Competitive Philanthropy vs. the Stealthy Right Hand

I have recently been amazed at the overwhelming support for the disaster stricken country of Haiti. The response seems to be more widespread and urgent than the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami which claimed the lives of around 200,000 victims. And as luck seems to have it, these catastrophes strike third world countries more often than not. It would appear that us fortunate “first-worlders” are starting to learn our lesson in generosity and compassion for the less fortunate. But as with anything, I think it goes a little deeper than that. I want to talk a little bit about what’s called “Competitive Philanthropy.”

I just read a post on I-HEART.org, the humanitarian arm of modern worship music sensation Hillsong United (who I adore). It’s called So Why Now?? and it basically makes a subtle jab at people for waiting until disaster hits to get moving and help out people that were already struggling in the first place. While I totally agree with this post, and understand the point being made, I can’t help but think it’s a little counterproductive to their normally positive approach. I don’t want to pick on this post, or its author, but I think it’s a bit indicative of this Competitive Philanthropy that’s sweeping humanitarian circles. You simply just can’t get frustrated with the masses for waiting until disaster strikes to get their priorities in order. Does I-HEART exist to condemn people like me that live in cushy American suburban neighborhoods and who easily lose sight of how blessed we are? Or Does I-HEART exist to inspire and mobilize people to get active helping people and spreading love?

I-HEART knows as well as anyone that lazy and ignorant is just how most humans are. How can they get terse and critical with the people they exist to empower? Most of us naturally wait until things are nearly irreparable until we step in and fix them. For example, an average affluent man will reach the age of 30 and then for the next 20 years slowly let his health deteriorate until he has high cholesterol, diabetes, or—God forbid—suffer a stroke or heart attack… but that’s what it takes to get him to eat right and exercise. Most people are just wired this way, or rather they just succumb to the lure of having no discipline and foresight in their lives. But there are the occasional few—I assume like the one who wrote So Why Now??—who are proactive about things such as personal health and, well, social justice of course. It won’t do much good to lay guilt trips on people when they are doing what they can, albeit “better late than never,” as they say. Did we all wait too long to recognize the desperate need of an impoverished third world nation such as Haiti? Absolutely. But should the small amount of proactive people make the much larger amount of reactive people feel like jerks for not acting on it earlier? I would hate to think that I-HEART could ever be misinterpreted as being a group of self-righteous philanthropists. They have too much at stake (hundreds of thousands of impressionable teenagers watching Joel Houston‘s every move.)

I just think some folks might take So Why Now?? as somewhat condescending… kind of like that friend that always knows the answer to everything and has always heard of every indie band before anyone else has. It’s never really fun to be around that friend after an hour or two. Most people are willing to help, but sometimes it takes a stiff punch to the shoulder to wake up and see the need. The Haiti quake was just that—another stiff punch to the shoulder of the prosperous to see that countries like Haiti were suffering well before an earthquake ever struck. The part in that post that said, “Although I love to see our world rally…” was soon drowned out by the somewhat disdainful question: “So Why Now??” It just seems kind of… unappreciative… for lack of better terms. It would be like me (an American) showing up for a short term 10-day missions trip to Mexico, and the missionary there saying, “Well, thanks for coming, you will really help us while you’re here, but it’s pretty pathetic that you can only devote 10 days to us. Is that all we’re worth to you? Why don’t you just come back when you can take it seriously like us REAL missionaries. Okay, little guy? Because we cared about this stuff way before you ever did.”

This may seem unrelated, but it’s really not… Lately, I feel like so many good followers of Christ miss the first few verses of Matthew 6, and I am no exception to this. Jesus says, “…But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.” In the secular world, giving to the needy has become a social trend, to say the least. Every time you get on Facebook, there’s a new hipster donning a TWLOHA or Invisible Children t-shirt inviting you to another cause application that—of course—publishes your donation history for all the world to see. Again, I’m guilty (maybe not the t-shirts, per se, but the published donation stuff). I actually just downloaded an iPhone app called CauseWorld that (wow, optionally!) publishes your “Achievements” to your Facebook wall when you give to causes. “Achievements” for giving to the needy? That just doesn’t seem right.

When I heard this trend was called “Competitive Philanthropy,” I realized there isn’t any better way to put it. It’s like this weird contest amongst celebrities to see who can publicly give more money to charity, and for the rest of us less opulent hipsters, it’s to see who can wear more non-profit org. supporting t-shirts and join the most causes on Facebook. Just think about TOMS shoes for a minute. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of “one for one” and even the unique aesthetic of these shoes, but we clearly aren’t exclusively buying them because it’s providing a pair of shoes for someone in need. There’s a little “hey! look what I’m doing for the poor!” mixed in there. I’m sure the founder of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie, wouldn’t admit it, but he may have seen the opportunity to take advantage of us self-centered scenesters to legitimately help these unfortunate people that need shoes to live. I mean, he could have made it TOMS Undies, or TOMS Socks, and still used the proceeds to donate the much needed shoes to the same people, but then no one would know how generous you really are, would they? And I’m only provoking thought right now. I actually plan on buying a pair of these shoes myself when things warm up here in the top hemisphere.

So I guess naturally there’s going to be an elect few folks who are actively getting their hands dirty in these types of causes who start to put up their competitive defenses when hordes of people start chipping in, like what we’ve seen happen after the Haiti Quake. You might hear something like, “We were here feeding the poor wayyyy before this earthquake and wayyyyyyy before YOU got here. Just thought you should know that…” Dear God, help us if that’s how we are going to react to the better-late-than-never type of contributors. Now I know full well that this isn’t really how most social justice workers are, I’m just trying to make a point. Either way, people are being helped and having their needs met, which is really the only thing that makes Competitive Philanthropy easier to digest.

I think It’s funny how the devil always finds a way to mess with us when it comes to giving. It used to be hard to simply sacrifice the money. But now, it’s so chic to give to non-profits, causes and charities, the monetary sacrifice isn’t so challenging anymore. It’s virtually no different than going to the mall and buying a fashionable shirt… oh, wait a sec…

So what can we sacrifice? We don’t want to offer that which costs us nothing (2 Sam 24:24)… So I propose that we sacrifice our public image as “cool charity givers” and our condescendence towards those who (yes, ignorantly) wait longer than they should to give to people in need. I’m not saying to stop wearing your TOMS in public. Let’s be reasonable here. But I think it’s safe to say that at this point, clicking on the “give anonymously” check box—where available—invokes much more internal debate than the actual charitable charge to my credit card.

And I want to quickly digress on another thing I just noticed. After a catastrophe like the Haiti Quake it seems like there are so many different organizations to give to. It almost becomes stifling. And I know for a fact that some of these organizations weren’t involved in Haitian humanitarian efforts until after the disaster struck. Instead of many of these org’s just endorsing and redirecting people to the causes who were already experienced and active in Haiti before the quake, they want a “piece of the pie” so to speak. They set up forms on their websites to take donations and get involved with efforts they weren’t associated with seven days prior. A lot of these groups simply pass the donated money off to the “big players” like Red Cross and Convoy of Hope anyway, which just complicates the flow of charitable funds, as they pass through more hands than they have to. It’s almost like they’re saying, “Come to our website and give to Haiti Earthquake Relief, and if you happen to click around and take an interest in our organization or even buy some stuff while you’re here, then we won’t complain.” They may not even consciously have motives to do such things, but they are basically profiting from the loss of others. And I won’t even start on the scam artists who are legitimately setting up spoof charity websites to steal the money of unsuspecting donors… absolutely deplorable. I know that where their sin abounds, God’s grace abounds even more—given they turn from their wicked ways—but, it’s hard not to think there’s a special judgment reserved for actions like these. *End digression.

I guess all I’m really saying is that as Christians and as humanitarians/philanthropists, let’s do our best to give anonymously and secretly when possible, lest we “receive our reward in full” here on this earth. The Pharisees were compassionate to the needy as long as people were watching them. And they did it with so much flair, almost as if they were blasting trumpets and putting on a show. Let’s try to shy away from this kind of altruism. Luckily for those in need, God is still using our egoistic, publicly announced, self-elevating charity. So let’s give! But keep it on the D.L., as the kids say.

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