CAUTION WHILE DONATING !

CAUTION WHILE DONATING !

 ‘Go beyond the heart-wrenching story that catches your attention to see some real data” - Minuitti

The charity we are going to discuss is not about the money you give the poor man outside temple, church or mosque! It is not about the old lady who requires alms at the traffic signal.

The charity we discuss is about large amounts of money like thousands to hundreds of thousands of rupees. 

I remember a very affluent friend of mine denying to sponsor the dinner for FRCS surgeons meet saying she would prefer to rather donate any amount of money towards an ambulance for a charity hospital! She made terrific sense!

Newspapers carry news ever so often about scams in the name of charity! Better be safe than sorry!

Why do we donate?

People donate for various reasons  - altruism, philanthropy, trust, social , egoism, or tax purposes.

I often associate with groups of dedicated philanthropists who by conducting large events, raise donations for charity. A large amount of money is collected and given out for charitable causes.

Lakhs and lakhs of genuine, charity money is however, spent on poorly run or fraudulent charities which we do not bother to research on.

There are very many people in our region, in our country , in our world, who require our help by way of money and resources. 

No doubt we need to help them financially! I am not saying no!

Let us make certain that our money goes towards the right cause . Let not our genuinely collected or hard earned money go to a middle man who will help himself to it.

Suggestions if you wish to donate

As a donor you may be a single person or head of an organization.

There are some suggestions to consider seriously, if you wish to donate major money to a cause.

Some of these 15 suggestions given below, follow the principles of common sense. Some of them need analysis and research in detail.

1.If charity needs only wired money to someone claiming to be a charity, it is probably a bogus!

2. If the charity is a new one, without solid reputation, be concerned.

3.The charity or nonprofit organisation should be registered. It must show good standing and should be a public record!

4. If the charity keeps calling  you, by quoting a dying kid or large amounts of money for a single illness, be concerned. Not all the money will be going to the person, but to the overheads of the institution!

5.If they promise that charity money is going 100% to the affected party, then this is most likely to be untrue. We know charities have overhead administrative causes. All we need to know is how much percentage goes to the patient. Charities should not spend more than one third of the donated money for overhead charges!

6.If information about the charity and their operating costs are unclear, then go ahead and ask them. If they are not clearly forthcoming, avoid the charity!

7.If the charity has not shown much of their spending details in the past on the money you had already given in the past, then avoid them!

8.If the charity does not have great reviews, by all means avoid them! Some of the so called charities may be collecting money from many sources for the same cause and same patients in addition to your contribution.

9.If the charity has a lot of money, then be concerned. The money you give is not really needed and will only sit idle, as for as charity is concerned!

10.If the charity is playing on your emotions and claiming to help children etc, do your homework before donating!

11.When it is claimed that money is needed urgently, be suspicious!

12.Avoid charities whose executives make a large income. As a devil’s advocate, it is not expected that the charity executive should work for peanuts. All you have to do is to make sure that charities are reviewed by a  committee on par with non-profit organisations.  

13.Another safeguard is a board of directors with at lease 5 independent voting members who should not be related to, or reporting to the MD /CEO.

14.If you or your organisation is in the habit of giving out charities, do not just give and forget. Always revaluate the money you have given in the past, financial details of how it was spent for the cause keeping, while maintaining maximum efficiency, ethics and effectiveness.

15. By and large, it does not make much sense donating a large amount of money to a single affected person for experimental  treatment / surgery with dubious results. It would be more prudent to know about the treatment offered and its possible efficacy before the large sum of money is donated.

In Brief:

In general, rather than responding to emotional appeals, determine what causes you are concerned about.  If it is about cancer, do you want the money to go for awareness programs, or to research or to patients.

In Tamil Nadu, where  the government resources are vast in health care. There are charitable trusts ( non-profit) and private institutions.

It is worthwhile finding out how the last donation from your organisation was exactly spent, before granting more money. 

Established industries like TATA donate large amounts of money for the designated poor , but they look before they leap. 

By all means, donate! That too, as much as you can! But ensure that it is well spent for the right cause!

Acknowlegement: Pictures from Internet

OUR PETS

OUR PETS

Recently a friend of mine queried the need for keeping a pet. This was raised in the context of a parrot dying and the owner feeling very disheartened and dispirited at the passing away of the pet bird. 

My friend queried if the habit of keeping bird pets (or any other for that matter) is healthy at all, as children would feel really blue at the death of pets whom they loved with all their heart.

ORIGIN OF THE WORD:

Since 1530, pet meaning animal companion, it was possibly from Scots and dialectal Northern England.

Did you know that a dog lover is called ‘cynophile’ and a cat lover is called ‘ailurophile’. The term ‘Phile’ means ’like’ as against the more familiar ‘phobe’!

PETS IN CHILDHOOD:

Though we associate pets mainly with children, all sorts of people keep pets. 

We have always had dogs as pets (Cynophile!) as far as I can remember. 

My sister and I, as kids, had a dog in particular - a mixture of cocker spaniel and dachshund - a black friendly being called Gilly . She used to come with us wherever we went, sleep under our beds and patiently wait for dinner time. We used to drop whatever food we disliked and she used to gulp it all from under the table from the prying eyes of my mother! 

I met the owner of the dog 30 years later; Molly's parents gifted Gilly as a pup to us. She recalled the dog after so many years with ease, including the name of the dog!

Keeping up with the tradition, my boys grew up with dogs too! as does my grandson now! My sister somewhere along the line has switched over to cats!

AS PETS:

Cats in fact are more popular than dogs all over the world.

Even in India, the incidence of pets have tremendously increased ass evidenced by a visit to a PET store or a Veterinary doctor. There are plenty of pet lovers with their pets for advice and for seeking help.

Other pets include fish, birds in India. I have heard of even pet leopards, snakes, alligators etc specially from abroad.

ARE PETS GOOD FOR YOU?

Pets afford us comapanisonship. There are studies to show that the physical and mental health of the owner improve. 

Pets also gives the lonely elderly folks the desire to take care of someone, the need to exercise, someone to speak to and to feel the warmth of a living being next to them. 

Pets train the child owners the responsibilities of life - like feeding, taking care when sick, the need for exercise and the general hygiene, socialization and the need to train well.

Pets are known to decrease blood pressure levels, lower stress levels, lower triglyceride levels and even lower the incidence of heart attacks. 

For the blind, seeing eye dogs help to make them live  with independent mobility.

People in hospice and nursing homes too benefit by physical contact with dogs. These therapy dogs may of different types - facility therapy dogs, animal-assisted therapy dogs and therapeutic visitation dogs.

In fact having pets increases your love for any living beings ! Friends of mine Lydia(Mumbai), Tusna (Chennai) collect stray pets and shelter them till suitable families adopt them.

Many of us pet lovers leave food and water outside our homes for the stray animals on the street!

NEGATIVES:

There are negative aspects to keeping pets too - like lung disorders, fractures to the eldery by collision with friendly heavy dogs, bites or nail injuries, parasitic infestation of the pets.

I have in this blog, only covered the pets from the prospective of a companion and not as a working animal. That is very different. 

I do not keep dogs for breeding or for winning prizes at the animal (dog shows) , nor for selling! Many friends do ! 

DOES CAT HAVE NINE LIVES?

The average dog life is like 10-13 years, the smaller ones live longer than the larger breeds. Ours generally live long than this period! 

Cats live 2-16 years! 

And when the dogs pass away, it can be a heart wrenching experience! 

With the passing away of the pets , the child learns to grieve with the family and I guess this helps the child later on to overcome immense sadness, failures and to face such emotions!

Acknowlegements - Pictures taken from internet