Giving Anonymously: Update

I had posted on Giving Anonymously awhile back. They offer donors a way to anonymously give money to specific named people in need, without going through any nonprofit intermediary. The President of Giving Anonymously, Lionel Thompson, wrote and we exchanged emails. I quote him with permission.

Phil,

Here is a brief synopsis of what Giving Anonymously (GA) does: Giving Anonymously is a very unique non-profit (we know of no otherorganization in the world operating in the way we do). The premise of our organization is to facilitate generosity between people by enabling anyone to be their own charity. We encourage people to look around their communities (their neighbors, family and friends) and to give directly to needs they see around them. In essence we are multiplying our ability to find and to give into needs by using the eyes and ears of communities themselves. GA provides a web-based platform for people to give that is fully anonymous, fun, and effective. In order for charities to give donors tax deductible receipts they have to themselves approve of needful situations. Therefore, a bigger staff (and thus overhead) is often required to find and then screen the needs in communities. This limits a charity's ability to find needs to the eyes and ears of its staff. GA does not qualify as a tax deductible organization for the very reason that we enlist anyone and everyone to find, screen and give into needs themselves. Therefore, gifts through GA are not tax deductible but our ability to facilitate giving into needs is limitless. The process of how our platform works can be seen on our website www.givanon.org. The site was launched in April 2006 and since then close to $20,000 in small gifts has been given through the site. We have not done any advertising and yet people throughout the USA and even Canada have found our website and begun using it to give to people around them in need.

The most moving thing about the way our site functions is that recipients call our toll free number to leave a message of thanks. These thank you messages are then emailed as a voice files to donors, who remain anonymous. Donors then hear their friends confirming the amount they received and then thanking them for their gift. It is a very personal and meaningful way to give. Two voice files of past thank you messages are posted on our homepage.

I'd love to know your thoughts and gain any feedback you might have.

Thank you again for linking to our site,

Lionel Thompson,
President
Giving Anonymously

The Giving Anonymously process struck me  as close to Chritian alms, or the practice of giving anonymously recommended by Maimonides. Lionel, in an ensuing email, agreed.  "I do indeed have roots in the Christian faith - in fact my wife and I worked in different parts of Africa and Switzerland as humanitarian Christian missionaries if you will."

Some may suggest that the flaw with Giving Anonymously is that the giver gets no deduction. To that two responses might be made: 1) for many donors who don't itemize the deduction may not do anything for them. 2) More importantly, giving direct to a person in need may eliminate 100% of the overhead and the dispersion of the gift among many recipients. With Giving Anionymously, every dime goes direct the person in need that the giver has specified. Compare that direct giving to taxes for social programs or gifts through nonprofit intermediaries. Which, even after taking account of the tax effects, is most efficient?.

From a humane perspective, or "neighborly" perspective, to give directly but anonymously saves the recipient the shame of personal gratitude, of behing beholden, and spares the donor the temptation of spiritual pride. Yet the donor has the gratification of hearing the recipient say in a voice clip that the gift has been meaningful. Thus, the giving maintains a living human bond of solidarity, disinterested love, and community, while preserving the dignity of the recipient.  Maimonides would approve. See, if you have not read it, his "Ladder of Tzedakah."

Comments

[arnie draiman]

very nice idea. but, one must be thorough in vetting recipients. tough call, but this idea can really be helpful and useful.

well done.

arnie draiman
philanthropic consultant
www.draimanconsulting.com

[Phil Cubeta]

Yes, that is a good point. Who does the vetting, but this seems based on the idea of community, almost a parish. We see the fellow parishioner, someone we have known from birth, fall on hard times, see them in church with their kids, see how bedraggled. We know why they are broke. The mill shut down and the jobs when to Manila. The pension plan went bust. The town is emptying out. Few jobs to be had. Such vetting is not so hard when you think of giving as embedded in daily life, rather than intermediated by nonprofits. KIVA is what this program reminds me of, in that it connects two people via electronics, one of whom knows the personal details of the other. KIVA could have a vetting problem as it grows.