Charity Due Diligence
November 23, 2011 9:51 AM Subscribe
I am thinking about sending 25 Euro a month to this charity (German language site), in order to provide schooling to one child in Kenya. How do I best check that this is a legit deal?
This is a private initiative. They have apparently founded a school and the money goes specifically towards the schooling expenditures of one child (uniforms, lunches + teachers' salaries etc). They also make sure that children who benefit from the program actually attend classes and they don't have a lot of overhead.
This kind of charity something that I've been wanting to do for years and I feel quite strongly about. I am also quite impressed with their information policy which seems a lot better than organisations like Plan or WorldVision. But I don't want to be scammed or do more harm than good. What should I be paying attention to?
This is a private initiative. They have apparently founded a school and the money goes specifically towards the schooling expenditures of one child (uniforms, lunches + teachers' salaries etc). They also make sure that children who benefit from the program actually attend classes and they don't have a lot of overhead.
This kind of charity something that I've been wanting to do for years and I feel quite strongly about. I am also quite impressed with their information policy which seems a lot better than organisations like Plan or WorldVision. But I don't want to be scammed or do more harm than good. What should I be paying attention to?
If you just want to give money and it has not to be Kenya, try here. It is in Brazil/Belo Horizonte, I know the guys, it is legit.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 10:07 AM on November 23, 2011
posted by yoyo_nyc at 10:07 AM on November 23, 2011
I cannot read German but I do help to run a similar charitable venture. My main questions would be:
- Aside from material support, what social support is provided to the students? Students in these programs may have a lot of social problems like ill/dying family members, abusive families, etc. What happens when the students are failing school? Are they just thrown out of the program? Do they get tutoring? Does anyone investigate what's going on with them.
- Does the student or family have to make any contribution? Do the students volunteer their time with the organization or some other such method to 'repay' their scholarship? Are they invested in their education? Do the families value the scholarship? Do they have to contribute anything, based on what they can afford?
- How are students selected for the program? By merit? By need? By tribal connections/political favoritism? How is need determined? I would look for a program where the students are selected through a combination of need and merit. Most students in those locations are in need, so it's better to support the ones who are most likely to succeed/have a successful track record but not the means to continue schooling.
- How is the program monitored? Is the money given directly from the organization's representative to the school bursar or is it given to the student or family? How do they ensure that the students are actually attending school? Do they track grades? What happens if a student changes their name? (not sure if this happens in Kenya, but where I work, students are constantly changing their names, which makes it very hard to ensure that the same student is getting the scholarship. I have also seen students showing up and claiming to be a student in the program, but when I compare the photos, they are clearly two different children).
Hope that's useful, Memail me if you have other questions that maybe you can determine from being able to read the site.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:10 AM on November 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
- Aside from material support, what social support is provided to the students? Students in these programs may have a lot of social problems like ill/dying family members, abusive families, etc. What happens when the students are failing school? Are they just thrown out of the program? Do they get tutoring? Does anyone investigate what's going on with them.
- Does the student or family have to make any contribution? Do the students volunteer their time with the organization or some other such method to 'repay' their scholarship? Are they invested in their education? Do the families value the scholarship? Do they have to contribute anything, based on what they can afford?
- How are students selected for the program? By merit? By need? By tribal connections/political favoritism? How is need determined? I would look for a program where the students are selected through a combination of need and merit. Most students in those locations are in need, so it's better to support the ones who are most likely to succeed/have a successful track record but not the means to continue schooling.
- How is the program monitored? Is the money given directly from the organization's representative to the school bursar or is it given to the student or family? How do they ensure that the students are actually attending school? Do they track grades? What happens if a student changes their name? (not sure if this happens in Kenya, but where I work, students are constantly changing their names, which makes it very hard to ensure that the same student is getting the scholarship. I have also seen students showing up and claiming to be a student in the program, but when I compare the photos, they are clearly two different children).
Hope that's useful, Memail me if you have other questions that maybe you can determine from being able to read the site.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:10 AM on November 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
Leaving aside the question of this particular charity's legitimancy:
Are you SURE that your contribution will go ONLY to 'your' child? I've looked into a couple of this sort of "adopt a child in need" charities, and it seems that what really happens is that your money is actually pooled with other people's donations, and spread over an entire village or wherever: your money does NOT directly provide books and food for 'your' child. Sure, the money DOES go to people in need of food, medical care, schools, etc., but I dislike the lie. It all feels a little bait & switch to me, even though the entire village benefits, which in itself benefits 'your' child.
posted by easily confused at 2:50 PM on November 23, 2011
Are you SURE that your contribution will go ONLY to 'your' child? I've looked into a couple of this sort of "adopt a child in need" charities, and it seems that what really happens is that your money is actually pooled with other people's donations, and spread over an entire village or wherever: your money does NOT directly provide books and food for 'your' child. Sure, the money DOES go to people in need of food, medical care, schools, etc., but I dislike the lie. It all feels a little bait & switch to me, even though the entire village benefits, which in itself benefits 'your' child.
posted by easily confused at 2:50 PM on November 23, 2011
to easily confused - it is a bit of a bait and switch for marketing, but I would always choose a charity that said the funding goes to a project or area over an individual child if possible. The individual child funding is emotionally satisfying and operationally, a disaster. It means that a bigger percentage of your donation goes into pointless administration to restrict the funds to one kid, and greatly limits what the funds can do.
I administer a specific scholarship for about 14-18 kids a year, and we've had people try to nominate particular children for it, but the reality is that kids move in and out due to personal circumstances and tying up funds for one kid, over being able to replace the kid who's dropped out from illness/family problems with another child in need - way more useful. We've set it so you can sponsor a scholarship, but not a particular child for that reason.
If we did individual kids, we would definitely be able to raise more money, but the overheads would climb quickly for generating individual reports and individual financial tracking, rather than by program, which donors don't want to pay for yet is magically expected to appear.
If a charity really did push individual specific sponsorships that were below $1,000 a year, where it might be worth the admin trade-off, I would be very cautious. The costs have to come from somewhere, and it limits their growth and flexibility. It means they're putting fundraising ahead of benefiting kids.
It is very natural to want to connect to an individual, not to a village. It just doesn't work well.
posted by viggorlijah at 10:45 PM on November 23, 2011
I administer a specific scholarship for about 14-18 kids a year, and we've had people try to nominate particular children for it, but the reality is that kids move in and out due to personal circumstances and tying up funds for one kid, over being able to replace the kid who's dropped out from illness/family problems with another child in need - way more useful. We've set it so you can sponsor a scholarship, but not a particular child for that reason.
If we did individual kids, we would definitely be able to raise more money, but the overheads would climb quickly for generating individual reports and individual financial tracking, rather than by program, which donors don't want to pay for yet is magically expected to appear.
If a charity really did push individual specific sponsorships that were below $1,000 a year, where it might be worth the admin trade-off, I would be very cautious. The costs have to come from somewhere, and it limits their growth and flexibility. It means they're putting fundraising ahead of benefiting kids.
It is very natural to want to connect to an individual, not to a village. It just doesn't work well.
posted by viggorlijah at 10:45 PM on November 23, 2011
Response by poster: Wow, thanks for the great answers.
Treehorn+bunny, could you weigh in on what Viggorlijah said?
posted by Omnomnom at 10:51 PM on November 23, 2011
Treehorn+bunny, could you weigh in on what Viggorlijah said?
posted by Omnomnom at 10:51 PM on November 23, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Looks like there is a similar thing in Germany http://www.harambee-deutschland.de/
Googled in German, no scam flags showed up. Looks legit to me for now.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 10:03 AM on November 23, 2011