Giving houses for Christmas

Merry Christmas Toronto! And the rest of the world ... regardless of your religious affiliation. I'm not Christian, but I'm in a Christian family ... sort of ... and Christmas is an occasion we mark with friends and family. Christmas for me isn't about celebrating Big J's birthday -- because let's face it -- it's not his birthday -- it's a creation of the church, and nothing more, which coincidentally, co-opted a number of pagan celebrations. Go figure -- the church -- political. Christmas is a time however, for a little introspection -- a time to take a deep breath, regard past misdeeds with a sigh, and make promises to build an improved future in the coming year. Goodwill to everyone, and all that sort of stuff, which the world could always use a little bit more of.

Which is precisely what Habitat for Humanity is all about this Christmas, for the Mpianas -- a family that fled the Congo in 2002 to find refuge in Toronto. The Mpianas were recently given the keys to a brand home built by volunteer hands motivated by goodwill -- a volunteer that includes my eldest daughter, who spends a few days (evenings, weekends) per week at Habitat -- literally putting the roof over needy heads. For the folks who volunteer at Habitat -- those that donate money and materials -- the Christmas spirit is one that is celebrated year round, in countless builds, around the world. If all of us just gave a little -- just a little time, if nothing else -- what a different world it would be.

Ordinary Kindness

An acquaintance of my wife had a bit of an emergency recently ... he had to move out of his home in a hurry. He had to leave by Dec. 31^st, taking everything that belonged to him and find himself a new home. Normally, this would be a problem for the best of us -- short notice, fire in the hole, scramble like hell. This situation was not so normal. Imagine your worldly possessions consisting of just your clothes, your computer and personal documents. Imagine having nothing else to your name. Imagine surviving on a limited wage amounting to less than $1,000 per month. Now imagine having no sight whatsoever. Yes, visual impairment. No sight.

I can't imagine what I would do. I also suspect I have limited imagination, because I never imagined what would happen next. I never imagined the kindness of complete strangers -- and friends and family of ours. It was mostly my wife's doing -- she regularly restores my faith -- my faith in human altruism. Sharing the story of a young man's plight with family resulted in an outpouring of support. It wasn't a miracle. In hindsight, this should have been expected. We have such a capacity for kindness. We just need to tap into it more often, since the demand is, unfortunately, always there. I don't like miracles, as they tend to be out of reach for most of us -- the response to this crisis is something we can all do at any time. No miracles needed.

Response to the emergency saved one person this winter from falling through the cracks in Toronto. There is now a little apartment, mostly furnished, and quickly turning into home. I'd like to thank those that helped.

• My wife -- who got the ball rolling and came to the rescue.
• Aunt Tiger -- who continues to save the world; in this case, finding cutlery, dishes, blankets, towels and more mugs than I thought anyone could have.
• Joan -- for quickly locating her son's bed and passing along her desk from when she was a teen.
• Maureen -- for the rug ... and getting us in touch with Marlene and Al.
• Marlene & Al -- for the sofa and chair, and staying home to help us.
• Kathy -- for all the stuff ... buggy included ... he can now manage his shopping and laundry a little easier.
• Tyler -- for the physical labour; the grunting & groaning; the wisecracks; and figuring out what to do with a long sofa and tiny, complicated doorways.
• Bernadette & Vanessa -- for helping with the first grocery shopping.

My youngest also introduced me to FreeCycling and a bunch of generous FreeCyclers. So thanks folks for helping out:

• Jason -- for the end tables you've had since your teenage years.
• Birch/Cliff (I didn't get your name, but you know who you are) -- for the laundry basket and electric kettle.
• Nell -- for the dresser. Perfect fit in the bedroom!
• Jan -- for the radio. It works great!
• Lou -- for the microwave ... a very useful appliance for a single guy!

Folks, you've all done a wonderful thing. You've helped someone in need. You prevented him from disappearing. His name is Dave, and he is incredibly happy with his move.

So what are we going to do next folks?

Designing Change

Limited thinking would view the poor as a burden to society, but if you buy C.K. Prahalad's bottom-of-the-pyramid theory, the 4-plus billion impoverished people in the world are a vast untapped market. If you're motivated solely by profits, you may limit your understanding of Prahalad's theory to bringing consumerism to the poor -- but if your aspirations are to close the inequalities that exist between those that have, and those that have don't, then this vast untapped market represents an opportunity to make a difference, even while eking out profits. The poster child for tapping into those at the bottom is Grameen Bank, with their micro-financing to aid those in developing nations towards self-sustainment.

Helping the poor help themselves is a novel idea that is taking off in philanthropy. It's not just about throwing endless sums of money at the vacuum of need -- but about wisely investing in the poor, so they can create an economic environment where the cycle of poverty can be slowed and even stopped. I've just found out about an organization, like Grameen Bank, that is investing in the poor, for a profit. Jacqueline Novogratz's Acumen Fund takes the micro-financing approach with venture funds, looking for businesses, business models and designing solutions to tap into the unmet needs of the poor -- and along the way, sometimes bringing home a small profit for their efforts that is then reinvested. What a virtuous cycle.

Acumen's $20 million investment portfolio is focused on health, water and housing, with seed money coming from some well known philanthropic organizations. Its website boasts some great success stories, such as a $325,000 loan to A to Z Textile in Tanzania, in which it lost $32,500, but got 5,000,000 Tanzanians mosquito nets to protect against malaria infection. A to Z Textile expects production to ramp up to 7 million nets. That impact, for a $325,000 investment. BusinessWeek tells the story of Acumen's equity investment in Drishtee, a startup in India, that rolls out information kiosks in rural India, complete with a computer, internet access, digital camera and fax machine. Drishtee offers the kiosks as franchise operations, allowing locals to own the kiosks that provide village access to health information, government resources and other necessities of modern India. Women it turned out made better franchise owners than men, as they open earlier and close later, but lacked skills and most banks in India do not lend to women. Acumen has invested in training village women in the basics of business and is working with an Indian bank to offer a guarantee to the bank's loans to women franchise owners -- aiming to prove to the bank that women are safe investment bets.

Jacqueline Novogratz, an American woman, making a difference to the lives of the poor women of India -- I like the female symmetry in this story -- noteworthy, since today is International Women's Day.