For the Love of Humanity! — Philanthropy for the people and the secret power of charity
Lights, Camera, Social Action
I can remember watching a documentary a few years ago in which an intrepid team of social activists set off on a mission to bring solar energy to a remote tribe in Siberia.
The tribe were almost entirely isolated and without modern facilities. There was no electric. They hunted and foraged and cooked upon open fires.
The documentary and website set out the entire story from concept to completion.
The team started by taking the idea out to potential funders and raising the required capital that would be needed to put a film crew and their equipment together, organise the flights and transport, and purchase the solar panels.
It was to be a substantial undertaking.
The arduous and well meaning activists raised the required capital from equally well meaning and earnest philanthropists and flew to Siberia during the summer months when it was just feasible to complete the task.
Any mistakes could lead to their being stranded over the cold harsh winter.
Fortune shone upon them and the mission was given the green light!
In triumph they delivered solar derived light and heat to a rather unimpressed tribe who seemed quite eager to be left alone.
I couldn’t blame them.
Beautiful stunning shots of the Siberian woodland and epic vistas were intercut with scenes of uncooked meat and developing resentment.
The activists were endlessly cheerful.
The next year the tribe was revisited by the film crew and activists to measure the positive effects and social progress that was anticipated from this intervention.
It was completely bonkers.
What works particularly well for cooking and heating in Siberia is burning wood. What works very poorly in a dark Siberian winter is a solar panel.
It’s amazing it ever got off the ground.
All that energy. All that goodwill. All that money.
All that jet fuel, carbon and environmental damage.
The credits rolled to the many kind philanthropists and charities without which the film could not have been made and the film would be aired at specific venues around the world.
You could simply cry.
A soundtrack for our times
Have you ever heard, or heard of, the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra?
A group of impoverished children who live on an actual rubbish dump with their families, friends and loved ones, are raised from destitution through the power of music.
Or so the story would have you believe….
Gifted through the ingenuity of one very special refuse tip occupant with instruments fashioned from recycled trash these children are taken under the wing of a local music teacher.
It is the start of an incredible journey.
You can probably guess the story arc here.
Philanthropists are engaged, funds are raised, the doors of orchestral halls are flung wide open across the world where tickets are sold to wealthy donors drawn in by this story of possibility, hope and grit.
The world sings their successes and adorns the orchestra and the film with every kind of possible support and fanfare.
But fairy tales never tell you the full story. The camera pulls back, the curtain falls, and they end before reality and sense making have a chance to return.
In the many versions of the Emperors New Clothes we should be reminded of the truth that the emperor remains the emperor and the beggar remains a beggar.
In the story of the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra it is the wealthy philanthropists who remain wealthy philanthropists and it is the children that return to live with their families on a rubbish dump.
Nothing is changed in the society which readily accepts poverty and pretence and the world awaits another story of hope.
A dream it can believe in once more.
It’s a long way from the top to the bottom
I mention these stories because they are examples of systemic problems which we have come to except as our reality.
The examples are purposely of charity and philanthropy and I feel they help to show us how plain stupid we can be and how accepting we are of things which are obviously broken.
It’s become our normal.
We not only justify our stupidity, we adorn it, praise it and foster it. It’s become an industry. There are awards.
It’s like a welfare system which makes people poorer or a health system which treats symptoms not causes. We also have a philanthropic and charitable sector which doesn’t always do the good it sets out to.
In hindsight we can look at these things and begin to make sense of them, to apply our critical thinking as well as our hearts.
But how do we get smart from the begining?
How do we do things better?
I have a feeling that the best thing we can do is to reduce the gaps between everyone involved.
We don’t work together ‘as people’, we work in series ‘like a machine’. It’s back to that series of transactions I speak of all the time.
We can build intelligence and consideration in too if we want.
In fairness this does happen much more than it once did. Environmental check-boxes were just begining to appear on funding applications at the time of the solar documentary.
I feel too that if philanthropists were better engaged and intimately involved with the projects and most importantly the people, their stories and their circumstances, then better social outcomes would be realised.
Philanthropy is an incredible and enviable opportunity for personal and social transformation. We should make every effort to get it right.
In fact we should make every effort to give everyone the opportunity of being a philanthropist and being transformed through its potential.
Philanthropy should be by the people and for the people.
It should be democratised.
A little bit of common sense can go a long way.
From humble beginnings to industry and riches
What does philanthropy mean to you?
The original meaning from Greek is ‘love of humanity’.
I gripe quite often about the ineffectiveness of a lot of what we do (please don’t exclude me from this either!) as people and society. I feel we don’t look deeply enough into the things that we do in order for them to fully realise their transformative potential.
We don’t reflect and nor are we guided. We transact and we don’t relate.
Good intentions with just a little extra transformative capacity introduced (intelligence, reflection, empathy, understanding etc) can move us beyond responses that have become reflexive and conditioned, towards more meaningful, effective and collective efforts that make a real and lasting difference.
We’ve got to bring these things together somehow.
It shouldn’t be difficult — they are human qualities after all.
Charity too seems to have meandered away from it’s beginnings.
We’re all very familiar with the advertising and the campaigns and the phone calls which we have all received in our time. But do we ask what the larger social and cultural effect of this is?
I recall more than one phone call from Listen (remember them?) and I’m sure they were and are not alone in their behaviour.
On those occasions I listened politely and after a minute or so of emotional appeal the caller reached ‘the ask’.
“This cause is obviously very important to you and without people like you funding this work then x, y, and z will continue to happen. Could we ask for a monthly donation of x to support this vital work?”
No, I replied. I am on benefits, in debt and any payment from my account could leave me at risk of going overdrawn and further into money troubles.
“Yes, we understand that not everyone can afford to make the same payments as other supporters.” back to the spiel, bah blah blah, and then to the 2nd ask “So could we ask you to support this important cause with a lower payment of x each month?”
No, I replied. I am on benefits, in debt and any payment from my account could leave me at risk of going overdrawn and further into money troubles.
It was only after the 3rd ask that the callers gave up.
Now I’m a reasonably competent bloke, I’m not insecure, and I know how things work.
But I shouldn’t have been made to feel like I wasn’t as good as other people and I shouldn’t have been pressured in any way whatsoever.
There are many people who are far more vulnerable, pliable, or proud who do fall prey to callers and let’s be frank here. Their job is to take your money off you. The fact that it’s for a good cause doesn't change this intent in the slightest.
We shouldn’t be creating harm if our aim is to do good.
Where on earth did we lose our way?
A Platform for Social Change
Sometimes if you want things to change the easiest thing to do is to change the environment and the relationships.
Collaborative networks, platforms and ecosystems can be used to create environments where organisations can collaborate and people can work together in ways which are more open, transparent and inclusive.
Collective Impact is one such example but there are many models for different levels of scale and purpose.
Place based approaches apply the same techniques and thinking.
Socially Enterprising is a platform that can bring together national and local philanthropic and charitable organisations into a different way of doing things.
As part of a platform they become more available and accessible to everyone that they work with and communication and access can be vastly improved.
Collaboration can become the norm.
The communities and lives which they aim to assist are available within the same platform. Instead of helpless beneficiaries they can become equals and partners that work with them to ensure that they get it right.
This is a more human and just way of doing things.
Information and data on local need, spending and combined actions can be made available once partners begin sharing a common system.
It is a smarter and more intelligent way of working together.
Eventually it becomes a more efficient way to utilise all forms of local and national resources.
These efficiency improvements mean that we create the space and the freedom to bring transformative capacity back into the system.
Intelligence, reflection, empathy, and understanding. It is these things which; transform us, transform practice, and transform communities.
Connected and informed communities should be able to see for themselves where local need exists and make decisions concerning how to address it alongside professionals and civil society.
By making local need and potential visible it becomes possible for citizens to see towards which causes and projects their personal efforts should be directed.
This is locally rooted philanthropy and agency.
There is no need for advertising or slick campaigns when we work in this way. It is all about relationships and enabling others.
It is democratic, open and transparent.
For clarity the intention is not to change an entire sector or organisation!
A platform creates the possibility for some aspects of work activity to happen outside of an organisation or established practice.
They can offer a place of learning and experimentation.
Platforms, networks and ecosystems by their nature are not prescriptive. People and organisations discover ways in which they can be best used or improved upon.
Platforms are to be built upon by others.
They work their magic through relationships and it is with this key that they can open a door to a form of place-based social, charitable and philanthropic activity that is much more effective and far more engaging and meaningful than occurs today.
For charity to fully realise its transformative potential it should not happen at arms length and through intermediaries. It transforms only through relationships where our humanity and equality are embraced.
Transformation is something that we can only do together.
A platform just makes it easier to effect the change.
