Is the way we think about charity wrong?

Sounds like he goes against everything you believe in. Higher pay for non-profit CEOs. Competition between organizations. Higher administrative costs. And to make it really bad he starts the conversation by saying they made no discernible difference in fixing anything, homeless population, poverty, or Breast cancer. Not to mention that 2% of GDP sounds like a big number to me.

All I really got out of this is that he wants larger advertising budgets for charities. I think he’d have a better case if he was able to tout some of thier successes.

@Jaxk You grossly misunderstand what I believe in. I’m against plutocracy, not anti business. There actually can be positions between those of Gordon Gekko and Karl Marx, you know. We do not live in a world of 1s and 0s, but in one with infinite positions between the two.

His talk really made me think. He made some really excellent points, and even knowing that I still find myself cringing at the idea of paying non-profit CEOs a lot of money. Goes to show that this mindset runs very deep! My gut instincts tell me that it’s going to take some time and a lot more talks to turn this way of thinking around. I’m glad he’s made a start.

@augustlan I’m sure you’re right that our collective memes on non-profit behavior won’t change overnight, but I thought what he said made a great deal of sense. I don’t think he’s looking for the CEO of a successful nonprofit to rake in millions per year. But if we ask them to take a vow of personal poverty in order to help the poor, that seems a bit odd. And doing that isn’t likely to attract the best talent to lead successful nonprofit organizations.

I completely agree! It’s some kind of knee-jerk reaction, and one I will work hard on overcoming in myself. Posted the talk on FB, so maybe others will get thinking about this backward situation, too.

@augustlan Thanks. Much appreciated.