Philanthropy

Concept Cue Instructions:

Listen/View the TEDxKanata talk titled “Does Giving to Charity Do More Harm Than Good?” (about 16 minutes in duration,
“Does Giving to Charity Do More Harm Than Good?” | Allan Lee Brown | TEDxKanata
After listening to the talk, please respond with a maximum word count of 500 to the question in the title, does giving to charity do more harm than good? Please upload appropriate multimedia onto your e-portfolio along with your responses.

Response:

To directly respond to the title of this video, it depends on which charity you are donating to. Of course, donating is still an important aspect of getting community and humanitarian needs met, but we need to be diligent in researching the aims and practices of an organization before supporting them financially. Allen Brown explains that there are, unfortunately, philanthropic projects out there that do more harm than good and sometimes the facade of being charitable is valued over actually doing good. The example he gave of programs refusing to donate strictly cash to communities in Africa and instead opting to donate material goods they didn't need because it essentially worked better in their favor, is just one example. We need to apply critical thinking and research to almost all areas of life and that is absolutely essential when determining who you give your hard-earned money.

Community Organization Report:

Crossroads Urban Center is a non-profit located in downtown Salt Lake that operates a food pantry, thrift store, and several economic justice programs like the Faith and Advocacy Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, Powerful Moms Who Care and the Community Housing Advocacy project. If you do a quick search on their website you'll see that, "For over 50 years, Crossroads Urban Center has run one of the busiest Emergency Food Pantries in Utah as well as a charitable Thrift Store, and has organized Utahns in advocacy groups to make broader change.” The philanthropic component of CUC is that they accept one time, weekly, monthly, and annual donations. There is a separate tab for this specifically on their website and you can also donate in-person at any of their locations. I wanted to do a little more research on this organization specifically because we often connect clients staying at the shelter where I work to their resources. They help to address a variety of issues in our community from food insecurity to making clothing accessible for low-income individuals, to advocating for better, "public policies that work to lift people out of poverty and provide a decent quality of life for all Utahns."

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