Whatever you had planned for the next 18 minutes, scrap that and watch this video instead, seriously.
The Way We Think About Charity – Dan Pallotta
Dan Pallotta really hit home for me with this Ted Talk on how our views on charity/not-for-profits have been extremely twisted in the wrong direction. Up until hearing this talk, I would’ve been right there with the supposed “pie givers” who insist that any money wasted on overhead expenses could be going to alleviating their cause right now – so why waste all this raised money? However, why are non-profits continuously rewarded for how little they spend vs. how much they actually get done?
It is heartbreaking that our society today has left us with the choice to either do financially well for yourself and your family, or to do right by the world and try and make a positive difference. Until watching this video, I would’ve said, “well people who can’t sacrifice the pay cut are obviously not that interested in changing the world are they?” However, as Dan points out, why is it okay to make $50 million selling violent video games to children, but not okay to make $0.5 million trying to make the world a better place?
Charities are heavily discriminated against for attempting to pursue heavy advertising and marketing, but the point shouldn’t be how much of your budget you spend on these expenses, but should be about how spending that money can grow your ROI 1000’s of times over. The way for charities to scale and grow is to market their on-profit, nourish it, and be willing to take that initial risk of failure. Using marketing to increase your revenue in the long run, has the power to help millions of people in your cause, rather than say, hundreds right now.
They say “pick your battles,” well this is one I would fight for.