Here is something practical that we can do which doesn’t require too much effort on our part. A lot of the banks offer credit cards that support different organizations by financially contributing based on a percentage of our spending or a fixed amount per transaction.
Given my personal experience, I am most familiar with BMO’s Affinity Mosaik program. If you are familiar with the Mosaik program, it offers all the standard rewards (Air Miles/Cashback), but also makes a contribution to the affiliated organization on top of that. A number of different organizations that are supported include the Canadian Red Cross, Cancer Research Society, and Community Living to name a few. BMO doesn’t actively advertise this program on their website, but you can find more information with a google search or calling them directly. They don’t publish the actual amount that they contribute, and the BMO representative that I talked to didn’t seem to know, but digging through the web it seems 0.25% of purchases is contributed through this program. Percentage wise not a whole lot, but still better than nothing, and given enough people this can actually turn out to be a significant dollar figure.
Citizens Bank also has a similar program, which gives you the option of supporting Amnesty International, Oxfam Canada, or Shared Interests - a collection of different nonprofit organizations based on a vote of all members in the program. They give 10 cents per transaction made on their VISA card (and I think I’ve read somewhere an additional 4% of pretax profits).
Other credit card companies do similar things supporting different organizations, but for me BMO was a nice option since it didn’t require me to sign up for a new credit card, but just required a quick call to update my account.
Please let me make clear that I am NOT advocating one bank over another, but I am sharing the information that I have based on personal research. I am also NOT advocating the idea of living on credit or that we should spend more so that these organizations indirectly get more money. But if you are already using credit cards, or like me hate the idea of actually carrying cash, here is a way that is already out there that doesn’t seem to have a downside or at the very least worth investigating. If anyone has a comment on this idea, I would love to hear it.
Should we compile a list of links to those members of Oxygen, PMC at large, and perhaps even friends outside the church, with blogs?
Shermeen, for example, can be found here. Kelsey’s might-be-updated blog is here.
Jason Silver, music leader and webmaster extraordinaire, has his available here. Jason has links to several people from Philpott…I’ll leave it to him if he wants to post ‘em over here.
And then, of course, there’s mine. A warning before you plunge headlong into Austin’s Mind - I am very…well, I don’t pull many punches. If I’m posting on my blog (which is not very often of late - too much work!), it’s because I’ve been moved to do so in some way. Usually because I’m irked.
I know you all see me as some kinda lovable roly-poly Pilsbury DoughBoy (ha!) when I’m at Oxygen; but I’m not always that reserved. You’re getting 85% pure Austin on my blog…and you may not like what you see. Just so you’ve been warned. Here’s the link.
This is quite advanced notice, but if anybody is interested in enjoying the last long weekend of the summer by going to either the zoo or the Science Centre in Toronto on Saturday, September 4, let me know — I’m leaning toward the zoo, but I’m flexible. Admission for both places is in the $15-$20 range and I can provide transportation to at least the first four people interested. Just let me know by commenting on this blog or by e-mail if you’re interested.
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