Friday Facts: Singapore Giving

I live on the Mornington Peninsula outside Melbounre. The area of the Peninsula is around 723.1 km² or 279.2 sq mi. About 135 000 people live here.


I was stunned to learn recently that the Peninsula is slightly bigger than the area of the city-state of Singapore. However while I share my neighbourhood with 134 999 others,  Singapore crams 5,076,700 people in! One of the most densely populated countries in the world. Although when you are there, Singapore's planning is so good that you never have a sense of being crowded.


In that island, Singaporeans cram business, education and recreation --and charity support. According to research from Singapore's National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC),  almost one quarter, one in four volunteer. Their research says a mere two years ago, it was less than a one in five volunteered. 


The overall percentage of financial donors fell marginally but average annual donations per person are up to $331 from $300 in 2008. So while fewer people donated money last year, those who did, gave more. Roughly 60 per cent of the donations were made to the major religious groups on the island: Mahayana Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism.



The median income of all employed persons, full-time and part-time, is S$30 000.  So giving as a per cent of average income is about 1.1%. NB 21 percent earn below S$14 400 per annum.


The World giving index listed Singapore as equal 91st in the world for "Overall Giving" along with Spain, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Peru, Mali and France.


The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC)'s chief executive Laurence Lien said he was 'delighted' that more people than ever before 'stepped up to the challenge to give more of their time and money.' 'During the deep economic uncertainty, people see needs more obviously,' said Mr Lien


My question is how did they do it? To go from 20% of the population to 25% in two years is phenomenal. What was the secret?

Volunteering is Socialist?

Fox News has posted a link to a blog that has criticised the call for the USA to dedicate September 11 to a day of service in memory of those who died.

The criticisms seem to be:

• such a call is "Socialist"
• September 11 should be about remembrance not  community service and soup kitchens 
• volunteering should be spontaneous not mandated

Others note that: "President George W Bush was a strong supporter of  this Day of Service... and... a clear majority of Republicans voted in April 2009 to make September 11 a Day of Service" with the Serve America Act. 

What do you think?

• Is asking people to serve on this day "Socialist"? 
• Is it wrong of a government to encourage or invite their people to volunteer?

The Twenty Worst Passwords ever- which one is yours?

I am amused by this infographic which lists the world's worst passwords. Check it out! Some of the worst are:

• abc 123
• 654321 
• Password

The all time most popular password is:  123456

(How much time was spent thinking that one up?!)

Some password tips:

1. Dont use an identical password for everything
2. Dont tell everyone you use an identical password
3. Dont write your password down and put it next to your computer/phone or one your fridge, noticeboard
4. If you do record your password somewhere, do not write: "My ANZ Bank password" next to it

Monday Motivation: Staying the Course

Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin.


Kathleen Norris

Irene's visit

This is the map of Irene's path

Hurricane preparation tips and evacuation recommendations can be found on these Web sites:

•  New York City is here 
• Suffolk County (Long Island) is here.   

My travel blog has info if you are flying: http://mjtravlife.blogspot.com/2011/08/irene-cancels-6000-flights.html 


Hurricane Irene is expected to hit North Carolina by Saturday afternoon and the New York City region by Saturday night.

Be safe everyone....inside...shelter. Hopefully it will be some minor inconveniences but got to be prepared for it all.




I will be re tweeting what #Irene news I get... martinjcowling

Important breakthroughs at Facebook for NFPS

There have been some changes (more? again?) around at Facebook. These will impact on Not for Profits.


To understand them , you need to understand all of the various types of pages you see on Facebook:

1. THE Facebook Profile- this is the page for People. NB Some agencies have enrolled on Facebook as a person not an agency. This is verboten. You know you have a Profile page if people who connect to you are referred to as "friends"
2. The Facebook Page designed for company or organization page. You know you have the right set up if people are your fans
3. The Community Page - often NOT set up by the agency, these pages have often "mysteriously appeared". 
4. The Facebook Places page- when people "check in" with your agency, they can create a Place page. Some agencies have multiple Place pages.

What can be confusing for a Not for Profit is they may have a combination of multiple Facebooks. It looks like it will become easier to merge all of your stray pages together.

Lots of people seem to think that Community Pages are going to be abolished. Facebook were testing a merge button. This seems to have disappeared after a week. If you have a Facebook community page and a page, get them merged. Have your admin person “Report” duplicate Community Pages and “Submit” a request that they be merged or watch for the return of the merge button. NB This will only work if you have a Facebook page and not a profile page for your agency. Facebook do not guarantee the merger will be acted upon.The rumour is that the fans from both pages will be combined onto your page. This is a good thing.

Some people have noticed that if they have entered an address on their Facebook Page it is being automatically converted to a Facebook places page. I will be blogging about how agencies can utilise Facebook Places and FourSquare in the near future.

If you have multiple Facebook Places Pages, you can ask Facebook to merge them

Monday Motivation: Achievement

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.

Denis Watley

I am in Western Australia this week

This week I will be presenting in:

Esperance, a town of just under 10, 000 located about 720km (450miles) southeast of Perth on the Southern Ocean. My topics are:

• Monday August 22, 9am - 1pm  Five Elements of Good Governance
• Monday August 22, 6pm - 9pm Volunteering: Every Minute Counts
• Tuesday August 23, 9am - 2pm  The Four 'R's: Recruitment, Recognition, Rewards, Renewal

Check out their site for more info

Bunbury,  the third largest city in Western Australia (68 000 people) about 175 kilometres (109 mi) south of Perth. I am presenting at The Koombana Bay Sailing Club for VAST:

• Wednesday, August 24 · 9:30am - 4:00pm  How to Turn Your Organisation into a Volunteer Magnet

Manjimup a town of 4,239 is 307 kilometres (191 mi) south of Perth. I am doing a workshop at  Manjimup Community Centre - Gallery:

• Thursday, August 25 · 9:00am - 4:00pm4R’s- Recruitment, Recognition, Rewards and Renewal’

Albany the oldest town in the state now has 33,600. At this point I will be 420 km fromf Perth:

• Friday 26th August The 4 Rs - Recuitment, Recognition, Rewards and Renewal with Martin J Cowling

Thank you to everyone who is hosting me. I am looking forward to a great time!

Guest Posting

Rob Jackson who is someone in the UK who has dedicated his life to the not for profit sector and all round cool guy has published one of my posts: Gas to Go (about training for volunteers) in his blog!

Check out the post and Rob's blog here.

Love to know your comments on it

Friday Facts: Unequal Wealth

This graph sums up the situation amazingly. It shows how Americans view wealth in their country. Three graphs - one powerful message.

Thinking in the USA re wealth is skewed for the very wealthy and the very poor. i.e. Americans think that the poorest 20% have about 5% of all US  wealth - its less than a 20th of that. The poorest in the USA are very poor. At the other end of the scale, Americans think the wealthiest 10% have just over half of the US wealth- the reality it is over 80%.

The middle class of the US are very, very squeezed. The second and third tiers of US Society (40% of the population share less than 15% of all wealth.

I suspect we would see the same pattern across the globe?

Do our economic systems need re thinking to ensure that all people can build wealth and prosper? Puts the recent tax debates into some interesting context doesn't it?