Moaning about moaning
CHARITIES SPEND A LOT of time complaining. Many of their gripes are justified. But some of the moans beggar belief.
A prime example is a lengthy report in today's Guardian. In it, many charity people are quoted bemoaning the way their work is reported in the media. More constructive types, including Alan Gosschalk of the ImpACT Coalition, argue that if only charities communicated their work more effectively, then these examples of negative reporting would diminish.
But it's not that simple. Sometimes charities behave badly and sometimes should be taken to task for it. But few charities will acknowledge this. There's an unspoken assumption that the ends justify the means - that charities can behave almost as they want, because the work they do is good.
I don't agree, and I think that the sooner charities acknowledge that they sometimes get things wrong, the better.
2 comments:
I think this is a big, unacknowledged problem with many charities - and it's not something the sector is willing to face up to. More curiously, not even journalists or those on the outside want to question charities' behaviour: the attitude seems to be that, whatever charities do, they're doing it for the good - and that's all the justification you need.
I think all charitable organizations need to be monitored, evaluated, and rated. We donors need orgs like Charity Navigator and Wise Giving Alliance to inform us about how our dollar will perform in each evaluated charity.
How well does my favorite charity manage its funds? An important question, when you think about who needs our dollars the most. ...and how much of my dollar I want them to receive.
I want to know if a charity is top-heavy. I want to know if a charity has a CEO who makes one million dollars per year. Stuff like that.
Post a Comment