Over £5000 Raised For The Big Issue Foundation

We are so thrilled and proud of all our Money Gym gang – over £5000 raised for The Big Issue Foundation.  £4500 from ticket sales and donations, including one from @JennieArmato in Australia, which Judith and I matched, and the possibility of another £5000 from some of the speakers.  Here’s me and Anthony North, Head of Fundraising from the Big Issue.  The Money Gym helping The Big Issue help the homeless help themselves.  The videos will be available soon too for a small donation, so the work goes on.

It’s A Big Issue Alright & You Can Help!

It’s a Big Issue to me as a Londoner. For the last twenty years of my life, I have been aware of the homeless sleeping rough in my great city.  As I go about my business I see plenty of those less fortunate that me. And you don’t know what to do for the best, do you?

I remember once calling Centre Point and asking how I could best help.

I was told not to give people on the streets money as it would simply go straight back into alcohol or drugs. I remember being surprised by how bald a statement that was.

http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property

You know me by now, I tend to think the best of people. I tend to be away with the fairies, living in a pink bubble of loveliness where we are all kind to each other and we have a warm comfy bed to sleep in at night.

And yet, of course, I know life’s not like that. That’s not reality for so many.

On Tuesday evening I met John Bird, the founder of The Big Issue. He pioneered his solution with Gordon and Anita Roddick in 1991 and it was tough love all the way. He said to the homeless “you are part of the problem, you must be part of the solution”.

They offered vendors a leg up and helped them to get started in changing their own lives through their own efforts. Selling the magazine can enable them to get back on their feet.

And if they go first, after three months the Big Issue can step in with all sorts of additional support. You haven’t begun to think what problems you can create for yourself if you don’t have a fixed abode.

Some of those were explained to us on Tuesday evening, along with the startling fact that if you have already enjoyed your 40th birthday, you have passed the average life expectancy of a homeless person.

http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property

Along with Carolyn & Neil, Karen & Rich, we went to see the Real Lives, Real Achievements awards at a laid back venue in Camden.  The Big Issue has two of the most wonderful sponsors any little charity could hope for.

1. Cadbury, who not only showered us with free chocolate, but demonstrated how they give vendors two weeks’ work experience at their factories which often leads to full-time jobs. They have taken nearly 170 people off the streets in this experiment.

2. CNN who had helped The Big Issue craft five little films about real vendors and how the Big Issue has made all the difference.  We will be showing a couple of those at our event on Saturday.

So what would I say to those who are critical of the way in which charities work? Yes, I know it isn’t always ideal. But TBI has only 14 staff supporting 2500 vendors across the UK. Their way of working is closely aligned with our own values at the Money Gym and I really hope that Saturday will be the first of a long and fruitful relationship us MG property folks have with helping the homeless to help themselves. Our target of £4,500 (when we reach it) is going to make a real impact, a real difference.

http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property

And it will make another dream come true too. Peter Stanley and Greg Southey and I had a number of meetings over the last couple of years trying to find a way to marry up property profits to help the homeless, it seems a natural marriage to us.

We met the awesome Sam Woodlock who is a volunteer worker with TBI, having been a homeless addict herself some time back. She is now married with a child, and happily doing great work co-ordinating Big Issue activities in Covent Garden. For me, she was perhaps the most moving story of the evening – a walking, talking success now helping others out of the place in which she had once found herself.

Not surprisingly I did shed a tear or two. Not as many as I thought because CNN did not fall into the trap of over-sentimentalising these five stories. But they are sad, and they are happy, and it is awesome to see people make a comeback from circumstances which I know I would find impossibly difficult.

There but for the grace of God.

http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property

One of the films is about a lad from Bath who wants to go on the Big Issue sponsored bike ride to Paris. He has raised part of the sponsorship money he needs to take part but at the time of making the film he had neither a bike or all the money for a Passport.

Just THINK what we take for granted!

If you can get free on Saturday and come along and support our fundraiser, that would be fab.   Help yourself, help the homeless to help themselves and help us to achieve that lofty target of £4,500. Come and see the CNN films and be inspired to make a difference, if not to the homeless then to someone you can help, perhaps by becoming their landlord.

I don’t know where I would be without the sanctuary of my own home, a place where I can be safe and warm and nurtured by my peace and quiet, my garden, my pussycat, my broadband and by fulfilling relationships with family and friends and work I love.
I am so abundant and grateful and lucky.

Counting my blessings, counting my blessings, counting my blessings and hoping to pay it forward today, tomorrow, everyday and especially Saturday 21st March 2009. That day will be only the start of what we can do to help The Big Issue support the homeless in this very inspirational way.

Thanks for listening
Judith

PS  If you can’t come on Saturday, you can still donate at our page:

http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property

Money Gym Interviews | Anthony North, The Big Issue

We hosted a lively interview with Anthony North, Head of Fundraising for The Big Issue, yesterday and you can listen again here on our Blog Talk Radio show.

Anthony, as you can hear, is a raging intra-preneur for the Big Issue and is totally passionate about his work.  Listen to the show below and then…..

You can help us reach our £4500 target by coming along to our “Property Extravaganza” to hear the GOOD NEWS about property investing in the UK, right now.

Only £25 per person, eight great speakers, and a rocking day out!

Secure your seat here >>> http://www.themoneygym.com/events/property

£8 A Month? What Good Can It Do, Really?

What difference can £8 a month make really? One of our Money Gym gang has been contacted by someone she referred someone to, who wants to pay her a referral fee of £8 a month. She’s wondering, as it’s such a small amount, what she can do with it – is it really worth the effort of accounting for it, paperwork wise? Should she refuse it, accept it, or just give it away…and if so, where could it make the most difference.

Graham Wendes provided this very thought provoking reply and I’ve his permission to share it with you! Love to see your suggestions as to what YOU would do with £8 a month, to make the most difference? Use the comments link to share your thoughts with us….

“I’d take it and pay it forward. This isn’t a dig, it’s just a thought. I once worked in a training centre for people on the dole. Some were in their 60’s and unlikely to get work again, and their illiteracy didn’t help. They used to get £10 a week “travelling expenses”, which they didn’t need as i drove a minibus to pick them up. Some relied on that £10 a week to get by, and I sometimes had to get feisty with the company to give it to them. (Food, £10.)

One beautiful Spring day, me and the ex were in Asda. An elderly lady was getting upset as we passed through the check-outs because she’d forgotten her purse. A lady of her age still had the capacity to feel shame, and she was so embarassed she was in tears. Her bill was £2.50 for cat food. (We used to stop and speak with her little blue-grey kitten called Archie.) I gave the check-out lady a tenner and told her to let the old lady keep the change, and to say hello to Archie for us. We brought the sun out for her, and I felt Spring-like all day. (Smile, £10.)

One November, and old sea-dog was stood in town with a chest load of Russian convoy medals, an empty poppy tin, a straight back and a smile. 99% of people didn’t even see him let alone share a copper or two We went into Starbucks, got him a tea and a muffin, put a tenner in his tin and said thank you for what you and all your mates did so that we could be in town in a free country today. You wouldn’t think a proud old man like that would lose a tear so easily would you? (Tear for recognition, £10.)

Last year, I had some money I’d been putting by to give our mum a bumper xmas as she had been in a deep depression, and then quickly she became ill and was gone. She didn’t see xmas, but I know she saw what I did with it in her name. (Knowing our mum would have been proud of me, priceless.)

What i’m saying is that £8 isn’t a lot if you have a higher threshold of “abundance”. For some people a tenner is the difference between having heat for a week or not. Eating for a week (we’ve been there) or not.

It’s good to aim high and build big, but we should never become so abundant we forget how much so little can mean to so many”.

Graham Wendes

World Internet Challenge – Money Gym Raises $1000+ In Donations So Far

Here’s me at 4am – glam eh?  Alan says I look like Deirdre Barlow!!

OK, as a Thank You!! we are going to list all contributors to Alan’s cause via The Money Gym from now on (and those who have donated so far)with their website links) . See Alan’s page here http://www.worldinternetchallenge.com/ but come back here to read more and donate via us – lots more freebies if you do that and you qualify for his too!Benefits to you are links from our highly Google ranked site, to yours, and search engine spiders coming from our site (crawled every hour) to yours. If you search World Internet Challenge then you will see we are No1 on Page1 of Google right now! Click the pic to see the proof!Thanks to all of you so far – we made it to $1000 ++ and still climbing we could hit the $5000 mark and that would be so brill……

Hugh at
http://www.websitenews.co.uk 

The Sales Team @ Toner Top Up
http://www.tonertopup.co.uk/

Janet Swift
http://www.swiftlysorted.com/

Carol McEvoy
www.actionit.co.uk

Lorraine Lorimer
http://www.t2tcoaching.com/  / http://www.completeconciergeservices.com/

Alison Grimston
www.TheNaturallyHealthyPet.com

Sunita Koshal
http://www.sunitakoshal.com/

Marion Ryan
www.TheAbundantCoach.com

Sarah Cairncross
www.TheVirtualHammock.com/blog

Jean Walsh
www.lifestyleoptions-ltd.com

Also many thanks to (and just waiting for website links from)

Carolyn Boddington
Andy Lindsay
Jean Walsh
Andaleeb Lilley
Polly MacLeod
Gary Bugden
Jo Dodds / The Hythe Handbook
Ann Harrison Life Coaching
Ken Norton
Mike Turner
Lisa Stringfellow
Christine Hanscombe

Money Gym Helps Alan Forrest Smith Raise $100,000 in 4 days!

** Find out now how to get involved in a very exciting event & get some great fr*ee gifts including some one-on-one mentoring time with Nicola **

Already the Money Gym posse are swinging into action!!  We are up to nearly $150 already – keep it coming guys!  If you missed the previous email….look lively now!

You know about the World Internet Summit and how much I rate it?

You know about Alan Forrest Smith and that I rate him as a speaker, copywriter and marketer?

You may not know that every time they do a World Internet Summit they do an online challenge and raise
as much money as possible, online, live, in the shortest possible time?

It’s to prove internet marketing works – and it does, every time.  As their list gets bigger, the amount raised gets bigger.

And when you add in all their friends and strategic partners…..cowabunga!

Well this year, it’s going to be very different!!  And EVEN MORE EXCITING!

Instead of picking one person out of the audience and making the money for them, this year they are giving it ALL away to one specific charity and it’s a great charity although I’m not allowed to tell you what it is yet…..

100% of the money raised will go to this charity – the WIS boys, Brett & Tom, have promised and I trust them to do that.

HOWEVER I can tell you that it’s a charity that affects us all and the future of this planet – more will be revealed live on Thursday.

Alan is co-ordinating this live on stage in Australia, on Thursday, and as you can imagine, it’s scary, and he’s looking for support from his mates.

On Thursday, at 4am in the morning our time, I’m going to be dialling in LIVE on behalf of the Money Gym and donating a sum of money, direct to Alan for this massive effort.  Unless I can puzzle out how to automate it *grin* I will be getting up, putting my lippie on and getting in front of my camcorder and skyping in.

My question to you is…….Will you help?

We have about 6,000-10,000 subscribers to our ezine and I’m hoping that at least 50% of you will donate AT LEAST £2 to the fundraising effort – via Paypal, to us so that we can give it to Alan live on Thursday.  We could raise £3000 to £5000 – that’s $6000 – $10,000 to help Alan in his goal of reaching $100,000 in just four days.

If only 20% of you – following the Pareto Principle – do something we could raise over £1000 or $2000 – and that would be very respectable!

And it would make us Brits look GREAT especially as I have inside info on how much some of those multi-millionaire Yanks have pledged so far!!

Our national pride is at stake here and you will be helping a great cause that affects us all.

(I would have just asked for £1 minimum but PayPal charge us for every transaction, so £2 will cover the PayPal charge and give at least £1 to Alan)

HOWEVER…………Alan is offering some great incentive special offers on the official page, for those who donate £25 or more, so if you do that via us, I will be passing on a list of people who donate £25 or more, to Alan, in order that you are still eligible to get his incentive offers.

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**  We faithfully promise, here at The Money Gym, to donate 100% of your donation, less the PayPal charges, plus our donation, to Alan’s efforts and to pass your name, email and donation amount onto him, if you donate £25 or more **

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All you have to do, to help me out, help Alan out and claim your fr*eebie gifts, is send your donation NOW to:

Send your donation to this paypal address – and mark it clearly “Alan / WIS Donation”  :
steve@themoneygym.com – remember make it at least £2 (but more if you can)

Then I will personally send you a link (which will be sent to the email address you use for your PayPal account) which will take you to a page where you can claim a very special set of fr*ee gifts – this could be a lot of work for me, but I don’t care! 

The more of you donating, the happier I will be even if I have to work all weekend!

Ok, so go do it now and make us proud !

Just send £2 – or whatever you are happy to give, to steve@themoneygym.com

And I will send you by return, as soon as possible, the link to where you can put your name and email in, to get updates on how it’s going, and get your fr*ee gifts!

Thanks!

Nicola

xxx

 

Nicola Cairncross
Founder
The Money Gym Ltd