Do BETTER This Holiday Season - Idea 2
Earlier this week I wrote on the opportunity of doing things different(BETTER) this holiday season. I wrote about how organization’s good intentioned program may be causing more harm than good to those receiving help. No program is going to be perfect, but it doesn’t give us a strong enough reason not to take the time to analyze our programs and do what we can to make it a dignifying process.
Today we’re going to shift into the realm of personal holiday shopping. Specifically, we’ll talk about NGOs or local organizations who have broken down regular or routine services they provide into gift lists. They have leveraged our cultural holiday patterns into convincing opportunities to redirect gift giving to them through shopping catalogs and online stores.
It’s unfortunate that it takes this effort to get our attention in order to drive donations for the good work most of them are doing, but it does. I don’t blame them for doing it.
Here’s an example from an organization that my wife and I personally support, World Relief.
World Relief sends this catalog via mail with options to buy things like goats, backpacks, and even more broad things like clean water. World Relief is by no means the first and only organization that’s adopted this model nor does it have the most robust model, but they make it easy for us to support their work in the form of a gift, which for our American culture fits nicely into our holiday patterns. If organizations that do this are smart, they create an online store for you to donate online.
Samaritan’s Purse was a pioneer in this realm of fundraising, and one worth supporting. Personally, I would encourage you to do this over their Operation Christmas Child shoebox giving program. Get your family involved in choosing what items to purchase/support.
Just because these seem like good ideas, doesn’t mean they are. I encourage anyone who’s going to make a donation to do the work to find out more about the organization’s work and the validity of their program. You want to make sure that your donation is going to the item/area you donated to and if they’re not transparent about that, then you need to be ok with it. You should actually do this with any donation. There is no reason an organization shouldn’t be focusing on transparent today.
If the organization is on top of their program, then they’ll do the work to inform you on why that particular item is needed and how it will help. Information is important, especially if you’re doing it as a gift to a friend or family member this Christmas. You’ve chosen to make a donation on their behalf and you should want to translate as much meaning to them as possible.
Regardless of the validity of these programs, I still believe it’s BETTER to donate on behalf of a loved one than getting them a gift unless the gift fills a need.
So, do BETTER this Christmas and consider buying a “gift" from a gift catalog from a global NGO or a local nonprofit on behalf of a loved one that isn’t quite sure what they want this year. BETTER yet, consider asking for loved ones to give gifts to these organizations rather than buy you something. GIVE your holiday blessing away to others.
If you have ideas of local or global organizations doing a catalog type activity, post them in the comments for everyone to see. Help us learn about new ways to give this holiday season. If the suggestions become numerous, I’ll post an updated post with those links.
