Quadrupling Foreign Aid with our Gift Purchases
Published 09-04-09
Submitted by ZOË Alliance Inc
As North Americans we are keenly aware of the global recession we are in and the suffering it has caused for people everywhere. We are experiencing a new reality that many of us have never faced before however, the truth is that for over 1 billion people, this is not new.
Angela Draskovic, Founder & President of ZOË Alliance Inc., left her 22-year career as a telecommunications and non-profit executive to create a way for each of us to be able to effect lasting change, addressing the urgent and truly unacceptable conditions that people are living in. When asked why she founded ZOË Alliance, Angela shared: "The truth is that financial and social challenges know no boundaries, as a child I grew up in city housing and experienced abuse. Thanks to the fact that I was born in Canada; there were places to go for help that enabled me to succeed. For over 1 billion people who happen to be born in slums or villages there is nowhere to go. Hard work and self-motivation can't help when there is no water, no work, nothing. When I came face to face with the conditions that people around the world live in, there was only one choice - action."
ZOË Alliance is a social enterprise that has created a unique model to help us harness what we would normally spend to help break the cycle of poverty. The ZOË Alliance model takes each dollar spent on gifts and stretches it 3 ways:
Angela Draskovic founded ZOË Alliance because of a life long passion for people in developing nations. In speaking about her international business partners, Angie recently stated: "People in developing nations are no different than we are in that they desire dignity, the opportunity to work, provide for their families, and invest in their communities. They are different in that they face significant challenges socially, economically, geographically, and politically that make it impossible for them to break the cycle of poverty without strategic and respectful support and intervention."
"©After over 22 years of senior and executive leadership experience in both the business and non-profit sector, the vision of a company that would tightly link the interests of market forces to tangible and lasting change in the developing world emerged. Based on research and collaboration with the international development community the ZOË business model blends the collective wisdom of life long practitioners as well as the marketing and sales expertise of the founder.
In it's first year ZOË Alliance has established two active projects, one in the south of India and one in Haiti. A pilot project is being launched in Guatemala this fall, and collaborative relationships exist that together comprise a network of producer groups that span the globe.
ZOË Alliance Inc. (www.zoealliance.com) is a social enterprise that harnesses market spending to help developing nations break the cycle of poverty. ZOË Alliance helps people and companies transform impoverished villages with their regular purchases. We stretch each dollar spent on a personal or corporate gift three ways: to purchase a gift that tells the story of hope; to create jobs with dignity in villages; and to donate funds toward a school or village project. We also help companies link their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to the bottom line by making it easy to source high quality, profitable products from producer groups in villages around the globe.
*(Sources: National Retail Federation, Giving USA Foundation, Imagine Canada 2007 Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating, Harvard Business Review Sept. 2007 p21)
ZOË Alliance Inc. is a social enterprise that harnesses market spending to help developing nations break the cycle of poverty. ZOË Alliance helps people and companies transform impoverished villages with their regular purchases. We stretch each dollar spent on a personal or corporate gift three ways: to purchase a gift that tells the story of hope; to create jobs with dignity in villages; and to donate funds toward a school or village project. We also help companies link their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to the bottom line by making it easy to source high quality, profitable products from producer groups in villages around the globe.
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