How Do We Treat Today’s Good Samaritans?
I’m writing this article in response to a Youtube video I watched by American
entrepreneur, author, and humanitarian activist Dan Pallota whom has funded
hugely successful charitable causes such as bike rides for AIDS and three-day
breast cancer walks.
In his video, The
way we look at charity is dead wrong Dan
Pallota challenges and highlights the difference in our standards and views
imposed on and towards not-for-profit organisations in comparison to profitable
organisations.
Let’s think
about big companies would they be successful would they prosper if they didn’t
invest any money in advertising in staff, in training and in campaigns? I would
suggest not. So why then are not for profit organisations not granted the same
ideals?? To an extent of course. A charitable organisation cannot possibly invest 100% of its funds
directly into the individuals it supports but rather must use a portion of
these funds to promote their work, advertise the difference they are making in
the lives of the people they support and importantly pay their staff and cover
their rental costs… If an organisation
is not able to do this it is not able to prosper!
Take for example Fighting Chance which is a youth led
not-for-profit organisation
who help support people with disabilities gain employment and social inclusion.
They do this by bringing funding through community participation, but also deal
in supported employment opportunities, and currently have 30 program
participants (who bring funding), 5 paid staff, and numerous volunteers who
help with various events. It was built from the ground up and is now a
self-sustained business. From a professional standpoint, it’s common sense to
consider and understand that we need to sometimes split donation money and put
it towards administrative and/or advertising costs.
This means
donations now go into improving the company which helps them to ensure that all
clients and interns get helped equally and accurately for example – purchasing
a wheelchair accessible van which increases the amount of people FCA can
assist, thereby increasing funding and quality of life. The reason behind all this
can be found on the Fighting Chance Australia website “and ultimately it is
beholden on us all to see these problems and do something about them”.
Arguably
some of the money donated to charities needs to be invested into improving the
awareness and functionality of the charity, which requires paying people to
think innovations and other general managerial tasks. However, as Dan Pallotta
pointed out people have an aversion to the idea that charities should be
investing the money they have donated into the company instead of giving it to
the recipients of the charitable help.
Honestly in
yourself, if given the choice would you support the “100% of donations go to
the kids” style charity or the more “atypical” charity which invests 20% into
the betterment of their organisation
and 10% to their staff, and 70% to the kids? Consider the way in which a
“successful” business operates, if they were to avoid investing in their own
future, would you still consider them successful? Why is it that we set double
standards in our society, with more leniency towards profit organisations as
opposed to not for profit organisations when in fact the latter is made to
contribute more to our societal growth?
Conclusively,
we need to change our societal standards for charities and charitable giving,
while not all charities will be able to become self-sustainable, and there will
always be a need for donations, but let’s broaden our minds and start to grant
not for profit organisations
the freedom and trust to spend their money in a way that see fit, Knowing that
they will be held accountable in the end.
Let’s keep
supporting the charities that support our community. In the immortal words of
Albert Pike:
“What we have done for ourselves
dies alone with us, what we have done for others and the world remains and is
immortal.”
You’re welcome to watch Dan Pallotta’s video and
formulate your own opinion at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfAzi6D5FpM
.
