The Difference Between Near and Far

I've been thinking a lot lately about why people give. As a nonprofit fundraiser/grant writer/outcomes director/program manager, why people give has a direct correlation to my livelihood. But it interests me beyond that level. I think fundamentally people give because it makes them feel good. Some may give out of guilt, some may give out of loyalty, some may give out of a sense of obligation. But over all, I think giving your money, your time, or your belongings to others in need makes you feel good. And people like to feel good.

And this brings me to what I've been thinking the most about: why some people choose to give overseas and why some give locally. Because I work in the trenches, so to speak, I'm predisposed to assume everyone would choose to give in their community, or at least their country. But I think it's emotionally easier to give to people of another culture. When you don't know them or their society on a personal level, you get to view their behavior as neutral. All woman can be victims. All children can be hungry. All people can be universally good and just at the whim of fortune. You don't usually have the knowledge to examine whether someone in an African country is the equivalent of welfare mom who may be milking the system. You don't have to know that the farmer receiving subsidy may be an asshole. You don't have to care what his view of gay marriage is. If he's a bigot, you can write it off as a cultural difference.

But locally it's harder to make those sweeping generalizations. When someone gives to a homeless shelter, it's much harder to see the recipients as neutral. All of a sudden each recipient becomes a complex individual with potential mental illness or drug addiction. Giving gets harder when you know enough to judge the people you give to. And nonprofits are reduced to giving out rosy pictures of redemption instead of truthfully representing the day to day crap that most of us wade through.

I guess the best news is that unless your job, like mine, is to decipher what campaign will be most likely to tug on heart and purse strings, why people give is moot. Because people do give. Whether or not it's easier to give to the fluffy puppy rescue organization than to the needle exchange, people still give. And thank god for it.

And fundraising will make you feel like quite the shit peddling social pariah if you let it get to you.