November 19th, 2008 |  Print This Post |  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email |  

Charities do good deeds on either a small scale or a large scale. Each charity also has one or more causes that they advance. Though I respect the work done by charities and believe that they should also be supported, I have always been partial to charities that address the raw and basic human needs for survival – food, clothing, and shelter. When as a human on earth, you don’t have these basic essentials, all other things, though important on some level, become secondary objectives. What this means that those secondary goals can only become an issue after the primary needs have been satisfied.

At any rate, children charities stand out to me because their focus is on children (including babies) who are so defenseless and incapable of many things to the point that they only know to depend on their parents – the adults. When whomever they are dependent on cannot provide their needs or are nonexistent, the only thing they can do, is deteriorate and die because they have no means.

The Personal Promise

A couple of years ago in my college days in the eastern shore of Maryland, I was watching television and saw an advertisement that though short, was pretty stirring. It was an advertisement by an organization called Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) in which they solicited donations for their cause of helping children in need around the world. For some reason I made up my mind that whenever I could I would try to support the work charities like CCF do. Subsequently whenever I saw similar ads, it only reinforced my initial decision to support. Unfortunately, five years later I was still in the planning phase, and eventually encouraged myself to break out of the “someday I will” mold and made an initial donation to one of the many organizations. Ever since then, as of the time of this writing, I’ve been pretty diligent.

The Criticisms Out There

Back then and now, I was not (or I am not) ignorant of the fact that these organizations do a very good job of appealing to their audience’s sense of empathy through tightly scripted scenes and actions via media conduits, which may sometimes appear manipulative. Amidst the criticisms that exist out there, for the most part, I merely see this as their means to an end, which hopefully is a good cause. I guess what is ultimately important to me is how such organizations are run and how transparent their financial responsibility is as far as fulfilling the obligations of the cause.

Pick a Charity

The process of picking a charity to support is necessary. It is important to do effective research on the charity that is being considered. Different charities approach issues differently. Things that are generally important to consider are accountability, revenue allocation, transparency, the mission and vision of the organization. The internet is a very useful tool for doing this research. I have supported a charity, that upon actual research, I changed my mind about supporting them because I didn’t quite agree with their practices based on the research that I did using information available on websites like the one run by the American Institute of Philanthropy – an organization that rates charities. However, I try not to get too caught up with views and opinions out there as they may only serve to discourage my original intentions.

Why You Should Support Children in Need

1. Children/ babies have no choice but to be dependent
2. Giving liberally is one of life’s greatest insights
3. Charitable contributions are tax deductible in the United States
4. You become part of the solution

The Ball is in Your Court

Do you think supporting a charity (especially those focusing on children) is something you would like to do? If no, perhaps reconsider. If yes, it is never too late or too soon to get started. Usually no amount is too little due to the power of the trickle effect. People usually give what they are comfortable with – some others push themselves, but that’s a personal choice. Keep in mind that when you prospering or are in a blossoming economy they are not, and when you are in a recession they have always been in one except that due to cause and effect a recession for their donors probably makes it worse for them than it already is.

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