The Weirdness of Walking To Raise Money

[Lucky]

That's the title of an op-ed piece in today's NY Times, and it does ring a bell with me. It seems that people cannot just give to charity, they have to make it fun.

Well, okay. But then big overhead costs arise to accommodate the walkers, the runners, the cyclists. Organizations form to further this means of fund raising. Salaries start to be paid, and suddenly travel across the country becomes important to the administrators.

The, on some occasions, ego gets involved. The race suddenly becomes about the runner, the walker, the cyclist. Look what a good person I am! Look how much money I raised. God forbid, but people and businesses are using the events to advertise themselves. They can't give money if they don't get something out of it.

In the op-ed article, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/opinion/19gup.html?ref=opinion

the author raises interesting questions. "Why are benefactors moved by the sight of urban hordes headed for the suburbs and back?" He discusses the man hours involved and wonders how those same hours could have benefited the poor or other group with direct services- houses built, public spaces improved, meals delivered to shut-ins. It used to be, he says, that a raffle or auction could win support without all of the overhead.

The author is fair to point out that a donor may not be so willing to give to charity, but he might be willing to support a friend who is in the walk, etc,.

And, he concedes, this sort of fund-raising appears to be the future direction that fund-raising is taking. So, if this is what it takes, he (and I ) do not oppose it.

But, for me, I sure wish people were more interested in reading the audits and making sure the money they raised is well-spent. I remember the AIDS Cycle scandal, which is the predecessor of the current AIDS Ride- an attempt to clean up a scandal. I am against the huge salaries that sometimes "become necessary to draw the right kind of leaders."

I think my feelings stem from the early days of AIDS. Gay men gathered together (and lesbians, for sure) to help the needy any way they could. Food delivery, house cleaning, driving to appointments with doctors, hospital visits, nursing the sick. These man hours went directly to the needy. No overhead. Now the director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation makes over $400,000 a year. No wonder they had to encourage these mass fund raising efforts! Just don't forget the sick and the needy when you are so busy raising funds from people who will sponsor your walk, etc. It would be a shame if they were forgotten in the hullabaloo.