What is Charity?

There is a very interesting article in today's NYT about charitable giving trends and about philanthropic support for poverty, in particular. I am a fundraiser, so this stuff is pertinent to me in my day job. But I'm also an Aquarius who wants to save the world, in some small way, so I find it interesting in any light.

The discussion of why support for human services is on the decline is disturbing, but it makes sense as an explanation. I work in the arts/culture sector, and it's true that we do get a lot of support because of the benefits and "glitz" that we can offer to donors and board members. For years I've gone to networking events with other fundraisers, and I've learned that usually the hospitals, universities, and major "established" arts groups do have more staff and more resources at their disposal. And knowing that it takes money to raise money, well, you can tell that many social services groups probably start at a disadvantage....

The article also hints at the emerging controversy over tax-exempt status for charities. They've certainly got a strong argument, when you look at how the numbers stack up on total endowment, total contributions, and total money spent on direct services. My organization benefits greatly from our tax-exempt status, but we're certainly not curing cancer or feeding the homeless. That's a tough call -- personally I would love to see some sort of standard that requires charities to spend a certain % of their income on direct services. But professionally I know that would be hard to administer and would radically change the way the sector operates. Perhaps that's not a bad thing.