How to help victims of conflict and genocide.

“The world is a dumpster fire and I don’t know how to help!”

This is a pretty prevalent narrative at the moment and a totally reasonable response to the barrage of hideous news and images.

There are already a lot of resources out there with ideas on how you can help the victims of genocides and conflicts around the world, but I would like to add my list to this, with a particular focus on how business owners and founders can help.

Because as I keep saying, if we change the way we do business, we will change the world.

Individual actions:

Keep sharing: Everyone talks about speaking up, and that’s great, please do, it’s important. But if you do, be careful of the sources you share and if you don’t have anything to add, amplify Palestinian voices, experts, and people on the ground. I feel like I have absolutely nothing of value to add to the narrative beyond reiterating what others have said, so I constantly share. I’m not sure that me making videos about it is useful, when sharing far more important people and boosting their reach has far more impact. Feel free to tell me if you think I am wrong - I am sure there are people out there who won’t consider that sufficient just as there are people who are telling me to ‘give it a rest’.

Donate: I know, the cost of living crisis is not going anywhere anytime soon and I am encouraging you to donate as someone who is in a massively privileged financial position. But if you can, it makes a difference. My donations are currently to Carla Scotto’s mutual aid fund (supporting families in Gaza, the DRC, Sudan, and Indigenous communities in Australia), Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, and a few others as they come up. You can also support people directly through places like Patreon and Substack. I encourage you to do your own research though, I am far from the authority.

has an excellent mutual aid fund running and has created shitloads of resources to help. There are some orgs operating that seem to have some dodgy stuff going on so do make sure you take care where your hard-earned cash is going. And remember - even $5 a month makes a difference.

Divest: If you invest (and if you have a Kiwisaver, that’s you), check where your money is going and what it’s supporting. Go to Responsible Returns or Mindful Money and learn more about your bank and any other providers. It’s easy to understand and easy to switch.

Boycott: They work. Data shows they work. BDS Aotearoa do an excellent job identifying targets and applying pressure on just a few at a time for maximum impact. Lots of people keep asking me if we’ll (Incrediballs) have a partnership with SodaStream. Here’s your answer.

On the flipside, buycott: Yeah, I hadn’t heard the turn of phrase either, but it just means support the other side of a boycott I suppose. Support Palestinian businesses, artisans, producers. Buypalestinian.com.

Support and follow organisations like the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa.

As a Business

Audit your supply chain. Every component, material, every piece of packaging. If you’re sourcing from firms enabling the occupation, or who use labour without fair wages and labour safeguards (and the proof of such), find new ones. I cannot overstate the impact it would have if businesses cleaned up their supply chain for everyone around the world - but dramatically so for those in conflict zones.

Embed human rights clauses in your contracts. Make them non-negotiable. Include third-party audits, public reporting, and consequences for breaches. Then actually publish them. That’s transparency and it’s also a great way to encourage other businesses to do something similar.

Commit 1% for Palestine. Or 5%. Or 10%. Pick a vetted fund, or a mutual aid fund (like ones mentioned above) and build a recurring donation model into your business model. I was always told to ‘wait till Ethique is bigger’ before donating, and I never listened - we donated 2% of sales or 20% of profit from day one. Incrediballs is doing that already too and we haven’t even launched yet. It can be small, but it makes a difference - and you might find it’s exactly what your customers want you to do too.

Add donation plug-ins at checkout. If you’re e-commerce, there are plenty of donation app plugins. A few cents per sale adds up fast. Let customers choose to round up and show them exactly where the money goes. It’s surprising how many people do it at checkout.

Hire Palestinian talent. This is a biggie and overlooked as a way to help - but as the saying goes, a hand up is better than a hand out. The possibility of this will be dependent on the timing and what is going on - as there is mass starvation being created in Gaza at the moment, this may not be the best way to help there, but there are plenty of remote workers in the West Bank, as well as other conflict zones around the world. Open up junior roles, internships, freelance work, and pay fairly. Cover gear, Wi-Fi, or workspace if needed.

Share your platforms. Boost Palestinian creators, businesses, educators, and NGOs. Let them use your newsletter, podcast, or social accounts. Give them stage time at your events.

Donate infrastructure. Got extra software seats, room in your cloud storage, or other digital tools? Offer them to grassroots organisations. What seems super affordable for you may be an absolute godsend for them.

If you’re an investor, act like it. Use your shareholder rights. Demand human rights due diligence from your portfolio companies. And if they don’t change, divest. Money talks after all.

Boycott the right companies. And support the right ones - this is in both individual and business lists for a reason. Stop stocking or co-branding with BDS-listed companies. Don’t work with PR agencies trying to build (or rebuild) reputations for companies that don’t align with your values.

And above all: don’t stay quiet. This flies in the face of much business advice, I know. But mission-driven or ethical businesses must stand for something and stand against others - this is what makes you and your business create change. And this is what your customers want. Yes, you may alienate certain groups. But if you don’t agree with their values and they weren’t going to buy from you anyway, both morally and financially, do you care?

Silence from business leaders is not neutral - the power business leaders have is enormous (I don’t mean necessarily just your voice, but also your decisions) and quiet is complicity with the status quo. You don’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to be loud or combative (if that works for you, great, but it is not the only way). But you do have to act.

This list is pretty comprehensive, but it’s not all there is. If you have something to add, please let me know. I have talked extensively about why social enterprises, ethical businesses and in fact start-ups and small businesses should have values and talk about them - it is not just the right thing to do for people and planet, it’s also the right thing to do for your business.