That we seek happiness in our own lives goes without saying. That we enjoy helping others find it is one of those delightful little surprises about human nature. People want to help other people. We take deep pleasure in it, particularly when the help we offer makes someone else happy.
The Happiness Idea aims to spread happiness globally by crowdsourcing the tools people need to achieve their happy. We crowd-source; we don’t crowdfund. It is our fundamental belief that nothing should stand in the way of someone discovering happiness: not money or means, not race or religion, not geographic location. Happiness is not a meritocracy. It is a right, and it is The Happiness Idea’s objective to facilitate its availability to all.
From Asia and Africa to the Americas, from Russia and Europe to the South Pacific and India, we’ve spent ten years asking the same question: What is it that makes you truly, deeply happy? In Pyongyang, North Korea we asked. In the Okavango Delta in Botswana, we asked. In Cincinnati and Rome, we asked.
What we found did and didn’t surprise us. What didn’t surprise us was the variety of responses. Some people wanted to follow lifelong dreams; some found happiness in short-term projects. An American construction worker found happiness singing Frank Sinatra classics on a busy street corner in New York City. A young reindeer-herding girl found happiness leaving her Siberian home to pursue her dream to be a circus contortionist in the Mongolian capital. Each person’s happiness is unique indeed, we discovered.
What did surprise us was that no one—not a single person the world over—equated money to true happiness. Not the tuk-tuk driver in India, not the Managing Director at a Wall Street bank. Money is simply a conduit for providing the tools one needs to achieve happiness. It’s a tool in itself, not a means. So what then if money were circumvented? What if, rather than providing cash to people to achieve their dreams, we provided the necessary tools?
The Happiness Idea is a not-for-profit crowdsourcing platform using calls to action on social and broadcast media to provide people around the world the tools and expertise they need to achieve their happiness. Whether one’s happiness is a lifelong dream or a one-off project, we source the necessary components for success. Domiciled in New Zealand, The Happiness Idea operates globally; our storytellers are everywhere happiness wants to be. We have partnered with the United Nations, Wellington Access Radio, Webalite, and POP.
The Happiness Idea warmly welcome partnerships and sponsors. We can only successfully advocate for global happiness when we link arms with others. If you’re interested in partnering with or sponsoring us, we encourage you to get in touch.