Ranting about “like and share charities”
I’m not calling out the people who participated in these, I’m just letting ya’ll know to proceed to move into more genuine methods of charity and giving back to the community.
FeelsGoodMan
I’m a great proponent of charity. I mean you’ve gotta be a really fucked up person to be against it. I strongly believe that people who are in better circumstances should understand they stand in a point of privilege and can always have action to make the world a little better. Not to flex or anything, but ever since I won an award in highschool for my volunteering and charity efforts, (somehow by the way I don’t even know how), I’ve made that a purpose in my life. For a time during university I slacked on this, mainly due to not actually having any money at all to make charitiable contributions, but time-wise I could have given more. Currently, I make consistent donations to Canadian Feed the Children, where I am happily sponsoring a child named Morgan. I’ll likely write about how to sponsor a child and what research you should do before doing it in the future… And I also volunteer some of my time to various non-profits around where I live (Milton, ON).
Right now I think I’m doing the least of my part in what most people often forget to consider in their lives. In the long run, my advocacy is that this charitable work would not be necessary in a socialist community, where social programs are properly funded and EVERYONE has equitable chance and means to make their life better… But that’s for another time to rant about. Charity is great and people should often try to give no matter how little.
Social media has greatly revolutionized how we interact and communicate with each other. What I see a lot in social media nowadays are infographics and text about social and political causes. Great, I love that, some people don’t have enough time to read theory, but what I don’t like sometimes is the misinformation spread in these infographics, again this is probably another topic I’ll rant about later. What I hate more than this however are “interaction-based” charity on social media.
“Like and share!”
What is interaction-based charity you ask? Well its those posts you see on social media that say “share this post and we’ll donate $0.01 to this charity”, or another iteration is “like this post and for each like we’ll plant a tree!”.
Most the time, there are limits to the amount they donate, usually hidden in the caption of their post is “Our donation limit is $500” so while they get the interactions and algorithm boost (which they use to acquire sponsors), almost most of the other shares are pointless and only $500 is being donated. It’s like the ultimate wholesome grift method. You feel good thinking you made a difference, they get thousands or even millions of interactions, from people who participate in this share-fest for the glimmer of feeling like they made significant social action today. Yet that’s all where people stop. All their charity, starts and stops from a post. Now I’m not calling out the people who participate in these. You can do it, on the small chance they original creator does carry out their promises.
But please consider moving into real methods of making a change in the world. Charity and volunteering even small amounts can make the difference, and let me tell you it feels so much better than sharing a menial post.
I have a feeling these accounts that do this “like and share charity” use it for the algorithm and interaction boost, acquire a dumb enough sponsor (they look at your reach statistics), and grift through to get money that way… Another method I saw was a page was promoting their own store page to sell products. It’s a way of advertising too. If they pull through with their promises, then good, but using shares and likes to drive action is feels disingenuous and low effort.
What you can do?
I understand again, I’m coming from a point of privilege where I do have the means, time and especially money to do this kind of work. I’m not saying go spend 10% of your monthly income to charity or work your weekends at a soup kitchen. What I’m saying is if you are going to do charity here are some things to consider:
1) Find information on what you’re actually donating to, or volunteering on. Find out the sponsor of the non-profit, their values and ideals, and how much of your money (if its a monetary donation) proceeds to the cause.
2) Volunteering is as good as charity. Volunteering your free time, is an easy free form of charity that does not require any capital. If you feel you don’t have the monetary means to give, then time is good too.
3) It’s okay to give what you can. You don’t have to give hundreds of dollars or numerous hours. Any small amount is good.
4) Advocacy and knowledge is good too. If you can’t give time or money right now, learning about why these social causes is great, and advocating for change within the political sphere for this is ultimately what can make the biggest impact. Changes to the system, is ultimately the goal I want to make, and charity can not be sustainable.
5) Do it yourself. Go plant that tree yourself lmao.
I’m no saint, I can attest that I’m an asshole. Charity and volunteer work however is something I feel strongly about. The world would be a better place if everyone did their small part. If everyone had genuine interest in making the world a better place, maybe things wouldn’t be this way.
Anyways, till the next rant.
JA.
If you’ve reached this part of the rant, thanks. You’re probably someone I know. For a few years now I’ve been doing a fundraiser each year for my birthday. Instead of taking a gift, I raise donations for a non-profit or cause. Last year we did one for the Canadian Mental Health Association, and raised $1000, this year my goal is $2000. I think I have some idea on what to do for fundraising efforts. Maybe another Pokemon box unboxing and 48 hour non-stop stream? I’ve got essentially a month to work this all out and figure out what to do. I want to reach a higher goal though this year and hope wee achieve that. We’ll see :)
