10 myths about charity

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

About why personal participation in many cases is more valuable than money, whether fund employees need a salary, and why the “help in silence” approach is ineffective.

1. It is better to help those in need directly than through a fund

Targeted assistance attracts by the fact that you can choose exactly whom you want to help, and immediately see the result: where the money was sent and what came of it. This is how the majority of the Russian population thinks, which has decided to help.

With targeted assistance in our country, everything is pretty good. And this is undoubtedly good: people do not abandon each other in trouble. But on the other hand, targeted assistance deprives the charity sector of the opportunity for systemic changes.

That is, 200 rubles, sent by you (and a thousand more like you) for the treatment of the child, will allow you to pay for an expensive procedure in a foreign hospital. But the same money received by the fund for the implementation of the program will help bring the technology of treatment to Russia and help not one child, but a thousand. These are all, of course, conventional numbers, but the mechanism itself works like this.

2. Any help is good

When charity representatives say that any help is needed, they mean that you shouldn't give up on the idea of helping if you can't donate a million dollars right away or build a shelter for homeless animals. It is very important that everyone helps to the best of their ability.

Another thing is that these forces need to be directed in the right direction. Bringing a bag of toys to an orphanage has been a very irrelevant help, if not sabotage, for many years.

Some attempts to "do good" - whether with money, toys, or volunteering - often lead to dire situations.

It is much better to ask the foundations what help is really needed. Communication with old people and children, personal example, help with logistics, regular donations for statutory activities - most often the foundation has a thousand and one urgent tasks and several long-term systemic projects. It is quite easy to find a use for yourself and bring real benefits, you just need to ask.

3. Charitable foundations should only use donations for wards

Charitable foundations also have statutory activities that require funds. The statutory activities of the fund include the entire administrative part, without which the fund will simply close: office rent, utility bills, employee salaries, office equipment, and so on.

If you donate only to targeted programs (and we remember that everyone wants his money to go to the treatment of a person in need), then there is no money left for the basic needs of the foundation. Most likely, the NPO will not be able to develop, will try to survive, or will soon close.

An NPO, or a non-profit organization, is an organization that does not have profit making as the main goal of its activity and does not distribute the received profit among its participants.

"Wikipedia"

4. If you help, then do it quietly

People in our country have such an attitude. But it is fundamentally wrong. Speak out loud that you are helping, and others will follow you. When people see that someone from their environment - with the same interests and level of income, with the same values - is helping, they are more willing to try to do the same.

Do not doubt the reaction of others, but set an example, inspire friends, acquaintances and colleagues to do good deeds. We assure you that no one will throw a stone at you. And if at least one more person starts participating in charity with your submission, you have not lived this life in vain.

5. The only purpose of the funds is to find money for the ward (surgery, overexposure, and so on)

This is the main, but not the only goal. There are side goals and objectives that help to find donors and volunteers. To learn about the fund, you need to develop a website, create groups on social networks, participate in charity events, and publish in the media. This requires professional staff or freelancers. In this, funds are no different from business.

6. Employees of charitable foundations should not receive a salary

According to the study, NCO ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES, OR SHOULD FOUNDATION EMPLOYEES GET A WAGE? conducted by the fund "Need help", about 88% of users of the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet are not ready to donate money for salaries of employees of charitable organizations.

Now let's think about it. Do fund employees do important work? Is this job easy?

Fund employees do the same work as everyone else, only most often this work is much more difficult emotionally and rarely has at least some kind of standardized schedule.

Do these people have families and monthly expenses like the rest? Yes, they also live in apartments, pay bills, feed their families.

And if only people who can afford to do this "for the soul" will work in charitable foundations, then what percentage of the population of our country will be able to do this? How many of these people would want to do this? And the main question is: how many of these people are really competent for the job?

7. The best way to help is to transfer money

The NGO Law allows fund employees to use up to 20% of donations for administrative expenses. This means that the less the fund receives income, the less it can spend on its own needs. Including the hiring of permanent or temporary personnel, payment of logistics (something to transport, something to pick up) and services of contractors.

Therefore, sometimes funds more than money need help here and now with solving specific problems. Volunteers help out at such moments. Many foundations that have established work with volunteers entrust them with a huge and important part of the work and therefore implement large-scale long-term projects. Some foundations and small non-profit organizations survive only thanks to the help of volunteers.

8. Volunteering is washing windows and painting fences

We need different volunteers, different volunteers are important. Traditional volunteering is an important part of helping foundations. It can take many forms: motorists often help with the delivery of oversized cargo, someone helps with cleaning or minor repairs, improving green areas and organizing events.

However, volunteering is not limited to this. Some foundations have volunteers who, while not being employees, are responsible for some of the internal work. Constantly. For example, for coordinating all volunteers or a separate program, processing incoming proposals from corporate donors and donors, and so on.

Less widespread in our country, but quite popular abroad is the practice of intellectual volunteering. She comes from the legal field, where pro bono work for the benefit of vulnerable groups is the norm for any lawyer.

Now, any specialist who wants to help with his skills and expertise can devote several hours of his professional time to the fund. Therefore, if you are not very friendly with a hammer and nails, but at the same time do an excellent job with site layout or write ingenious texts, you can offer your services to the fund free of charge - and the effect of this will be much higher than if you were tormented with the tenth bent nail in a row … For the fund, such a contribution will be very valuable, because with the help of a new website or a good text, it will be able to raise more funds and attract more resources for the implementation of targeted programs.

Thus, you will save funds for the fund to attract a specialist of your level, time to search for a professional, reduce the risk of collision of the fund with an unqualified or unscrupulous contractor, relieve the headache of NGO employees who will be able to focus on their immediate tasks. And you will help raise funds for large projects.

9. Volunteering is free and therefore optional work

Volunteering is voluntary, it's true. But this only means that you voluntarily came to the foundation and offered your help, assumed responsibility and enjoyed the trust of the foundation. And not that you can disappear at any time without fulfilling your obligations.

You need to understand that NGO employees count on you, spend time and effort for your training and immersion in the task, and also try very hard to motivate you and thank you as much as possible.

If you understand that for some reason you cannot fulfill your obligations, please behave in the same way as you would behave with loved ones, clients, any other people not from NGOs: find yourself a replacement, pay for the task, do earlier than you intended. Find a way to get the job done. This is not your main job, and, of course, no one will punish you. But with your irresponsibility, you will punish the foundation, and even worse - its wards. Someone will not receive medicines on time, someone will have a holiday, someone will not take a very necessary course on socialization.

In business, failing a task leaves the client and bosses dissatisfied. In charity, the stakes are even higher. Therefore, the best advice for volunteers is to be honest and keep your word.

10. Only large companies can make a significant contribution, no one will notice my participation

The best contribution of the company to charity is the involvement of employees in the process. After all, corporate donations or volunteering are often one-time, irregular. There are some remarkable exceptions, though, when companies develop long-term charitable programs in conjunction with foundations. Most often these are international companies that choose large, well-known funds. This is definitely a good practice to develop.

However, Russian business, especially in the regions, is inclined to donate "extra" money to charity when it is available, and it is not known whether it will be available yet. Therefore, little-known medium and small funds remain without regular support and cannot plan their activities even for a few months in advance, not to mention multi-year plans.

All over the world, and Russia is no exception, the lion's share (and the most reliable part) of the proceeds are private donations. And the most important thing is regular donations. Your 200 rubles a month allows the foundation to plan the development of a program or hold an event.

And if you personally can donate a few hours a month of your professional time, then this will allow you to save (for example, not hire an employee or refuse the services of paid freelancers) and send funds to the fund's targeted programs.