A while back I came up with this idea for a new charity. Seeing as how charities seem to face limitations in how much good they can do, and how many people they can help, I wondered if there was a charity that somehow could do the most good, with the least amount of money. And I think I may have come up with an idea for one.
I call it “Ethical Alternatives”. And basically, it is a nonpartisan, nonideological charity, that works on a shoestring budget, and tries to put pressure on various people and institutions
to choose the more ethical of 2 or more alternatives already in use. For example, this charity would not oppose the death penalty. But it would encourage states that choose to have the death penalty to use lethal injection, instead of the chair. It would also not oppose meat, but instead push for more humane methods of slaughtering animals. (Since this (hypothetical) charity runs on a small budget, as I’ve said, it probably would be a good thing to get famous Hollywood types to belong to it or endorse it.)
But my idea is purely in my mind since needless to say, I don’t have the funds to start such a charity. I guess if I ever won the lottery, I could use that. But I don’t forsee that happening any time soon. Still, I thought it would be nice to throw the idea out for people to comment on it. Anyone know anyone with alot of money and time on their hands to start my charity ?
I kept on meaning to load this thread but always ended up not having time, or getting distracted (ooh! Shiny! ::scurries off::). Thanks for bumping it:)
I think you’d have to start out small and in a very specific area … and just go talk to local business leaders, politicians, etc. And tell them your views and such. More research you can bring into it, the better. Let them know you’re from a charity that just wants to make sure people making decisions are aware of all of them.
You’ll want to file the appropriate papers for NPO (non-profit organization … I think that’s the right acronym/term) status as soon as possible and get more people than just yourself involved (and since I’m hella far awway and also unemployed, I doubt I’d be much financial or grassroots help;)).
Another possibility is to have people doing this same thing in several cities, all identifying themselves as members of this group. Gets the word out, to be sure.
You’ll probably want to have an established presence online and link to lots of other groups that get a lot of media attention … Amnesty International and such come to mind. This is as much as anything else so that you’ll turn up in random Google searches and the occasional person will find out about you. Free webspace is pretty easy to get in less than a minute, though you may find yourself having to deal with pop-up ads.
Here’s the thing: A charity does two things. It a) gives away money to good causes, and b) collects money from people who support it’s work. Without #B, you won’t be able to do #A.
Honestly, I can’t imagine #B happening. I personally wouldn’t fund it, and I really can’t see others. The problem is you don’t really stand anywhere, and you ultimately don’t accomplish anything.
People who are anti-death penalty won’t give, as they’ll see no value to an alternate type of execution. And people on the other side, pro-death penalty types won’t see value either, as it doesn’t do anything they see as valuable, i.e. get tough on crime.
Same thing with your other example. Won’t benefit anybody on either side.
However, all charitble work is admirable in my opinion, and if you decide to go forward, go forth with my warmest wishes.
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