Charity begins at home: In my estimation that means creating good government.
At this time of the year I get numerous requests from my generous and truly sensitive clients regarding charities I recommend in Africa. They are often surprised.
There are two reasons I discourage charity, whether to Africa or anywhere.
First, especially in Africa, charity is often a massive con game. There are many excellent not-for-profits doing heart warming work in Africa, but unfortunately there are many, many more that cause more problems than they solve.
Second, charity by its very nature coopts the responsibility that any reasonably moral society should take on its own. So by your act of charity, you are perpetuating the immoralities of your society.
The second reason is a contentious one, I concede. So for those who disagree with me on moral terms, my basic message changes to “stick close to home.” Charity is meaningless if wasted. All it does it make you feel good while possibly doing serious damage.
You must be able to do due diligence before giving, and you must be able to follow up to assess performance. Accountability is much easier the closer to home you get, and of course by “closer to home” I don’t mean simply proximity. You must be familiar with the situation, and you’re much likelier to be familiar with something near to you, geographically, socially and culturally.
Besides, we are rapidly approaching the time when poverty caused disadvantages like illiteracy are greater in parts of America than in the developed world.
I do due diligence in Africa. Good African charities are extremely few in number. They include Catholic Relief, World Vision and Médecins Sans Frontières.
Donations to many other large Africa involved organizations like National Geographic or the World Wildlife Fund are nearly useless. Their projects have become so massive they rely on their endowments to survive, diluting any individual giving to the point of meaninglessness.
Donations to smaller often locally created charities in specific countries, or to smaller church-based foundations, are usually destructive and anti-developmental. They are so mission focused that while they may indeed be helping a small group of people, more often than not they conflict with the greater social and governmental policies of the area.
One of America’s largest youth-based volunteer organizations, DoSomething.org, reports 11 facts about current America that are likely more egregious than in many parts of the developing world.
Consider this. Morning Edition reported today that in clustered communities of 10,000 children in Philadelphia there were only 33 books.
Literacy is difficult to specify, because different parts of the world define it so differently. UNICEF is the best mediator of literacy statistics worldwide, but the problem is that UNICEF does not generate literacy metrics for the United States. But clearly, literacy in that Philadelphia community is not good.
According to UNICEF, Kenya’s literary rate is just above 72%.
Why, then, would you send books to Kenya and not to distressed Philadelphia?
The conundrum of wanting to do good but being unable to do so will only be remedied when we create a society with a government that is trusted and moral.
That should be your greatest goal of the new year, not getting a tax credit.
Jim,
I totally agree with you about charity giving, have been of the same opinion for a very long time. I only give to local charities whose work I know to be effective, teaching people to read for example.
– Phil Lopes
Jim,
Thanks for the info. I supprt Medecina San Fronteres also Greenpeace and Rainforest lliance andGarilla Fune andZero Population Growth and Primate Protection just to mention the ones that af=have a remote African reach. What do you think?
good thinking!
Interested in your comments and have worried about which orbs. are best. What do you think of the Heifer org who supposedly help families learn to keep animals and farm and then pass on a gift to another family.
Need your opinion as our whole family contributes.
Thanks, Jim
Happy New Year, Iris
Iris,
In 2009 I wrote a very critical review of Heifer. Click here to read that. Unfortunately, not much has changed. The organization did restructure, merging the foundation with the project, so it definitely improved, but the history of its malfeasance is a heavy weight to lift for a charitable organization… The real disparity between the actual cost of an animal in Africa and what Heifer gets from you is as great as ever, and the people who replaced the bad administration of Janet Ginn aren’t much better.
Jim,
Agree with your comments in your article.
Several years ago, I began checking all charities that I donate to on Charity Navigator on the internet. It is a not-for-profit service that analyzes over 6000 charities currently, requires every charity that it rates to provide all sorts of information including each charity’s annual tax return. All this information is available from the Charity Navigator website.
Some of the formulae used by Charity Navigator are difficult to understand, but the Navigator promulgates a lot of different figures which I use. For example I look to the amount of revenue raised annually and to see how much money is spent on the mission of the charity vs. how much is spent on fundraising and administration. Surprisingly, a lot of the legacy charities (Heart Association, March of Dimes, many veteran organization, etc.) are not very good as far as I am concerned. They spend in excess of 30% of each dollar donated on administrative costs and fundraising. Thus for every dollar I would give 30-35 cents or more is going for administrative costs and fundraising which is a big time cottage industry.
You mentioned Catholic Relief and Doctors without Borders. They are great charities that exists in parts of the world in great need and most of the money is used to provide relief services to those in need, not for admin/fundraising. They are not politically oriented either.
The charities’ CEO’s salaries is another bone of contention for me. Some of the CEO’s are paid $800,000 or more. Not for me. It is a waste.
– Bill Sullivan
Thanks Jim. As always your expertise and insightful opinions are “spot on” and highly valued in our household. Please continue your superior service to your clients everywhere. Wishing you and yours the very best possible New Year!!