This story was published in the Winter 2011 Southerner newsmagazine.
Today, brands and celebrities everywhere are taking up causes left and right. Walking through the mall you might notice giant “Product(RED)” posters hanging in the Gap store windows. When the show you’re watching on Hulu breaks for the 20 second commercial the chances that it’s a charity asking for money are good. It’s hard not to feel like charities aren’t asking you for money at every turn.
A charity usually tells you that you should donate a sum of money to the organization so that they can help others or accomplish some great cause. You would assume that this money you just so generously donated is all going towards that cause. But in some cases, such as that of Gap’s Product(RED), only 50% of the profits from that “Inspi(RED)” shirt you just bought are going towards AIDS relief in Africa.
In a 2007 article of Advertising Age magazine, it was reported that Red companies spent around $100 million on advertising and raised only $18 million for the cause.
This is not to say that Red- a charity started by Bono- does not help people. According to an article in the New York Times, Red-financed products have helped more than 300,000 HIV-positive pregnant women seak counseling and treatment and provided more than 30,000 people with antiretroviral treatment. However, many companies use Red to promote their own image and bring in customers. Consumers buy “Product Red” emblazoned items such as iPods or water bottles without realizing what they are really paying for.
Besides advertising, other charities have been known to pay their Presidents and CEOs exorbitant paychecks. According to The Better Business Bureau, the President and CEO of the United States fund for UNICEF earns $478,645 a year, enough to vaccinate over 19,000 children against six diseases for life. According to charitynavigator.org, The American Cancer Society has a total revenue of over one billion dollars per year yet spends only slightly over 759 million on the actual charity. The rest goes towards things like advertising and paying its Deputy CEOs paychecks of $1,027,306.
Charity should be about helping people rather than about money. But the way these charities finances are set up makes it look like the opposite is important to them. I can imagine that as the head of a large charity one might get so caught up in trying so hard to get the message out that the cause becomes totally forgotten. Fundraising is important. If nobody has heard of the charity then it will not be able to help any cause. And it can be argued that CEO’s do a lot for a company and should receive payment for their work, but these charities are eliciting far more money than they should be.
It is our fault for remaining in ignorance about the charities we donate money to.
Charities like the ASPCA play off of our emotions with shots of big-eyed puppies staring longingly through the bars of the cages while Sarah McLaughlin croons in the background. Other charities like Product Red and Susan G Komen for the Cure sell products stamped with their logo to gain revenue.
Eighty-nine percent of Americans between the ages of 13 and 25 would switch from one brand to another if it was associated with a “good cause” according to a 2006 poll taken by Cone Inc., a marketing agency in Boston. That “between the ages of 13 and 25” means us. We buy a Project Red water bottle and feel like we’ve done our part to save the world when really we’ve done barely anything.
CharityNavigator.org is a good site for researching charities. Local charities are good to donate too because they are usually smaller and depend more on local support.
Donating time can also be an effective way to help a cause. Planting a tree yourself is better than donating money that will, after being divided up to pay for a poster of tree and pay for the CEO’s paycheck, eventually plant a tree somewhere.
But of course, money is sometimes the best, and only option. Donating to charity is important. This article is not to dissuade you from donating or to bash any of the charities listed here. It is meant to draw light to the hidden facts which charities don’t always tell you and to point out that blindly giving to whatever’s being shoved in your face is not a good a way to help the causes that you feel are important.