choosing the best charity | my contributions
Since the beginning of the year of 2005, I'd been thinking about the idea of giving back to the world in some concrete and tangible way. Around the holidays of that year, I finally followed through on the idea and started what I intend to be an annual tradition. Every year I plan to make a contribution to a worthy charity. Doing this is important to me. Its also important for me to clearly understand and articulate the reason why I am doing it, and the method that I am using. With the nearly infinite number of ways to give back to the world, the way that I choose speaks strongly about who I am and what I value.
This whole thing played out as a series of questions that I posed to myself.
I think there's a clear moral imperative for all of us to leave the human race better than how we found it. You can justify it with religion or biology, but its clear that we would not be where we are today if the people who came before us didn't make the effort to lay the foundation that we now build on. Its been easy for me to accept my responsibility to help my friends and family, but giving back in the broader sense is my way of taking responsibility for those outside my immediate world. Even though these are people and places that I may never come into direct contact with, I believe that investing in their success will improve life for all of us, myself included.
I have two things that I can offer, effort and money. My initial feeling was that giving money was the easy way to go. Its true that if I volunteer my time helping people I could make a personal impact in their lives. Making a personal impact is important, and I try to do that in my relationships with the people around me. When I have more life experience under my belt I will seriously consider teaching, or mentorship, as a way to pass that experience along, but I am not ready for that now. Nonetheless, if my purpose is to make the most impact on the world outside my immediate surroundings with the resources that I have available, then giving money is the better choice. What I do for a living is the work that I do best, so the money I earn represents the highest exchange I can make between my effort and tangible value. My money can be in places that I am not, and pay for services that I could never provide. I can do more to cure a disease by giving away a day of my pay than I can by spending that day fumbling around a lab.
Doing some research, I found thousands of worthwhile charitable organizations that are helping people all over the world. Obviously I can't donate to all of them. Its up to me to find the best possible charity to invest in. The criteria I came up with to evaluate organizations reflect my values, and they will favor some good charities and eliminate other charities that others may feel are just as worthy. The best I can do is explain how I make my choice and what it says about me.
My criteria are:
I found quite a few web sites that rate charitable organizations on their financial efficiency, including Charitywatch.org, Give.org, and Charityguide.org. Charities receive high ratings if they openly share audited financial statements and income tax forms, they have efficient fund raising (spending less than $25 to raise $100), and they allocate most of their resources towards their cause (least 75% of money raised goes towards charitable programs, not fundraising and administration). Giving to a charity is like any other investment and so the standards of free market competition apply. To make the most out of my investment I will only put to in the hands of an organization that is the best in its field. I personally inspect each charity's financial information and the ratings they from the various watch groups. I consider only the most efficient organization in the category that I'm looking for.
I accept that charities will specialize by geographic area, limit their services to certain economic classes, or restrict applicants based on merit. But I'll absolutely avoid any organization that limits its services to members of a particular race, nationality, religion, or gender.
I am not a member of a religious group, and I will generally prefer charities that are not affiliated with any religious denomination. I can see how many belief systems offer some genuine wisdom that could help certain people live better lives. But no organized belief system has all of the answers, or is universally beneficial. So, regardless of the faith, I consider any money spent by a charity on funding conversion to a religious faith as an operational expense that takes away from the organization's capacity to provide more tangible and helpful services. Also, when compared to a nonsectarian charity, a faith based organization may lack broader appeal to people who could use their services but are not interested in the faith. Despite these two possible drawbacks, I'm not making a hard and fast rule to exclude faith based charities. I may come across a religious charity that overcomes the potential downsides and is able to provide worthwhile services with more efficiency than its secular counterparts. Such an organization is worth investing in.
Any charity that I invest in should have some component of their program devoted to eradicating the problem that they are focused on. Providing short term relief is obviously important, but without a long term plan there is no promise of a resolution. Feeding the hungry must be balanced with helping people gain the means to feed themselves. Aiding victims of disaster must be balanced with building infrastructure to prevent or cope with disaster. Easing the suffering of the sick must be balanced with finding a cure for the illness. Helping the poor must be balanced with eradicating poverty.
This criteria is the most subjective. At some basic level I need to choose the factors that I feel make the world a better place to live in. I believe that everyone should have access to food and medicine. I feel that everyone should have freedom of thought and expression, even if their beliefs offend me. I'd like everyone to have access to education, and for those with the talent to succeed to have the means to do so. I'd hope that everyone is exposed to the beauty of logic and knowledge through the sciences. I'd like everyone to be able to explore their talents and gain an appreciation for the arts and sport. These are things that have made a positive impact in my life and that I'd like to encourage in others.
Each year I research the options and choose one charitable organization by the criteria specified above. This group that provides an important benefit to the world and leads its field in effectiveness, will receive a sizeable financial contribution.
These are the great organizations that I have chosen:
Big Brothers Big Sisters states that their purpose is "to make a positive difference in the lives of children and youth, primarily through a professionally supported one-to-one relationship with a caring adult, and to assist them in becoming confident, competent, and caring individuals". An independent study has found that after 18 months of mentorship children, between the ages of 6 and 18, are 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class, more confident of their performance in schoolwork, one-third less likely to hit someone, and better at getting along better with their families. The organization is active in communities across America, and Big Brothers Big Sisters International supports Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations in countries around the world. The organization is extremely financially efficient, receiving a top grade (A+) from charitywatch.org, and ensuring that 93% of its funding goes directly towards programs. These programs include providing grants to expand the capacity of neighborhood mentoring programs, as well as providing technical assistance, marketing and public relations consultation, and other support services. In addition to establishing guidelines and conducting research on effectiveness, the organization extends assistance in conjunction with volunteer recruitment and design and introduction of new program areas. It also holds conferences and organizes workshops to augment training of staff and board members of its partner agencies at the local level. The volunteers who work with kids as big brothers and big sisters are making a significant impact on the lives of children which helps to improve society in general. I am happy to do what I can to support the infrastructure that makes this possible.
The IMC has the stated purpose "to improve the quality of life
through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in
areas worldwide where few organizations dare to serve."
IMC works with communities in urban and rural areas, isolated villages, refugee
camps, disaster sites, and frontline hospitals to provide essential health
services. IMC trains local workers and establishes sustainable health and
economic development systems in war torn, impoverished regions of the world.
Both during and after a crisis, IMC supports longer-term recovery through
training and economic development and civil society initiatives that rebuild
local capacity. It is a a nonsectarian organization that works for the
health of people all over the globe, including areas such as Afghanistan,
Georgia, Sierra Leone, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Burundi, Ingushetia,
Somalia, Chad, Iraq, Sudan, DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, Liberia, Uganda,
Ethiopia, Pakistan, and as part of the hurricane Katrina relief effort in United
States. The IMC is an extremely efficient organization, spending more than 93% of their
$77 million dollar income on health programs and services. Their practices
received a top grade (A+) from charitywatch.org. I am happy to do what I can to
help the IMC improve health around the world.