Donors Chat-n-Choose

Finally, blogs with real "juice" (1. actual readers 2. actual readers with Bank of King Kong checking accounts) have jumped on the Donors Choose bandwagon that I've been touting since April. Fred Wilson, a VC who can practically mint money at the drop of a blog link will do wonders for the program. Many others are signing up too and keeping track on a leaderboard that puts YM somewhere in the middle of the pack. I don't expect to move up, especially since our dollar amount is solely coming from me, but I'm hoping this will at least guilt my mom into making a donation.

Ego-driven or not, I favor the whatever it takes approach to get money to these schools and children. Charity is social and if the thought of $1000/plate dinners or gala benefits populated by society types is obnoxious to you, then I welcome you to real world motivation molded in plastic. Please seat yourself at the kids table. Of course status is a factor in helping the disadvantaged (ironic, yes, but remember the world is flat on each side of its pyramid) but unless you believe there's a possibility of global benevolent communism, by tomorrow, you have to accept the machinations of modern philanthropy. You have a better chance of getting the rich's money through passionate guilt than convincing them not to be resource-raping capitalist assholes in the first place.

So yeah, it's time, more than ever, to poke and shame your neighbor into giving! My pleading with the likes of Jake Dobkin and Nick Denton, both refused to participate or acknowledge the challenge, was unfruitful but at least Lockhart Steele's Curbed Network has seen the light and is now on board. I'm happy to show the way with a Petzl headlamp tefillin.

For an interesting discussion on "loud-mouth" philanthropy, read these three takes posted on Jewcy in May.

Joey Kurtzman: Do you find all this self-satisfaction nauseating? Of course you do. I don't like it either. We encounter arrogance and self-promotion all the time, but it's jarring to hear someone even discuss the dollar value of their charitable contributions, much less boast about it. How could it be otherwise, when we've been indoctrinated with all that insufferable Judeo-Christian twaddle about good deeds being noblest when done quietly, without public display or recognition? It's Jesus's favorite talking point. The Pharisees couldn't walk an old lady across the Cardo without sending the Lamb of God off on another tiresome rant about the hypocrisy of good deeds done for public display.

And it wasn't just Jesus. In the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides broke charity down into eight forms, and the more selfless your intentions, the more noble the charity.

It's all a bunch of destructive hippy-dippy bullshit. The real hero is the person who gives, and then struts and preens in public like they just fucked the prom queen.

Because yep, verily, the highest form of charity is that which is given in the spirit of smug one-upmanship. The future of the planet will be vastly better if only we can learn to properly exploit the insatiable status hunger of people like us.

Peter Singer: At the moment, many people would feel strange about giving away, say, 10 percent of their income to fight global poverty. Talking about it may make that seem a more normal thing to do, and would encourage others to do the same. It may also make people realize that it's not really a sacrifice. You probably will enjoy life just as much with a little less money – in fact you will probably enjoy it more, because you will feel good about yourself and what you are doing.

That's not to say we have to be distastefully boastful about it... but yes, if you are living comfortably while others are hungry or dying from easily preventable diseases, and you are doing nothing about it, there is something wrong with your behavior.

Mik Moore: Unless we think the rich are somehow better than the poor because of their wealth, we should stop making a big deal out of $1 million gifts by billionaires and start making a big deal out of $200 gifts by low wage workers. Ultimately, if the rich gave as much as a percentage of their wealth as do the poor, we'd be well on our way to ending poverty.

And because donating time is even more important than money, I am an enthusiastic NY Cares volunteer. To paraphrase Joey Kurtzman, this makes me an inconceivably better human being than you. There is no leaderboard to measure the totality of my philanthropic efforts for the wattage to keep it powered would suck the planet dry. I spend Saturday afternoons at the Hamilton Fish Park Computer Resource Center on the Lower East Side and Tuesday mornings at the Future Leaders Institute in Harlem teaching computer skills to grade school students. Both started up this past week and there will be blogs, oh yes, there will.

Please consider helping out on New York Cares Day, October 20. Of course, it's everyday for someone like me.

Previously:

DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge

Your Pre-Algebra: Remonstrations

Giving a Damn Like There's a New Tomorrow

Teachers Ask. You Choose. Students Learn. Vote. Repeat.

Another Day, Another Dollar Donated

The Fight Goes On With Or Without U2