If you work for a non-profit and you don’t give money to charity, what exactly are you doing in this job? I’ve met some incredibly generous people in the charitable world, but I can also report that a huge number of people—even on the fundraising side—would happily cross the street and risk a beating in order to avoid giving $100 to a cause that’s not their own. And the shame of it is that this inaction on their part keeps them from experiencing the very emotion that they try so hard to sell.
- Watch the Money by Seth Godin
Seth, what an ass you are. Everyone I’ve ever met at a nonprofit takes a very large and definable cut in salary relative to comparable work in the for-profit sector. That’s a choice and it’s a bigger donation as a percentage of net worth than the givings of many of the largest donors I could name (and since I write about the hedge fund industry, this is no small statement).
Secondly, really, what an ass you are. How do you know that the people who don’t donate money don’t donate a greater percentage of their time? Non profit work is often rigorous and redefines the concept of “I gave at the office.”
Third, the fundraising people are often the best paid people at any nonprofit and their job is typically farthest from the on-the-ground work that most financiers and other seemingly generous souls wouldn’t touch.
Don’t confuse your knowledge of one industry with a license to talk knowingly about whatever you like.
