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Choose one local and one national organization that address the same issue(s). (They should be different organizations—not just a local affiliate of a national group.) Write an essay comparing and contrasting them. What are the strengths and weaknesses in their approaches and outcomes?
Analyze an example of a charity’s marketing based on the information in Chapter 12 (particularly pages 190-98). This can be a piece of direct mail, a print advertisement, a video, etc. Pay attention to the amount of text, the content, images, sound, layout, or anything else relevant. Does it appeal to logic or emotions? In your view, when does an emotional appeal become “poverty porn”?
The authors point to the healing that can take place for victims of trauma when they reach out to help others in similar circumstances. Are they more effective compared to those who have no direct experience with the issue? Or is being removed from an issue more effective by allowing for a more detached and rational perspective? What does the literature on development work and/or psychology say?
Draw up a plan to found a charity for an issue that is important to you. How would you promote it? How would you raise funds? What would make it unique from other organizations addressing the same issue (if others are)? Could it be scaled up or effective in different contexts/environments? Explain. And what would you do to ensure its sustainability?
How has social media changed the landscape for charities and giving? In Chapter 16, the authors discuss charity:water and its use of social media. How do other organizations use social media in innovative ways? Choose one or two to analyze in depth.
The authors refer to Greg Mortenson, founder of schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan (and author of Three Cups of Tea), who was found to have fabricated parts of his story and used some donated money for personal expenses. Kristof’s own reporting has come under scrutiny when he promoted the story of Somaly Mam, a Cambodian woman who claimed to be a survivor of sexual abuse and sex trafficking and went on to found an organization to help similar survivors. Parts of her story were also found to be made up. What do you think is the right reaction to such incidents? Should people stop donating money to their organizations? Is there a distinction between fabricating stories and misappropriating funds? Or in the case of the former is the greater cause more important if the money continues to help people in need? What would you advise people to do?
Most aid organizations focus on a direct issue: drilling wells for people without water, dispensing medicine to deworm children, or providing surgery to repair a cleft lip, for example. However, the adverse circumstances people find themselves in are often the result of indirect and systemic causes, such as government policy. What are some of these causes, what effect do they have on people, and what can be done to assist such people?
The authors explore whether humans are “hardwired” to be altruistic, but one of the researchers they talk to reminds us that humans also have enormous capacity to inflict evil on others. As Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology, puts it, “We’re totally altruistic, and we will kill infants to survive. We’re genocidal, and we are charitable. We have this bundle of propensities” (269). Why do experts believe humans have such competing sides? Where do they think it comes from and what purpose does it serve? In the “nature-versus-nurture” debate, how much do they think is innate and how much is learned or environmental?
Most of the programs mentioned in the book are run by private nonprofit organizations, while a few are government programs. Some would say that helping citizens is the responsibility of their governments. Which do you think should play a greater role? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Is there any sort of consensus in the literature about which is more effective?
Helping other people and giving of yourself requires empathy. Where does it come from? Can it be fostered in people? If so, how? Do women have more empathy than men? Do certain cultures have more of it than others? Research what the latest studies on empathy say about its origins, prevalence in people, and role in altruism.
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