It is common these days to see celebrities jump on the philanthropy bandwagon. They go on the street to do a few acts of charity for photo op: film the giving process and splash the pictures on their Instagram pages and Tik Tok. At a point in 2022, it was almost a fad, a case of one week, one celebrity doing a scene from the give-back-to-society playbook. Sometimes the whole setup smacks of hypocrisy.
This is not to say that there ain’t celebrities who engage in philanthropic undertakings out of genuine concern to help the helpless and make society better. There are a thousand and one out there, solo philanthropists who are spurred by the milk of human kindness in them to give their “widow’s mites” to bring succour to the less privileged, without any ulterior motive.
At the same time, it is not farfetched to say that the charity sector has been invaded.
We have seen a mushroom of foundations all over the place, all claiming to be involved with “lifting” the less privileged in our society. They pop up once in a blue moon to stage some modest charitable acts and throw up wild razzmatazz that will feed their egos and popularity in public for months before they return for an encore and another round of the 15-minute of fame.
There is nothing wrong in doing good―no matter how haphazardly it might be. But, hey, anything worth doing is worth doing well. To every endeavour, there is an underlying principle; to any worthy cause, there is a method.
Philanthropy―and other forms of CSR―is too serious an undertaking to be trivialised and turned into tools for pursuits of vainglories by publicity ghouls.
Charity is not about the giver; neither is it supposed to strip the receiver of his dignity. It is meant to relieve one person of a burden and improve the entire society better in the long term.
For individuals willing to go the whole hog, they need to understudy the act of giving back to society in a wholesome, sustainable manner.
Two pieces of advice are germane here.
One, if you have enough resources to sustain the campaign long-term, organise your charity through a foundation that is registered, well-structured and has clearly defined objectives.
Two: If your charity is dependent on occasional spurts of funds, hey, you will do better by being a donor, channelling your resources through well-founded charity organisations already active in your areas of interest.
Three―if I may add one more―if you must do your solo spur-of-the-moment charities, cut out the publicity part. Feeding the hungry or helping the homeless and thereafter splashing videos and photos of them on social media robs them of their dignity. Do your bit of good and leave the beneficiaries out of your megalomania.
Giving to the needy, helping the poor, lifting the downtrodden, empowering the powerless―and what have you―are motivated by the humanity in us; once they are turned into a “spectator sport,” they lose the noble quality that made them a worthwhile endeavour.
