It seems that people actually read this blog: every once in a while I get emails about great other sites out there and interesting events.
When I got an email from Kelly Yahr at Virgin Money asking me to promote a special project they were doing this Thanksgiving: working to raise money for Project Clean Water during the Thanksgiving season. Here is how it works: "Virgin is going to donate $1 to "Give a Drop" for each person who visits the Virgin site and simply posts a picture and caption of someone or something they are thankful for. Donations will go to fund Project Clean Water's work creating sustainable solutions for villages around the world to access fresh, healthy water."
So I figured that instead of just posting, I'd ask Kelly a few questions: This is a direct cut and paste--I know my questions were very "journalistic" in nature :).
(A disclaimer 'inspired' by Miriam's who has a very legally minded significant other--check out Virgin Money's products at your own risk, this blog is not in the business ofendorsing business products that are not related to fundraising).
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
MK: What is Virgin Money?
KY: We do financial services - social and traditional loan products direct to the consumer as well as through mortgage brokers and a network of more than 1,000 financial advisers. A pioneer in the rapidly growing social finance (person-to-person lending) space, our evolution led us to enter the wholesale and retail mortgage space in 2008. So in addition to intra-family mortgages, business loans and debt consolidation between friends and family, we are also now a lender and processor of traditional mortgages. It works because we know people are looking for the next generation financial services company – one that is innovative, smart, honest, and easy to work with.
MK: Why are you supporting project clean water specifically?
KY: Because Virgin Unite is a super partner and Give A Drop is about something so obvious – clean water – that we hardly even think to be thankful for it. But we should, and Give a Drop reminds us to give thanks and give cash for the simple things.
MK: Why do you feel it is important to give back?
KY: All year long we live in community with the people around us, and at this time of year particularly we recognize that, give thanks and try to be a force for good wherever we can reach people. We’re doing holiday drives within our offices, but Pass the Thanks is our invitation to those outside our office walls to rise to Richard Branson’s challenge to just “do one thing.”
MK: Why specifically are you guys focusing on reaching out to Gen Y? (telling me that bc these are peeps you want to buy your products, etc and this is a way of getting to them is perfectly fine! I am all for mixing the two). Why is Gen Y one of your target consumer groups?
KY:We try to reach people where they’re at. We do radio spots on NPR. We publish articles in the AARP magazine. Social networking is a great way to reach people who are young, free-thinkers, tech-savvy and looking for fresh and real ways to take care of everyday needs – like borrowing and lending money. We want people to know that social lending is a great alternative to borrowing from banks or credit cards at high rates.
Wanna tell me why you and your organization care? Email me!
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1 comment:
Thanks for writing about this. I created a company in memory of my 28 year old sister, Liz, who died from breast cancer. Uptown Liz (www.uptownliz.com) promotes products from companies whose proceeds go to charity. You can shop on this one-of-a-kind Web site by charitable cause or product category, knowing that every time you make a purchase you are making a difference. There are many great art, clothing, jewelry, house wares, beauty and eco-friendly products (just to name a few) that benefit charities all over the world.
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