...of the latest charity craze, ie to make a donation to the ALS, have bucket of ice water poured over your head and challenge others. For whatever reason this promotional gimmick has caught the public's fancy - big time!
The ALS (who'd normally collect about 2.6M in annual donations) has exceeded 88M (34 years worth), and still climbing. More than a new record, this is stupendous. Or is it?
Not necessarily. By collecting so very much money, so far, far, FAR over even their most optimistic goals - this actually creates some problems.
- 1. It's hard to use that much money efficiently or quickly.
2. If it's invested and held idle, it is not actively helping. It tempts new projects that will require future funding. Too rapid growth is risky.
But what is surely a big, big issue - perhaps the most important is this...
3. By soon collecting 40 years worth of money in a single year there is the very serious risk of the loss of regular or new contributors, maybe most of them. And if they keep the money, some will (correctly) perceive them as greedy.
What to do?
One excellent suggestion is this: keep a reasonable sum, but share the windfall with other related, but independent charities. By doing so it serves all their interests, and provides the best possible example of their own charity. If this notion is good, then the question is simple, or maybe not...
How much money is reasonable to keep? What do you think? Oh, and please do share your thinking (unless you choose to keep it to yourself, lol)...