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I've had very bad experiences with these types of organizations. I once visited an institute for blind people and I had the chance to see them using the compute
by duopixel 15y ago
I've had very bad experiences with these types of organizations. I once visited an institute for blind people and I had the chance to see them using the computer lab. I was moved by the scene: all these eager young people hungry for learning, and yet they didn't have internet. Their Braille library was 20 books.
So I made a huge effort and found someone who could donate a router, took $500 in savings (which, as a student in Mexico, was quite a sum) and asked friend to match my donation. So my donation was in essence two years of internet.
Some time went by and when I followed up, the router was stowed in a closet and my donation had gone to "administrative purposes" because they were having trouble making ends meet.
This is a huge problem in charitable organizations, most of the money doesn't go to the people who need it, it goes towards maintaining the organization and generating more money through bothersome print and phone campaigns.
I've met a couple of people who have worked in these organizations, and they become jaded once they catch the mechanics. There are certainly exceptions: The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and the Turner Foundation function on the funds provided by their founders.
I still believe in charity, but in a more peer-to-peer fashion, not necessarily involving money but mentoring that builds long-standing roads to success.
- rglover 15y agoYeah, I could imagine that a lot of charitable organizations have a rough time operating. Perhaps refining their business model would be a great startup idea? I'd love to see a startup that focused on building charitable organizations. Perhaps a kickstarter for charity? Something where people can offer up a small recurring donation every month. Might actually exist already. If not, though, that would be killer and a great way to help circumvent some of the issues you mention.
- sek 15y agoI had similar experiences, the administration on charity organizations are often less efficient than government institutions. I was at the Red Cross in Germany and at 14 o'clock nobody was at work anymore. They were out because the weather was so nice told me the apprentice browsing on Facebook, there was nobody else there and she couldn't help me with my problem. This makes me angry, there is no competition in this area so nobody controls if their administration is efficient. All this money is gone for the people who really need it.
- divtxt 15y agoThere is competition - they're competing with other charities for funds.
- divtxt 15y agoThe problem is that the evolutionary forces for fundraising non-profits can only result in ineffectiveness. For senior management, success at fundraising and is income security and growth. Actual charity work is a cost center with no ROI, so you cut costs by having less and worse services. related: Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Pournelle#Iron_Law_of_Bureaucracy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Pournelle#Iron_Law_of_Bur...