BNI Foundation Represented at #BNIGC18 – Submitted by David Kauffman BNI Foundation Vice Chair
We had a GREAT convention and I would like to thank all of those who supported the foundation at this historic event!
A number of our supporters flew in early and visited the Friends of Thai Daughters, a charity that the BNI Foundation supports. They were able to visit with many of the girls and help distribute needed supplies to a few of the local villages. We were also honored that 3 of the girls were able to attend our Gala event. Through the generosity of the 1200 attendees we raised over $36,000 USD for the BNI Foundation that we immediately donated to Friends of Thai Daughters to make sure the girls have continued support.
I would also like to thank the following authors for donating a portion of every book sold at our booth. Norm Dominguez, The Magic of Positivity, YP Lai and Paulo Corsi, Networking Quotient. We sold hundreds of copies of each.
The Foundation gave out several awards to countries and directors with outstanding Business Voices teams. The BNI Foundation Award of Excellence was given to team BNI Canada and BNI Japan. While the Ivan Misner Excellence in Giving Award went to Monica Passini and Dario Castagna from team Italy.
Team Italy held a Business Voices awards banquet this year to celebrate their 18 teams and had over 500 members in attendance. Their teams accomplished over 80 projects this year including insulating schools to keep the environment quiet and conducive to learning. They held a number of medical screenings at local schools and taught over 1000 children about dental hygiene.
From the main stage in conjunction with our round tables and breakout sessions we were able to raise global awareness about the BNI Foundation and Business Voices (our boots on the ground program). Members and directors learned how the BNI Foundation belongs to them and how they could get involved and truly make a difference in a child’s life!
We are working hard to grow the foundation and hope to be in at least 6 new countries before the next Global Convention in Warsaw next year. The Business Voices teams around the world keep growing, even in countries that do not yet have foundations. We need to get your stories. If you are apart of a team please send us your stories at bnifoundation.org/monthly-business-voices-form/. If you would like more information on the BNI Foundation or Business Voices Teams, please contact us at bnifoundation.org/contact-us/.
