on Service, Voluntarism, Charity and all things Altruistic ...
Altruism, not simply a nice sounding word, but rather good choice in the English language. From the Latin "alteri" which means "others"; therefore, the meaning of the thought of the interest of others first as opposed to the interest of mine own (altruism vs egoism.) It is interesting to note that every culture has a call for it, and though everyone calls for a different action perhaps, the intent seems to be the same: for us to learn to put other's needs ahead of ours. I am not going to argue the philosophical questioning of whether or not we are capable of true altruism but I am going to place it rather in a spectrum, with perfect altruism in one end and perfect egoism in the other and explore some ideas.
Service, another great word, yet a bit more tricky as it derives from the latin "servire" which comes from "servus" which means "slave". Does that means that when we serve others we are is if we were their slaves? Yes, perhaps in the sense of the above word, altruism, where when I am an egoist I am a slave of my own desires, needs and wants but as I serve others, I am the slave of their desires, needs and wants, as if they were the ones ruling my actions.
Can service be remunerated? or does it turn into "work" once it does? is a "job" the opposite of a service? or can one serve as one gets paid? I work in the hospitality industry also known as the "service" industry and we get paid. Why not other "servants"? Since slavery got abolished we cannot enslave another person, the law requires us to pay anyone for their "services". It seems we find ourselves in a bind with labour laws, at this point of the argument, but wait a minute, there is the concept of a volunteer, a person who "works" and receives no monetary compensation or reward so long as it is her/his will to do so. Interestingly enough the word was coined during war times when people would volunteer, or freely chose to, go to war in defence of their country.
If we add all this things together as if it were a mixing bowl we can easily be lead to the notion of charities a.k.a. non-profit organizations, etc and their existence. They also exist on a spectrum I would like to propose and it has to do with the compensation of some of its members, or as we could call them: the nonvolunteer members of the group.
1. At one side of the spectrum some argue that the CEO (and few other employees as well) should have a competitive salary due to their expertise and talents, i.e. capacity to raise funds, office management, etc. and that the only way to attract such individuals is by giving them a competitive salary, as if they were at any for profit institution, otherwise they will not be enticed to work at these organizations.
2. On the other end of the spectrum we have those who believe everyone should be a volunteer in every one of these organizations and that no salaries should be afforded by the organization at all, making it truly altruistic.
3. Somewhere in the middle we find those who think that If they have provided for the funding of the organization they can also assign a salary to whomever they want and for whatever sum they desire.(i.e Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) These type of organizations are quite a bit different even under the law as their assets were provided privately and not publicly.
Interestingly enough the Canadian Government (and I suspect, every other country as well) recognizes 3 types of organizations under the Income Tax Act. Yes, it seems as if it all boils down not to voluntarism or altruism but rather to the way they pay taxes and/or are exempt from it; namely: Public foundations, Private foundations and Charities. To be honoured this tax exemption status carries a constant scrutiny from part of the government as to the activities of the corporation, the way the account for expenses and ultimately wether or not they make a profit or not. Let us be clear that the government doesn't scrutinize the altruism of any organization but rather their legal actions as per their tax exempt status and their observance of very strict rules.
Without a desire to give a Tax Law review here, we can observe that organizations exist and so long as the government is concerned, namely taxes, they continue to thrive. Then how do we, the users, the contributors, should evaluate them? obviously not under the same scrutiny of the government as we are not interested on their tax exemptions but rather as to the use of our donations. A different set of values must be established in order to help us evaluate them. May I suggest some questions to consider:
1. The cause, what is the end plan of the organization? does it have a pull out plan of self sustainability or is it perpetuating dependancy on the organization? Whichever the end is it must appeal to us, for us to donate to that particular cause, otherwise we can choose from apparently near 1 million (yes 1 million) available registered charitable organizations in the USA alone.
2. On a percent per dollar of use. How much of my donations get to the program itself, to the ground? I have read interesting statistics on how some organizations use our donations and as I said they are interesting to say the least at times. In other words where is this organization on the spectrum? is it $ 0.97 of every dollar I donate sent and spent on the programs or is it $ 0.03 rather? I believe organizations such as Charity Navigator (free ad for them here http://www.charitynavigator.org) are working on clarifying this dilema for us all already so I am going to let them do their job, which is fantastic by the way.
What is my point here? to clarify the nature of altruism, to applaud the millions of volunteers who donate so much (billions per year apparently) but also to help us realize that it is our obligation as donors to find out what's being done with our money, not only our obligation but our right. And to hopefully make us more aware of the efforts being placed in the world to help others. With so many choices out there let us simply find the organization we like, whose cause is worthy on our eyes and whose procedures we are in accordance with, regardless of where our point of view in the spectrum is. I am certain there are many that will fit our likes and dislikes on this topic and our efforts will surely bring about some change, of that there is no doubt in my mind, even if it is, that simply, we were moved to donate and be altruistic.
Interestingly enough the Canadian Government (and I suspect, every other country as well) recognizes 3 types of organizations under the Income Tax Act. Yes, it seems as if it all boils down not to voluntarism or altruism but rather to the way they pay taxes and/or are exempt from it; namely: Public foundations, Private foundations and Charities. To be honoured this tax exemption status carries a constant scrutiny from part of the government as to the activities of the corporation, the way the account for expenses and ultimately wether or not they make a profit or not. Let us be clear that the government doesn't scrutinize the altruism of any organization but rather their legal actions as per their tax exempt status and their observance of very strict rules.
Without a desire to give a Tax Law review here, we can observe that organizations exist and so long as the government is concerned, namely taxes, they continue to thrive. Then how do we, the users, the contributors, should evaluate them? obviously not under the same scrutiny of the government as we are not interested on their tax exemptions but rather as to the use of our donations. A different set of values must be established in order to help us evaluate them. May I suggest some questions to consider:
1. The cause, what is the end plan of the organization? does it have a pull out plan of self sustainability or is it perpetuating dependancy on the organization? Whichever the end is it must appeal to us, for us to donate to that particular cause, otherwise we can choose from apparently near 1 million (yes 1 million) available registered charitable organizations in the USA alone.
2. On a percent per dollar of use. How much of my donations get to the program itself, to the ground? I have read interesting statistics on how some organizations use our donations and as I said they are interesting to say the least at times. In other words where is this organization on the spectrum? is it $ 0.97 of every dollar I donate sent and spent on the programs or is it $ 0.03 rather? I believe organizations such as Charity Navigator (free ad for them here http://www.charitynavigator.org) are working on clarifying this dilema for us all already so I am going to let them do their job, which is fantastic by the way.
What is my point here? to clarify the nature of altruism, to applaud the millions of volunteers who donate so much (billions per year apparently) but also to help us realize that it is our obligation as donors to find out what's being done with our money, not only our obligation but our right. And to hopefully make us more aware of the efforts being placed in the world to help others. With so many choices out there let us simply find the organization we like, whose cause is worthy on our eyes and whose procedures we are in accordance with, regardless of where our point of view in the spectrum is. I am certain there are many that will fit our likes and dislikes on this topic and our efforts will surely bring about some change, of that there is no doubt in my mind, even if it is, that simply, we were moved to donate and be altruistic.
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