Saturday, March 10, 2012

Kony 2012: A reflection

The Kony 2012 movement has introduced the world to some of the atrocities committed in Africa. In its wave of controversy, it has also introduced many Americans to a concept that many had never known before (or taken the time to think of): 100% of money donated to charitable organizations will never get to their cause. Never. Some organizations get close with very low overhead costs compared to their income, relying heavily on volunteer labor. However, 100% is just an impossibility, but that's okay. The percent that goes to management, organization, etc. is what makes sure that the rest of the money gets to the right place and gets used for something meaningful.

Think of it like this: you can either send an envelope to Africa with $100 dollars and hope that whoever receives it will use it how you want them to OR you can donate $100 knowing that only $70 will get to Africa, but that it will be spent on what it is intended for.

I'd probably choose the second option. When that $100 dollars starts turning into $50 or $30 or $10, the decision gets harder. There is no concrete line for when it is no longer a good idea to donate. That decision is made by the individual.

As it stands from their 2011 financial report, Invisible Children gets 30-40% of their income directly to their cause. Probably still worth donating for most people. As this campaign is new, I expect this percentage to increase as they will no longer need such a large budget for awareness campaigns. All in all, I support IC's movement for increasing awareness of Kony. Awareness is a good thing. I have yet to decide on my support of their business model.

Note: Of the percentage of you donation that gets to the cause, you can also expect some portion of that does not get used correctly. Most organizations are pretty good at keeping this kind of misappropriation under control, but it is known (and a sad fact) that embezzling and misappropriation of funds in non-for-profit organizations exists on both ends (at the cause and in management).


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