What’s Your Passion Project?
Whether you’re passionate about helping at animal shelters, food banks, or hospitals, we all have something inside that gets us involved with our communities.
Studies show that volunteering can enrich a person’s life, connect them with their communities, and offer a new perspective and understanding about how we fit into the world around us. Universally, volunteers say their work helps them gain a unique sense of purpose by serving those around them. A benefit that often manifests in other areas of their lives. For this reason, many businesses encourage their employees to volunteer and give back to the communities where they live and work. The benefits it produces are tangible.
Financial donations can also be a great way to give back. Nowadays, charities offer numerous ways to give financially. From the click of a button, text message, phone call, or by initiating a reoccurring monthly pledge to help make a difference.
While there are few guarantees in life, it’s a safe bet that volunteering or donating in support of a cause you are passionate about is something you will never regret.
Some Make it A Livelihood
Take, for example, Bill Gates. While he is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft, he and his wife Melinda are now role models for philanthropic causes. Launching their foundation dedicated to healthcare, education, and ending poverty around the world. Their foundation issues grants for initiatives and programs across the globe, focusing on agricultural development, emergency relief, and more.
But these committed organizations can’t exist without the support of generous people – not just billionaires, it’s people like you and me.
Minnesota Gives the Most
With a record number of non-profits and charities striving to make life better; topping the list of most charitable states is – drum roll please – Minnesota.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, crunched the numbers to determine the most charitable states in the country. They ranked them using 18 different indicators across two distinct categories: volunteering, service and charitable giving. Specifically, they took into account data on things like volunteer hours per capita and share of population collecting and distributing food. They also measured income donated, share of sheltered homeless, and Google Search interest for “charitable donations.” Minnesota came out on top. It’s not just because individuals gave, the businesses in our communities do too.
Including Local Businesses
Enbridge, is a shining example of an organization that showcases what a committed, passionate and motivated employee base within an organization can do through giving back. They invested $413,500 in community-strengthening initiatives across Minnesota — and supported numerous not-for-profit agencies aligned with their core focus areas in 2018 alone. That’s just a fraction of what they did across the country in areas where their employees live and work.
Across the U.S., Enbridge invested more than $4.6 million in communities near their pipelines, projects and facilities. They supported initiatives that focus on health and safety, environment, and community. As well as through various employee-driven United Way campaigns, which raised nearly $6.1 million for worthy causes. Through their Our Community Partners program, Enbridge employees volunteered approximately 11,400 hours for causes they care about. Projects that focused on improving quality of life in communities.
Why Is This So Important?
Unfortunately, this work and its funding could seriously be blocked if the restoration of the Line 3 pipeline is delayed or stopped in Minnesota. And if their employee base shrinks (or even disappears), that will hurt the local communities and non-profits they help and support even more. For those of us that are grateful for investments within our communities; the work that is being done and the funding that’s being contributed to our disadvantaged populations. Considering what could be at stake is extremely unfortunate to say the least.
So the next time you hear about the proposed modernization project, remember that it’s not just about the energy being delivered. It’s about the people and the support for our communities that have a stake right alongside that pipeline too.
