Together with you we are Premium Partners of B1G1

Global Impact from B1G1 Partners

Our Giving Impact

Excel Financial Advisors exists to help our clients build better futures. But there are only so many people you can meet and so many lives you can positively influence on a one-to-one basis. We want to do more.

In 2014 we were invited to help one of our clients with a project dear to their hearts – they were personally providing money to build a school in a Cambodian village. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to share in this project by providing the funds to furnish two of the classrooms. It was a great feeling to know you were making a positive impact on the lives of so many people who you would probably never meet.

A project like that takes a whole lot of time and effort, and coordination through a local charitable organisation. It was something we couldn’t do ourselves, and we were humbled to be able to be a part of such a & worthwhile project.

But those sort of opportunities don’t come around too often – or so I thought – but I was thinking about it all wrong. You see, it doesn’t have to be a big project to make an impact. Many small giving events, if done regularly enough, can make such a huge difference. But where do you start, and how do you make it a regular part of what you do?

The answer for us came through an introduction to the great work done by an organisation known as Buy1Give1. B1G1 helps businesses achieve a greater social impact by embedding giving in their everyday activities. We knew this was the right solution for us.

We are proud to be a premium partner of the Global Giving Initiative of Buy1Give1. This means that whenever we do business with our clients, something great happens.

We know we can’t change the world by ourselves, but collectively we can all make a big difference. Over 2000 businesses around the world are members of the B1G1 movement. The counter on the right shows the collective positive giving impacts to date.

Our Giving Impacts (We like to call them Smiles)

One of the great things about B1G1 is they stay in regular contact with the various projects, and can provide us with updates on the impact our giving is having. This allows us to feel more connected to the projects we support. Through B1G1 we are able to easily change the projects we support from time to time, to spread the impact of our giving to different parts of the world and to projects with a different focus, whether it be the provision of basic necessities such as food or water, access to education, protecting the environment, or improving the quality of life of a person in need.

Since joining B1G1 in April 2016 we’ve supported a number of worthy projects (there are so many to choose from), but this year we’ve decided to concentrate our efforts on just 6 projects.

We will continue to support a goat breeding program in Kenya, which over time will provide sustainable income and nutrition for many Kenyan families. We will also continue to support the construction of wells in Ethiopia to provide fresh water for rural villagers. After talking to several teachers we have decided to change our focus from providing access to education for a single person, to helping fund school classrooms and other infrastructure which will benefit entire communities in Cambodia and Nepal. We will also be assisting rural farmers in Kenya by supporting access to irrigation for village community crops, and providing grain seed to help feed children in Malawi.

Each time we make a giving impact through B1G1 it creates at least two smiles – the smile from the people who benefit from the assistance, and the smile of joy it brings to us to know the small giving we do helps make the world a better place.

Our Giving Stories

The way we link our business activities to giving activities is through our “Giving Stories”. Linking a giving activity to one of our everyday business activities means the giving becomes second nature – it’s just part of our normal procedures now. We know that every time we complete a task for a client, we’re also doing something which will benefit someone in need and our favourite activity each month is when we tally up the numbers and make the giving through B1G1.

Project: Irrigation

Most people in parts of rural Kenya live in extreme poverty (less than $2 per day). These areas have high levels of unemployment, maternal and child mortality rates, and diseases associated with malnutrition. The best way to overcome these issues is by helping local communities implement projects that build capacity to generate their own income and improve access to basic services long-term.

One of the B1G1 approved projects we’re supporting again this year is managed by World Youth International. By providing funding for irrigation it helps provide food security for rural communities, with the projects supporting fruit and vegetable gardens and maize crops for sustainable income and nutrition.

Community members are required to contribute to the project, which is a hand-up to help grow food for years to come, rather than providing a hand-out of food which is neither sustainable nor empowering.

We have linked four of our business activities to giving events in support of this project, and have a target of making a further 125,000 giving impacts (smiles) via this project in the 2018/2019 financial year.

Word Youth International ABN 52 060 813 541 is registered as a Deductible Gift Recipient with the ATO.
Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.

Project: Grain Seed

Malawi is a small landlocked country in southeast Africa bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. It is one of the least developed countries in the world with corruption, poverty and the high rate of HIV/AIDS continuing to hamper development efforts. Most Malawians rely on subsistence farming, but its single major natural resource – agricultural land – is under severe pressure from rapid population growth. The country is also prone to natural disasters of both extremes – from droughts to floods – putting it in constant need of food aid every year. Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality.

Imagine being a child whose stomach is bloated from malnutrition or only being able to eat one meal of maize porridge on a good day. Many impoverished children suffer from diseases of malnutrition and lack access to nutritious food.

One of the B1G1 approved projects we’re supporting again this year is managed by Every Home Global Concern, an organisation which distributes grain seed, fruit and vegetable seedlings to people in both Malawi and Zambia as part of a food security project. They also provide training in nutrition and conservation farming methods as well as broader health, sanitation and income generation subjects.

We have linked four of our business activities to giving events in support of this project, and have a target of making a further 100,000 giving impacts (smiles) via this project in the 2018/2019 Financial year.

Every Home Global Concern ABN 88 001 276 240 is registered as a Deductible Gift Recipient with the ATO.
Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.

Project: Clean Water

One of the B1G1 approved projects we’re supporting again this year is managed by the Wellwishers Trust, a support organisation which funds the construction of Hand-Dug Water Wells in the northern Ethiopian province of Tigray. The programme also includes training & education in Health & Sanitation matters as well as Family Planning.

Without a well, women spend an average of 3 hours every day collecting about 20 litres (for her whole family) of polluted water from sources often shared with defecating livestock. Children, especially girls, help collect water instead of going to school.

Carrying capacity limits water to 4 litres per family member per day. The World Health Organisation targets 20 litres per person per day minimum. Up to 20% of children under the age of 5 die from water borne diseases.

Wells are constructed using portable equipment and village labour. The clean water provided by these wells eliminates water-borne diseases, significantly reduces the time taken to provide water for the family freeing up time for family care and other income producing activities. It allows girls the time to attend school and helps break the poverty cycle.

We have linked four of our business activities to giving events in support of this project, and have a target of making a further 125,000 giving impacts (smiles) via this project in the 2018/2019 financial year.

WellWishers Trust ABN 20 438 857 300 is registered as a Deductible Gift Recipient with the ATO.
Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.

Project: Bricks

In Cambodia, only 40% of children make it to Grade 9. Of the students who do enroll in lower secondary school (grades 7-9), 22% drop out before graduating. This is not because education is not valued. The main drivers for low enrollment and high dropout rates are the distance to travel to schools, or poverty with the need for children to work to contribute to family income.

One of the B1G1 approved projects we’re supporting again this year is managed by This Life Cambodia. Funds raised will be used to build classrooms, dormitories, ablution blocks and walls for schools in rural communities.

School dormitories provide housing to young teachers who are often undertaking their first placements far from their own communities, and also housing for students who live too far from the school to travel daily. The dormitories have proven effective for retaining teachers, encouraging continued enrolment, and building stronger school communities.

We have linked four of our business activities to giving events in support of this project, and have a target of making a further 15,000 giving impacts (smiles) via this project in the 2018/2019 Financial year.

This Life Cambodia ABN 12 806 513 245 is registered as a Deductible Gift Recipient with the ATO. Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible.

Campaign Results 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019

Our giving campaign for the 2018/2019 financial year is to create 365,000 giving impacts (or smiles) – 1000 for every day of the year.

We’re slightly ahead on a few of our targets, and a little behind in others, but overall we’re on track for the year ahead.

Campaign Results 2017-2018

We are happy to have already been a part of the 2017-2018 Giving Program, and that we can report we beat our target of 365,000 Smiles!
A full breakdown of projects we were giving to and how they ended up is as follows:

Clean Water:

Target – 150,000

Clean Water:

Actual – 170,090

Bricks:

Target – 30,000

Bricks:

Actual – 31,050

Grain Seed:

Target – 35,000

Grain Seed:

Actual – 95,630

Bricks:

Target – 30,000

Bricks:

Actual – 31,050

Goats:

Target – 75

Goats:

Actual – 73

Chickens:

Target – 50

Chickens:

Actual – 20

All up, we were able to give 366,207 Smiles to those who really needed it last year.
Thank YOU for using Excel Financial Advisors for your financial needs to help make this happen!

Learn more here

Business becoming a force for good. Excel Financial Advisors are premium partners with B1G1.
Watch here to learn more about how B1G1 works with us to help bring positive impact to our world.