Are Charities a Waste of Time?
Philanthropy is a tricky business. To begin with, there’s the question of which group, among the millions of needy and suffering people in the world, to help. Even more complicated is the strategic planning around how best to “help” people. Philanthropic organizations need to determine how best and most efficiently to raise funds, what kind of assistance to provide, how to deliver that assistance effectively, and how to help build a sustainable infrastructure in communities they mean to help.
Economist Adam Smith’s famously argued that the “invisible hand” of unfettered free market capitalism would result in improvements in living standards for the greatest number of people. His ideas continue to inform concepts like the “single-bottom line” approach to corporate philanthropy.
What do you think ? . . .
