Thank you for visiting my fundraising page!  I'm trying to raise $25K to build a school in Vietnam that will give the gift of education to 100s of children every year.

The top 10 donors to this page will have their names on a plaque on the door, and we can all visit the school in 6-12 months!  Cool, right?

Room to Read, the not-for-profit who will build it, will keep us posted on every step of construction, and their work was recently commended by Bill Clinton at his Clinton Global Initiative.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ramg96JhTZA&rel=1

Should I wait until I'm rich to give back?

This is a question I have fought with a lot over the years.

Spending time with the upwardly mobile in places like London and the US, one can’t help but believe the consensus: It is better to wait until you have made a lot of money before trying to change the world. The idea (excuse?) is that you can then have a greater impact. But is it really true?

I no longer think so. There are a few reasons I have decided to commit at $1700 of my own money to education with this initiative.

1. Giving back is like investing with compound interest.

Less money earlier often beats more money later.

$1,000 invested now may very well have a much greater impact — due to growth and ripple effect — than $10,000 invested in ten years. How many world leaders and innovators could you create or save if you acted now instead of at an undefined “someday”?

Here’s an extreme example of how time changes value: Manhattan was bought for $27 in 1626. Invested at 7.5% then, compounded yearly, that $27 would be worth $22,224,711,000,000 now. Or compounded quarterly: 4.73442004 × 10^13 ($47.3 trillion). To put that in perspective, the entire yearly GDP for the USA these days is around 7 trillion.

Act now and very little can do a hell of a lot.

2. Prevention costs much less than cure and is ultimately more powerful.

For example: to educate a girl for 10 years in the developing world, ultimately producing an economically self-sufficient family and ending the cycle of poverty, costs a total of $2,500 with Room to Read. How much does it cost to provide aid or welfare to an entire family for decades on end, not to mention treating the famine, disease, and violence generated from this collective poverty? Look at Africa and the $50 billion+ that has been given as aid.

Charity doesn’t work — empowerment does. The good news is that the latter depends on acting early and precisely, not lots of money.

3. Giving is an investment in yourself.

Giving shouldn’t be viewed as losing anything.

Regardless of income, could you afford to empower 100s or 1,000s of others with 5-10% of it, especially if it permanently increased your feeling of self-worth and contribution? Of course.

In fact, this self-perception boost is one of the greatest bargains, and performance enhancers, on the planet.

4. Changing the world is cheap.

Changing the world doesn’t require much money. Again, think in terms of empowerment and not charity. How much were Gandhi’s teachers paid? How much did it cost to give Dr. Martin Luther King the books that catalyzed his mind and actions?

Here's the thing...

Just imagine that you and your friends make £25,000 per year. Imagine that you convince just 5 of them to join you in building a children’s school in Nepal dedicated to your parents (or your lifelong friendship). The total cost? 5 people x £1,500 each= £7,500. I know that most people, myself included, will put £1,500 of crap on credit cards in the next few months that could instead create a miracle… a miracle that you can visit.

You and me could plan the trip of a lifetime in 6-18 months to visit the completed school, teeming with dozens or hundreds of students who greet you with smiles and thank you letters. You’ll know it’s your school because your names will be on the door.

Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!

Thanks for helping to change the world through education!

Matt

PS> There are unreal prizes up for grabs like a roundtrip anywhere in the world, recognition from Google, lunch with Jerry Yang (co-founder of Yahoo!), a thank you in the next printing of a #1 NY Times bestseller, artwork from world-famous artists, VIP passes to exclusive parties with CEOs and celebrities, and much, much more.

PPS> www.litliberation.org - the largest literacy project in the history of our planet