Early in May, we participated in a fund raising 20 mile walk, called “Walk for Hunger,” which raises money for the hungry people in Boston. Some 43,000 people walked and over $4 million were raised.
Fund raising by volunteers is an American phenomenon. For a cause they believe in, a large number of volunteers undertake an activity to get money from others. This greatly leverages limited resources a charity has and, in addition, gets the society at large involved, instead of just a few rich philanthropists. That makes a lot of sense.
However, for those not from here, the idea of this voluntary activity being physically so challenging may seem strange. Why would a charity make volunteers subject themselves to “torture” instead of just making phone calls?
I think it is brilliant variation of the theme because of several reasons. Let me take this Walk for Hunger as an example.
When I first started participating in this event, the folks at “Project Bread”—the charity responsible for the Walk—told us that 20 miles represented what an average poor person in a poor country walks as he/she forages for food. If that is so, this walk would make me realize how difficult it is for a poor person to fill his belly, and make me empathetic to this cause instead of just being sympathetic. An empathetic volunteer is a good volunteer.
There is also a deeper reason for raising money in this manner. The fact that you are subjecting yourself to a difficult experience gives you a higher moral authority while asking for money than just volunteering your time to make a few phone calls. It is harder for you friend, relative, co-worker or whoever to turn you down.
Finally, the beauty of this fund raising method is how it enrolls the younger generation. When I looked around at the other walkers, I was struck by the demographics. Most of the hoard of walkers surrounding---and by passing me--- were younger than 20! For them, this event provided a perfect opportunity to spend a nice spring day with their friends and family members, chatting, singing, joking, screaming, and cursing along the way. There were mini-groups of white, black, and oriental kids---many wearing T-shirts describing their affiliations. They were having fun and their elders were perfectly happy to have their kids learn the deeper meaning of giving while doing so. What a great way to bring in grass roots support from the youth and making sure that the activity never goes out of existence?
This is a sustainable, robust method for raising money for a good cause, and represents a great innovation from USA that the world should emulate.
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Hey Ashok,
ReplyDeleteGood blog on a worthy exercise, made all the more worthier by seeking/getting involvement from family, friends co-workers etc. Although we have not been able to do so in recent years, I remember your encouragement as the catalyst that got us participating in this event some years ago ourselves. Now, we stay “involved” by supporting you guys.
Speaking with you and Meera after the event, I found out that you had not achieved your goal of raising a certain amount of money this year. I pondered about this for a while. I don’t believe that your circle of friends, family etc. is composed of a bunch of scrooges, so there must be some other reason why you didn’t get the support that you deserved. I also noted that you used the Internet as a tool for doing the asking.
Could it be that you need to use some of that “higher moral authority” and revert back to old fashioned, more personal ways to ask for the support. You guys clearly believe in this cause enough to have done it continuously now for decades – I for one, think you have earned the right to ask me directly for my support without feeling at all guilty about doing so!
Kim: You are right, using Internet, instead of old fashined face-to-face asking reduces the impact of "higher moral authority". We can always count on your support but for many others, there needs to be an additional pushing. As it turns out, we did get several significant contributions so the total was not too small. Appreciate your comments.
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