Keeping an Open Mind

Each time I make that 30 minute trip into Khayelitsha, I learn something thought-provoking and compelling. I was with a group of American and British tourists who wanted to learn about what m2m does, and the usual dog-and-pony was wheeled out. We often take visitors to our sites to meet the mothers, in the hope that what they see will move them enough to reach out a helping hand. As I have described before, it is impossible to remain untouched by the stories of these women, who are battling poverty, disease, abuse and general adversity but remain committed to ensuring that their babies are healthy.

I was in the car with two professionals who had both been in the thick of the corporate world for over twenty years. One of them, a former I-Banker, now works for m2m, and the other one, a MTV exec, was re-thinking the direction of her career. We have other people in the office who have taken similar paths to get to the non-profit world. In light of the fact that NGOs often need people with “big rolodexes” and management skills, and in light of a recent article I read about B-school types doing “social entrepreneurship”, I find myself thinking: perhaps a better use of my Ivy League degree and desire to help the disadvantaged is to go the corporate route first (public responsibility departments?), and then use that experience in the NGO sector. I try to steer away from idealism that is so romantic it is foolish, and I think it is important to evaluate my own strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps keeping an open mind means realizing that working in an NGO is not the only way to help the diseased and the poor.

So how does one help from the outside? We had an informative discussion on how fundraising really works in Africa. Outside of government grants, the best way to get funds is to know someone who knows someone with corporate clout. This is not so say that throwing large galas and charity events is the way to go. Retail fundraising isn’t very efficient either: apparently Kenneth Cole sold m2m beadwork in his stores last year. Bono can’t lend his magic to every organization. If you really want to raise money sans grant-writing, the most efficient way is to throw an intimate dinner party: pitch your chosen cause and ask your millionaire guests to whip out their checkbooks.

Such is the real world. Peter Singer likes to say that giving to the poor is not charity, it is a duty. But donor fatigue is real, and one needs to come up with smarter, more conniving ways to get money from the richest pockets to the begging bowls. I am currently working on a project that is a charity wine auction: the wine-connoisseurs of SA will pay exorbitant amounts of money for alcoholic beverages, and m2m will benefit from their “generosity”. I admit that I have turned my nose up at the idea of “parties for the poor”. Perhaps keeping an open mind means acknowledging that charity can be imperfect too.

Another project that I’m working on has to with family planning for HIV+ mothers. I’m not sure how much I am allowed to blog about this, but I will say this: since family planning can mean education about safe abortions, we are coming up against President Bush’s Global Gag Rule. Put simply, it is a policy that denies any US funding to foreign NGOs that work on safe abortion issues. I have come to realize how (intentionally) restrictive this policy is and how frustrating it can be to have the money and yet not be able to use it in the most effective way. It is not even really a matter of being pro-choice or not. It is a matter of realizing that keeping an open mind can mean the difference between helping and hindering.