Saving Donkeys?

Last month, New Philanthropy Capital, a UK-based consultancy helping funders and charities to be more effective, blogged in response to a charitable act that involved "saving" an (unharmed) donkey in Russia who was forced to parasail as part of a publicity stunt. NPC wrote that spending charitable funds on donkeys is not an effective giving strategy and money could have been more wisely spent helping disadvantaged people. All this chatter about donkeys may seems silly, but SDSVP Partner, David Lynn made it relevant by asking, "Is giving to a less noble cause better than giving nothing at all?" We thought you'd like his response too.

I prefer to think any acts of charity are better than none, whether in-kind or cash, and help promote more charitable acts and better care of the bottom tier. So whether saving donkeys, local kids, or far-off areas, it’s all better than doing nothing. As long as people have a passion and do something about it, that will help everybody in the long run.

David took it a step deeper by asking a stickier question.

The dollar cost of saving a child in the UK or US is far more expensive than saving one in the third world. So should you save one child in the UK, or ten in Africa? How do you allocate your funds?

Definitely food for thought. What do you think?

Here at San Diego Social Venture Partners, our members have the opportunity to find their passion and determine how to best invest their money and their time. We are able to stretch their dollars as they give of their expertise to nonprofit organizations. Because we encourage open dialogue with these nonprofits about what they need to achieve lasting change, we know that wherever we allocate our generosity - to people or animals or the environment - we are greatly impacting the San Diego community for good.

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