Expanding Thoughts on Charity

In a post earlier this morning, I noted a few words spoken by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus regarding charity.  Yunus noted that charity to the poor actually holds them down, keeping the poor, poor.

In Slate this morning, Tim Harford has a piece titled Charity Is Selfish - The economic case against philanthropy, which delves into the motivations behind charity.  From the piece.

In fact, the closer you look at charitable giving, the less charitable it appears to be. A recent experiment by John List, an economist at the University of Chicago, and a team of colleagues, showed that donations are less than magnanimous after all. Using controlled trials to compare different methods of door-to-door fund-raising, professor List’s team discovered that it was much more effective to raise funds by selling lottery tickets than it was to raise funds by asking for money. This hardly suggests a world populated by altruists seeking to do the maximum good with their charitable cash.

If you consider Yunus’ approach, and thoughts, on eliminating poverty, and compare it to some of the thoughts and data in Harford’s piece, you’ll note strong correllaries as to why microfinancing trumps charity.

Posted by on 10/14 at 09:03 AM

  1. Or why microfinancing trumps door-to-door solicitation, anyway. My wife and I support lots of worthy organizations, from our church to The Salvation Army to the local homeless shelter, but we would never ever write a check to someone who just knocks on our door, pretty much regardless of the cause.

    Also, I’m not sure why it matters if donations are “less than altruistic” if the outcome of the donation (helping the poor) is the same. Am I missing something?

    Posted by Andrew Rogers  on  10/16  at  02:55 PM

  2. Andrew, long time.  Thanks for stopping by.

    No, I don’t think you’re missing something.  I was simply noting what I thought were similarities between microfinancing and charity via the selling of goods, versus a simple donation.

    Posted by John Venlet  on  10/17  at  12:50 PM

  3. Always a pleasure. When Billy noted last month you were blogging again, I hustled right over.

    I see your point now. I probably need to read the original Johns Hopkins report closely, since fundraising for charities is a big part of what I do professionally.

    Posted by Andrew Rogers  on  10/18  at  01:25 PM

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