Welcome JGW 2011

Giving has suddenly become very fashionable. Charity and philantropy arethe new 'buzz' words, and a lot of attention is being paid to individuals and institutions practicing charity. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates embarked on an initiative to get the wealthiest in USA to pledge a part if not all of their wealth to charity and have succeeded in their efforts. Similar attempts are being made in India as well and the corporate world has moved from focussing merely on CSR to actually setting up what can be termed 'institutions of philantropy', the Azim Premji Foundation, being a good example of this.
We do hope that the wealthy give back to society in large numbers and are confident that the world will be benefitted by this but what we would like to see are more conscious initiatives by each one of us to give to those in need of help. Each one of us needs to participate in the act of giving, because the world is made up of individuals and a lasting change can only come about if we reach out to others as human beings and what better way to do this than by holding a hand out to help.

In this introductory post to the Joy of Giving Week 2011, we exhort you to come forward and participate in greater numbers by trying to re-connect with the people who make up the world we live in. Join the great numbers who have made the JGW their personal festival and celebrate the JGW 2011 between the 2nd and the 8th of October. To remind ourselves of what giving is, here is a link to an older post: