How We Spend Our Commission
Real estate is our bread and butter; it’s how we put food on the table for our families. We offer top-notch customer service and real estate expertise and we are compensated for it. Is our goal to make money? Yes. Not only do we love real estate and helping our clients, but we also love helping others. We believe that the world is larger than Santa Barbara, larger than California, and larger than the United States. We acknowledge that even the poorest people in America would be considered rich compared to much of the world. We know that 2/3 of the world is illiterate and live in true poverty. Of the 6 billion people in the world, 4 billion live on less than $2 per day with ¼ of them living on less than $1 a day. That poverty is a direct result of 33,000 children a day dying of starvation and malnutrition.
This is all to say that there are some extreme needs in the world. The ZiaGroup is here to serve you, so that we can be empowered to provide for and serve the world’s destitute. While we can only make a dent, every client we help empowers us to help more people in need.
Steps We Are Taking
Child Sponsorship: The ZiaGroup has committed to sponsoring impoverished children through well-known programs like World Vision, Compassion International, and smaller organizations such as Africa Renewal Ministries. This will supply the child with food, clothing, education, school supplies, access to healthcare—A chance at life. We will be providing financial sponsorship, as well as investing our time into the child’s life through letters of support, encouragement and love. We acknowledge this is a small step, a small ripple in the ocean of need, but it is a step.
World Poverty Education: Part of our commission is also applied to educating our team and others on World Poverty and what can be done to help. This includes funding classes, developing a web resource to learn about world poverty and economic development, and funding teams to complete service projects in these less developed countries (LDC’s).
Financial Support of World Aid Organizations: The ZiaGroup and its independent members are committed to financially supporting several worldwide organizations that supply aid to the world’s impoverished. These organizations include the aforementioned organizations and the following: IJM (International Justice Mission), The Violence of Light (education on America's and the World’s sex trade), Samaritan’s purse, Compassion International, Hope International, Opportunity International, World Vision, and local churches.
Economic Development--Micro-enterprise and Micro-finance: The ZiaGroup plans to finance and send out teams of qualified businesspersons, healthcare professionals, teachers, and social workers to assist in economic development in the Third World. A holistic approach will be taken through micro-enterprise, micro-finance, establishing medical centers and schools in an attempt to make a lasting impact and empower the local people to provide sustainable income for their families and climb the development ladder.
Prudential CARES Campaign: The Prudential CARES campaign was started 6 years ago as a way to make an impact on the needs of our local community. We have given over $15,000 per year to local charities and non-profit organizations and organize/participate in many local events. Click here to learn more.
How Can You Be Involved? VOTE ON HOW WE SPEND OUR COMMISSION
We have committed to transferring 20% of our gross commission income to a fund that will be dispearsed quarterly to non-profit and humanitarian organizations. 50% of this fund will be dispearsed to causes we are passionate about, the other 50% will be applied to causes or organizations voted on by you. The voting is open to anyone that visits our site, not just our present and past clients. One vote, per person, per day, will be counted. So visit the site often, and vote each time you do!
How the fund works...
Any of our site's visitors can vote for a cause, or submit a cause/organization for voting. Click here to submit an organization. In this way, we hope that we will create a community informed on local and world issues, and passionate about innovating and contributing to solutions to those issues. Every quarter, the top five organizations with the most votes will be focused on. Money from our fund will be dispearsed in proportion to the % of votes.that organization/cause received.
The software to accept, sort, and track voting is still being developed. Until then, please submit votes manually by contacting us here.
Organizations that have been submitted for voting
Click here to submit an organization.
Organizations are separated by their area of affect. Click on the name of the organization to view their website and learn about their cause. A brief description has been provided on each organization.
Local: Santa Barbara County
- Computers for kids Santa Barbara
- Santa Barbara non-profit organization that has committed to ensuring every 4th grader has access to a computer in their household.
- Carpinteria Reality Church
- Local Church with branches in Isla Vista and L.A. Also involved with Calvary Chapel's Reality college ministry on Friday Nights.
Statewide: California
Nation Wide: United States
- The Violence of Light
- Santa Barbara based non-profit pursuing truth and shining light on the darkness of the Sex Trafficking industry. While there is much known about international scandals of sex trafficking, very little is exposed about sex slave/trafficking industry in the United States which is surprisingly prevalent. They are currently working on a documentary on this issue.
International: World Wide
- World Vision
- Well known international organization committed to providing aid to the world's impoverished children through direct relief, development, child sponsorship, etc.
- Compassion International
- Christian based organization committed to empowering and providing for the world's impoverished children.
- Hope International
- Smaller, but effective organization which uses Micro Finance Development strategies to make a dent in world poverty. Their focus is on empowering individuals around the world by setting up financial institutions in some of the most dangerous countries in political turmoil. These institutions extend micro-loans allowing members of the community to start small businesses, providing job opportunities and financial support for their families.
- Opportunity International
- Large international organization using Micro Finance Development and Micro Enterprise Development strategies. They are very effective in their mission and have a local branch in Santa Barbara.
- African Renewal Ministries
- Christian based organization in Uganda that takes a holistic approach to ending world poverty and empowering the world's impoverished. They build schools, dig wells, start micro businesses, and raise up churches, effectively transforming whole communities.
- Samaritan's Purse
- Large organization headed up by Franklin Graham. They are known for world-aid applied effectively domestically and around the world during natural disasters and for operation Christmas child.
- Interational Justice Mission
- An organization of business and legal professionals based in D.C that fight the Sex-Trafficking, and humanitarian right violations around the world.
- Direct Relief International
- Based in Santa Barbara, DRI is one of the largest world aid organizations applying funds to medical relief.
