I have always believed that it is not really considered charity if you do not do good out of your own volition. If you are forced into doing something OR if you do good works because you feel that you have to do it, then that is defeating the purpose of charity. However, I am also a pragmatist and realize that if people do good even if they were only urged to do it, then that is better than nothing.
And I think this is what is happening (in some cases) with a UK organization called Do Good For Debt. The idea behind this group is brilliant, really. What they do is provide the opportunity for those with students loans (which are usually immense) to pay back their debt and at the same time, do good work. Inventor Spot has this feature on them:
The non-profit UK based organization was started by Ian Wallace, who found himself so constricted under the weight of his 14,000 GBP student loans that he took a job in a factory while looking for a job in his chosen field; law. With his life decisions completely surrounding making his debt payments and keeping a roof over his head, this innovative entrepreneur decided there had to be a way to look after his best interests, and give back to his community at the same time.
Do Good for Debt was created, with a main goal of working with charities to encourage recent college graduates to give back, while taking a little something for themselves in the process; complete student debt repayment. Perhaps monetary compensation for charity work, defeats the purpose and takes away from the philanthropist mentality, but hey, recent grads have a better chance at making a contribution to society if they don’t have the burden of student loans hanging over their heads.
As I said, this is better than nothing. More so, I am sure that many of the people who participate in the program would willingly help out in other circumstances anyway. Call it providing an opportunity. By the way, Do Good For Debt has a MySpace account – add them!
Categories: Charities, Programs, Volunteering | Tags: Charities, debt
This kind of news makes me mad; steaming mad. There are so many people who are less fortunate than the average person. And there are few enough people who are willing to help them out. Then these unscrupulous people or groups of people try to take advantage of those who have giving hearts. I think that there’s a special place in hell for people like them
Anyhow, the reason for the mini rant is this piece of news I read at The Miami Herald. Apparently, there are those who engage in fraudulent activities, trying to collect money in behalf of military veterans, police, and firefighters. According to the report:
The Florida attorney general on Wednesday joined a national effort to fight fraud committed by groups claiming to collect money on behalf of protection agencies and veterans, but they give misleading information about how much of the money would actually be given to those groups.
”Operation False Charity” includes 76 actions against 32 fundraising companies, 31 individuals and 22 nonprofits — or groups claiming to be nonprofits. The effort is led by the Federal Trade Commission, and attorneys general, secretaries of state and other law enforcers in 48 states and the District of Columbia.
You know what’s worse? Some of these groups are actually REAL charities. The problem is that the money that they collect do not ALL go to the causes that they are supposed to champion. While that is not wrong or uncommon in itself, people are misled and majority of the money goes to administration costs, which includes wages of those who work in the organizations.
For more information, get in touch with the FTC.
Categories: Charities, News, Organizations, Veterans | Tags: Charities, Fraud
With the hard times upon us, no one is spared from the hardships of earning a living and surviving in this world. With that said, you have to wonder if religious organizations and charities need the aid of security protection as well as with their open “door policy”, practically anyone can come in.
The churches have had the benefit of being watched over and it would not be surprising if charities would follow suit. It would not be surprising if evil eyes would monitor charity organizations and their activities since we all know that money comes to them from the free will and voluntary acts of citizens aiming for a good cause. Has humanity lost its mind in targeting the religious and goodwill organizations as well? It really should not be surprising.
For one, there are people who are becoming desperate these days. They need money to survive and feed their families. Bad or good, the only important thing for them right now is providing. If they can get away with it, then it would be good for them. But in case they don’t, well at least they tried. They would live a better life in prison with full meals would they not?
The mentality seems to be deranged. But the fact is that unless something subtle comes up, people are always at the edge of their seats. They continue to hope and pray but apparently most of them are unanswered. So with that in mind, the only thing left right now is to protect the organizations operating for a good cause. Now that is something we never thought would be seen before.
Categories: Analysis, Charities | Tags: Charities, crisis, donations, economy, security
One thing about giving this coming Christmas, a lot of usually generous patrons are bound to save more. The economy is something to fear from recent months and the layoffs and the faltering business tycoons are factors that can strike fear in what the future holds for most of us. So in the end, victims include charities who may have to make do with whoever can spare some of their wealth for this year’s holiday season.
It is not the first time that we have encountered this problem. In fact, we have seen this happen centuries before. While many have been gallant as far as helping out charities, money is certainly the least to be expected as far as help is concerned. Alternative help comes in the form of clothing, food or even company. These are factors that are equally helpful and people just have to stick to the fact that the occurrences that has hit the whole world is something beyond their hands.
As far as charitable efforts in trying to raise funds, it can still help. But don’t expect it to impact in the forecasted revenue it can generate. People are buying less and regardless if it is of superior or heartfelt quality, people are certainly going to pick up things that they really need and pass on what they don’t really have use for.
Charities may brace for the worst. But the good thing is they can expect this to improve as the economic storm can only prove better tomorrows for people of today.
Categories: Activities, Campaigns, Charities, Fundraising | Tags: Charities, finance, Food, money
In some parts of the world, charitable organizations are the ones who take control of some gambling operations. The idea is for these organizations to raise additional income through gambling activities. More so, people who take part in the gambling activities are also given the chance to give to charity.
In Michigan, for example, the scale of operations of charity-sponsored gambling is quite large. Take a look at these figures (courtesy of The Associated Press):
The Michigan Lottery reports it issued 681 Millionaire Party licenses for casino style gambling games in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2004. That grew to 4,043 in fiscal 2008.
The casino-style games earned Michigan charities $3.6 million in fiscal 2004 and $10.5 million in fiscal 2008.
Overall, all forms of charitable gambling in Michigan took in $479.9 million in fiscal 2008, and $75.1 million in profits went to charities.
Not bad, huh? Not everyone is happy with the way things are going though. Authorities are looking at stricter controls. They think that “real” casinos are suffering from such activities by the charities. On the other hand, we have people who have problems with the activities based on moral grounds. They feel that charities should raise money in other ways. This is a bit tricky as not everyone sees gambling in the same light. Some people would say that it shouldn’t matter if the money comes from gambling as long as the profits go to a good cause.
What is your take on this?
Categories: Activities, Charities | Tags: Activities, Charities, gambling
