I work in nonprofit finance. I think nonprofits are great. I give to nonprofits. For Katrina, I donated through the blog world and at my church. I watched the star-studded telethons and even the no-defense NBA All-star type relief game. I did my patriotic duty right? No
Here are the facts- framed as if everything is great...
philanthropy.com :
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
September 17, 2005
Donations for Hurricane Recovery Pass $1-Billion
American charities have raised $1.06-billion to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
The pace of giving is unprecedented in American history. In the two weeks after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Americans donated $558-million to charitable causes, and in the two and a half weeks after the tsunamis hit, major American relief groups raised $406-million.
While this is great that people are giving money, let's not forget that $1 billion is not that much when compared with a $200 million price tag...
today.reuters.co.uk :
The sketch of his recovery plans had economists scrambling to assess the impact on government coffers of a final bill that some in Congress reckon could now top $200 billion (111 billion pounds) -- almost two percent of last year's entire national income.
So here is my point: there seems to be an effort out there to say that private giving is all that is needed. It's OK to give Ken Lay a $100 million tax cut as long as he can donate $1 million to charity.
From Town Hall...
www.townhall.com :
I believe private charity could assuage most of the problems the government purports to solve with programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, and welfare. And it can conquer Katrina, too.
Private giving, according to Chuck Simmins' blog, is already over $100,000,000 (that's up from $45,000,000 when I started writing this Thursday morning) and rising. A blogosphere-wide effort to raise money has focused more than 1,000 blogs and their readers on the problem. Thousands of companies are doubling charitable contributions by matching the donations of their employees.
Private giving has only generated $1 billion - that's roughly $4 per US citizen. What would be more efficient - a kazillion telethons (that by the way cost lots of money to produce) or a increase in taxes by $20?
While it's important that why give, let's not fall into the trap that giving is enough--- in fact, it is a shame that our government is so poor that we are forced to give.