I recently watched a TED Talk by Dan Pallotta concerning the way we think about charity and not for profit vs. for profit businesses. I do recommend that you watch the whole talk and you can find it below, but to summarize:
He discusses how we place those working for charity into this category of you have to be wiling to get paid very little to do good for others. This results in the majority of people looking for work to go into the for profit sector where they can find a greater income and simply donate more to a charity. For profit business has shown that making long term investments and spending on marketing can create a greater return. Everyone in business knows this, so how come we shun this idea when it comes to charity? We know that these activities create a greater return for a business, yet charities miss out on this return because there is a negative stigma about using donated funds for "overhead costs." Pallotta looks at how we need to change the focus from percentages to changing the size of the pie. If we are holding an event and we make $100, and 10% goes to overhead we are donating $90 directly to the cause, but if we hold an event and make $10,000 and 40% goes to overhead and $6,000 is donated people are upset, even though by investing in the event and people we were able to donate $5, 910 more to the cause. If we want to create events for charity that really make a difference for the cause it will take some investment, to get people involved and recruit top talent that will make a difference. Investing in charities more like a business will create a greater impact on the causes and isn't that really what we all want in the end?
I do hope I did some justice to his message.
I also feel this is seen where many charities post volunteer positions that require a large commitment and are making critical decisions. You are going to have much better people looking to hold this position if you provide incentive. I know I often see positions I wish I could take but am unable to do to financial situations or the sheer time commitment of it while trying to hold another job.
Hopefully this view will start to take hold and we will be able to see a greater return going to those who need it, and people won't be so against people making a decent income for providing that.
Let me know what you think about his talk!
Cheers :)
