Huzzah! Another great reason to hit up happy hour after work, that is if you happen to live in one of the communities with a [lightbox type="iframe" title="Title" href="http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/beer-a-new-giving-frontier-as-cities-sprout-charity-pubs/61327"]"charity pub" [/lightbox] in it. The idea behind this trend is to create an environment where people can enjoy themselves, that also helps by giving profits back to the community. In the words of [lightbox type="iframe" title="Title" href="http://www.friedokra.org/charity-bar.html"]one such pub[/lightbox], "the bar gives [us] an outlet to support the community that supports us every day" and they do their best to live up to this. The bar keeps none of the profits that it makes off each drink, instead donating it back to local charities.
Philanthropy never tasted this refreshing
What makes this a great model is how it is able to help keep funds within a local community, while still providing a small return to patrons. Keeping the donations local gives patrons a better understanding of the goals of and fosters trust in the pub. [lightbox type="iframe" title="Title" href="http://www.friedokra.org/charity-bar.html"]One Bar[/lightbox] lets the patrons vote on which organization gets the money, with one drink being equal to [lightbox title="Title" href="http://imgur.com/1LkX64R"]one vote[/lightbox]. This model hopes to be able to especially engage young adults (21+ of course), who generally do not have much extra income to donate to charities, but will usually chip in under the right circumstances.
"Between homework and charity I think we chose right"
This is a great concept, and it could lead the way towards creating better community models that revolve around helping each other. The leaders of this movement have already made a promise to help keep the values of their patrons, and I think its time that more communities follow suite.
What do you think of this model? Would you choose a bar for this reason? Let us know in the comments below and check out the original article at the New York Times here.