So you just got the ALS challenge from your mate/wife/family member/boss...Oh hell. I mean who not, right?
First of all I would like to tip my hat for the marketing geniuses who came up with this idea. Thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge, the ALSA has collected some $100 million in donations(as of now). That's up from $1.9 million which was collected in the same period of the previous year. Now that's something that doesn't happen everyday right? But, we don't live in a world that's overflowing with philanthropic people, do we? It would have been real slick if we had it that way.
The reality is that we are in a world where all the generous people with their finite resources must allocate their charitable giving in a discrete manner. Just as they allocate their funds for other things in life. So in this world, more money for ALSA means less money for heart disease, more money for Malaria means less for diabetes, more for AIDS means less for Alzheimer's. And so on.
It's not exactly a fair game that is being played here. And I think I can shed some light here.
According to experts on this matter, the money collected by the ALSA bucket challenge will directly effect the contributions to the other competing organizations in the future. That is to say that, for the $100 million ALSA collects(which it is gonna cross in a matter of days) the other organizations will be getting roughly $40-$50 million less in donations.
This just highlights that the organization that is marketing itself properly gets the highest donations into its kitty. Alright! I am not saying they did anything wrong by doing that. By all means every other organization out there should give it a try with some wacky challenge like this one.
But, my point is the organization that is getting the largest donations isn't necessarily serving
-the most of people.
-the best of research.
I understand those who see it differently.
If my dad or my mom or my brother .... well, someone who I cared for were among the 6000 people in the world who get diagnosed by ALS every year, I'd be standing under a shower of freezing water, waving my non-existent check book in the air and challenging the world to get over-board!
I get it sir!
But here's the thing, if you are gonna give your money to a charitable cause, you should have a good(at least a rough) idea about how your money is gonna be spent. Now that's not happening here. The success of Ice Bucket Challenge is not a result of conscious decision making, but more of a knee-jerk reaction that people have to it. Now I am not saying that this goes for all. But it does hold true for a majority of the population. As I mentioned, it's a result of smart marketing. With a little bit of googling. I found the following.
well you can see for yourself
Note: If you try to open the HTML, it will give an error. I guess the administration has realized by now that it has become quite famous among the masses and people will be opening up their website and come to know about their doings.
Give it a break already, there is no need to waste water and ice just so administration would get better cars or clothes. I attached some proof, but I beg you do your own research first.
On a parting note, have you ever noticed the fate of Lottery winners. The guys who become millionaires in nothing less then a fortnight! NO ?
For those who have noticed, you might just know what am I gonna write in the following lines.
ALSA is a foundation that is accustomed to working with little money over the past few decades, but now it will have to manage a monstrous $75 million(a little more than that actually).
Now I see two futures.
Either the foundation will outdo the expectations of people and shut the critic's loud mouth.
OR
On the darker side of it, we will be getting reports of corruption, money squandering et el.
I hope its not gonna be the latter!
So, are you ready with that Ice Bucket Challenge of yours ?
You are wondering whether to take up the challenge and spread the awareness
(or)
You could just support the cause by donating to the charity.
First of all I would like to tip my hat for the marketing geniuses who came up with this idea. Thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge, the ALSA has collected some $100 million in donations(as of now). That's up from $1.9 million which was collected in the same period of the previous year. Now that's something that doesn't happen everyday right? But, we don't live in a world that's overflowing with philanthropic people, do we? It would have been real slick if we had it that way.
The reality is that we are in a world where all the generous people with their finite resources must allocate their charitable giving in a discrete manner. Just as they allocate their funds for other things in life. So in this world, more money for ALSA means less money for heart disease, more money for Malaria means less for diabetes, more for AIDS means less for Alzheimer's. And so on.
It's not exactly a fair game that is being played here. And I think I can shed some light here.
According to experts on this matter, the money collected by the ALSA bucket challenge will directly effect the contributions to the other competing organizations in the future. That is to say that, for the $100 million ALSA collects(which it is gonna cross in a matter of days) the other organizations will be getting roughly $40-$50 million less in donations.
This just highlights that the organization that is marketing itself properly gets the highest donations into its kitty. Alright! I am not saying they did anything wrong by doing that. By all means every other organization out there should give it a try with some wacky challenge like this one.
But, my point is the organization that is getting the largest donations isn't necessarily serving
-the most of people.
-the best of research.
I understand those who see it differently.
If my dad or my mom or my brother .... well, someone who I cared for were among the 6000 people in the world who get diagnosed by ALS every year, I'd be standing under a shower of freezing water, waving my non-existent check book in the air and challenging the world to get over-board!
I get it sir!
But here's the thing, if you are gonna give your money to a charitable cause, you should have a good(at least a rough) idea about how your money is gonna be spent. Now that's not happening here. The success of Ice Bucket Challenge is not a result of conscious decision making, but more of a knee-jerk reaction that people have to it. Now I am not saying that this goes for all. But it does hold true for a majority of the population. As I mentioned, it's a result of smart marketing. With a little bit of googling. I found the following.
As of 2012, ALSA has directed only 7.71% of its budget to Research. And not only that, 63.63% of their budget for the fiscal year was dedicated to "Other Program Activities" I'm not going to guess what those other programs are, but they sure are not research. And administrative cost? 10.54% and 18.11% for fundraising. What does this mean? That our of the $100 I would give to this organization $7.71 of it would go to research, that's about as much as a test tube costs.
well you can see for yourself
Give it a break already, there is no need to waste water and ice just so administration would get better cars or clothes. I attached some proof, but I beg you do your own research first.
On a parting note, have you ever noticed the fate of Lottery winners. The guys who become millionaires in nothing less then a fortnight! NO ?
For those who have noticed, you might just know what am I gonna write in the following lines.
ALSA is a foundation that is accustomed to working with little money over the past few decades, but now it will have to manage a monstrous $75 million(a little more than that actually).
Now I see two futures.
Either the foundation will outdo the expectations of people and shut the critic's loud mouth.
OR
On the darker side of it, we will be getting reports of corruption, money squandering et el.
I hope its not gonna be the latter!
So, are you ready with that Ice Bucket Challenge of yours ?
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