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The most common question I get when I talk about Digital Hope is “why? why are you doing this?“
At first the question threw me off. Digital Hope has been brewing in my head for so long that it’s perfectly logical. Flawless. Rational. But the more I have talked to family, friends, colleagues and strangers, the more I understand the question and the confusion so many people have when I tell them about my life-altering project.
Call me an idealist. I have always been under the mental assumption that we should help others in need. By default. No precursor. No agenda. No personal gain. I am not sure if it’s something I should thank my parents for or if I met an abundance of selfless people early in life, but this is a theme that is deeply ingrained in me. It helps that I also get more satisfaction out of helping people than doing virtually anything else in life.
But this still doesn’t really explain it. There are a lot of selfless people. Lots of folks who love to help others and donate tons of personal time and money in to doing so. So why take it to this level? Why invest this amount of money / time / effort, as well as sacrifice a lot of great things in my life.. all in the name of helping people that I’ve never met? The best way to explain it is this: Best Case Scenario.
Best Case Scenario
I am not religious nor do I follow any beliefs akin to karma or fate. However, that doesn’t stop me from grappling with this concept: what is the best case scenario that can come out of my daily life? If I do everything right.. if I succeed at what I set out to do every day.. what is the absolute best case scenario?
Currently, and for the last number of years, the best case scenario of my day-to-day work life has been to make a comfortable living for myself, and make my clients successful, and ultimately, wealthy.. followed by the secondary advantages that come along with being a business owner: employing people, being your own boss, etc. Then the ancillary—I am happy, healthy, travel the world and have a lot of fun with a wonderful group of friends. I am very lucky. Nothing wrong with that. After all, it is the American Dream (not being sarcastic). We are fortunate to have the freedom to focus on a path of personal prosperity and success.
However, consistent with so many other themes of my life that have traits one is “supposed” to follow, this has never sat particularly well for me. I consider myself good at what I do. I consider myself more apt than the average bear. I run a company with a ton of brain power. Highly educated and experienced thinkers who solve extremely high-level challenges all day long. With the value that I can bring to the table personally, to the exponent of the powerful network of thinkers I surround myself with.. I’ve always believed there should be a better outcome than personal prosperity / accumulation.
I try to offset this in other ways. I volunteer on a weekly basis with wonderful groups like Chicago Cares, Imerman Angels and others. It is incredibly rewarding and keeps me going. But from a ratio perspective, the work I was doing to help people paled to the work I was doing for personal reasons.
I posed this question to my best friend when I was first thinking about Digital Hope: “can you imagine the best case scenario of a day’s work being that you saved a child’s life, or put a roof over a family’s head?”. Even as I was saying it, I knew I had to have that. I must know what it feels like to have an outcome other than the traditional definition of success.
“I say never be complete.”
My biggest wake up call was doing a volunteer project on the south-side of Chicago a few years ago. I heard they were short-funded on a few of their projects to rebuild / beautify elementary schools on the south side of Chicago. This would allow hundreds of children from low income families the chance at a strong educational foundation. They had hundreds of volunteers mobilized—just not the money.
This was sad to hear. What is more valuable than a child’s education? Can you really put a price on it?
There was a price—one I was shocked to hear: $2000-3000 per school. A few thousand dollars to give hundreds of kids the ability to learn. I was told this while sitting in my high-rise apartment, watching my 52″ flat screen television, sitting on my designer couch. I am not rich, but I also have no delusion that I have been more fortunate than many, and my perception of a few thousand dollars is skewed—but that doesn’t change the fact that like many, I was focused internally.
Digital Hope
In 2009, I set out to re-think a goal I had put out for myself a long time before—find a way to combine my knowledge of the social web and my desire to help people in need. The web’s power is almost incomprehensible and is being redefined on a daily basis. How can that power go towards helping people? Kiva and the lot have paved the way. I want my shot.
The last two years have been a whirlwind, between building AKTA and my dozens of other projects, but Digital Hope was always at the very top of that list. Through a wonderful series of events, it has taken on a life of it’s own in 2011. In early 2012, we will be start performing volunteer projects around the world, helping tens of thousands of people in need, and connecting hundreds of thousands of people to these remarkable and important efforts using the power of the social web.
I will be on the ground floor, putting my hands, heart and keyboard to work to make this crazy idea happen—and I couldn’t be more excited. Will there be some challenges working at AKTA from the road? Sure. But with our beyond-wonderful team at our Chicago HQ, combined with all of the prep we are doing to build a infrastructure to support this kind of working environment, I am confident we will not only function, but thrive.
Want to help? Contact us.
I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.