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It’s like, totally trending right now. All the cool companies are doing it. There’s even a cool acronym for it: C.S.R. Cool, right?

The coolest thing about CSR is that more companies are jumping on the environment and social welfare bandwagon; the trend of corporate social responsibility has brought awareness to the whole idea of ‘giving back’, or, just giving anything. Bonus points for taking the focus off the stigma of corporate tyranny.

Speaking of bonus points, if you’re a company with a positive reputation for delivering on CSR, *consumers are significantly more likely to recommend you.

Microsoft, The Walt Disney Company, Google and BMW are all shining examples of corporate conscience, all coming an equal first place globally. But don’t let your lack of an international empire turn you off being a good corporate citizen. Start-ups, small businesses and SMEs are all capable of stretching past the regulated requirements and doing a bit more. In fact, Forbes gives you six good reasons to.

I’m going to put it out there and purport that more companies are taking initiatives to support the social good, they’re just not bragging about it. And rightly so, I say. Wouldn’t it be lovely to live in a world where CSR isn’t a trend, but just standard business practice?

 

-kristie

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Look again. Need, with outstretched hands. Hungry, crumpled, peace-less souls. Our pockets, crammed full. Eyes that look but do not see – cloudy and calloused, driven by relentless calendars.

May we be brave enough to be broken. Interrupted. Eyes open to opportunity. Hearts woken to responsibility.

Complete, unexpected awesome is found at the juncture of the two.

Dismiss reminder. Embrace, rinse and repeat.

old worn out hands in the garden

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When it comes to choosing a career path, Mary chooses to wander around Africa spreading love.

Mary will not give up on you. Even when things are especially hard or over her head, she will learn how to love. Mary spreads the love by believing, creating, dreaming, serving, befriending. She spreads the love through social good, social media, and her nonprofit. Mary spreads the love through tickles, holding babies, volunteering with Arise and Shine, and by providing job opportunities for women. Who is Mary you ask? Mary is a recently engaged, twenty-something who loves people, story telling, and traveling.

We have been following Mary on Instagram for about a year and a half now, and her pictures are breathtaking and revealing. One of the strongest forms of story telling is through her photography.

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Last year Mary provided Christmas presents in Uganda by selling prints and portrait sessions. This is a trend that we’ve also seen recently in wedding portraits. Mary spreads the love by sponsoring and mentoring children, providing school and business loans, and prayer. We Spread The Love even offers an opportunity on their website for twenty-somethings, forty-somethings, fifty-somethings, and people of all ages to use their talents to teach and help others. We Spread The Love is not only an innovative organization but unique in its use of talents (i.e. photography, t-shirts, coffee table books), fundraising (i.e. similar to a kickstarter), and story telling (i.e. Instagram, blogging, and connecting). When you follow Mary’s wanderings, you as the reader feel connected to her adventures and you feel as if you’re right there with her holding babies a world away.

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weight of the world“I tried carrying the weight of the world, but I only have two hands…”

The great needs of the world weigh heavy. Brave souls and stout-hearted men square their shoulders and stare fear in the face in order to make a difference. Today, it’s clean water and a pipeline that will carry life to a remote village. It’s bowls of rice and beans delivered into the hungry hands of grateful children. Girls being rescued from bondage and boys learning a trade. Hope bestowed with black shoes needed to attend school. Mothers receiving medicine and health instruction for babies who will now live another day. Together, we can. We can join hands and be stronger. We can change the life of one.

We can do small things with great love.

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