December 9, 2003
Issue December 2003
Content
- Welcome to Happiness News
- The first of many
- Engagement news
- Fundraising
- Other news
Welcome to Happiness News
By Mickey Beyer-Clausen, Founder
I will conclude this year with a feeling of achievement. After a year and a half, the idea of a knowledge-based volunteer organization has proven successful. Volunteers from all over the world have contributed their time, minds, energy, imagination and kindness to get Happiness Foundation off the ground with a running start. We have made more progress than I ever imagined thanks to the motivation and dedication of like-minded individuals and corporations.
I have often been asked the question; "Why start yet another charitable organization when there are already so many out there?" The answer is simple: Because we are different. Happiness Foundation is not replicating the work of existing organisations - we are supplementing them with business know-how, technology, and consulting services.
However, it has not always been easy. Occasionally, it has been a tough uphill battle. With a lack of human resources and funding, matching Volunteer Consultants with Nonprofits has been a major challenge. But we persisted and fought for our vision. It has been a very inspiring journey and thanks to all our supporters, we got to where we are today.
We have already achieved a lot. Happiness Foundation started as an idea, but slowly we are getting the necessary structure, organisation and resources organised and in place. We are not there yet, but I am convinced that we will find the required resources needed to continue our support of current Nonprofits but also to accept more engagements and involve more volunteers.
I want to emphasise that our organisational goal is to keep the head office small and streamlined while drawing on our Volunteer Consultants and sponsors for support. We want to remain non-bureaucratic and flexible.
Naturally, I would like to conclude by saying thank you to all of our Corporate Sponsors, Guardians, and Volunteer Consultants.
I wish you all happy holidays and a happy new year.
Mickey Beyer-Clausen
Founder
The first of many
You and everybody else, who have expressed an interest in Happiness Foundation, will, from now on, receive a newsletter every quarter or whenever we have breaking news that we think you would want to know about.
As always, we use technology to communicate efficiently, but we rely on personal contact to make those valuable connections that inevitably cause real change. So, if there is anything in this newsletter that piques your interest, please send us an email (info@happiness.org) to discuss and share ideas.
Engagement news
UN World Refugee Day and the Launch of Happiness Tents
On June 20, 2003 - UN's World Refugee Day - we successfully launched the Happiness Tents project at the beautiful Galerie Asbæk in the heart of Copenhagen (Denmark). Politicians, NGOs, representatives from the UN, leaders of the business community, Volunteer Consultants, Corporate Sponsors, celebrities, and the press came to show their support.
Five months ago, Happiness Foundation teamed up with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to develop and implement the project Happiness Tents. The project aims at setting up recreational tents for children in refugee camps. The tents provide the children with social balance, improve their learning abilities and allows them to be children.
Thousands of children will benefit from this project - children who are living in devastating circumstances and have never had access to toys, musical instruments, books and sports activities. In Happiness Tents, the children can play in safety and comfort and, for a moment, forget about their difficult situation.
In the pilot phase, 21 recreational tents will be erected in refugee camps in Ethiopia. The tents will be located in three camps - two in the eastern part of the country (Kebribeyah and Aisha camps) housing Somali refugees and one in the western part (Bonga camp) housing Sudanese refugees. The proposed campsites have been chosen only after the UNHCR visited the local areas and studied the demographics, proximity of refugee camps, and the feasibility of constructing a secure and safe environment for the proposed pilot project. The tents will be located adjacent to pre-primary and primary schools as well as literacy centres.
The pilot project is in its final planning stage and is expected to be implemented in Ethiopia in Q1 2004.
Afghan Women Leaders Connect
About one year ago, Happiness Foundation was asked to support Afghan Women Leaders Connect - a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. Afghan Women Leaders Connect (AWLC) identifies, evaluates and supports talented Afghan women with proven success in delivering health, education, job-skills training, and human rights awareness to Afghan women and children.
AWLC is a program that supports women, girls and children in Afghanistan through building the capacity of local women's Nonprofits. These organisations are led by Afghan women leaders dedicated to rebuilding their country. Happiness Foundation supports two of these Nonprofits with Volunteer Consultants, each of them assisting with a minimum of 10 hours a month. The Volunteer Consultants help with the creation and production of information and educational material, public relations, infrastructure enhancement, management consultancy, website development, e-learning, as well as program and IT development.
RefWID
Sima Wali, Founder and President of RefWID has been advocating for Afghanistan for over 20 years. Sima has developed and delivered management skills and capacity building programs for Afghan leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan and has received awards from Amnesty International for her brave work on behalf of women in her country. RefWID is one of the only organisations in Afghanistan that provides leadership, management and capacity-building programs to Afghan women. RefWID's work fills a gap with a unique solution. RefWID is also an international advocacy organisation for the empowerment of women in Afghanistan and the rebuilding of their country. RefWID delivers training programs to strengthen local non-profit leadership throughout Afghanistan. The organisation develops a culturally appropriate training manual tailored to the complex realities of the society, capitalising on over 20 years of expertise and experience.
AIL
Undeterred by Taliban edicts, AIL began operations in Afghanistan in 1997, first in Herat and later in Kabul and Jallabad (1999) and Logar (2001). By 2001, AIL had served over 3,000 students in these cities through 78 home-based schools, 6 pre-schools, 6 income generation classes, and formal girl's schools. AIL also provided health care and health education to 55,000 women and children in Jalalabad and Kabul between 1999 and 2001.
In January 2002, AIL opened an office in Kabul and started teacher training and human rights training in Afghanistan. AIL also provided fast track education for older girls (ages 11 to 20) to make up for time lost under the Taliban.
We think that AIL and RefWID are Nonprofits worth supporting. We are awed by the work that is being carried out by them, and if we can help them in a small way in reaching their ambitious goals, we will be delighted to do so.
Fundraising
Happiness Foundation always looks for a non-traditional approach - also when it comes to fundraising activities. One cold night in Copenhagen we decided to invite fifteen creative and innovative Volunteer Consultants to a brainstorming meeting on fundraising activities. The atmosphere was indeed constructive and the participants were highly passionate when suggesting ideas. Some of the ideas were too far out, some of them too traditional and some of them just perfect. Below is a description of the first one - the rest of them will follow shortly.
Wearing Happiness
One of the activities we came up with is "Wearing Happiness" - clothes that promotes and financially supports Happiness Foundation. We begin with an easy production - the Happiness t-shirts. The t-shirts is designed by the agency Dyhr.Hagen, produced by Hummel and will soon be sold in selected shops in major cities around the world including in Copenhagen, London, New York, and of course through our online store. The Happiness t-shirt costs DKK 250. 30% of the retail price goes directly to Happiness Foundation activities.
Other news
Planning priorities
On December 9, Happiness Foundation organised an afternoon workshop for its various supporters. The event was the result of the new cooperation between Happiness Foundation and FranklinCovey, the consulting agency behind the bestseller "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". The book, which was part of the workshop package, is the best selling book within the field of management and personal development. Jan Balling Frederiksen, Managing Director of FranklinCovey - Nordic approach, gave some guidelines on how to create an engaging environment and planning priorities instead of prioritising plans. The main purpose of the event was to increase the number of Volunteer Consultants.
In the media
Happiness Foundation has enjoyed some wonderful recognition in the media this year. Looking forward, on December 15, Berlingske Tidendes Nyhedsmagasin will publish a feature story on Happiness Foundation. To emphasise the significant contributions from Volunteer Consultants and Corporate Sponsors, Berlingske Tidendes Nyhedsmagasin wanted to include a slightly different photo with the participation of some of the supporters. The shoot was arranged very early in the morning on a rainy Wednesday at our offices. Thirty Volunteer Consultants and Corporate Sponsors showed up, despite the heavy traffic and the horrible weather. Photographer Søren Hald worked hard to get the optimal shot. Check it out either on December 15 or subsequently in our News Room.
Website visibility
We are always updating our communication platform. Thus, we upgrade and update the website on a continuous basis. We want to enhance functionality, make it more user-friendly and include as much information about the Foundation and its activities as we possibly can. You are welcome to email us with suggestions at: info@happiness.org.
Once again, please remember that Happiness Foundation is nothing without its Corporate Sponsors, Guardians, and Volunteer Consultants. Spread the word, give us feedback, talk to and about us, network and make sure people know what we are doing - the more we are - the more we can do.
Happy holidays and a happy new year,
Happiness Foundation
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