Changing Lives » Socialism

"Social Entrepreneurship is stupid." according to Penelope Trunk

Ian Selvarajah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:07:27 +0000

I was quite surprised to read this statement from Penelope Trunk, founder of Brazen Careerist today. Let’s skip the fact that it’s really stupid to assume a company’s corporate citizenship level simply by looking at a single factor (the presence of a ‘green initiative’) and jump straight into the comment about social entrepreneurship.

The heart of her argument is in this post. The general idea makes sense: You can no longer separate the world into the “non-profit do-gooders” and the “for-profit money-grubbers”. This is an obvious oversimplification, but as we know, the world is rarely that black and white. A commenter gave a great example about Nike vs. Tom’s Shoes.

Nike vs. Tom’s Shoes

Nike does a lot of good work for the world. In fact, one of my favourite development campaigns is from Nike: The Girl Effect (make sure to check it out if you haven’t already!). Tom’s Shoes on the other hand, was founded on the “one for one” premise.

Do you see the difference? It’s in the authenticity; it’s in the priorities. Even if you don’t see a difference, I think it’s quite harsh to say one of them is stupid. I think a much more interesting evaluation would be to see what percentage of a company’s revenues (or products/services) are fed back into making the world a better place vs. the shareholder’s pockets. Perhaps that’s a better approach?

Profit isn’t the Top Priority

At the end of the day, the key distinction is that for a social enterprise, money/profit is seen as a means- not the end. The resources acquired are used to enrich the lives of yourself and others.

If you think Social Entrepreneurship is stupid, I’d love to know why.

Update (17/12/09): A well-written comment by @AkhilaK who blogs at Justice for All

$50M Social Innovation Fund Approved

Ian Selvarajah — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:47:07 +0000

Good news for social entrepreneurship and the development world last week; the US House-Senate has approved $50M of funding for the very first social innovation fund!

Looking at some of the comments on the Chronicle of Philanthropy site it seems that people are disappointed that funding for volunteer and non-profit capacity building programs has been cut to support this. While I can sympathize, I’m glad that there’s more of a market approach to social development now and at the very least, this shows that governments are interested in social innovation rather than simply giving away money to non-profits.

Hat tip: Change.org’s Social Entrepreneurship Blog

Uniterra Leave for Change Volunteer Project in Nepal

Ian Selvarajah — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:05:00 +0000

What is “Leave for Change”?

Leave for Change is a subprogram of Uniterra, one of Canada’s leading international volunteer programs. The program offers individuals and companies the opportunity to contribute towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While Uniterra offers longer term projects, the Leave for Change program is unique in that it offers shorter projects that last 2-4 weeks. These are well suited for professionals who may not be able to take leaves of absence, but would like to offer their expertise as a volunteer. For more details on how the program works for employers and employees and how you can get involved, please visit the Uniterra website at www.uniterra.org.

Can someone make a difference in 2 to 4 weeks?

This is the most commonly asked question and the answer is “Yes!” The key strength, and what makes short term mandates work, is focus. Since the partners know the volunteer is only there for a short while, everyone works more efficiently to maximize their time. Most people don’t have the same sense of urgency to get things done when a volunteer is on a longer term project.

Knowing some of the complexities and challenges in humanitarian work, I knew I had big shoes to fill when the organizers kept telling me that the last short term volunteers were incredible! In the end, everyone was pleased with the results and I received these kind words from the partner I worked with:

“Your courage to choose a country that experienced a decade long civil war, diligence to get things done rightfully, a skill-set to adapt to a new environment and upbeat and pleasant personal traits in combination mitigated all challenges to make the program successful.”

What was your mandate?

The partner organization and I offered a “Business development and social entrepreneurship awareness” seminar to 8 of the largest NGOs in Nepal. The NGOs in attendance dealt with a range of social issues such as healthcare, energy, finance, forestry, media, etc. The participants also varied in age and experience so the audience was quite diverse. We presented business concepts in ICT, marketing and finance as well as recommendations around potential income streams to minimize donor dependence. The feedback received after the seminar indicated that it was a great learning experience for them.

Leave for Change mandates are focused on capacity building, so unlike a reconstruction mission I did after the Tsunami in Sri Lanka, this was more of a knowledge transfer/educational project. While this project wasn’t in the field at the grassroots level, as many volunteer projects are, the transfer of skills was still a very satisfying experience.

Who did you work with?

My project was a multi-partner placement; however, I worked primarily with Magnus Consulting, a social enterprise based in Nepal. Magnus has only been active in Nepal for 4 years, but, arguably, they’ve done more for the country than some NGOs that have been there much longer. Their current focus is to bring ICT to local farmers in rural areas of Nepal.

The founders’ courage and determination to push forward in a country that is experiencing significant political change is inspiring. Their core values of integrity, transparency, good governance and efficiency in everything they do, make Magnus a good example of why social enterprises are the way of the future in driving social change.

Would you recommend this program to others?

Absolutely! After my experience with Tsunami relief work in Sri Lanka, I feel everyone, at some point, should volunteer in a developing country. My experience in Nepal further cemented that belief. A short term Leave for Change project is ideal as it allows you to sample volunteerism. Although humanitarian work isn’t meant for everyone, Leave for Change is a great way to get your feet wet! It’s an amazing experience both personally and professionally; I highly recommend it!

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask as I’m happy to share my experience!

Social Entrepreneurship / Business Development Seminar

Ian Selvarajah — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:22:00 +0000

After some confusion around the audience of the seminar I was scheduled to give, we decided that instead of an ICT awareness training, we would be doing a business development seminar with a focus on social entrepreneurship and ICT instead.

The training was on Friday at the Tibet Hotel in Lazimpat. 30 people from 8 different NGOs were scheduled to attend. In the end, only about 20 from 6 showed up, but I was still pleased with the turnout. I was also happy to see that majority of the audience was fairly young, so most were very receptive to a new way of thinking about NGOs and social entrepreneurship. The NGOs that were present were CECI-Nepal, FECOFUN, FTG, IDS, HBTL, WorldView, MCF (part of NEFSCUN) and NTAG.

Here’s a picture of the training room and then Tika and I at the end of the day!

Results
I tallied up the feedback form results and the overall rating was 3.46/4, so 87%. Most of the less than positive results were because some of the people felt the training wasn’t relevant to them. Tika (my counterpart) and I knew this would be a challenge because social entrepreneurship is essentially a completely new way of approaching humanitarian work and we figured there would be some resistance to change.

Making History
Once everyone left, Tika said: “I hope you realize we made history in Nepal today; no one has done a social entrepreneurship awareness training with this many NGOs at once!”. Unfortunately, at that moment, I really wished I could have done more or been a little more focused while I was preparing the training. In any case, the objective was to plant the seed and hopefully more organizations will consider social entrepreneurship as a business model.

Thank Yous
Now that my mandate is officially done, there are a few “Thank you”s that need to be said:

Anne-Jennifer – The person in my office who’s in charge of organizing the Leave for Change program. She seemed happy when I was selected and is always encouraging me to be an ambassador for Deloitte. She also provided some Deloitte paraphernalia that I was able to give as prizes during the training and as gifts to some people in the offices here!

CECI Montreal and Nepal – Specifically; Nathalie, Geetika and Hari. Everyone was incredibly helpful in getting everything organized and everything went much more smoothly than I expected! This was an incredible opportunity to do something I love and I was happy to be selected for it!

Magnus Consulting – My counterpart Tika was a really great support throughout the process and I was very happy to work with them. From day 1, I was amazed with how focused and driven this organization is in terms of making a social impact. They’ve only been established since 2004, but I would argue that they have made more progress than some of the organizations that have been around for much, much longer! Now do you see why social entrepreneurship is a better model??

Pascale Leblanc – Pascale was my pre-departure cultural awareness instructor and she has been incredibly helpful long after the initial training was completed. I’m grateful she was very proactive in offering help! She sent me some good information about teaching in a different culture and she really saved me when it came to creating a feedback form for the training!

The Uniterra volunteers – Craig, Monica, Moose, Paul, Salome, Charles, Courtney, Anne, John, Cathy and anyone I might have forgotten. Being around other Canadians with similar objectives of making a social change was refreshing and I was glad that those who attended the seminar were able to help guide some of the discussions. Thank you!

Now…off to Bangkok, Thailand for my real vacation!!

First Day on the job at Magnus Consulting

Ian Selvarajah — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:59:00 +0000

Since it was my first day, the driver came to pick me up in the morning and we headed over to Magnus Consulting, the organization I’ll be working with here. The firm is in Patan which is another part of town, different from where I (and the other volunteers) have been staying, so there is a chance I would have to move somewhere there.

I met my counterpart, Tika, who was very welcoming and thankfully, communications were quite easy and straightforward. He explained that I had a few options in terms of projects they’re working on, so I opted to create a Information Communication Technology (ICT) awareness and benefits training for some of the Uniterra partners. He explained how one of the main challenges to getting people to use ICT here is that they’re apprehensive of using computers, but once they get their hands on the system, they’re just fine. Apparently resistance to change is a common human trait anywhere in the world!

The plan is to take one or 2 of the Uniterra partners and to do a case study of how technology can bridge some gaps in their business processes and make them more efficient. If I do end up with some spare time, which seems unlikely, I would develop basic business development/entrepreneurship training for the partners as well.

We had lunch together and discussed several issues with development in general and I was able to share some of my experiences in Sri Lanka as well. The restaurant where we had lunch was connected to a bookstore, so I picked up The Monk who sold his Ferrari and have started reading that too.

Ultimately, what I really liked about the folks at Magnus is that because they’re a social enterprise (rather than an NGO) their mindset, approach and way of thinking are very different. NGOs are constantly dependent on donors and funding, whereas a social enterprise is run as a business, so of course they have true sustainability in mind.

The objective here is to demonstrate to the partners why they should invest in ICT and how it will help them become independently sustainable.

First 24+ Hours in Nepal

Ian Selvarajah — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:42:00 +0000

I’m currently in Nepal working on a volunteer project with CECI. I’ll give you all the details when I have a little more time, but here’s what’s been happening so far (it’s long, but bear with me, it’s 2 days worth!):

December 4th

17:05 – Landing in Nepal; I’ve been traveling since the evening of Dec. 2nd, but seeing the beautiful mountain ranges from the aircraft makes it all worthwhile! Oh, and I was bumped up to business class for the Doha – Kathmandu leg of my journey.

17:10 – I step off the aircraft and take a deep breath. The air feels dense, but the smell is typically South Asian. It’s hard to describe, but if you’ve traveled to these places, you know it. It’s something like a cross between burning rubber and vegetation.

17:15 – The shuttle from the aircraft to the terminal takes us 15 seconds. I could have walked. I ask for a one month tourist visa and explain that my return flight is actually on January 18th, but that I’ll be leaving for a few weeks in between. He tells me to get a $100 2 month visa instead of a $40 30 day one. The German gentleman in front of me tells me he’s overheard my conversation and recommends I get the $100 one since it’ll come out cheaper. He must have missed something: $40*2 is still $80. I took the $40 visa.

18:00 – After waiting a while for the luggage it ends up coming out. I’m surprised that several people have TVs in their checked luggage and more impressed at how long it’s taking people to pick them up off the belt. I’m also quite pleased that my stuff made it intact through all the connections (Montreal –> London –> Doha –> Kathmandu).

18:15 – The CECI-Nepal people are waiting for me at the exit. I see the sign: “Uniterra – Ian Selvarajah”. Although I’ve traveled a lot, it’s my first time landing somewhere and having someone holding up my name card. I’ve always wanted that! Ha ha

18:20 – I meet Hari, the Uniterra program director who puts a scarf and Mala (flower garland) around my neck to welcome me. He tells me despite the long travel I still look fresh. I tell him that due to all my travel last year, I was fortunate enough to have lounge access so I took a shower when I was in London Heathrow.

19:00 – Arrive at the hotel Tibet where I’m staying for a couple of days. The driving is like Sri Lanka, I might even say slightly worse. We have a few near misses, but this is how it is; I missed the times I was driving in Sri Lanka. There’s nothing like a near head-on collision to make you feel alive!

19:30 – Although I’m tired, I need to find an adapter for my laptop and other electronics. As I walk out, the front desk tells me I have a message. I find it curious that a Debi has said: “If you want to knock on my door when you are settled, feel free.”; I ask them if Debi works for CECI. They hesitate, but say “Yes.”.

19:40 – I find a “department store” and purchase an adapter for 50Rs. (< $1). I briefly meet a girl who looks western and chat for a few minutes. She tells me she's been in Nepal for about a month and that there are plenty of good restaurants around the hotel.

19:50 – Get back to the hotel and again ask if Debi works for CECI; they say yes, so I go knock on the door. Debi is the other Leave for Change volunteer that had arrived on Saturday. She tells me that she has the bad news that we’re being picked up @ 07:15 to clean up the streets for International Volunteers’ Day. No problem.

20:30 – Make sure everything is in my suitcases, shower and go to bed.

December 5th

06:00 – Wake up, shower, shave and get dressed. I was told that we have a volunteers’ cocktail at 17:00 and I won’t have time to change in between. Good news is that it’s supposed to be casual.

07:30 – The CECI jeep comes to pick us up. I meet John, Monica, Jaclyn and Salome who are all Canadian volunteers that have been in Nepal for more than 6 months. They all seem very nice and fun despite how early it is.

08:00 – Volunteers from several countries are all gathered around- it’s quite a sight to see! A few people make the comment that I’m clearly over-dressed to be picking up garbage. I agree. Everyone is also surprised that I arrived the night before and am cleaning garbage on my very first day a few hours later!

10:00 – Still walking around cleaning up the streets. I notice there are several people much more skilled than we are- the actual street cleaners were cleaning with us. Monica is quite popular with the crowd because she can speak some Nepali; she explains that “Ke” means “what” and “Ho” is “is”. “Topeko nam ke ho?” (Your name, what is?). I learn to say: “Mero nam Ian ho” (My name Ian is) and ask a few people around what their names are. The language sounds a lot like Hindi.

10:45 – Some of the street kids perform a play for all the volunteers. It was a little disturbing as these young kids were portraying what life is like in the city. Although I couldn’t understand anything, I got rough idea. The temperature is about 20 degrees celsius. Not bad for a winter day!

11:30 – I haven’t eaten anything since lunch on the plane the day before, so John, Salome, Debi and I find a place to eat. I try Momos for the first time; they’re like dumplings and quite delicious!

13:00 – We head back to the CECI office for my official orientation. It’s actually colder in the office than outside! Geetika, the program director introduces me to the people in the office and explains some of the Nepali etiquette. She figures I should be OK given my Sri Lankan background. I explain that my only questions revolve around my specific mandate as it’s still not clear what exactly I have to do here. She assures me that we will sort out the details of the mandate during our meeting with the partner organization on Monday morning. She also tells me how great the past Leave for Change volunteers have been, so I have some big shoes to fill!

15:00 – Hari gives me a brief historial overview of CECI-Nepal and the Uniterra program and the work they’re doing is actually quite amazing. The biggest difference between this project and the work I did in Sri Lanka is that these are more sustainable projects in the sense that we’re transferring knowledge and skills rather than just building things and leaving.

16:00 – I meet Moose (nickname, of course), Craig, Courtney and Noureen- more volunteers that have showed up for the cocktail. Everyone I meet is really great. All these people are working on really neat projects and most of them have left their existing jobs to do something in another country. I’m always impressed meeting and talking to people like this.

17:00 – We get to the cocktail and I meet several more volunteers Paul, Anne Marie, Kelly, Charles, Cathy (I’m having trouble remembering more names…). One of the girls who lives close to the hotel was leaving at 18:30, so I figured I’d leave with her.

20:00 – Several glasses of wine later and I’m still at the party. I tell them I’m from Montreal, so despite the mild jetlag, I’ll come out to party…

~20:30 – We leave to a place called G’s Terrace and have a great time. I’m told the live band is one of the best in Nepal and they’re quite good! I’m drinking water by this point because I have to be up early the next day.

23:00 – Bars close at 23:00, so I’m getting ready to leave when the volunteers tell me there’s another place they always go to.

23:10 – Next bar: Tom and Jerry’s (those are actually the owners’ names). Some are surprised I’m still standing, others are telling me their first nights were like this too, so I’m glad I stuck around! I am, afterall representing Montreal, right?

December 6th

00:15 – A cab asks for 400Rs. to take us all home. Craig has been here for a while, so he knows better and gets it down to 250. 5 of us pile into a tiny Suzuki Swift cab and head home.

00:30 – Get to the hotel, lights are all off and the front is locked up. I’m concerned for about 3 seconds and knock on the door. Someone eventually opens it up.

00:55 – Finally got the internet in my room working a little, so I send an email update to the family, update my Facebook status (a must!) and get to bed.

06:30 – Wake up, shower, download the videos to the PC (I’ll post these asap)

Now – I’m getting picked up in 45 minutes for a city tour. I’ve heard it’s really great, so I’m looking forward to that. Sorry for the long post, the next ones should be shorter and have more pics!!

Cheers!

World Vision Canada Article in Chatelaine Magazine

Ian Selvarajah — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:31:00 +0000

On Tuesday evening I was invited to an event entitled: “Child sponsorship: How your donations are making a difference” for World Vision (WV) donors here in Montreal. The president and CEO of WV Canada was in attendance and I was looking forward to seeing what they had to say and I had a few questions for them.

It turns out that the event was sparked by an article written in Chatelaine magazine: À la recherche de Karla F. by Jean-Yves Girard. For those of you who don’t read French, the article is about a journalist, who is also a child sponsor, who went to Nicaragua in search of his sponsored child to have a first hand account of how things were going.

A Lack of Efficiency?

Not surprisingly, as an outsider, his reaction was exactly the same as mine when I first saw how large NGOs operated in Sri Lanka. While I feel the article is worded in a way that makes things sound much worse than they are, and the journalist seems misinformed on several accounts, I have to agree with his final question which, I suppose, was the main point of the article. Here’s my rough translation:

“This billion dollar organization makes us an offer we can’t refuse: transform a life, help save a child. But does World Vision approach this in the most efficient way?”

While this particular article picks on WV, the same question applies to all the large NGOs. I’ve never worked for one, so I can’t tell how things are managed on the inside. I can, however, describe what I’ve seen first-hand and I would have to answer “No, things are not being done as efficiently as they could be.”. This is exactly why I want to work in this sector. Anyone who knows me will tell you that if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s finding the most efficient way to get something done.

Do you or someone you know work for a large NGO? World Vision? UN? Red Cross? What do you think?

Tell Me What's Funny!

Ian Selvarajah — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 15:23:00 +0000

*Transcribed*

I made a bit of a scene at Delifrance this morning. I’m normally very nice to store employees, but there are certain things I won’t stand for. I was waiting in line to buy a muffin and a vanilla milkshake. There was a Tamil guy in front of me who looked like he had just come in from the Vanni (the area the LTTE is fighting for). Quite frankly, he looked a little out of place as the prices at Delifrance are pretty high even for me! He was trying to order a coffee and some bread and was only able to speak Tamil. The employees made no effort whatsoever to try and accommodate him. His wife was already seated and he went to sit down. They called him back to pay his bill. Let me put this into context: In the Vanni areas 5 people can eat well for Rs.300. This man probably wasn’t expecting his bill to be more than Rs.150 for both of them. When he went to pay they said it was Rs.680. He looked completely stunned. I felt terrible when he sheepishly took out Rs.200. I guess it was all he had. Clearly embarrassed, he apologized, went to get his wife and they both left. As they left, the employees behind the counter began laughing. This was the last straw for me. I spotted the manager and the conversation was as follows:

- Hey you! Come here! [I’m not normally this rude]
- Yes sir?
- Can you tell me what’s funny? Why is everyone laughing?
- The couple over there who left couldn’t speak Sinhala [He had a slight smirk]
- And that’s funny? I don’t speak Sinhala. Are you laughing? [The manager quickly realized where I was going with this.]
- They only spoke Tamil.
- So it’s funny if you only speak Tamil?
- … uh, no sir …
- OK, tell what is funny then.
- … [He just stood there looking at me. There was no response for almost 10 seconds]
- You can speak English right? You LAUGH if something is FUNNY. I want YOU to tell ME what is funny! [My voice was raised at this point so people were turning to see what was going on]
- … [He was almost shaking and not saying a word] You should ask them what’s funny
- Ask who? The couple? They weren’t laughing. Your employees are. Trust me you don’t want me to start talking to your employees.
- … they shouldn’t laugh.
- Exactly.
- I will tell them at the meeting at the end of the shift.
- No. You better tell to stop laughing right now and you can remind them at the end of the shift. The foreigners in here don’t realize that you’re laughing at those people because they were Tamil. They just see you laughing at customers. Employees should NEVER laugh at customers. It looks bad for you. Explain that to them.
- …
- Do you want me to tell you what I think is funny? … This place is called “DéliFrance – Boulangerie et Café Français“ [Pronounced in perfect French] Can ONE of you in here speak French?
- Uh, no sir.
- Right. THAT is funny. But as you can see, I’m not laughing. Go talk to your employees right now.

There have been at least 3 or 4 times where I’ve come to the defense of an employee who was being harassed by a client, but NEVER have I seen employees humiliating clients. They had no right to do what they did to this poor man and his wife. The couple had already left the café, but had I been able to find them I would have called them back and made those jerks apologize…IN TAMIL! Actually, I don’t even know the word for “Sorry” in Tamil, so I guess that wouldn’t have worked too well!

Moral of the story: Everything in the world is in balance. If someone is making fun of, embarrassing or humiliating someone who cannot defend themselves it is your responsibility to restore balance by embarrassing that individual to the best of your abilities.

Whitey!!!

Ian Selvarajah — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 00:17:00 +0000

*Transcribed*

I still find it hilarious that people here think I’m white. I have a feeling when they say: “Vellai karan” they mean “foreigner” not “white guy”. Today 2 guys went by me on a motorcycle and screamed “Vellllllaiiiiii”. I guess I might be a little offended if I was white, but then again, if I was white I probably wouldn’t know what “vellai” meant (at least not right away).

Last night we stayed in another REALLY dirty guesthouse. We walked in and there were people sleeping on the floor in the hallway/open area. We got to our room, which had 2 small beds. The walls didn’t go all the way to the ceiling so we could hear a Tamil movie that people in the hallway were watching. I always bring my own sheets with me because you DO NOT want to sleep directly on these sheets. When I woke up in the morning I went to the bathroom. There was a HUGE tub of water (I’ll try and get a pic of something like this if I get a chance) where people take buckets of water to bathe/brush their teeth. I looked around and wasn’t sure where to spit when I was brushing my teeth because there wasn’t a pipe/drain. The guy told me to just spit on the floor. OK.

Security has also gotten much tighter. We reached the first checkpoint at 06:30 and we finished the second one by 09:45. More than three hours; this was the longest I’ve ever spent at the points.

Objections to Making a Donation

Ian Selvarajah — Fri, 06 May 2005 18:42:00 +0000

When I was 17 and doing telemarketing, one of the first things they taught us in terms of the cold calls we were making was that: 10% will be “Yes”-people; you have to identify these and close the deal as quickly as you can. 10% will be “No”- people; try and realize this early in the conversation so you don’t waste too much time with them. Finally, the 80% remaining are the “Convince Me”-people which, depending on your skill/technique, could go either way. It was for these people that our bosses would give us a list of objections and rebuttals. I’m assuming the spread is a little different when it comes to humanitarian causes but I find it sad that you have to twist some people’s arms for them to help someone else. For those of you who will be doing fundraising in Canada, this list of objections and rebuttals may be useful. I’ve tried to come up with the most common objections I can think of, but if any of you can think of (or have come across) any others, please let me know.

O: The project seems like a good idea, the website is professional, the story is nice, it seems to be a good cause, but I really can’t be bothered helping other people. I have my own things to worry about.
R: If you truly cannot afford to donate $1 (or even the loose change stuck in your couch) to help someone else, I’m very sorry I bothered you. Have a nice day.

O: I’ve already donated money as soon as the Tsunami happened. / I already donate $5 from every paycheck to other charitable causes. Why should I donate to this?
R: Thank you for already helping others. This is a different project run on a personal level. OSM is not asking for large donations. $2, $5 even $1 will help! Having donated to a larger entity, your $5 might be paying an NGO employee for 15 minutes of work. Better yet, your $5 might be paying for 1/10 of a tank of gas used to drive that employee to cash his/her paycheck at the bank. You will see exactly how your $5 will make a difference with this project.

O: The Tsunami and the destruction that followed is no longer in the media, so it’s can’t be such a big deal anymore.
R: The media doesn’t have anything now because it’s “old news” unfortunately, there are thousands of people that still live it despite the lack of media coverage. Just because there isn’t media coverage anymore, doesn’t mean the problem has disappeared. People are still living in cloth tents in the scorching sun and many still don’t have enough food for their families.

O: I heard they got so much money that big iNGOs like Red Cross even stopped accepting donations! Why would they need MY money now?
R: Excellent point. However, firstly, many of the donations are “pledges”, which means it’s a possibility some funds will never come through. Secondly, and more importantly, many of the large scale projects are being hindered due to the political situation and red tape in Sri Lanka. These smaller, grass-roots efforts are making a real difference and helping suffering people while the bigger projects are seemingly gridlocked. Personally, I don’t understand how or why organizations would stop accepting donations when (regardless of Tsunami or not) there are so many third world countries that need help. OSM will never refuse a kind donation (whether big or small) as there are always projects that can be identified to better someone’s life or to further develop a community.

O: How do I really know my money is being spent on this project and not for you to go out and have a good time in Sri Lanka?
R: I can assure you that the times I manage to go out and have a good time here, the money is coming from my pocket; not yours. Also, detailed expense and progress reports will be sent to donors as the project moves forward.

O: There have been a lot of scams recently with people putting money into personal accounts. I don’t know you; I don’t trust you and I don’t want to be scammed.
R: In terms of my personal integrity, there are many people who will vouch for me and if you do require references, please don’t hesitate to send an email to info@onlysevenminutes.com. However, for those who are still skeptical, it is exactly for this valid concern that the project is being done in cooperation with the Full Gospel Mission (Church of God) which is registered as a religious not-for-profit organization (libro C/351 folio 63-April 2nd 1974) in Quebec, Canada. Unlike individuals, the church is able to issue tax receipts for donations. This also ensures accountability.

O: Although it’s simple, I don’t feel comfortable making a donation online. Can’t some hacker steal my credit card information?
R: Over the past few years, online security has been steadily tightened. Hackers won’t be able to steal your credit card information as all your personal details are encrypted when they are sent. Did you know that giving your credit card online is actually safer/more secured than giving your credit card to a waiter in a restaurant? It is.

O: I think it’s a great cause, but I only want to donate $2. Donating online or writing a cheque seems a little ridiculous; not to mention, that’s a lot of effort for only $2!
R: Whether it’s one dollar or two hundred dollars, every bit helps. I agree that writing a check for $2 might seem a little odd. In this case, please try and tell ten of your friends to contribute $2 as well. Then you can donate the $22 online or write a check!

I’m pretty sure the last objection is probably the most common. Why do I think this? I know that at least 300 (at most 500) people have seen the proposal and yet only 3 people (in total!) have responded. If all those people only gave $1, that’s still $300. All 3 who responded were making donations of over $20, so I’m sure there are others who’d like to give, but not as much. This is why I asked for “fundraising coordinators” who were willing to collect the funds from their friends/coworkers/families. I think people would like to give, but whether it’s a big or small amount, if no one is collecting and they have to make the effort to send it in, many won’t bother.