Social Media for Charity Versus Change?

Thanks to Beth Kanter for a detailed report-back from the "Social Media for Social Good BBQ" at SXSW. Kanter sums up a lot of sentiment from many conversations that I had at SX: that many campaigns of late have focused on fund-raising/charity - with little connection to systemic change on the ground. Of course, as Kanter notes: 

"I think there is some indirect social impact when we use social media for charity.  It happens through the organization that receives the funding. Of course, it depends on the capacity of the organization and its programs."

This is clear. In every fund-raising campaign, we're assuming that the funds will be spent to make conditions on the ground better. But it seems that there's a growing skepticism that these bettering acts take place in practice. Perhaps it's tied to a general distrust of organizations that are not entirely transparent - in the wake of Madoff, Enron, and AIG. We might reasonably apply skepticism to nonprofits as well. This sentiment is heightened when we hear about campaigns that focus on building lists and raising money - with little mention on what they're doing with those lists and funds. The campaign isn't tied to action on the ground (at least not from what we hear about it). This sentiment was neatly summarized by Lina Srivastava as quoted by Kanter:

"As a sector, we still have work to do to clarify the distinction between charity and social good/systemic change. The "Social Media for Social Good" panel, in particular, led off with stories of fundraising and good deeds on behalf of individuals, as opposed to scalable social change. I'm not making a value judgment against fundraising here (had they titled the panel "Social Media for Fundraising," I would have had less of a problem with the focus-- though I will continue to argue the prevailing system of fundraising needs a major overhaul). But I and a few other attendees later voiced the view that charity is an entry point, not an endpoint, in sustainable social change."

Having run a nonprofit for five years - I can tell you that fundraising comes at the expense of making change. It's a direct suck of energy that would go into action. For this reason, we've been exploring alternatives to the nonprofit structure for The Extraordinaries. And we've found it in Dr. Yunus' vision of a "social business." See Jacob's post on social business - along with some of our research and thinking into entity types. The structure proposed by Dr. Yunus solves a lot of the problems and frustrations described in Kanter's post. It offers a way to create a business focused on systemic change while free from the suck of fundraising. Of course, it's open to mis-use, like anything - but it provides a framework and many examples of how it can work well. 

Beth, thanks for getting this conversation going. Looking forward to focusing on these issues over the next months and years.

Comments

[Christine Egger]

I'm really enjoying your contributions to the Beth started.

At Social Actions we're also working on a sustainability model that's internally generated. The trick, of course, is for a non-profit to generate revenue in a way that is 100% consistent with -- and, ideally, contributes meaningfully and tangibly to -- the "action towards systemic change" that the nonprofit is all about. In our case, that means being really selective about the consulting services we're offering and the other revenue-generating initiatives we're considering. Otherwise, generating revenue internally becomes a time-and-energy sink equal to "raising them" from external sources.

[Ben]

I hear ya. We're trying to figure out the same thing. Several orgs have come to us asking us to build an advocacy iPhone app... and we say no with great sighs each time... as we desperately need the cash, but the effort takes us away from mission. We're spending a lot of time now getting to a business model that is self sustaining and right inline with vision of turning spare time to social good.

[Connie and Rod Gardner]

Fund raising for non profits is, indeed, a challenge-especially in times of economic downturn. But, we who are interested in social change might be missing a source for project funding right before our eyes.

It is a source that does not involve creating long project proposals to some funding source. Nor does it involve constant phoning or sending mailers to prospective donors.

All that is required is to take a long walk to maintain good health.

My wife and I live near the U,C, Berkeley campus. For the last 11 years have been walking from our home to the campus and back almost daily. During our walks we have been picking up the small change we see on the sidewalk and gutters on our route. We donate the money to the local Food Project.

We have picked up an average of $400 each year. We estimate we have picked up and donated about $4,000 over the years.

If 1,000,000 people each year do what we are doing and with similar results, enough could be gathered and donated to make real social change. Do the numbers.

Since your organization already has extensive contacts, you are the ideal vehicle for coordinating such a project. Anyone willing to join our Change Walkers effort?

Connie and Rod Gardner