“Just do something,” she said to the crowd of young people. Sitting in the crowd, I prayed for self-control – enough to keep me from standing and shouting, “No!”
Some somethings are inefficient. Others are ineffective. Some are even destructive. Please don’t just do something.
“Just do something” sounds wonderful though, doesn’t it? Sounds like unity, like diversity? We all have different passions. There’s a lot of good to be done. Just pick the one that fits your passion and go for it! Sounds great.
But it’s naive.
There’s a charity you know well that spends most of its money on raising awareness about a human rights issue in a particular region of the world but spends 37% of it’s budget on “aid” to that region. It’s marketing emphasizes the aid being given so that donors think they’re making more of a difference on the ground than they truly are.
There’s a child sponsorship organization that cannot promise your sponsorship dollars will have ANY impact on the child you sponsor. Instead, your sponsor dollars are actually pooled at the community level and pay for a host of great programs in that child’s area – programs that may never impact your sponsored child directly. The work is wonderful but the marketing is misleading.
There’s a well-known charity with a bank account in the Cayman Islands. The organization refuses to disclose how much is in the account and what it’s used for.
There are dubious charities spending less than 10% of donations on programs yet somehow they still manage to rake in millions more every year – playing off our passion for curing cancer and autism, sheltering abused animals, and rehabilitating veterans…to name a few.
Don’t be naive. Why?
Every dollar given to an ineffective, inefficient or downright crooked “charity” is a dollar that could effectively and efficiently benefit people in need if given elsewhere.
So don’t just do something. But don’t do nothing either. Corruption is crippling, making us cynical and skeptical and – eventually – apathetic. But don’t be discouraged! Be wise. There is a lot of good being done. It just takes a little work to find it.
You know by now that I’m a spokesperson for Compassion International. I also lead their blog marketing initiative known as Compassion Bloggers.
But my family and I also support a local family assistance center serving hundreds of families in Middle Tennessee. We give to International Justice Mission monthly and have given to World Vision’s disaster relief work. I believe in the integrity and effectiveness of Mercy House Kenya and As Our Own as well.
It’s unloving to do nothing. Naive to just do something. But the compassionate and wise will do not only what matches their God-given passions but that which meets the real needs of people consistently, effectively, efficiently and with proper accountability and transparency.
Melissa Cable says:
great timing as I think about giving during the holidays and giving as a gift to others. Wonder if some of those websites cover very local efforts? Looking into Safe Families.
Melissa Jones says:
I have had trouble researching (US-based) local charities as well. If they don’t work overseas (faith-based charities anyway), then they’re not required by the IRS to fill out the full form that Charity Navigator works from. Even if they choose to do so anyway, CN doesn’t necessarily have that information in their database (although frequently you can find something about the charity).
I’ll have to check out Charity Watch to see if they have more info about local things. I’ve seen BBB seals on local charities, but never thought to actually look them up at the BBB (duh!).
Shaun Groves says:
Researching local charities is much harder for me too. We serve at the family assistance center for an hour or two most weeks – the kids and I – so we know the people, how the money is spent, the impact the center has. In a sense then giving locally is easier – local is easier to check-out in person.
Melissa Jones says:
Over the summer I was trying to research charities/ministries for a group I was helping to lead. We were going to take time each month to pray for a specific charity/work and in some cases (although not all), contribute materially to the organization. The international ones were easy enough to vet. The local ones weren’t so easy (and by “local,” I really mean US domestic – some were from our church, some were from our town, some from Baltimore/DC, but one was in Branson, MO).
In the process though, I came across the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability seal quite a bit. Do you know anything about them? (www.ecfa.org)
Sandy says:
This is a very good post, Shaun. I’m currently studying International Development. One thing that has become clear to me is how complex the field of development is. I was so glad to read about the research by a university not long ago to determine the outcome of Compassion’s child sponsorship programme. The fact that it does have a genuinely measurable difference is brilliant!
But I see how easy it is for us in the West to be manipulated into feeling guilty (which is not a good reason to donate) and then conned into doing something for a ‘charity’ which at best serves the needs of the organisers, with a little thrown in for the needy, and at worst is nothing more than a scam. I got caught by a scam a few years ago and I vowed never again. My husband voiced his concerns at a local homeless charity where the figures were never ‘available’. No one listened so he left and then later it turned out they had been embezzled. I think the perpetrator went to prison but every time things are just left to trust and goodwill you can guarantee a wolf will slip in among the sheep. A genuine charity should do what Compassion does and publish its accounts so that anyone can see where their money went. Churches should do this too.
Shaun Groves says:
Where are you studying, Sandy? I’ve looked at Eastern in Pennsylvania.
Sandy says:
I’m doing an Open Degree with The Open University, combining Statistics and International Development. OU is an international distance learning university. This is the link: http://www.open.ac.uk/
Kris says:
Thanks for this reminder. We are typically pretty careful to research before we support any ministry or organization for the reasons you mentioned. We once supported one years ago, and the amount of mail and and address labels, bookmarks, keychains, etc that we received from them afterwards made me sick. We have never supported them again because the enormous waste that followed our donation led me to believe that money was being wasted. That is one (more) thing I love about Compassion. it is evident that the money we send them monthly is NOT being used to fill up my mailbox.
Anyway. Thanks for this, and for what you do. You bless, brother.
Dawn @ The Momma Knows says:
YES! Thank you! There was a period about 6-7 years ago where we had two girls in high school, and the school became VERY involved with a certain cause in Africa. Our girls sold bracelets and bought tshirts and went to rallies and became passionately outspoken about the atrocities there… but I looked into their financial statements and discovered that barely 10% of their income actually WENT to Africa. A massive percentage went to “administrative costs”. I put a stop to their involvement and spent quite a bit of time educating them on how charities work and how much money actually goes to the causes. They are grown now and much more careful about the causes they take up.
Angie says:
Great reminders!
Lea says:
Thank you for sharing this and for the information to research non-profit organizations. I will check these sites. I have been trying to find this kind of information for a long time. I have volunteered and donated funds to different non-profits, 2 in particular. The first one helped our family through a serious and fatal illness. They were available to us 24/7, the were kind and compassionate. I don’t know how we would have gotten through it without them. I wanted desperately to give back to them and help others in our situation. Then I discovered some of the ways they were spending their money that went against my ethics. Way too much of that money went to the CEO’s salary on the national level. More money (and perks) than the average person makes in many years. I felt mislead and lied to. Before my discovery I had asked, repeatedly for a breakdown of how each dollar was spent. I never got an answer. This organization did (and still do) a tremendous amount of of good at the local level to help families living with this illness. Would I donate to them today? Well funds have been a bit low to do much lately but yes I would. However my donation(s) would be ear marked and very specific and I would follow up by going there in person to check. For example they have a library and also educational support groups for families living with this illness. Books are needed for the library so my ear marked donation would be books that I would bring to their library myself, or possibly office supplies needed to send info out to people they are helping. The education I received from them had a huge impact on how our family got through this and I’m forever grateful for that.
Becca says:
Thank you for this important post. I struggle with cynicism and doubt every time I feel the desire to donate. Sharing this today.
Bill says:
Amen and well said. All charities are not created equal. Plenty of them are poor stewards of the money they receive and plenty more are downright fraudulent.
All the advice you give here is excellent. I would add one more item to your list, however.
Try to get to know the work of the charity personally. If possible (and it often is) get to know someone affiliated with it or someone who has benefitted from it.
There are many small charities that can’t compete with the marketing departments of the megacharities (many of which are excellent, of course) but which are doing great work and would put donations to good use. Supporting a missionary is a great way, for example, to get a big bang for the buck and to see that your money goes directly to the person who will be using it.
Thanks for this great post.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home says:
Yes!!!! Thank you, Shaun. So well said. I’m actually working on a post of my own about whether our giving helps or hurts, based on what Ryan and I have been seeing and learning as we’ve been traveling around the world this year. So eye opening, and you’re right that we do need to give, but it should never be done without much thought, research, prayer, and consideration of the overall impact (especially long term) of the work that may or may not be done with that money.