How Matters shares a story first told in The Sun Magazine about being on the receiving end of help: After a half-hour of preaching and singing, the church had a sharing session, and the couple brought us before the congregation. The husband told everyone that I had been going to school barefoot and suggested taking [...]
Tags:How Matters·Sun Magazine
I look forward to perusing the entire Leap of Reason, a new philanthropy book from Mario Morino. Important sidenote!: In pdf form it’s FREE! High -impact and thoughtful philanthropy is so important, that everyone should be able to access these ideas, not just those who can spring $30 for a new hardcover of $50 for [...]
Donating stuff instead of cash can cause not only headaches, but actively make things worse. International aid bloggers have been pointing this out, again and again and again and again, to the point where they feel like broken records. It’s not just a problem in international giving. It is in giving at home, too: Relief [...]
There has been much wonderful discussion in the blogosphere addressing the issue of how to give in response to the crisis in Japan, led by Saundra as she continues to round up the latest news on whether Japan is even accepting help from other governments or NGOs. Then there’s these headlines: Japan Doesn’t Need Your [...]
The plethora of Harmful Gifts all pretty much subscribe to this process: The Giver, who is outside the world of the Recipient, comes up with an idea of what the Recipient would like without engaging the Recipient. The Giver descends upon the Recipient, bestows said Gift, and zooms off, feeling altruistically content. Meanwhile, the Recipient [...]
Tags:harmful giving
Doctors have a mantra that guides every medical action they take. It’s as vitally important as it is simple: First Do No Harm. Donors and philanthropists need to do the same. So so so often the assumption is: all gifts have positive impact. That is the essence of giving. But of course we also know [...]
Tags:harmful giving
