Never Give Money to Charity • Hacker News Board

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#11

Post by abfan1127 » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:21 PM UTC

shortrounddev wrote: post #2

> If you want your donation to help, at least check sites like Charity Navigator and Give Well and make a smart donation instead of blindly venmoing the Red Cross to help them fight the war against "administrative fees." Then the title of the post should really be: "Be careful of the charities you give your money to because many have negative externalities and haven't thought through the implication of their missions…

I'd argue the [US] federal government has failed at all levels of utility based on the amount of funds it consumes.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#12

Post by dylan604 » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:22 PM UTC

LanceH wrote: post #7

berdon wrote: post #3

Has anyone else noticed the rise in retail companies asking "Would you like to round up for XYZ charity"? Am I pessimistic in thinking they're taking this money and donating it purely for free tax reduction?

Please explain to me how getting $1 and immediately donating it produces more than that $1 in tax reduction. It isn't about reducing taxes, it's about getting some sort of altruistic branding/advertising at little to no cost. It still actually costs the company money in customer throughput, signage, implementation, bookkeeping, etc...

where do you get the claim $1 produces more than $1 in tax reduction? every company looks to lower their tax liabilities. if they make charitable donations, they can use that as a deduction towards that goal. so they can not do the donations and loose out on a deduction, or they can do it without affecting their profits from sales because customers are giving them extra for the purpose.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#13

Post by jefftk » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:26 PM UTC

The article argues that charity can be counterproductive, but we don't have to give to random charities where no one is paying attention to whether they're making things better. Instead of "never give money to charity" what about "always check charity reviews first"? As the article does eventually get to, the reviews on https://givewell.org can help you avoid the kind of disasters they open with.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#14

Post by lief79 » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:28 PM UTC

Not that familiar with the story, but isn't a hand pump likely equivalent or better than no clean water source?

Unless they removed something better, that sounds like a reasonable degradation of functionality, in that it still provides a clean water source.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#15

Post by vorpalhex » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:28 PM UTC

The thing that let's people get away with this obnoxious attitude in television programs and real life is that those people are usually correct. This is a discount hit piece that's blatantly wrong.

The problem with the water program isn't that some pumps broke, it's that we need to build more: https://www.unicef.org/senegal/en/press-releases/africa-dras...

Your charities do actually think about these problems, and it's why they usually prefer your money and not your used stuff. It's also why charities do funny things like sell clothes or make villages have to also invest in the infrastructure.

I recommend the author give up writing and actually try to participate in a charity.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#16

Post by itsagavin » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:29 PM UTC

This article is terrible but if you look at somewhere like Somalia that will experience famine on a cycle due to its regional weather patterns. Charities push the population of Somalia past the point of self reliance then act pikachu faced when the kids starve to death and the armies loosen their belts because it didn't rain.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#17

Post by berdon » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:30 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #8

berdon wrote: post #3

Has anyone else noticed the rise in retail companies asking "Would you like to round up for XYZ charity"? Am I pessimistic in thinking they're taking this money and donating it purely for free tax reduction?

at the end of the day, if the charity is actually receiving the money that the company claims they are giving, does it really matter the ultimate reason for the company's decision to give the money?

The individual loses the tax deductions themselves.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#18

Post by isaacremuant » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:30 PM UTC

billfruit wrote: post #6

The writing style is too hyperbolic that it detracts from the argument it is trying to make. A certain amount of figurativeness is good to add dimension to an argument, but here it has been overdone.

The guy think he is funny and is basically projecting his own privileged status like mad and thinking the reader is like him.

As you say, 2 points in that terribly written article are valid around the damage that NGOs cause (destroying demand, not being sustainable) but it's mostly a gotcha at Susan and Tom, his fictional neighbours from his own clearly out of touch reality.

This shouldn't be in hackernews.

It's subpar at best.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#19

Post by lozenge » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 2:35 PM UTC

billfruit wrote: post #6

The writing style is too hyperbolic that it detracts from the argument it is trying to make. A certain amount of figurativeness is good to add dimension to an argument, but here it has been overdone.

Yep, for somebody who is claiming to look out for residents of the third world, they are pretty nasty.

> without a local industry, they're [Kenya] never taking their economy past the point where they stop asking tourists to get special vaccines before they visit.

You need vaccines because diseases thrive in different climates, and the vaccines from your home government only cover- duh- the ones in your local climate.

Re: Never Give Money to Charity

#20

Post by yunwal » Mon, Apr 10, 2023, 3:11 PM UTC

jefftk wrote: post #13

The article argues that charity can be counterproductive, but we don't have to give to random charities where no one is paying attention to whether they're making things better. Instead of "never give money to charity" what about "always check charity reviews first"? As the article does eventually get to, the reviews on https://givewell.org can help you avoid the kind of disasters they open with.

In my experience, charity reviews are great for telling you if a charity is outright fraudulent, but not great at evaluating effectiveness. The best thing to do is either become involved with a local charity and evaluate for yourself, or do something like givedirectly and understand that occasionally the money will be poorly spent.