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Why do people give to charity?

I was in Taiwan having a holiday with my family last month. While visiting a busy night market in Taipei, we saw a beggar with no arms bowing repeatedly to the people who passed by. He has a little bowl with a few coins placed in front of him. My daughter was moved to stop and dig into her wallet to give some money to this poor man who has no arms.

I could understand why my daughter stopped to drop a few dollars into the empty bowl. I think she felt sorry for the poor beggar.

I could understand how she felt because I also felt sorry for this man. Here is a busy market with so many people enjoying themselves. They enjoy the shopping and the good food. But what does this poor beggar have? He does not even have any arms? How does he earn a living? How does he take care of himself? I felt sad to see him like this.

That’s right, we feel sorry and we give something to do what we could to alleviate someone’s suffering or plight.

When the Sichuan earthquake struck China in 2008, hundred of millions of dollars poured into this province to help the poor survivals who had lost everything. Many people were moved to donate money just like the present Haiti earthquake which killed over 200,000 people.

We often give to situation like this because we can feel and see the sorrows and sufferings encountered by others.

Dramatic events such as a catastrophic earthquake or flood moved people to give and do their part because they feel sad. They just wanted to do the little they could to alleviate the pain they saw.

But why do people give to charities? People give to different charities for different reasons.

I decided to ask around and I came to the following conclusions:

  1. Guilt – People feel guilty about a situation or plight encountered by someone else and donate money in order to sooth their own conscience.
  2. Religious reason – I think some religions like Christianity and the Islamic faith actively teaches people to give alms and help the poor. Giving is taught as a virtue in these religions. I think there are also religions that teach people to give buy redemption to get to heaven when they die.
  3. Hope– People gives to Cancer or HIV research foundations to give hope to others. They hope that their money can contribute to the advancement of medical science and help people who are suffering from cancer or HIV.
  4. Association– Some people may come from poor background and they can associate with orphans or the needy children. They give to orphanage or the needy because they know what is like to be poor.
  5. Friends or Peer influence– You may have heard of social events or dinners where the rich people are invited. These people give to charity because of the influence of friends, peers or someone with strong social standing such as a movie star or a politician.
  6. Love– I doubt I can say that there are many people who give money because of love. Perhaps an auntie may give a love gift to her nephew who is in need because of love. I also heard that there are many Christians who give to their pastors or church members because of love for these people. I think they call this ‘agape’ love.

I don’t think everyone will agree with my conclusion for the reason listed above on why people give to charity. Can you share with us your view on this matter? It will definitely help us to understand our donors better.

Goducate-Helping Poor Asians

(Photograph of 3 orphans at the Cambodia orphanage. The two boys in front are twins (Jacob and John).

I really like the way the smile when I took this photograph.

There are many children and poor Asians out there who are in need. We are hoping to raise money to help them.

Volunteers like me volunteer to help Goducate because we have visited some of these places like the orphanage in Cambodia. We are moved to do our part. We hope we can make a little difference for these poor children who have lost their parents.

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Wanted urgently!

Goducate is a new non-profit organization. It has yet to develop a culture. But it cannot develop the right culture until it has the right core-team. In any organization, its people are critical to its success. A new non-profit organization has no rich share-holders, large assets, valuable patents or brand-name products. Therefore, the quality of its people is even more critical.

Goducate urgently needs people who are PASSIONATE to help the helpless help themselves. Passion is what drives a non-profit organization.

Goducate wants to help poor Asians to help themselves. More than half of the world’s population live in Asia, and most of the poor people in the world live in Asia. Therefore Goducate needs PLENTY of people with a passion to help the helpless.

Unlike countries in other continents which share commonalities (“Christian” Europe, “Protestant” North America, “Hispanic” South America, “Black” Africa, “White” Australia), Asia is very diverse racially, linguistically, culturally, religiously, economically, politically, etc. Therefore, to help the helpless Asian help himself will require plenty of passionate people who are CREATIVE.

If you have a passion to help others help themselves, please contact me at paulchoo @ goducate . org

I look forward to sharing with you my passion – and who knows, this might be your first step to being a part of building bridges of love to Asia’s billions?

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Making things more meaningful

Recently a young lady contacted me and told me that she was going to celebrate her 21st birthday and wanted her guests to give donations to Goducate rather than give her birthday presents. She had heard about Goducate helping the helpless and wanted to be a part of it.

In her note to me, she wrote that she didn’t need any more expensive branded presents because they wouldn’t really make her any better or happier but she knew that the funds given to Goducate would make some poor kid much better and happier.

For many who are materially blessed, giving to the needy may be what gives them most pleasure and satisfaction. Another branded handbag or pair of shoes would be soon be “lost” in an over-loaded cupboard and forgotten. Another holiday trip would soon be forgotten because most five-star buffet breakfasts are more or less the same and another “great” shopping mall is amazingly similar to the past ones that were visited. Surely, for such people it is better to give than to receive.

May I suggest that you should consider how you can make your next celebration or holiday more meaningful? Why not consider following the example of this young lady and direct your friends to give to a cause? Better still, if you live in Singapore why not consider holding your celebration at the Goducate office? It certainly isn’t five-star (it’s 0 star ranking) but maybe your friends have already been to many five-star places but never been to an office that is a gallery of charitable projects! You wouldn’t even need to plan an entertaining program for them because the photos and write-ups on the wall will fascinate them.

For your next holiday (or family vacation) why not consider visiting a Goducate project? It certainly wouldn’t be fancy but will certainly be fascinating! In fact, it might even be life-changing! Several Goducate friends have already done this and they have told me that their trips to our projects were “awesome”! Those with special skills (eg. ability to teach English, computer, music) were able to volunteer to help our workers on the field. Others came back to tell others about their trip and to organize one for their friends.

Life is too short to be meaningless! Let’s make our life meaningful – and in the process help the helpless!