i have always been confused about charity (just like i have been confused about everything else).
* Why donate ?
- "because you should give back to society" is the most common answer I've encountered. Charity for me is helping someone get out of the rut and make a life for themselves. It should not involve just giving away. I've always felt - "Help not Donate" is the answer. There should be no free lunches.
* How to choose the right institution ?
- Most institutions I knew of were involved in the business of giving away. The feedback loop of what your money was being used for is generally mediocre. All in all, the gratification (in this case, the feeling that you made a difference) is not strong enough to warrant more donations. (I know it sounds against the idea of charity, but appropriate incentives always motivate people better)
I came across Kiva.org today. This to my mind appears to be the perfect charity. It resolves most of my confusions mentioned above. Based on the now famous model of Microfinance, it lets you lend money to someone who needs a loan. After the period of loan, you get repaid where you can choose to re-lend the money. This resolves both of my dilemma's mentioned above. It helps someone get going with their business and help them make a life for themselves. You are involved with the business you are lending to. The feedback loop is great because there is a journals tab which lets you know about the progress of the business at regular intervals.
So go ahead - Change Lives !
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
the Curse of being Sachin Tendulkar the following 4 scenarios sum it up: 1. he plays well, india loses ::: sachin can only play in lost caus...
-
31st Aug is known as Blog Day. Why was it decided to be the Blog Day .. Well look at the picture and u will guess why. How about talking abo...
-
I was searching for a nice template for our blog but as always the intended search ended up being a visit to many bloggers' sites. I stu...
5 comments:
Excellent Idea and great initiative that !
Ok let me the materialistic money-minded f*** that I am. Charity is a great thing but what I am concerned about over here is that at the end of the day what you are going to get back when the needy repays your loan is just your money back..isn't it? Why should I not invest that in some high profile mutual fund, make money and then lend it to someone who I know and really care about needs the money ? Am I going to get a tax rebate for the money I donate to kiva, because if I am not I fail to see why I do it. For me charity begins and stays at home, so, my money stays in my pocket and is not going to change any lives.. unfortunately !
Marw,
That was a very thoughtful gesture on your part to spread the good word around thru this blog.
Aup,
What you're basically saying is that you don't want to give to charity. Although that in and of itself is not a bad (or good) thing, I fail to see how your thought process applies here. You say that you'd rather invest than give to charity; ok, do that; however, I fail to see how not giving to charity is going to help people.
Mike,
For me charity means maintaining the Swiss bank lending account that I already have. Parasites like Uncle et al (no names) have lived on me for a while.:-) Jokes apart thats the charity which I was speaking about over here.
- Aup
Post a Comment