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First a quick back story: two years ago, my brother and I were having beers as many brothers do over the holidays (I hope). We were talking about our frustration in the lack of transparency when donating to non-profits. “Where does our money go?” I asked, as I polished off my second Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. “We’ll never know,” Bryce responded. Consumer giving was going down annually by 1% YoY due to this very issue. It was then that we decided we would try to tackle the problem with an experiment. A large experiment, that measured the actual impact of giving efforts, and made giving and volunteering easy and accessible to all, small or big, rich or poor.

WeHero was born. The name comes from the idea that not one individual or entity could greatly influence positive impact. Rather, through the union of many companies and individuals could we influence positive change. Oh, that’s right, and we could measure the impact! Don’t let me forget that point.

Fast forward, WeHero now serves some of the greatest companies across the globe supporting their social efforts with immersive giving and volunteer experiences. The best part, this experiment of Bryce and mine was actually working.

Ben… What about the goats? Don’t worry we’re here and this is why the goats matter!

So now that you’re caught up (since I haven’t published in awhile), I want to talk about goats. Since putting my head down 110% into WeHero, I have found myself obsessing over different areas where I feel WeHero could make an impact. For example, when the flooding in Venice happened a few weeks ago, I was six cups of coffee deep digging through the history, the broken Italian government, the cities that were experiencing similar disasters, and which non-profits could make the greatest impact, so on and so forth. Recently, I’ve found myself doing that with goats and thought it would be a good idea to release my “goat piece” on Giving Tuesday.

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Full disclosure, I love farm animals. I grew up with two veterinarians on a ranch, so I suppose that has some influence on my fondness of goats. Besides my history, goats are incredible animals and struck my curiosity in two really interesting areas: women empowerment, and education. We’ll get there, but first let me tell you why goats are awesome at a high level.

On small farms, goats are often the key to a family’s survival. Benefits include providing milk, cheese and butter for nourishment. Goats don’t just produce a little, they produce a lot of these products. One goat can produce up to four gallons a day. This then turns into sales of the extras to boost the family income. All very cool, but here is one of the most important parts: Goats are ideal for zero grazing, which means very little land is needed to raise them. Goats are cloven footed, encouraging better crop yields by naturally turning the soil, as well as acting as natural clearers of land removing invasive species.

As we look across the globe at India’s poorest rural families, goats are an immensely important source of income. Goats can be sold easily because they are always in demand as a source of food. In that part of the world, goats are called “ATMs” because of their easy / liquid source of cash. I’m not kidding.

Unlike many of the high worth enterprise farms in India (crops or cattle, for example), goats are cared for and managed almost exclusively by women. They bring them out for grazing, take care of them when they’re ill, and sell them at the market. Why does this matter for women’s empowerment in countries like India? The money women earn from their goats doesn’t leave their pockets. It’s theirs. With control of their finances, women not only improve their status within the homes, they create a social effect that allows for a greater ability to make decisions and have authority over their own lives. More and more studies have shown that when women have capital, they will spend it on things that improve the quality of life for their family. That equation ends in more money for buying food to improve nutrition, schooling for children, visiting a doctor, and yes, even building a toilet.

India has more than 135 million goats, or one-sixth of the global goat population. Seventy percent of poor, rural families raise them in the country, with existing massive potential to help boost women’s empowerment. That potential has not been fully realized. Due to a lack of access to veterinary services in India, mortality rates for goats are as high as 40 percent, and ill or low-weight goats fetch lower prices in the marketplace. So now for my interest in education:

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Similar to the side effect of women’s empowerment through goat ownership, I started digging into other beneficial side effects and education has been my favorite to see. In Haiti, we’re seeing strong examples of this.

Along with my earlier theme of women’s empowerment, in Haiti, one extra year of school boosts a girl’s future wages by 10–20 percent. A girl who completes basic education is three times less likely to contract HIV. Last but not least, education drastically reduces child marriage. On average, a girl with 7 years of education will marry 4 years later and have 2.2 fewer children.

What do goats have to with education in this example? Goats keep girls in school for the long run. For example, in partnership with schools and churches, World Concern gives a female goat to a young girl who also receives health training for the goat, so she knows how to take care of it. Once the goat has babies (called kids; funny but totally legit), the first kid is given back to the program so another child can benefit. Then all other kids that the female goat gives birth to can be sold by the girl to pay for school fees and other related costs such as books, materials and uniforms.

This way the girl is given a skill (goat-raising), can impact the 40% goat mortality rate, and she is able to contribute towards her education, reducing dependency and making her an active participant instead of a passive receiver.

I can go on extensively into the additional benefits of goats, but I’ll save you from myself.

So, what’s next and what is WeHero doing? On Giving Tuesday, our goal is to make some noise for this cause (some serious noise). We’ll be sharing this on LinkedIn, and for every 10 shares of the post, we will donate a goat in partnership with the Heifer Foundation. Additionally, we will be adding the Heifer Foundation to our WeHero Browser Extension. For every 10 people that support the Heifer Foundation on the extension (might I add this is totally free and raises substantial support) we will donate another goat. Just by using the extension you’ll be donating your web browsing to make an impact.

So let’s donate some goats! I look forward to seeing how many goats you have us donate this #givingtuesday just by sharing. If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read. I’ll be back soon!

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Resources

The Heifer Foundation — https://www.heifer.org/

Gates Notes — https://www.gatesnotes.com/

WE — https://www.we.org/

World Vision — https://www.worldvision.org/

Food for the Hungry — fh.org

Aga Khan Foundation — https://www.akdn.org/our-agencies/aga-khan-foundation