Charity Matters

In this day and age of social media it’s difficult to hide key dates such as your birthday, especially when you work in a company that lives for birthdays (and more importantly birthday cake!). All kidding aside I personally love birthdays – each and every one, even those that are starting to get a little high in count!

You see for me birthdays are a way to attract even more positive energy from those around you. Not in a conceited, “aren’t I great” kind of way but in a let’s celebrate that we are in each other’s life kind of way! So this year my beautiful family and I decided to run a mini food drive on my big day and I am THRILLED to share that collectively our friends and family raised over 475 pounds of food in support of the Eden Community Food Bank!

Those that follow Mantralogix (THANK YOU!) know that community support and involvement is a big theme for us! I have been asked why we do this a few times. And the truth is we do this because it feels good!

While it may seem that charitable work is a completely selfless act, the truth is that is quite selfish! Studies have shown that doing good deeds for others is good for the soul (those feeling down and out can benefit from doing something to improve another person’s life). There are so many other benefits such as increased networking opportunities, marketing opportunities, increased presence in the community, improved workplace morale, teamwork opportunities for employees, and an enhanced reputation and positive public relations.

I loved hearing from Biz Stone (cofounder of Twitter) a few weeks ago at Sage Summit in Las Vegas when he talked about his reasons for giving back. Stone referred to how philanthropy is the new marketing strategy and recommended that if you have a $5 million marketing budget that you spend $4 million on charity and $1 million talking about the $4 million spent! And don’t wait he says until “you’ve made it”. Start today because all altruism has compound interest: The earlier you get started, the more impact you have over time. So many people think that you have to wait until you’re “comfortable” before you start thinking about local and global problems and how you can help, but that’s wrong. In reality, you can do something right now.

Doing things to generate the kind of love and positive energy I received on my birthday definitely feels selfish to me – I am the benefactor in the end and I would do anything to feel like this every day! That’s why Mantralogix has decided to commit a percentage of earnings to charities near and far – bring on the compound interest!