…Or, how granting wishes can turn your financial frown upside down!
Last Sunday I was watching the news and saw a great piece about the Starlight Children s Foundation and a local aero club doing their bit to grant the wishes of young kids. The piece finished with a Starlight director stating that the Foundation is aiming to grant 182 seriously ill children with a wish before Christmas, which is going to set them back a million bucks!
With the current state of doom and gloom around the world, issues like increasing unemployment, dropping equity prices and the ever-present shadow of terrorism dominating our attention, it is all too easy to forget about the profound troubles that some families around us are going through.
And that got me thinking about a little thing I m sure you have all heard of – karma. If you go to the Wikipedia page – the source of all truth – you can find out all you need to know but basically karma is all about cause and effect, and how your past actions can have an effect on your future.
With this and the current market conditions in mind, I came to the conclusion that generating some good karma might be a prudent step for the astute investor as well as being a great thing to do!
The Plan
So, rather than finding one person to stump up the million I have developed a plan which will enable us all to help Starlight achieve its goal, and it goes a little something like this:
Step One getting the ball rolling.
So how are we going to help Starlight raise $1 million? It s a numbers game.
- This article is being emailed to 50,000 inboxes around Australia, as part of MDS Financial s newsletter, Reflections.
- Past trends suggest 15% of these recipients will read this piece, that s 7,500 people.
- Of those readers, let s say that 65% agree that making a kid s Christmas is a worthwhile cause and donate $20, which could be tax deductible (check with your tax adviser).
So 65% of 7,500 x $20 = 4,875 donations
Already we ve reached $97,500!
Time spent = 10 minutes
Get involved: click here to make your contribution.
Step Two recruit your friends
That s a great start, but wait! There s more:
- Because you donated you are going to send this e-mail on to 5 other people that trust you and your beliefs, and who are very likely to contribute as well.
- So 4,875 x 5 = 24,375 new readers
- If 40% percent of these new readers contribute $20, that s another $195,000.
Money raised = $195,000
Time spent = 10 minutes
Our total contribution is now up to $292,500!
Click here to make your contribution.
Next: Exponential Momentum!
From that point on, the power of the internet can take over. If every person who donates to Starlight also forwards this email to five other likely donors, the momentum will really pick up and the potential contribution to Starlight s campaign is limitless!
Wow, could it be that easy?
Just like investing – unless you are testing and learning you will never know how successful a strategy can be. Even if we only reach $10,000 we will be making a substantial contribution to what Starlight can achieve, and of course, improving our karma!
Now that you know what has to happen, start by making your own donation: here.
Act immediately! Don t do later what can be done now, and don t forget to forward this article to five friends when you re done. If your boss catches you on the website donating and has a problem with it, drop me an e-mail damian@mdsfinancial.com.au with your boss s name and phone number and I will try and make them see reason.
So do I believe in karma?
I guess the real question is do I live my life by karma? The answer would be “not really” but I do know that if you contribute money to the Starlight Children s Foundation and they grant a wish that makes a kid have a brighter Christmas what is the worst thing that could happen?
When your good karma bears fruit let me know by posting a comment on our blog: http://blog.mdsfinancial.com.au
Speak to you next month when I will return to the normal update.
Damian Isbister
Chief Operating Officer
MDS Financial
P.S. Get your company involved!
If you know or are part of a company that has a large e-mail database like MDS Financial that regularly communicates with its clients, it will only take 20 minutes to send a similar e-mail to this. I know big companies often have designated charities that they donate to and committees for these things to run through, but be spontaneous – ask the question of those in charge, send that e-mail and see what happens.
P.P.S. It s all above board.
To reassure the cynics, neither MDS Financial nor me personally are collecting any data or receiving a financial benefit of any sort from your generous contributions. 100% of money donated goes to the Starlight Children s Foundation, so you can make a contribution knowing that you are doing it for the right reasons. Why the personalised donation page, you ask? When I spoke to the guys and girls at Starlight they said they could create this custom page so I can report back to you on the amount of good karma we generated.
P.P.P.S. Want to keep in touch?
If you want to hear from me again please click here to subscribe to future additions of our monthly Reflections newsletter.
Sample E-mail for those of you that want to take the easy option when forwarding the message on to 5 of your mates.
Hey guys,
After reading this article, I thought it would be a great idea to help the Starlight Children s Foundation grant a kid their wish this Christmas. What do you think?
Regards
(Insert your name)
