submit separate ballots – from which a tally then determines the selection of each year’s Laureate.

The Dalai Lama responded to the prize in the humble style that has become his signature. “When I heard today your decision to give me this quite famous award, I really felt this is another sign of recognition about my little service to humanity, mainly nonviolence and unity around different religious traditions,” he said in a video available at www.templetonprize.org.

In other brief videos on the Prize website, the Dalai Lama elaborates on key issues including his call for humanity to embrace compassion as a path to peace, both personally and on a global scale. “You can develop genuine sense of concern of well-being of others, including your enemy,” he states in one video. “That kind of compassion – unbiased, unlimited – needs training, awareness.”

The Right Reverend Michael Colclough, Canon Pastor at St. Paul’s Cathedral, welcomed this event: “A non-violent voice of peace and reason in a calamitous world, the Dalai Lama represents core values cherished by many different faiths. The award of the Templeton Prize to the Dalai Lama under the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral will be a reminder that working towards peace and harmony is a practical and spiritual challenge to all faith communities.”

The Dalai Lama is no stranger to honors and accolades, with scores to his name. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of nonviolence as the path to liberation for Tibet. He becomes the second Templeton Prize Laureate to have also received the Nobel Peace Prize; Mother Teresa received the first Templeton Prize in 1973, six years before her Nobel.

He often notes that the rigorous commitment of Buddhists to meditative investment and reflection similarly follows the strict rules of investigation, proof and evidence required of science.

Among his most successful efforts is the Mind & Life Institute, co-founded in 1987 to create collaborative research between science and Buddhism. The Institute hosts conferences on subjects such as contemplative science, destructive and healing emotions, and consciousness and death. While initially beginning as quiet academic affairs, they have evolved into enormously popular public events.

In 2005, after a series of dialogues at Stanford University among the Dalai Lama, scientists in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and medicine, and contemplative scholars, the university became the home of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. The interdisciplinary discourse recognized that engagement between cognitive sciences and Buddhist contemplative traditions could contribute to understanding of the human mind and emotion. The center now supports and conducts rigorous scientific studies of compassion and altruistic behavior.

Many of these conferences have led to popular best sellers written or co-written by the Dalai Lama, including The Art of Happiness (1998), The Universe in a Single Atom (2005), and The Dalai Lama at MIT (2006). All told, he has authored or co-authored more than 70 books.

The Dalai Lama’s love of science is also evidenced in the Science for Monks program, created in 2001 to teach science in Buddhist monastic centers of higher learning in India. The program engages Indian and Western scientists to explore connections between Tibetan Buddhist traditions and science, and teach methods of scientific inquiry in physics, quantum mechanics, cosmology, biology, neuroscience, and mathematics.

This openness to new ideas and cutting edge findings has set him in the rare pantheon of internationally respected religious leaders and also has given him a stature among secular audiences unlike any other religious leader.

Indeed, in his recommendation to the Prize committee, Richard Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote, “More than any other living human being, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has served humanity to catalyze the advancement of ‘spiritual progress’ and to help us all to cultivate a better understanding of the spiritual dimensions of human experience.”

Want to be a youth trustee? Here’s what you should know.

Here’s an article reprinted from the Guardian’s Voluntary Network Sector blog written by Trustees Unlimited’s Ian Joseph who advises young people about what they should consider before becoming a charity trustee.

A report published this month by the Commission on Youth Unemployment found that youth unemployment has reached an emergency point.

With one in five young people not in employment, education or training and 250,000 unemployed for more than a year, the commission described it as one of the greatest challenges facing the country. It also said that the government faced a £28bn timebomb. Competition in the job market has never been tougher for young people and getting a foot on the career ladder has never been more challenging.

This week is Student Volunteering Week – a time to celebrate the contribution young people make to good causes. It is also a time to encourage more students to volunteer and, in the current job market, there isn’t a better time for young people to volunteer. Through volunteering, they will become more employable, learn vital new skills, gain work experience and make valuable contacts that could open the door to future job opportunities.

A recent report published by Volunteering England highlighted that volunteering is already popular among students. 63% of students have volunteered for a charity since they started university and between them donated a total of just over 3m hours to communities in the 2009/10 academic year.

However, one of the areas often overlooked by volunteers are the opportunities that exist within charities to join trustee boards. Just 2.1% of UK trustees are under 30 years of age, so young people are hugely under-represented on charity boards – something which many in the sector want to change.

Some of the barriers to trusteeship for young people seem to be the fact they don’t know enough about the trustee opportunities that exist and what it entails, or they don’t feel they have accrued enough work experience or skills. On the contrary – many charities are crying out for young, motivated people who can demonstrate a willingness to learn and are passionate about a charity’s ethos and goals. There are about 200,000 charitable organisations in the UK and one in five is likely to have a trustee vacancy – so there are many varied opportunities available.

Becoming a charity trustee offers many benefits. Young people will learn how organisations are run and gain experience in areas such as setting strategic goals, accounting, financial planning and employment practice. Such experience would enhance any CV and give young trustees an edge over other jobseekers in an interview situation.

Trustees Unlimited was recently appointed as a preferred supplier of trustees to a number of students’ unions together with Student Hubs. Several students have registered their interest however we want to encourage more people to sign up to help meet current demand from charities.

We hope that Student Volunteering Week 2012 will prompt more students to consider becoming a trustee. It is not a decision to be taken lightly as it is a major commitment and comes with liabilities and responsibilities. We would advise any would-be trustee to do their homework first.

Here are my top considerations for anyone thinking of becoming a trustee:

1. Be sure that this is really something you want to do. Do lots of research online about the pros and cons of being a trustee before making a decision.

2. Volunteering England’s website has lots of useful information on how to volunteer and how you can accredit your volunteering with UCAS points.

3. Register your interest with Trustees Unlimited by visiting the website.

4. Do your homework and find a charity you feel really passionate about. If you are going to dedicate a lot of time, you need to feel strongly about it.

5. Be aware of the time commitments. Every charity will have different expectations. Make sure you can give it the time it requires but that there is still time available for you to look for full-time employment and attend interviews. Don’t over-commit.

6. The interview stage is crucial – it has to be a two-way conversation. This is the opportunity for you to get the information and answers you need to make the right decision. Ask what training and induction is provided for trustees at the outset.

7. Every charity has a governance document containing rules for trustees. Make sure you see this at the outset as it is your duty to comply with these rules and you may be held responsible if you don’t.

8. Lastly, remember you will need to put the organisation first if there is a crisis or urgent need. As a trustee it is your duty to put the charity before other commitments.

Ian Joseph is director of Trustees Unlimited

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Public Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh

I know this is a bit late but I just found out about it.

Cultivating Happiness

A special opportunity to practise with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

5  to 10 April 2012

At the East Midlands Conference Centre, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham  NG7 2RD

‘Every step and every breath can be an opportunity for joy and happiness. Life is full of suffering. If we don’t have enough happiness on reserve, we have no means to take care of our despair.’  Thich Nhat Hanh

This is a residential retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh and the monks and nuns from Plum Village. Together we will learn and practise ways to live mindfully each moment of our lives. We will learn to breathe, walk and perform daily tasks aware of each moment, so that we can touch the refreshing and healing elements within and around us.  Learning to relax and release tensions within us, to take care of ourselves, our families. Nourishing peace, joy, love and understanding in our individual and collective consciousness.

Whatever your age, faith or experience we welcome you to join us for this retreat.

Thich Nhat Hanh (known as Thây, pronounced ‘tie’) especially welcomes families with children and teenagers, and the first part of his daily talks will be dedicated to them. Mindfulness practice programmes led by monks, nuns and lay practitioners (with help from parents of the younger children) will be offered for children and teenagers (5-18) and for young adults (age 16-32). Under 5s are welcome to join the retreat under the care of a parent or guardian, a Children and Parents Room will be available for their use.

For bookings click here.

Read more: http://www.mindfulnessretreats.org.uk/retreat/#ixzz1qKW8ELhe

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‘Speedmatching’ = speed dating for volunteers

Kimberley Walsh and Aggro Santos during their ...

Image via Wikipedia

I found this interesting article by Gemma Quainton today on the Third Sector website and I thought I would share.

“After my recent blogs on my problems getting started with my new year’s resolution to volunteer, I was asked by the Media Trust to one of its ‘Speedmatching’ events -  you know, speed dating, but for would-be volunteers.

The aim of the event is to put charities that need advice in touch with eager volunteers who are skilled in PR, comms, or journalism.Intrigued, I decided to attend, and roped in my colleague Dave to come along too.

Beforehand, we were asked to supply a short biog that would be given to the charities, and we were furnished with a brief description of what the charities do and what they were looking for help with.

Being a bit of a geek, I decided to check out the websites of the charities on the list before attending so I knew a bit more about what they did and could help with any website-related queries.

At the Media Trust’s headquarters last night, we were offered a glass of wine, given a sheet to keep track of who we spoke to and told what would happen. The media people among us were asked to take a seat next to someone from a charity and we’d chat for five minutes until a bell rang, at which point we’d take the next seat along next to another charity person. And so it continued until we’d done the full round. After each one we had to write a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ next to their name if we wanted to speak to them again, while they did the same about us. At the end, the Media Trust gathered together our papers and promised to be in touch with contact details if the ones I’d said yes to would like to see me again too.

What struck me as I moved around, was how inadequate five minutes felt with some people, and how interminably long it felt with others. Which I guess was the point – I was never going to be able to help all the charities present, given the myriad of skills they were looking for. From help with social media, to redesigning websites, through business planning to securing celebrity patrons – we weren’t expected to know it all, and most were just grateful that we were trying. I apologised for being honest about some of the websites I’d seen, though the charities seemed to appreciate the research I’d done and for an outsider’s point of view.

After 45 minutes, the round finally came to an end and we handed in our sheets.

I really enjoyed the experience, and think it’s a great service that the Media Trust is offering. It helps would-be volunteers put their skills to good use, and provides charities with access to professionals that they otherwise might not have the money to pay for.  Once initial feelings of embarrassment and nervousness are overcome, it’s  also more personal than searching for volunteering posts over the net.

I’ll confess, I’ve optimistically said yes to most of the charities I spoke to as I feel I may be able to help in some very small way;  but it remains to be seen if they felt the same. I’ll keep you posted.”

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Top radio host Nick Ferrari shames journalism

Janis Sharp, mother of

LBC 97.3 morning radio host Nick Ferrari shamed journalism this morning with his public belittling of Ms. Janis Sharp, mother of Gary McKinnon. As you may know, Mr. McKinnon suffers from Asperger Syndrome and is currently on bail from American authorities for hacking NASA and other US military computer systems.

I don’t want to discuss Gary’s case in this post, but I would like to highlight the awful way in which Mr. Ferrari publicly humiliated Ms. Sharp. Presumably Mr Ferrari invited the mother on the show under the guise of  highlighting the plight of her son and to denounce the Prime Minister for not taking strong action thus far. However, Mr. Ferrari instead decided to belittle the mother and her son’s circumstances by forcing her to say that Afghanistan was actually more important than her son and to admit that other things take precedent over their situation.

Although most people would probably agree that’s true, it was completely unnecessary to humiliate Ms. Sharp on the radio in front of millions of listeners.

Journalists have been surprised at the amount of fervour with which the public opinion has ‘turned against them’ in the phone hacking scandal. Maybe other journalists should take a long, hard look at themselves through this example and reflect on its ethics and ramifications for Ms. Sharp.

Yes, Afghanistan probably is more important to discuss on the world stage, but I would argue that it’s not to her – the plight of her son is more important, and rightly so.

I think Mr. Ferrari should make a public apology to Ms. Sharp on the radio around the same time the original interview took place in order to try to preserve some honour for himself and journalism in general.

I hope to get interviews with both the mother and Mr. Ferrari myself on this issue so stay tuned.

A podcast of the entire show can be found on the LBC website.

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5 Things You Should Say Today

Elephants are used to entertain tourists at so...

Image via Wikipedia

I found this article today while browsing around and I think it’s fantastic. There’s a link to the original article at the bottom of the post. – DMB

–

They’re small things–but they can completely change someone’s day.

I left the company years ago for another but I still run into former colleagues. Usually the ensuing conversation involves something along the lines of, “Hey, did you hear about the (latest management decision I think is really stupid) at the plant?”

This question was different.

“You worked there for almost 20 years,” my ex-coworker said. “Is there anything you wish you could go back and do over?”

I thought about it later. I don’t really regret strategic errors or poor tactical decisions or career missteps (I made plenty of those.) I certainly regretted those things then, but now, not really.

Instead I most regret the things I didn’t say: To employees who reported to me, to some of my peers, and to at least one person I worked for. Those are moments I’d like to have back.

It’s too late for me, but it’s not too late for you. Here are five things you should say—today—to people you work with:

“That was great how you…” No one receives enough praise. No one. Pick someone who did something well and tell them.

Feel free to go back in time. Saying, “I was just thinking about how you handled that project last year…” can make just as positive an impact today as it would have then. (Maybe a little more impact, because you still remember what happened a year later.) Surprise praise is a gift that costs the giver nothing but is priceless to the recipient.

“Can you help me…?” One of my biggest regrets is not asking a fellow supervisor for help. I was given the lead on a project he really wanted. To his credit, he swallowed his pride—he was senior to me in tenure and perceived status—and told me he would be happy to help in any way he could.

Even though I could tell he really wanted to participate, I never let him. I decided to show I could handle the project alone. I let my ego be more important than his feelings.

Asking someone for help implicitly recognizes their skills and value. Saying, “Can you help me?” is the same as saying, “You’re great at that.”

And there’s a bonus: You get help.

“I’m sorry I didn’t…” We’ve all screwed up. There are things we need to apologize for: Words. Actions. Omissions. Failing to step up, or step in, or simply be supportive.

Say you’re sorry. And don’t follow up your apology with a disclaimer like, “But I was really upset…” or, “I thought you were…” or any statement that in any way places even the tiniest amount of blame back on the other person.

Say you’re sorry, say why you’re sorry, and take all the blame. No less. No more.

“Can I help you…?” Then flip it around. In some organizations, asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness. Many people naturally hesitate to ask. But everyone needs help.

Don’t just say, “Is there anything I can help you with?” Most people will automatically say, “No, I’m all right.” Be specific. Say, “I’ve got a few minutes… can I help you finish that?”

Offer in a way that feels collaborative, not patronizing or gratuitous.

And then actually help.

“I’m sorry I let you down.” I was assigned a project in a different department. It was a project I definitely didn’t want. So, to my discredit, I let it slide. I let other people take up my slack and focused on projects I was more interested in.

To his credit, my manager had stuck his neck out to get me the project so I could get broader exposure but I, well, didn’t care. Eventually my manager said, “Everyone knows you’re really busy, so they have decided to handle it themselves.”

I felt bad but I never said, “I know you were trying to help me. I’m sorry I let you down. I promise it will never happen again.” That one statement would have chased a very large elephant from the room.

The biggest elephants are emotional elephants. It’s up to you to chase them away.

Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry. Everything else he picks up from ghost writing books for some of the smartest leaders he knows in business. @jeff_haden

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