The Charity Long Tail
This week’s issue of Time magazine (Nov 6, 2006 issue) has an interesting one pager called “How to give to the little guys.” I have always had an internal debate (yes, I have quite a few of those) over whether to give to some of the mega-huge charities, like the American Red Cross or the United Way - or to spend more time looking into more focused organizations that think in a similar way that I think. During times of mega disasters, like Katrina - it seems that the Red Cross would be the best organization - in my opinion - to pony up some money to help out. So, that is my basic strategy for mega events.
Back to the Time article real quick - they point out that donations to the largest charities has increased a great deal in the past year. Their question is - Are the largest charities the best places to donate? - which has been my question for year round type of giving - the non-mega-event donations. Ah ha - a classic Long Tail - 400 charities capture 25% of all donations - not to say that 75% is anything to turn your noses up at, but apparently 1/2 of charities have budgets under $25,000 (go read the article). And that 25% “market share” is growing for the large charities - an increase of as much as 13% last year.
Okay, I am not knocking the big guys - they are important - but, you as a consumer (yes, even when donating - think the same way as you would when buying a new garbage disposal (which I need a new one by the way)) have this huge field of smaller, more focused charities to choose from - a vast long tail of human kindness that you can plug into. I am going to point to some sites (stolen from the article again) that help you to make intelligent decision about giving money:
I am going to try and do my best to find some interesting charities out there - I welcome suggestions! So, watch this spot as I track down places I feel that can have an impact on things that I am concerned about. I am pretty sure not everyone will agree with some of my choices - but that is what makes this fun!
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