Off Topic/Miscellaneous Subjects - Discussion

jlccaz wrote:

Kashathediva wrote:For those of you who might have just finished watching Brian Williams on nightly news here is the story he did regarding 9 yr old Rachel Beckwith and her idea on charity and providing water for Ethiopia.

http://www.charitywater.org/

A whole different perspective on charity, huh?

My nephew's charity was born from a personal idea.
My own brother died at age 18 yrs old almost 33 yrs ago. I was 22 and had been married just 6 weeks. A scholarship was formed and a deserving h.s. senior was awarded a scholarship for the next 30 yrs in my brother's memory.
So upon my nephew's passing (at age 18 exactly 6 weeks following my daughter's wedding), it was suggested to my brother-in-law about the memorial scholarship that had helped so many.
Play it forward.

Yup. Water for People also great.

And, drop in the bucket, Cassie's group. Allow me to sincerely genuflect to this crap show and Jef of the One F Vanity, in gratitude for raising my own awarenes. My 12 year old is going to do a class then school wide clean water community service project. It's an awesome cause for children especially. Very relateable ... when combined with ending the "addiction" to purchased water bottles. Combining this cause with launching yet another plastic "spring" water bottle company is a farce at best, and sort of cynical at its core.

bolded

I am genuflecting with you. It has definitely raised my awareness and support of bonafide water charities. I have read some heart-warming stuff and watched videos that sincerely brought tears to my eyes recently.

Cheers to your 12-year-old for being part of the real movement.

Somewhere in all this liteature fo People Water and Generosity Water is the note that the $8000 donation was for the two wells in Ghana. There has never been information about the Nicaragua well. I always thought that was a project that People Water took on without knowing much about what they were doing.

I think they have wisely delegated the well placement to Generousity Water and reduced their involvement to donation and PR.

Chacharo wrote:

elyn wrote:

Daliana wrote:Where is anybody getting $8000 a year based on a donation of $8000 by PW in April 2012?

That's one charity and one donation...I don't see anything about $8000 a year.

I'm confused about that too. If this is the link people are referencing, that looks like info on a single fundraiser, not a list of everything PW has donated. It appears that at one point, PW was conducting a fundraiser where it was asking people to donate directly to Generosity, and this was the page where one would go to do that, and that amount was the amount raised through that fundraiser. It says nothing about what PW donates annually from their sales.

After I perused that link, I thought it was put in place to show how much PW had donated to Generosity Water. I don't think it was ever a link to actually donate via the PW link to Generosity. Does that make sense? They gave a one-time (so far) $8,000 donation and that is the way Generosity Water is showing their donation on their website. I think someone made a mistake and put in the extra $8.

I think the blog post by the COO was intentionally vague. I think he's doing damage control from their new-found popularity and confusion where they have been called a "charity" in various articles, etc. This is the first time I've read where they suggested that people could donate directly to a water charity rather than just "buy People Water."

I don't think comparing the cost of PW to Smart Water really works - Smart Water has electrolytes added for whatever reason - something like Vitamin Water which has made some people very rich (fiddy cents anyone?). I believe I have read somewhere that PW is natural spring water - which brings to mind the question for me of where is it harvested from? I don't really trust bottled water I guess.

I hope that cause marketing is not the wave of the future. Bonafide charities are having a hard enough time since the economy tanked and they don't need the competition right now from for-profit businesses using charity as PR.

Bingo, I am not an accoutant but have been a consultant long enough to pay attention to what is not said.

I think if PW would back off of the #wearethemovement and 'change the world' in regards to the PR, I would feel more comfortable with them. Touting these lines to increase sales, when the charity percentage in miniscule compared to profit margin is downright misleading! Anything is a good thing to bettering the world, but PW is using the charity affiliation to make money!

skitts wrote:I think if PW would back off of the #wearethemovement and 'change the world' in regards to the PR, I would feel more comfortable with them. Touting these lines to increase sales, when the charity percentage in miniscule compared to profit margin is downright misleading! Anything is a good thing to bettering the world, but PW is using the charity affiliation to make money!

And to create a volunteer field sales force to arrange distribution by enlisting them in the cause of distribution when the point of these "ambassadors" is to boost product sales. It is cynical and repulses me to see them redirect cause - inspired generosity and interest to their own profit-building, business-expanding objectives.

jlccaz wrote:

skitts wrote:I think if PW would back off of the #wearethemovement and 'change the world' in regards to the PR, I would feel more comfortable with them. Touting these lines to increase sales, when the charity percentage in miniscule compared to profit margin is downright misleading! Anything is a good thing to bettering the world, but PW is using the charity affiliation to make money!

And to create a volunteer field sales force to arrange distribution by enlisting them in the cause of distribution when the point of these "ambassadors" is to boost product sales. It is cynical and repulses me to see them redirect cause - inspired generosity and interest to their own profit-building, business-expanding objectives.

ITA. Of all the galling things I've learned about PW, this perhaps bothers me the most. These people have chutzpah in spades.

Regarding the PR piece, er, letter from the COO that was just released, does anyone think that the issues raised on this board made this topic an agenda item at last weekend's "executive retreat"?

I obviously disagree with most of the views of PW here but am tired of debating the issue because we will never agree. However, if (which I don't think is the case) they were guilty of not running things as some see fit, there are still a million worse things in life to be repulsed by. For me, world hunger, child abuse, murder are some. A group of people trying to make a living and in turn building wells and attempting to better the world in any small way, wouldn't be one of them.

instinct wrote:

jlccaz wrote:

skitts wrote:I think if PW would back off of the #wearethemovement and 'change the world' in regards to the PR, I would feel more comfortable with them. Touting these lines to increase sales, when the charity percentage in miniscule compared to profit margin is downright misleading! Anything is a good thing to bettering the world, but PW is using the charity affiliation to make money!

And to create a volunteer field sales force to arrange distribution by enlisting them in the cause of distribution when the point of these "ambassadors" is to boost product sales. It is cynical and repulses me to see them redirect cause - inspired generosity and interest to their own profit-building, business-expanding objectives.

ITA. Of all the galling things I've learned about PW, this perhaps bothers me the most. These people have chutzpah in spades.

Regarding the PR piece, er, letter from the COO that was just released, does anyone think that the issues raised on this board made this topic an agenda item at last weekend's "executive retreat"?

Wouldn't surprise me. They have to know this board exists due to links to blogs, photos, admirers, etc. However, I don't think we're the only people on the planet that have noticed their intentionally vague marketing. We're just a drop in the bucket.

I would imagine that positive feedback isn't the only feedback they have received lately.

I guess the best action for those that for whatever reason do not like the product or it's promotion is not to buy it or donate.
I don't buy bottled water for various reasons, unless I have to. So this is a non-issue due to it's ridiculous pricing alone. (I can buy a case of 24 bottled water on any given day of the week for under 2 bucks, so a dollar a bottle of pw is outrageous to me)
I do choose what charitable organizations that I do donate/support very carefully. I am personally sick and tired of receiving mail with those addressed return labels and other freebies on a too frequent basis. What a waste of money in mailing and paper!! My frustration increases exponentially every time I receive yet another one of those in the mail.
The bottom line is to find the charities or causes you feel good about in your heart and support those.

I do have a few charities I supported for years but some are very pushy when they get you on the phone and that is a huge turn off! I think most of us have charities near to our hearts and the ones I like have not been pushy at all!

Kashathediva wrote:Overall in my OPINION it's pathetic.
A charity was started as a memorial for my nephew who passed away on August 5, 2012 (yes, 8 days ago) and already my brother-in-law has been able to raise 10,000 dollars that will go toward an annual scholarship in my nephew's name for a needy high school senior with aspirations of college.
8 K is better than 0 obviously and it's going to a good cause, hopefully. Maybe PW needs to hire a new PR firm or make less of a profit? (no, that would probably be cross purposes)

Oh Kasha. My sincere condolences.

As a parent of a 2012 HS grad that's leaving for college in a couple of days, your post just broke my heart. Your family's grief must be staggering. I'm so sorry.

As far as PW goes, it's a startup company with shady business practices in an industry that's glutted with real competition. I suspect in a year PW won't be around to worry about any more.

Kashathediva wrote:I guess the best action for those that for whatever reason do not like the product or it's promotion is not to buy it or donate.
I don't buy bottled water for various reasons, unless I have to. So this is a non-issue due to it's ridiculous pricing alone. (I can buy a case of 24 bottled water on any given day of the week for under 2 bucks, so a dollar a bottle of pw is outrageous to me)
I do choose what charitable organizations that I do donate/support very carefully. I am personally sick and tired of receiving mail with those addressed return labels and other freebies on a too frequent basis. What a waste of money in mailing and paper!! My frustration increases exponentially every time I receive yet another one of those in the mail.
The bottom line is to find the charities or causes you feel good about in your heart and support those.

Words of wisdom, Kasha. I donate my dollars very carefully also. Having worked in the not-for-profit sector, I've sometimes seen more "behind the curtain" than I am comfortable with.

One of the things I have been doing a lot of thinking about since we have been discussing PW on the board is this "cause" marketing stuff. I will confess that I may have fallen victim to it before, i.e., bought a pink spatula or something because part of the proceeds were given to Komen. Well, I don't support Komen anymore so I shy away from anything that is marketed with pink or ribbons or such. I've actually never seen Tom's shoes for sale, so I didn't know much about them before but now it's something on my radar to google one of these days. I'm not sure I like the concept at all.

I guess I am more of the belief that to whom much is given, much is expected ... and I don't think it should be bragged about. That kind of takes away from the giving for me - turns it into more of "look at all the good I am doing" self promotion. I didn't know about these new double or triple bottom lines and have learned a little something about them recently. It definitely gives me something to think about as I spend my consumer dollars from now on. I will continue to be very careful about who I give my charity dollars to.