Awareness of the flood has brought more donations, but as winter approaches, more than seven million people are homeless and malnutrition is rising. As schools reopen, families sheltered in them will again be on the streets. Photo courtesy of the New York Times.
For the layman with a good heart, philanthropy is, undoubtedly, very much pegged to emotional strings and the economics of media channels. However, Lydia Polgreen made a very sharp observation supported by statistics which show overwhelmingly that donors are more likely to give to causes raising funds to aid areas with high immediate death-rates, as opposed to disasters that destroy means of livelihood and infrastructure.
Although in this case, U.S. sentiments and politics play a significant role influencing the stream of financial and material aid from Western countries to Pakistan, a lot of it depends on the organization of charity organizations and international aid foundations, and especially the way they view their role in providing assistance.
Charity organizations almost always have a target group of people they would like to help, and their donors and supporters both constrain and drive their mission at the same time. Many donors are also not shy to make demands and influence the channeling of funds, without considering the fact that they have little experience in the field. In so doing, financial and material assistance become disproportionately distributed to places around the world that need them. The floods in Pakistan, for example, may not seem to be as "disastrous" as the Haiti earthquake, but the media, in their rush to cover the situation on the ground, sensationalized the death toll without considering numerous other factors. Driven by the same forces that drive these publications, social media duplicates the same observations and multiply the emotion-factor, and what results is a well-meant but inaccurate description of the situations.
Two things must happen in society.
Firstly, there is a need for greater emphasis on logical analysis and evaluation of disaster areas, as well as the impact on the country and world economy. Although it will be difficult to remove the emotion-factor that drives many charities and foundations, a large portion who hold on to religious and moral principles, there is a need for organizations to provide the media and public a clear, logical picture of the situation on the ground, with projections of what the future could hold if investments and aid are not properly channeled and distributed. The media and the public are most turned off by complex statistics, abundant jargon and numerous models. Neither is there enough awareness of the importance of staff payroll, transportation costs etc., necessities that donors are most reluctant to give to.
Secondly, there is a need for donations to be unpegged from social status i.e. more anonymous donations and less public declarations, as well as greater trust in charities and aid-relief organizations to make decisions as to where funds should go. Philanthropists must understand that they cannot demand for immediate results, and that effects can only be seen if these charity organizations are constantly supported over a period of time instead of having to make rash decisions for fear of a loss of support. As for these organizations, their goals must be aimed at the long-term welfare of the target group and not just making the best of whatever they have got.
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