Do Good Charities

Do Good Planet Trust ^™

Strategic Guiding Principles

INTRODUCING DGP PHILANTHROPY

Power to the people! This is the DGPTrust’s mantra. We believe the 21^st Century needs a new model for philanthropy: one that puts people first. We think that the will of the contributor is the single most important force in the allocation of charitable funds. We exist to provide individuals with the best and most extensive choice of good causes all around the world and to distribute funds according to their will.  We do this by unleashing the power of technology to create entrepreneurial, creative and innovative models of giving which transform the relationship between giver and recipient. And we do it in the spirit of DGP: “Doing good changes everything”

We call this DGP philanthropy. Welcome to our new fund-raising world.

MISSION

To develop and support models of philanthropy which recognise that the will of the contributor is the single most important force – models of giving which put the people first.

PRIMARY PURPOSE

To distribute the funds generated by the DGP community on the DGP world site to good causes all over the world, in direct accordance with their will.

VALUES

• ♥ Optimism
• ♥ Entrepreneurialism
• ♥ Creativity
• ♥ Innovation
• ♥ Transparency

WHAT WE DO

Distributing funds

• ♥ We distribute the charitable funds generated on DGP in accordance with the will of the DGP community 
• ♥ See DISTRIBUTION RULES below.

Enabling choice

• ♥ We develop new ways of helping givers identify good causes all around the world
• ♥ See A NEW SYSTEM OF CHOICE below.
  

 Conducting research

• ♥ We commission and conduct research on philanthropy

Developing new fund-raising vehicles

• ♥ We develop new vehicles which enable individuals to generate and distribute funds in accordance with their will

OUR PHILOSOPHY

The fundamental tenet of our philosophy is a belief that people should decide exactly where the money they give to philanthropic causes goes. It’s best for them – as it makes the process of giving more engaging and fulfilling. And it’s best for the world – as it’s the most effective and responsible way of allocating philanthropic resources.

We therefore aim to give people the best and most extensive set of information about the good causes that they could support and what would be done with their money. This means they will be able to make the most informed choice about where they would like their money to go. This produces a wealth of information about the true will of the contributors, which in turn enables us to choose where the monies go – in the most equitable way possible. The virtuous circle is furthered by providing extensive feedback to contributors about what has been done with the money they have donated. Which enables them to make better choices. Which enables us to make better choices. And so it goes on, and on…

Information and choice are at the heart of the DGP Trust’s approach. They’re what DGP philanthropy is all about.

This means developing innovative ways of delivering and presenting information on philanthropic organisations and causes. It means making sure that people have the opportunity to voice their opinions. It means ensuring that the money is distributed exactly in accordance with their will. And it means providing new feedback vehicles to ensure that everyone knows what has been done with the money.

All of which is made possible by the massive changes that have taken place in modern communications over the last decade - changes that have created new networks of communities and revolutionised existing ones across the globe, enabling a dynamism, an activism and a volume of contact previously unimaginable. We aim to harness the power of technology to transform the relationship between giver and recipient and create a newly transparent and accountable fundraising world.

DISTRIBUTION RULES

Background

Every purchase on DGP generates money for good causes. The DGP Trust receives and distributes all the charitable monies generated. Any money which has been generated by a DGP customer for a specific charity will flow from DGP to The DGP Trust to the charity in question. The remaining money – which will flow from all the non-attributed donations where customers have not nominated to a specific charity – will be distributed according to the rules laid out below.

Distributing the non-attributed funds

During the initial launch period the money will be divided into three equal parts and used in the following three ways. Of course, as DGP evolves over time so may these rules.

  I.      DGP Charity Distribution

A third of the non-attributed money generated by DGP will be distributed to the charities which DGP have chosen. Initially DGP will support The WaterLife Foundation

  II.      Equal distribution

A third of the non-attributed money generated by DGP will be divided equally between every charity that is accredited on the DGP site. This will ensure that all our charities will receive some financial benefit as a result of engaging with DGP. It’s a regular DGP bonus.  

III.      Promoting DGP philanthropy

A third of the non-attributed money generated by DGP will be used to fund innovative ways of promoting DGP philanthropy. For example, the money can be used to develop an annual awards ceremony which celebrates the charity, DGP product/service, which has emerged as the real ‘people’s choice’’ – as voted for by the DGP community. This will act as a powerful counterforce to the prevailing ethos of such charity and Do Good ceremonies and should therefore garner considerable attention.

Other ways of taking on the philanthropic status quo and advancing the causes of the masses will also be developed. We will throw this open to the DGP community at some stage, and ask for their ideas for projects which they think the DGP Trust should fund to promote its core ideals. The DGP community will also vote on which should ‘win’ and the DGP Trust will make it happen for them and report back.

A note on pay-out

It is not economically sensible for DGP to pay out large numbers of small amounts to numerous different charities. We must therefore establish a threshold for automatic notification of account accumulation and possible payment. Any charity which wishes to cash out its funds before this sum has been accrued can of course do so, but they must pay the associated transfer costs.  At the time of first donation the Charity will be notified and accredited. The information will be stating that an account has been opened to their benefit. If no contact information is found or Charity opts out or does not confirm receipt, the contribution will immediately and automatically be redistributed to the non-attributed funds program listed above.

A NEW SYSTEM OF CHOICE

Enhancing choice is at the heart of the DGP Trust and DGP philanthropy. We are therefore developing innovative systems of choice which will provide a new way of matching individuals with the causes they really care about. We think individuals should be able to search for charities in lots of different ways that make them think about the process and what they really care about. Yes they can search for philanthropic organisations and select from the most extensive list of organisations anywhere. But we also want them to be able to search by cause and special interest, whether they know of an organisation that is working to address it or not. We want an individual who cares about orang-utans in Sumatra to be able to select this cause and know the money is going to it exactly. We want an individual who cares about a specific geographical region or country or people to be able to select it and know the money is going to it exactly.

This is about ring-fencing money for specifics and making sure it goes directly to them. It’s about pinpointing the donor’s desire with great precision in creative ways and ensuring that anything they give goes straight to it. We’re very excited by the possibilities that exist for innovation in this area. It’s something we’re all set to roll our sleeves up on and get right into…

Our commitment to choice is also reflected in the accreditation system we developed for DGP. We want as many charities as possible to be on the DGP site, benefiting from all the fund-raising possibilities it provides, sharing information and supporting the DGP communities that care about them.

So DGP is open to every charity, in every country, everywhere around the world that fits DGP's accreditation criteria. These criteria are based on DGP's definition of a charity, which in turn is based on the definition of a non-profit organisation devised by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) , and the examples of charitable purposes found in the English Charities Bill. It is defined to be as inclusive as possible, whilst remaining robust.

The purpose of the organisation must fit into one of the following categories:

• ♥ the prevention or relief of poverty
• ♥ the advancement of education
• ♥ the advancement of health or the saving of lives
• ♥ the advancement of citizenship or community development
• ♥ the advancement of the arts, cultures, heritage or science
• ♥ the advancement of amateur sport; the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
• ♥ the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
• ♥ the advancement of animal welfare.

If a charity purpose is of benefit to the community but does not fall into one of the above categories it will be given the opportunity to prove this, though there will be a list of purposes which will not be approved by DGP

We also feel that given DGP's intrinsically grass-roots, DGP nature it is not fitting to limit the benefits of the charity team to registered charities. There are many valuable local causes - e.g. raising money for an under-11s football team - that are not registered charities, nor would it always be appropriate for such causes to become registered charities, as this is a time consuming process. We have therefore developed a special accreditation system to enable groups of people in a local area to use DGP to raise money for a socially beneficial cause without having to register this cause as a charity. The accreditation process ensures that they are indeed socially beneficial and are not for personal gain.

ORGANISATION

Location
WaterLife, in Wantage NJ is the operational centre for all DGP Trust, USA contributions and Nassau, Bahamas is the operational centre for all International sales and contributions of DGP and The DGP Trust .

WaterLife is non Profit Charitable and tax exempt company, DGP Trust is a for profit company explicitly formed to implement above “strategic guiding principles” with DGP and DGP is a for profit company.

Overheads
DGP Trust will never charge more than 20% overhead costs

Trustees
Chair: Hans Amell
Vice Chair: Robert Vollers

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.