Charity: the norm of a decent person’s life

â € ‹â €‹ â € ‹â €‹ â € ‹â €‹ â € ‹

In civilized countries, charity is the norm. Decent people consider it absolutely natural to direct 10% of their time or money to socially good deeds: to help those in need or support promising projects.

Over the dollar, charity is popular among all segments of the population: among the poor, and among wealthy people, including the richest. In 2010, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates took the Giving Pledge, promising to give at least 50% of their wealth to charity. They were followed by many other richest people on the planet (George Lucas, Mark Zuckerberg, David Rockefeller, Richard Branson), and by the summer of 2014, 107 billionaires and millionaires had taken the pledge of giving. Of the Russian billionaires, only Vladimir Potanin is on this list.

Unfortunately, in the Russian mentality, charity is not honored. We are now in 123rd place in the world out of 135 countries studied in the ranking of philanthropy, and none of the countries of the former Soviet Union is lower than us in this ranking. 76% of the population of our country have never donated to anyone and never even thought about it. The social responsibility of a company, that is, whether a particular company does charity or not, is not important for Russians. At the same time, those who do charity work are viewed with distrust: 40% are convinced that charity is done for the sake of advertising, they condemn those who talk about their charitable activities and insist that charity should only be done in secret. On the other hand, in recent years, donations to charity have been growing significantly (up to 50% per year), but mainly at the expense of medium-sized businesses.

It is important to understand that charity is primarily the culture of the people themselves, and not the money they have collected. It doesn’t matter how much you donate for good deeds, what is more important is that you internally understand the need for this. If a person has a small income and gives small amounts, there is always a sense in his charity: a big river is made up of small streams. If a rich person donates, say, $100, and 5 people with an average or maybe even low income donate $100 each, then the amount collected by us, ordinary people, will actually turn out to be more. And if these 5 people make a regular deduction and transfer 100 USD each month to a charitable foundation they like, then they will very quickly overtake any millionaire. It will turn out such a collective Bill Gates.

Charity doesn’t have to mean donations. It is possible to do charity work without breaking away from your profession, working pro bono (professional assistance for the public good). Lawyers can give free consultations to those who need them but cannot pay. Teacher — to tutor for free with a lagging orphanage. Art historian — to conduct a free tour for children from poor families. Photographer — a master class in photography. It’s easy to come up with all this, the main thing is to start thinking about it.

Unfortunately, this is a big problem in our country. According to Mail.ru and VTsIOM statistics, helping adults ranks fifth in popularity after helping children, the elderly, animals, and helping environmental problems. People feel more sorry for dogs than people, and out of a sense of pity, it is more important to support unviable children, rather than adults who could still live and work. The Russians, if they really want to give money money, then only for one patient, well, that is, for one child, and preferably the patient, the patient himself, preferably mortally incurable. And if the child does not die, then no one wants to give money for the rehabilitation of the child after an illness. The feeling of pity no longer works, and there is no understanding of charity in the Russian mentality today.

Smart charity should be cost-effective, motivated not by feelings of pity, but by an understanding of the reasonableness of one’s contributions, and work towards a real improvement in affairs. Do not bring gifts to children in orphanages: this is not charity, but rather sabotage. No matter how terrible it sounds, today’s system of orphanages-boarding schools is vicious in essence, and it is impossible to participate in such a project. Caring for children is sacred, but it needs to be done differently, as Dmitry Morozov, for example, does it now, or A.S. Makarenko.

And for business people, the most correct charity is the social orientation of their own business. If one of the businessmen builds a system of private schools in Russia, where low prices are combined with high quality education, such a businessman does not need to allocate 10% of his money to any other projects. His best charity will be the fastest possible development of his business, he must invest all the money only in this business.

The very first and simplest form of charity is to live every day as honestly and efficiently as possible, taking care of people and business at work and taking care of loved ones at home. And taking care of yourself seriously, in order to live as long as possible and as efficiently as possible, working for your worthy Maximum of life.

A small but kind charity: to give things that you do not need to those who need them. About this good site Darudar.