NKF - A lesson for all

This has been an ultra eventful week, since the countdown to the casino announcement some months ago. For those who have not been following the news, well, the NKF & her CEO sued SPH for defamation, and by a strange turn of events, shot themselves badly in the foot, dropped the suit, lost thousands of donor pledge, and had her CEO & Board of Directors replaced. And oh yes, the Patron stepped down as well.

What went wrong?

NKF has been one of the most successful charities in terms of absolute funds raised, if not the most, in recent times. The richest charity in Singapore, NKF has been hogging the limelight where fund-raising is concerned. By intuition, I would guess that most donations have gone to NKF as compared to her poorer less well-known cousins.

The reason for her success in fund-raising? They run it like a BUSINESS.

It has been said that a little dose of the entrepreneurial drive won't hurt in fund-raising. Which is why in recent times, several commercial fund-raising businesses have been set up to run fund-raising activities for charities. You can easily identify them from the charity ticket sellers stationed outside MRT stations & bus interchanges. There's no denying that they contribute to our economy in several ways. First, the ticket sellers get a job. Secondly, the fund-raisers get a business. Thirdly, the charities get more coverage and hence raise more in absolute terms.

As a business professional, I say this makes sense as an economic activity. However, as a volunteer and a charity worker, I see a potential problem here. Charity is not a commercial transaction. Charity comes from a desire to help a specific group of persons. Here's where the problem begins in the ways funds are raised today. By commercialising fund-raising, the donors' gift is now filtered down the chain of economic workers (fund-raising company, service providers such as telco or media organizations, ticket sellers, etc) before it reaches the intended party. The $10 you give is probably only a fraction when it reaches the party you intend to help. The genuine donor will not be happy. Why? Because he/she never intended his money to be given to anyone else besides the intended party. $10 has to be $10 when it reaches the intended party, not $2.

But you may ask, if the fund-raising is so effective in the number of donors reached, that the absolute amount reaching the intended party is now many times more than if commercial fund-raising was not employed, what's the problem?

The problem is that: commercial fund-raising is not charity. We might as well be shopping for groceries and the supermarket says for every $10 you spent, they are giving $2 to a certain charity. Or the Govt might as well say for every 5% of GST collected, 1% will go to NCSS for all charities under her governance. It's even worse when fund-raising is linked to winning prizes. Singapore Pools is already doing her part in sponsoring some worthwhile causes from the monies punters throw in week after week. Which brings us to another point: Gambling is not charity.

The bottomline is this: go back to the basics.

Spend more on educating people on the merits of helping one another, not by playing to their sense of greed. Do away with all the glitz and glamour. Charity is never about winning $250,000 cash or a car. People in this society need to understand the merits of helping the less privileged, not for personal gain, just plainly out of love.

Charity is about love.

Love is the reason why most volunteers do what they do. They are not paid, they sacrifice their family & non-work time, they are rarely in the limelight. Yet, they volunteer because they believe in their cause.

Which is another reason why charitable organizations need to re-examine their values & practices. If the organization officers truly believe in their cause, they will do their best to ensure that most of the donations go towards the people they are supposed to help, not to commercial entities or themselves.

To Mr Durai, outgoing CEO of NKF, I have this to say:

You have done an excellent job serving the kidney patients. Your role as a volunteer certainly reflected your belief in the cause. No one is perfect; we all make mistakes. In running NKF like a business, you seem to have forgotten the basics of charity & volunteerism. It's still not too late to re-connect with your past. Let this be a lesson learnt. Let's tap on the excellence of business & leadership, but without forgetting what charity is all about. I'm sure this is possible. The late Pope John Paul & Mother Teresa were excellent leaders who successfully promoted the cause of charity, without resorting to fund-raising gimmicks.

God bless,

Thomas

Category: cf_hs