Nothing But Good Intentions

It is time for this blogger to come to terms with the concept of charity, that thing that is so good and innocent. Time, for a reality check and to take away its air of unassuming benevolence. And by tricky charity this blogger mostly means money donations, especially those going to places beyond one's control and understanding.

Yes, on bad days, the cynic in me will play down just about any big story of an apparently good deed, by identifying some underlying personal issues -whether real or imagined- that would explain such a willingness to part with one's own money or otherwise removing the halo around that doer of said apparent good. But no, this is not about the man who became rich from dubious business activities and wants to clear his conscience, or the celebrity who does it for the PR - it's not about that. It's not entirely about that.

It should be said that the dodgy rich man and well-advised celebrity are the least of our worries. When selfless actions are actually the result of selfish motives, the world wins. In fact, their behavior is arguably the most rational of all donors'.

This is because they know what they're getting from charity: It's money well spent on publicity and, more importantly, the acquisition of respect and of self-respect. We average fools, however, don't readily admit any of that even to ourselves, because we imagine ourselves to be true to our cause. Those of us who are indeed guided by ideals alone and genuinely want nothing but the best for others are truly the most honorable of all. But that's also where we find some of the biggest fools.

The truth is, unless our donations go directly to a certain recipient or a very concrete project, we don't know a thing about where our money ends up. If we were half the rational actors that the rich man and well-advised celebrity are and cared about others in need, we would care about the effectiveness of our donation in helping them. Then we'd get smart and, instead of thinking about just the amount of money that's donated, we would all focus on the results relative to it. And learn that much of it goes to waste, if it isn't being outright manipulated and counterproductive.

There are the simple scenarios, with the homeless person who is hungry not only for food, in which case buying him a sandwich is probably a better idea then letting him prioritize and spend your money on drugs; or with the kids who follow you around, begging for money, only to return it to those women who exploit them and who are just idling about nearby, eating snacks. And there are the not-so-simple scenarios, where our donation is intended to feed that particular malnourished and crying African child on the well-placed poster designed for that aid agency with the catchy logo and slogan found on every dancing beneficiary's T-shirt, which aid agency's activity in a disaster zone, however, like all such agencies', is coordinated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which is where more politicking, more hypocrisy, and more conflicting interests enter the mix, before the majority of our money is spent on negotiating with corrupt officials, paying armed fighters for protection money to reach only some of the displaced persons, whose very movement may be subject to manipulation by certain actors just to influence market forces and maximize profits, some of which parties clearly wouldn't mind if things simply stayed this way.

That is to say, we must be wary that sometimes it's very difficult for anyone to understand what's going on, not to mention figure out what can be done about it, and that includes aid workers as much as politicians and news reporters. Unless the connection to the beneficiary is more straightforward, as is the case with funding an individual's education or concrete projects such as providing mosquito nets or installing solar powered lights and water pumps, a good alternative would be to focus on more tangible situations that are closer to home. Venture philanthropy is the new art of giving, and transparently operated private foundations such as the Gates foundation with a budget of many billions of dollars offer an interesting approach. But how prudent and impartial and effective they are at tackling extreme poverty remains to be seen.

Still, that air of unassuming benevolence didn't just come out of nowhere. My colleague's cousin once found 10,000 Euro in the pocket of some second-hand clothes at a time when he was still making a very modest living trading in them. Needless to say, that money allowed him to move on to bigger things and he now lives more comfortably. It's quite likely the benefactor left the money in the pocket on purpose. Because rarely, but surely, they would hear stories of Euro bills being found randomly in these second-hand clothes coming in from Europe - usually in the 10s and up to around a 100 Euro, and many times not at all appearing like loose change that had been forgotten.

These second-hand clothes are thrown together and traded in such large quantities that they are rarely given a second glance until they're with the retailers - tiny shops and night stands, or boys who walk around carrying about 5 pieces, trying to find customers on the streets. It may be this blogger's romanticized version of events, but his current humble opinion is that the former owners of these clothes made an informed guess on the logistics of transferring used clothing to Africans, and specifically gave their money left in the pockets a fair chance of reaching a random individual who would make good use of it. A creative, anonymous approach that's informed and aware of its limitations and in this case helps a random someone in need a great deal when that someone least expects it - that's the most romantic way of giving that this blogger can think of right now.


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