1KG MORE Advocates “Casual Philanthropy”

I know, I know, I know. You already have your backpack burping out loose socks and cowboy hats for your great Asian adventure – there is NO WAY you can fit anything more in there and still be able to hoist it on your back. But then you realize you’ve forgot extremely important – in fact, essential – and you always – don’t deny it – you always find a way to jam it there.

Well, today, you’ve forgotten the MOST important travel necessity – your heart. Fortunately, Chinese social entrepreneur, Andrew Xu can show you just how easy to bring it along. “It might help if travelers carry 1kg more of books when they travel to the countryside. They can distribute the books to children there and communicate with them. That’s how the idea of 1KG MORE came into my mind,” Xu explained.

1KG encourages travellers to carry just a little extra weight in books or stationary to students in rural Chinese villages in order to increase the diversity and quality of education that the villagers receive. Xu came up with the initiative in 2004 when he noticed the vast disparity in education between urban and rural China while travelling.

Since then, 1KG has collected detailed data on more than 100 rural schools. They have had over 10,000 participants in the program and volunteer groups have been organized in almost all major cities in China.  Travelers who upload information on a school, can then later become an ambassador to the school for other travellers.

Today, 1KG hasn’t stopped putting on the pounds – er, sorry – kilograms. They have expanded their services to offer charity and social enterprise consultation to over ten different enterprises and are working on three new projects called, “Dream of Water”, “Twin-Books”, and “Living Library” in order to attract more resources and opportunities to rural communities.

How did Xu know it was going to work so well?

“Philanthropy can be simple, happy, and fashionable. When every individual is involved, the world can be changed,” he explained. He cited Wikipedia.org as an example. With more than 3,169,000 terms, Wikipedia has only 12 fulltime employees, but millions of netizens contribute to its development. Its error rate is about 3.82%, while the Encyclopedia Britannica’s error rate is 2.96%. Consequently, one could argue that “individual” becomes “individuals”, that’s to say, when the coordination of individuals are realized, real changes can take place.

Xu says everyone can participate in “casual philanthropy” – doing a little bit instead doing everything – and as long as an organizational platform is in place, we can make this baby run. (Okay, those were my words). But anyway – I love the idea and I love that new, outside information is finding it’s way into China.

So seriously, take out that extra pair of underwear or emergency high heels and shove that bag full of books, buy that ticket to China, and well, you know, change the world.

1KG MORE advocates an innovative concept of travel, that every traveler may help the local rural community by bringing 1 kg more of books and stationary in their luggage. “Travel makes a better world.”

• Organization Type: For-Profit
• Website: http://www.1kg.org/
• Founder(s): Andrew Xu
• Founded: 2004
• Location: China
• See complete company list here