Thoughts about charity at the end of the year

I remembered I read a blog post a few months ago about how Bill and Melinda Gates foundation becomes the most successful philanthropy foundation in the world. He has helped more people than most of us claimed to do. Why? They ran it like a business. Exactly how Bill Gates ran his Microsoft to be the biggest software giant in the world. Funds are withdrawn if projects do not achieve the objectives they set out to do. Simple rule of business. This kind of bigger-picture management is what we need to save the world. Help sponsoring a child in Africa is a noble thing to do, yet it is not as effective as thinking how to eradicate AIDS in Africa, or stopping genocide in Darfur. Have a read of Clive Thompson's Wired article I was referring to earlier or click on my shared items. I found myself nodding my head to what it said.

I remembered this because I was present at a charity event very recently (to say involved is a discredit to the hard-working, passionate organizers - big thank you if you are reading this). It was a successful event; great food, games, and presents for all the kids. As first-timers, the organizers did a great job preparing for the event, putting in many hours and ideas into making sure the kids would enjoy it. The amount of money raised was mostly used for the event and the presents, the remainder 20% for the organization the kids are from. Whilst the presents are useful items that would definitely make any kid happy, I wonder if we overspent the money for the rest, or was it simply that we did not raise enough to donate more. What if bigger portion of money is donated to the management, for they are the people who run the place, who would know what the kids need and provide for them. I had no benchmark to measure this against, so my thoughts are probably unjustified. I would love to hear from you if you have experience in this area. However, the event was definitely a good start for future charities, I for one learned a lot as an observer. Congratulations you! I am very proud of you.

Have a wonderful weekend.