DailyDirt: Changing The Way We Think About Charity
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
When we donate to charities, it's never clear exactly where the money goes and whether our donations actually benefit the people they're supposed to help. Many donors are often shocked and outraged when they learn that some executives at nonprofit charities are being paid salaries exceeding $1 million. But activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta thinks this anger is misplaced and could damage charity fundraising, pointing out that people blame capitalism for creating inequities in our society, but then they refuse to let nonprofits use the tools of capitalism to fix the problem. Here are a few more things to think about when it comes to charities.- In a recent TED talk, Pallotta suggested that charities should be rewarded for what they actually accomplish even if it costs a lot. People may not like the idea that their money is being used to pay for a charity's CEO salary or for advertising and marketing, but they should think about it this way -- investing in a capable leader and effective marketing efforts will significantly increase the amount of money raised that can then be used to help those in need. [url]
- It's really hard to turn money into help. That's what Tim Myers, founder of the Haiti School Project, realized after having spent more than $100,000 to build a school in Villard, Haiti. [url]
- Somaliland's success could be partly due to its lack of foreign assistance. Somaliland has been operating successfully as an independent country since it seceded from Somalia in 1991. Since Somaliland isn't recognized as a country by the rest of the world, it hasn't been able to receive foreign aid. As a result, it has been surviving by raising local tax revenues, which its citizens have been using as leverage to make the government more accountable.[url]
- Experts at The Center for Global Development suggest that there may be an "aid-institutions paradox" in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. They concluded that foreign aid could undermine a developing country's long-term institutional development and that donors should consider giving money to other more beneficial development activities, such as eradicating endemic diseases, peacekeeping, regional or global public goods, and debt relief.[url]
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Filed Under: capitalism, charity, dan pallotta, debt relief, donations, economics, foreign aid, fundraising, marketing, nonprofits, tedtalk
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CEOs
If CEO salaries were proportional to their actual worth compared to all the other employees put together, this wouldn't be much of an issue. In reality, top CEOs' salaries are way out of proportion to their relative contributions. Workers could manage themselves and still accomplish great things, but a CEO without workers isn't worth a damn.
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Re: CEOs
Name one worker-run company where this is true.
Hey, if you don't like a CEO's salary, don't do business with that company.
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Scrooge saves the world
If the second goal dominates, then the less said about what really goes the better. The charity serves its purpose whether or not it does any good for the poor, or even whether or not the poor people in question really exist. Competition between charities will destroy those that waste their money on actually helping people (although "help" that cripples a society can be useful to the charity in the long run).
To pursue the first goal, donors must demand results-- real results, not just children's letters in crayon. And for getting results, nothing beats...
You know, this time I think I'll let somebody else take the heat for suggesting that capitalism is good for the poor.
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Re: Scrooge saves the world
Communism - Chinese style...
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Re: Scrooge saves the world
The John Lewis Partnership.
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The main problem with a charity executive earning a $1 million salary is the vast number of people donating to that charity cold only dream of earning a similar salary. They are donating a portion of their relatively meagre income to a cause that they believe needs financial support, why is this executive in charge if they don't care about the cause enough to take a much more modest salary and help the cause themselves.
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Re:
http://www.jonlajoie.com/kickstarter
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Effective non-charity
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Dan Pallotta, Scam Artist
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Fundraising
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