The Whole Foods cashier asks, “Would you like to round up for a donation to the local food bank?” Outside the store, the panhandler sitting on the curb appeals, “Anything will help, and God bless.” The voice on the car radio pleads, “We only have two more hours in our pledge drive for NPR, so call us at….” Because I find fundraisers more tedious than bona fide ads, I switch radio stations and am presented with the “Kars4Kids” jingle, a request that I donate my car to help kids, though no mention is made of what the kids need and who sponsors the effort. Uh-oh, wouldn’t you know, traffic is slow getting through the intersection. Ah, unruh, I see what’s happening. Moving between lanes of vehicles, firefighters and EMTs implore motorists who have stopped at the light to fill their gumboots with bills and spare change for the annual MDA Fill the Boot campaign. Having run the gauntlet of beggars, I arrive home, collect the mail and find urgent requests for money from organizations I have supported in the past: Humane Society, Doctors Without Borders, Saint Jude Research Hospital, Lutheran World Relief, and ACLU. Retreating to my computer screen to retrieve e-mail, I find more pressing requests from Nancy Pelosi, Wolf Haven International, Barack Obama, and a dozen others on bended knee. If only I were a rich man…. If that is not enough, the phone rings, and an automated voice asks that I hold the line to speak with an operator who tells me that he’d like to send an envelope and needs to know if I will give generously for a special fund to help police and firefighters. Wow! And I haven’t even begun to watch the game on television I am eager to see, during which, between innings, come more pleas for money for good causes galore.
E-gad!
Stop! Who doesn’t struggle with the ethics of the everlasting hustle for good causes? An untidy patchwork of nonprofit organizations (so many good causes, so few available dollars) may make it difficult to focus on the salient needs facing a community. For instance, if I contribute to a scholarship fund for indigenous students (a good cause in my view), am I overlooking the dire needs of all the homeless folks camping in abject poverty right down the street? Do I follow the lead of American oligarchs (the billionaires we hear about daily) and feed funds to those causes that they champion? Poverty, hunger, and disease get the most attention as charities jostle in the line leading to one’s wallet. But it is important to look beyond marketing claims made by charities to see if their work and values align with the one making the contribution.
Pleas for money overwhelm. Thousands of agents for worthy causes shake the coin cup in our faces, and each day we suffer a twinge of guilt when saying, “No, sorry, not this time.” Add to the worthy causes are all those scams and gimme-your-money grifters who find us no matter how much we try to hide from their hectoring, and we are left with the sad conclusion that enough is never enough. The hustle is on now and forever. Amen.
Similar to Portia’s claim that mercy blesses the one receiving as well as the one bestowing it, charity also claims that double enrichment. Choosing the time and values in giving need not be tricky. Most relationships are transactional, so contributing to charities should fulfill values and fit the moment appropriately for both the giver and receiver, another way of saying there is a time and place for opening one’s wallet. Giving freely is not always a good thing, however, especially if one is contributing to a toxic or enabling situation, which became a lesson for my generous brother. He was working at a local food bank when he was essentially fired from his volunteer gig. The manager of the charity discovered that Tim was not only distributing cans of beans and boxes of mac and cheese but was also handing out cash to those who claimed they urgently needed a few bucks. Against operating policies of the charity, Tim was forking over cash he could not afford to give away. The use of that money may or may not have found useful purposes, but many of those receiving food (and Tim’s money) admitted to having addictions, especially alcoholism. Tim’s generosity got him fired, as it should have done. That sort of charity can easily be harmful, even deadly.
Aristotle said, “The essence of life is to serve others and do good.” Philanthropy does not always do good, does it? Sometimes it perpetuates paternalism and top-down values that may not be in the best interest of those receiving gifts. It may even invite unintended harmful consequences.
To be clear, donating time and money to worthwhile causes elevates all of us. But indiscriminating giving is not the solution to what ails the world.
To give is to receive, yes. To give judiciously is to receive wisely.