My work with this project has always been unpaid, unemployed, and (for the most part) unplanned. It’s probably now that I should talk about the fact that I’d like to one day earn a living doing this.
What do I mean by “earning a living”? Well, in the near term, I would like to be able to stop borrowing from friends and family to pay for things like meals, clothes, and even basics like getting a haircut. In the long term, I’d like to one day live that “American Dream” somewhere in suburbia.
At the same time, I want to be able to follow my passion. Helping others – especially in ways that connect people using technology – is a dream come true. Even though I believe we can end extreme poverty, I want to be able to continue to help others for the rest of my life.
The desire to earn a living from your passion maybe a no-brainer for many people reading this. But it deserves discussion because not everyone agrees that you should be able to earn a living if your passion is fighting poverty.
Far too many people believe that, if you want to help the poor, you have to be poor yourself and/or take a vow to live a Spartan-like existence. I couldn’t disagree more with such a sentiment – and I say that as someone who is virtually penniless.
Ending extreme global poverty won’t be done in a single summer service trip or by volunteering every second Sunday. It requires a large contingent of dedicated men and women who have the expertise, training, know how, and logistical support to do this day in and day out.
To expect everyone fighting poverty to do so unpaid is just as silly as expecting every doctor to work without pay. Sure, many do – but it’s not scalable to the whole. I’m also not trying to suggest we turn communist. I fully believe people should be compensated for the work they put in – no matter the job.
And, again, to most of you this is a no-brainer. But, having done this for a while, I’m constantly surprised at how some people turn into haters because they feel that anyone who earns a living helping the poor is somehow “getting rich off poverty”. These are accusations even I’ve had to deal with – despite the fact that I can’t even afford to go see a movie without borrowing from mom & dad (sad but true).
I’ve also seen this accusation used in a way to dismiss the anti-poverty message of others. For example many people insist that, if anti-poverty scholars truly cared about fighting poverty, they wouldn’t charge for the books they write. This begs two questions. First, is writing a book about poverty easier than writing other kinds of books? And, second, are only those who write about poverty the ones who care about poverty?
In my opinion, my friend John Green and my inspiration Dr. Jeffrey Sachs equally care about global poverty. The difference is one writes teen fiction and the other writes about global poverty. Both put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into their work – and both deserve the right to earn a living from the fruits of their labor.
With so many people out there trying to help the poor – and so many charities to chose from – I think many of us have developed unrealistic expectations as to what it takes to fight poverty in a long-term sustainable manner. Just because I do this unpaid – doesn’t mean everyone else has to. Just because I don’t take a cut from donations – doesn’t mean real charities don’t have to.
As far as I can tell – with the lack of progress I’ve had in sustaining my work thus far – my work will continue to be unpaid, unemployed, and unplanned. But, I would like to one day earn a living from this passion. And, if that ever happens, I would hope that my work isn’t perceived as less sincere, less honest, and any less genuine than it is right now.
I am constantly amazed that what you are doing, you do without expecting compensation. You are very lucky to have friends and family that are willing to help you out. However, it is ridiculous for anyone to expect you to be able to coninue to do this without being able to make a living as well. You should be able to earn a living at something and, ideally, you should be able to earn that living by doing something you are passionate about.
I know for me, I understand that charities use some of the money donated to be able to pay employees and fund the work that they do. It would be nice if every dollar went to help those that it intended to help, but it does cost money to run an NPO. The people who have dedicated their lives to helping others shouldn’t have to scrape and scramble to get by in their own lives.
After all, how can you end extreme poverty if you end up in poverty yourself?
I agree; you are essentially specializing in a field, and that kind of specialization correlates to pay. That sounds clinical, but if you were doing an unpaid internship in publishing or finance, the expectation would be that you would be gaining experience to get a higher-paying job, right? The best charities and nonprofits don’t spend much of their budget on administrative pay, but you can and should make a living using your experience. The work you are doing is selfless and noble, and will continue to be when you get a job doing it, too.
My heart ways heavy for you. It is a tough choice to do this kind of work and remain unpaid. I recently left a food pantry, due to a move, that I worked for 2 years unpaid. Held my job the first year, but quit the paying gig to dedicate the second year to dedicate my time to the community. I was richly blessed durring this time. One of my hearts desires was to see the people taking over for me would be paid. (It took 5 people) I am still working on that. Though, I think that large NPO’s sometimes use more than they should to employ people; I do believe that they should be paid.
I don’t know why but I’ve always felt that people who got paid to do certain types of work were cheaters. Pastors, missionaries, etc. Personally I subscribe to the Maslow’s Hierarchy theory and a human development theory that basically goes like this: I am born a helpless infant -> I learn to be responsible for myself -> I become educated and learn to provide for myself -> I become completely physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially fit and independent -> My skill expanding, I am able to not only take care of myself but my spouse and children -> I contribute to society and the world at large in ways beyond my job and the money I spend.
It’s my personal dream to be successful in life, to be fully actualized and to use my personal wealth and labor and skill to make a difference in the world. To that end I do my best at all I can, seek better opportunities, and live conservatively.
Since I was a teen, I wanted to travel the world making wells for people in Africa, India and other locations. I dreamed of making better machines to make wells. In the years since my thoughts have moved to making better well machines and to how to help people help themselves.
Water seems to be only a stop-gap solution. Medicine, farming, food, machines, industry, birth-control are all issues that need to be systematically addressed to really help people and make a long term difference in any society.
One day I will be in a place to make a difference to people of the world. I will have had time to make a good plan. When I go out to help, I will pay for most or all of it myself. If I am not able to personally go, I will have be intimately involved in the projects and finances of where I send my money to.
(Just so you know I’m not full of BS. I’ve been on three mission trips where I raised the money and went to work during my teen years. I built cabins at summer camp for disadvantaged kids in Tekax, Mexico. I built a gymnasium for a christian school in Guatemala, and I built a church in Cambodia.)
“It requires a large contingent of dedicated men and women who have the expertise, training, know how, and logistical support to do this day in and day out.”
The best way to attract and keep talent is to pay for it, or, to use a slightly more clichéd adage, “you get what you pay for”. It astounds me that anybody who seriously supports the goal of fighting poverty would be opposed to the idea of professional poverty fighters.
I don’t think ANYONE would deny you the ability to make a reasonable wage to do the things you do. You should be able to live and raise a family, own a home, contribute to your retirement, enjoy an actual vacation now and then where you get to travel to an exotic location for your own pleasure. Those are things we all work towards having, and you should have that, too.
I do think the public’s perception is that they don’t want to see waste or anyone getting RICH from donated money. Is it ethical for the CEO of a charitable organization to make $500.000 to a million dollars a year? Frankly, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around ANYONE making that kind of money, when so many have nothing.
You are a wonderful human being. Thank you, the world is a better place because of you.
I agree that people should be able to earn a living working to end poverty. It is utter ridiculousness to believe that one job should pay less than another because of what it does. Working to end poverty is still work, and money would actually be good, because it provide major incentive to want to be in the field of ending global poverty (whatever that field may be) along with the internal incentive of, well, being passionate about ending global poverty.
The issue that some people may have with this is that we, as givers, have no idea where our money goes. I know that this is problem that you would live to tackle, especially if you go to Davos, but if I give to a charitable organization, I have no idea whether my dollar is going into someone’s pocket or is being used to buy a mosquito net for someone in Bangladesh.
There are plenty of people who would be willing to make donations strictly to help an organization continue to run, or to pay the employees that are doing wonderful jobs working to do what so few people would want to do. Others, however, would like to know that their dollar is purely helping the needy 100%, and I’d like to think that they should have the right to know that it will.
So, for all of those agreeing w/this man…who’s going to offer him a job?
Blunt and forward, perhaps…but when fighting extreme poverty, why waste time w/niceties?
ACW
@Linda
That really depends on whether the person is really making a $1 million/year contribution to the charity. If this person really is that valuable, and the loss of this person would result in a huge loss in leadership/fundraising/whatever to the charity, then it might be worth paying the person a huge salary to keep them from moving to another field. Why should charities and non-profits not be allowed to stay competitive?
Of course, this isn’t to say that the salary isn’t excessive, merely that a large salary is not prima facie unethical or problematic. It could very well be the case that the (hypothetical?) person in question doesn’t deserve that money and is in fact doing the charity a huge disservice by funneling funds away from where they are needed.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that business–be it a charity, a non-profit, or a for-profit, is rarely as cut-and-dry as some people like to envision it.
It seems that the answer to the dilemma you presented is social entrepreneurship. It helps you make a decent living (because it IS the only thing you’ll be working on) while not only maintaining the impact you are making, but increasing it because it is a sustainable business model.
I certainly support the concept you’re writing about and I do understand the need to defend it. I don’t know how you feel about christianity, but there is this passage in the Bible “WHATEVER you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord”. I think that we shouldn’t have to give up on our passion or ideals just to eat. Okay, it happens all the time but when someone manages to make a living helping people it should be encouraged not frowned upon. Do we really want the young people who care enough to try and change the world to first work 20-30 years in “normal” jobs to finance their “hobby” and then find at 55, that they simply don’t have the needed energy or health?
Keep fighting! And as an answer to Amy’s question if you can’t get a organization to support you personally, you just have to make one. I bet many of us would be ready to support you.
There are ways to make an honest living and help others. Those who would see an ethical dilemma in this are those who look at large non-profits or other organizations and see corruption everywhere. But most of us know that this isn’t the case in all operations. There are good people, good people who do good in this world.
You may not want to have millions and live in a mansion, but you do need to put food on your own table and a roof over your own head. No one would begrudge you that.
Unless they’re haters, haters are a whole different story
I emphasize the last blogger’s main point: there are always ways that you as an individual can help contribute to end global poverty. I recently heard of an essay competition sponsored by a non profit organization that has been set up for just this reason. It’s time we all stepped up to the plate and tried to do our part.
I agree there are ways you can make money to help end poverty, this website here http://www.worldwidevisitors.com offers a home base business in the trillion dollar travel and tourism industry.
You save money on your travel & accommodation needs, at the same time you are making money from this home base business, money made from this opportunity can fund your work in the mission field in so many ways.
You could fund health, education, employment, housing projects and help set people free of poverty this way, not forgetting that your being paid from your business.
It is a referral program and has helped not only me but others who work in the mission field.