Pink Shirt Day

[Symbonite]

Here we go again...something that was started by some kids to help out a friend now turns into a corporate business thing. All in the name of tax break insentives....

You think most business care about the day.....just a donation so they can seem that they care as well those tax breaks...

but like I said before....kids will get bullied....for wearing pink..on this day though....bullied for not wearing pink

[Tacklewasher]

Love how a company donating to charity becomes them scamming for tax savings.

[Symbonite]

no by all means...if they can save a buck then they can save a buck. but this was a grass roots thing hijacked by corporations...thats all..

[garypayne71]

Having travelled extensively around the world running events attached to my UK youth charity, I have to applaud the fantastic anti-bullying campaigns that local communities initiate to raise awareness of this destructive part of our society. The dedication required to run some of these campaigns is nothing short of inspiring and whilst I have seen a lot of replication in different locations these campaigns do generally make us sit back and think about how aweful bullying can become.

In the UK last year one such campaign raised a staggering $45,000 in just one community as a direct reaction to a young person who unfortunately took their own life due to the serious nature of bullying. Knowing the organiser of the campaign very well we evaluated the campaign in three ways.

1. To see if reported bullying incidents reduced after the campaign
There was a slight dip in the number of reported incidents for 4 days after the campaign and then unfortunately the figure started to rise again.

2. How the money raised was spent
$45,000 was presented to a local fund distributor who provides grants to not for profit / charitable organisations in the local area. $39,000 was given to local groups who created more awareness campaigns uniquely attached to their own branding and the remainder of the money remarkably was swallowed up in administration fees.

3. How many people involved within the campaign would continue to actively promote the cause
In it's entirity the campaign had 427 supporters. Just 5 days after the campaign had concluded 382 of them stepped away.
The remaining supporters continued for several weeks trying to keep the awareness going and gradually faded away.
Five months after the campaign was successfully run, another horrific bullying case hit the news, the community once again came together and nearly 300 people started on the campaign trail again.

My conclusion and that of my friends who ran this campaign was that humans are driven by the emotion attached to certain events and at these times achieve the most amazing things as a collective unit, but unfortunately far too many people dip back into their normal lives far too quickly unless the tragedy effects them personally.

We concluded that a massive 82% of the money raised was distributed to groups who used the funds to create more awareness, which in the scheme of things seemed perfectly reasonsable until you ask the question who is actually doing the grass root activities to STOP THE BULLYING.

We have all grown so used to creating awareness of this and that, but fail in many cases to find the solutions to the problem. When we do there is limited funding for it. Seems crazy to me.

To finish off where I started, I have travelled to many locations and this cycle of activity is happening everywhere. Bizarre
and yet for the human endeavour to create the intitial awareness wonderful.

[Symbonite]

Pink shirt day again,

Kids being bullied for not wearing pink shirts.....