With success, as she got more control over her time and life, HR professional Karon Wright—the quintessential boomer-- became involved with the big box charity world. As a volunteer, she felt she was under-utilized, tasked with handing out flyers while she craved to use all of her management and marketing skills.
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As a result, she got together with her circle of friends and started an organization titled “The Greater Contribution”. The organization is dedicated to eradicating extreme poverty in our lifetime, and centers on the concept of women helping women around the globe.
With the same spirit of independence that inspired the women of Karon’s generation to liberate our workplaces and start first the fast then organic food movements, The Greater Contribution holds great appeal for boomer women. Just open the lovely envelope—note that it is both hand-addressed and stamped—and no boomer women can resist the invitation.
The Greater Contribution
Cordially requests your absence at a
Black Tie No-Show Dinner…
No showing up
No nanny to hire
No tux to rent
No evening gown required
No rubber chicken dinner
No boring speeches
No pressure
Instead, there was a direct request for contributions ranging from $50 to send an Afghan girl to school for a year, to $1000 to provide a day’s supply of emergency rations for 330 families. Each invitation bore a personal, hand-written note.
In this case, the funds raised were turned over to CARE.
Just because the contributions were at most in quadruple digits doesn’t mean that Karon and her cohort think small. With this success under her belt, Karon is talking about linking up with other independent fundraising groups, springing up all over the country, with the next goal of raising $250,000 to do a health and wellness makeover of an impoverished village in Africa.
For more on the organization, www.GreaterContribution.org.
Carol Orsborn