Reading practice 40
Traditionally, when people think of charitable giving, there are only a few images that spring to mind. They probably envision dropping change into the Salvation Army basket outside retail stores around the holidays, or into a basket passed around at their places of worship, or even into the hands of a homeless person whose pitiable appearance and humble request for anything you can spare1 is hard to deny. But can't we do better?
Religious institutions have typically been the societal force that drives philanthropy. This is most likely because religion is vitally intertwined with morality, and charitable generosity has forever been exalted as one of the highest forms of moral behavior. Typically, churches collect alms for the poor at their church services and organize such hunger relief activities as soup kitchens2.
Ted Stumbacher, head of the Global Empowerment Initiative, believes that truly effective philanthropy will need to have at its roots a more economic mindset. He feels religious organizations often provide only a temporary reprieve from suffering related to food, clothing, or shelter. While a noble end, this type of charity succeeds more in establishing a life-long commitment to philanthropy among the churchgoing public than it does in remedying3 any of the systemic problems that face the world's impoverished masses.
Stumbacher points to several transformations taking place over the past two decades as harbingers of the new paradigm of philanthropic organizations4. Some organizations are devoting increased attention to their marketing images, using meticulous branding and celebrity endorsements to solidify consumer-awareness. Despite the fact that charities are nonprofit entities, they can still approach the task of maximizing their "market share" the way that other big corporations do5. More commonly, nonprofits are finding non-monetary forms of assistance to tap, such as stationing clothing-recycling drop boxes around dense cities. These drop boxes not only allow used clothing to be funneled to those in need but also prevent needless environmental stress by keeping these textiles out of the world's trash.
Similarly, Stumbacher notes the way charities are looking to increase the consumer choice aspect of giving. Rather than using the traditional model of citizens simply dropping money into a basket intended for some generic form of relief to the poor, organizations like Donors Choose are giving philanthropists much more decision-making power in how their money is used. The website for Donors Choose allows donors to sift through a list of charitable projects, enabling them to fund the cause they find most worthy6. This model has proven to motivate giving by providing the giver with concrete imagery of where his money is going.
Other philanthropists, such as Karen Pitts, founder of Taste of Giving, say they are seeking to engage donors by merging their charitable giving with other activities they enjoy7. Ms. Pitts has organized wine tastings that successfully raise tens of thousands of dollars for charities. This is essentially a win-win-win situation. The wineries receive the excellent promotional context of a charitable event, the affluent wine drinkers are delighted to help others while enjoying themselves, and the charities enjoy a healthy slice of the financial proceeds.
Perhaps the most forward-minded approach is that of Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of the Acumen Fund. Endeavoring to extinguish poverty at its roots, the Acumen Fund collects donations in a typical way but then treats its pool of resources as investment capital. Instead of providing immediate relief of suffering, the Acumen Fund provides micro-loans to small businesses throughout third-world countries8. Novogratz believes that this capitalistic approach is a more tenable form of long-term aid.
The old Chinese proverb, "give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime" seems to be at the root of Novogratz's philosophy. By providing poor people with investment capital rather than food or clothing, she hopes to nourish and sustain them economically so that they can provide for themselves. Moreover, the Acumen Fund is a very hands-on enterprise, making regular inspections of the businesses they fund to verify that money is being spent shrewdly, efficiently, and honestly.
Unfortunately, what makes so many of these innovative philanthropic approaches inspiring and effective is their adaptation to the specific needs of their locales9. Naysayers are quick to point out that these progressive business models will not be tenable on a large scale. As these ambitious charities grow with success, they may ultimately become lumbering organizational giants, such as UNICEF and the Rockefeller Foundation, and lose the flexibility, creativity, and personality that made them great.
However, even if these new tactics cannot be used in all contexts, they are still very valuable. By redefining what forms charity can take, these new approaches are widening the base of donors. By employing innovative methods, these philanthropic entrepreneurs are helping larger charitable organizations to reexamine and refine their own approach.10
