ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Greatest Social Media Strategy In History or Epic Fail?

Because of the nature of work I want to pursue, I'm choosing to discuss the very controversial ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I'm sure most of you in class are aware that I am getting my Master's in Public Relations next year and am fascinated by social media. Last semester I went to a very thought-provoking event that Professor Campbell led about the Ice Bucket Challenge and featured a panel discussion and would like to share my thoughts from the event and from our class this past Thursday.

The first question you're probably wondering is if I actually participated in this challenge. Well, to be honest, I had my sister dump ice on my head and put the video up on Facebook but I never actually donated. It was also a let down since the people I nominated did not event participate in the challenge. I felt that I was supporting a cause and felt good about what I did but it definitely made me uneasy that I did not actually donate and that others I nominated did not rally the cause. 

If I'm being truthful, I still feel a bit ambivalent about the challenge and whether or not it has proven to be effective for raising awareness and money for ALS. Part of me agrees with my sister who would constantly go on rants about how ineffective the ice bucket challenge actually was and did not do anything besides further one's own ego. I will be the first to admit that I couldn't wait to get nominated and see how many likes I was going to get on my video. However, the other part of me thinks that this challenge is a social media phenomenon and a brillant PR/marketing strategy. From a Public Relations perspective, branding is everything. Sadly sometimes companies can't do much without public recognition, thinking about issues such as research for ALS. 

I've been thinking quite a bit about what our guest speaker from a few weeks ago had to say about the importance of telling the story. Rather than the ice bucket challenge, perhaps videos such as Anthony Carbajal could have been more effective. Carbajal suffers from ALS and shared his video on YouTube which was viewed by millions of people. I encourage you all to watch it and share your opinions on the effectiveness of this video. 

I would love to hear from you so here are some questions to ponder...

1) Did you participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge?

2) Do you think this challenge proved to be effective from a philanthropic point of view?

3) If you were a PR employee for ALS, what would you have done to help raise awareness and money for ALS?

Community Oriented Policing

While looking for something to write about for my blog post this week, I came across a YouTube video entitled “This is what community oriented policing looks like” (I will post the link to the video at the bottom of the post). I was intrigued by the title since most cop videos I see have to do with police brutality and car chases. However, this video was much different. The video was about Houston Police Department Sergeant Steve Wick, who was a member of the city’s Homeless Outreach Team. The goal of this team is to help the various homeless people of the city of Houston. In the video, Sgt. Wick can be seen talking to various homeless people about how they are doing and how he can help. What struck me most was the fact that he knew everyone he saw around the city personally. It was very heartwarming to see a police officer like Sgt. Wick that possessed philanthropic values and wanted to help the homeless people off his community.

This brings me on to the problem of homelessness. When we did our in class presentations last week, I was in the group which talked about homelessness. I learned so many things while we researched from our presentations, and many things I learned surprised me. The first thing that surprised me was that there are three types of homelessness, and not just the “sleeping on the street in the city” I usually thought about. Actually, chronic homelessness makes up a very small portion of the homeless community. Many people who are homeless are homeless because of unforeseen circumstances such as job loss and medical expenses. Many of these people are just like you and me, which makes homelessness such a relatable topic of discussion. One other thing that shocked me was the statistic that 19% of all homeless people are employed. We often think of homeless people who don’t have jobs and aren’t trying to help their situation. When I did this research, I realized that many of these people are trying as hard as they can to return to a normal lifestyle.

Sometimes, homeless people just need someone like Sgt. Steve Wick who cares about them and looks out for them. Many people hold a negative vision of the police, but that is because all we ever hear on the news is about shootings and police brutality. We almost never hear about people like Sgt. Wick, but this story is something everyone needs to hear about. Philanthropy in general doesn’t get much time in the news as mentioned in previous blog posts, but I think it absolutely should. However, philanthropists do their work to improve the well being of others and not for the spotlight. I’m sure Sgt. Wick would have continued his life changing work whether or not he was in the news.

What did you think of Sgt. Wick’s work?

Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqWdlDABmvo

Birthday Gifts

My 19^th birthday is this Friday, the 13^th.

I thought about not asking for anything. I am 19 years old, after all; I don’t really need presents. My mom kept asking me what I wanted, and I knew it would make her happy to be able to send me a birthday present. I asked for socks, slippers, and a Polaroid camera. I guess the socks and slippers are practical gifts (this is Binghamton after all, my feet have been freezing all winter). But I really hesitated to ask for the camera. I’ve wanted one for the past ten years. But I definitely don’t need one. I already have a decent digital camera. I’ve always loved the idea and appearance of Polaroid photos, but couldn’t I get the same effect with an Instagram filter? The camera itself costs about $60, and each photo ends up costing about $0.80. I feel kind of ashamed when I think that each photo could vaccinate a child, or provided a nutritional supplement to a pregnant woman. Why is it important to physically preserve my college memories in this specific way, when that same amount of money could have been used to save a life, so that someone could actually make memories themselves? Now I don’t know how to enjoy my birthday present without feeling guilty.

I thought about asking for something from the very useful “Gift List” in A Path Appears. My grandma usually gives me $50 for my birthday. It would be great to use that money to give one child “a year of bedtime stories,” for example. But I know that my grandma expects me to spend it on myself or invest it in my college education. If I told her that I donated it to charity, I’m not sure how she’d react. I know that anything she gives me technically belongs to me, but it doesn’t quite feel like mine to give away. We’ve talked about this feeling in class before, but what do you think? Since we’re not fully independent adults, how much choice do we get over where our money goes? If someone gives you money as a gift should you spend it how he or she would want you to, or any way you want? How would your family members react if you told them that you gave away your birthday money? I feel like my family would be supportive to an extent, but they would also be confused and maybe a little annoyed. Since we started this class, have you talked to your family about giving?

We’ve talked about some of these questions in class before, but my approaching birthday has made me apply them to my own life. What will all of you do when your birthday happens? Another thing I’ve heard of is to do a good deed for every year you’ve been alive, so should I do 19 random acts of kindness this Friday? I’ve looked around online a little and here’s one idea that I like: https://moreloveletters.squarespace.com/leave-love-letters. What else could I do? Is this as good as giving away money?

Is it philanthropy, or is it charity?

With the focus this week in class being on whether we should give directly to those in need or give to philanthropic organizations, I thought that I would discuss my thoughts on the two general forms of giving.

The first form of giving falls under what I define as philanthropy. Philanthropy is defined as a deep seated desire to improve the general welfare and overall quality of life of the entire human race. When I think of philanthropy, I think of donating money intelligently to organizations. Philanthropy entails more than just a monetary gift. Philanthropy is an investment in the future of humanity. Many problems can only be solved through long term investments in infrastructure or research. Good things come to those that wait, and an investment in the future of humanity seems like a worthwhile investment for me.

The second form of giving is what I define as charity. Charity is defined as having compassion and love for those less well off than yourself by giving gifts and money to them. Charity can be the loose change that you give to an unemployed, homeless person off the streets, or a coat that is given to someone in need by a clothing drive. While charity is always compassionate and kind, I would argue that it isn’t as beneficial to the human race as philanthropy is.

The main difference between philanthropy and charity is that while philanthropy is trying to find a cure for the problems of mankind, charity is simply trying to put a band aid over the problems. Take the unemployed, homeless person mentioned above as an example. A person could give money directly to that person, which might run out in a week, or a month, but would most certainly run out. On the other hand, that money might be better donated to an organization that provides occupational training free of charge to the homeless and unemployed. Band aids are ineffective, and fall off over time, leaving open wounds and scars. A cure, however, could ensure that the future welfare of the human race is greatly improved over our own time.

In my opinion, I would rather donate the money that the class has to a philanthropic organization, one that provides structure and support for the improvement of humanity, than a charitable organization, one that provides goods/finances for the lesser off. While this decision may seem cold or calculated to many, I foresee a future in which all problems have been eradicated thanks to careful planning, intelligent investments, and smart management of money. Charity work may be more loving, compassionate, and emotionally rewarding, but I am of the opinion that an investment in the future of humanity is the more rewarding in the long run.

International Women's Day and philanthropy

Today I woke up, a bit disoriented from daylight savings time, and checked Facebook and Tumblr like usual. However, the first thing that lit up my screen was a colorful comic, proclaiming “Happy International Women’s Day!” This is the day where we commemorate women’s strife and accomplishments thus far. While I admit we’ve come pretty far in terms of equality and feminism, I feel like there’s a still a lot left to go.

In terms of statistics, women have had it rough in recent years. 77% of homeless people in families are women, and fifty percent of them escaped domestic abuse only to end up on the streets. While the women’s movements of the 20th century tried to alleviate problems associated with homeless women and abuse, we’re still seeing rising numbers. When it comes to the homeless population of families, a majority are single women with more than one child. The percentage of women living in poverty is greater than the number of men, especially when combined with the figures of women dealing with motherhood and living on the streets. In the 21st century, we’re still seeing the popularity of “pink collar jobs”, aimed towards impoverished women. The wage gap is already a hefty tax on being a woman in the United States, but for underprivileged or impoverished women it becomes worse combined with lacking benefits or any available childcare. And to think that this is just in the United States, an industrialized First World country. Just think of the problems women in Africa and Asia face, in more rural villages where women are treated like commodities, or in urbanized and patriarchal societies where they can’t get their foot in the door. Women are dealing with a multitude of systemic and societal issues on a daily basis, even on International Women’s Day.

Holidays like this try to make feminism seem like a thing of the past. We as people like listening to stories. We heard them a lot in history class as children when we talked about hot-button issues, like racism, sexism or poverty. In our stories, we like the underdog, put down by society, and we like to see them come out on top. We like pretty endings. We like to talk about things in past tense. We talk about the civil rights movement and the women’s rights movement as being over. But radical social movements don’t work like storybooks. Feminism is a powerful force for change, and is still a large societal movement, sweeping with it organizations and philanthropic charities aimed at alleviating the issues women face. We’re starting to see women’s influence everywhere in society, most importantly in philanthropy. We listened to Anita and Allie talk about their predominantly-female giving circles, where women got to be the sources of change in their community. We’ve talked about Doris Buffet, making her mark in the philanthropic world. Just look at our class, 80% women. We women are on the rise. So as saddening as it is to read about the continuing issues women face across the world, we also have to acknowledge that we’re taking everything back and we’re helping ourselves.

So, I’d like to wish everyone a great International Women’s Day. And personally, here’s to putting more feminism in my philanthropy.

Excited to Choose

The first few weeks of this course seemed a bit choppy.  Each time this class met we had a clear agenda; however, each day’s purpose seemed disconnected from the others.  In contrast, the last few times we have met have flown together nicely, leaving me to connect the ideas of giving circles to my core values to various areas of need in Broome county.   Having the opportunity to reflect and determine my core values before diving into an analysis of the needs of Broome County has allowed me to take a more objective perspective then I could have previously. 

Before entering this class, I decided that my topic of interest was literacy.  I have identified one of my core values as enabling individuals to better themselves, but I didn’t exactly know how to address that through various issues.  The really corny quote: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” describes in a way the mentality I generally use when addressing public service and philanthropy.   I realized from the Vision of Philanthropy assignment that my core value was more tightly associated with empowering individuals to be self sufficiant in a general sense, as opposed to in a specific facet of their lives.  Adjusting my perspective has allowed me to view issues that I have never really considered through a different lens. 

This realization has also given me a greater confidence in terms of choosing an organization.  When we went around in a circle on the first day of class stating our core motivations of philanthropy, I got worried that I would never see eye to eye with someone inspired by theater or music, because we don’t share that same immediate interests.  I now realize that I have more to learn from those inspired by different means.  Although we may have different interests, we very well may share core values, and I shouldn’t have jumped to the assumption that we are all extremely different.  I look forward to making this decision as a class.  While I know that myself, and many of my classmates, have expressed fear for this process, I have a feeling that we will have more in common then expected. 

The Philanthropy Lab

I came across “The Philanthropy Lab” website recently and wanted to share it with the class. Prior to taking this course, I had heard TPL referenced, but never knew what it was. It is a very similar course to ours that is hosted at other universities such as Harvard and Yale. Two of the features I found that were especially interesting were the student highlights that are given (https://www.thephilanthropylab.org/student.aspx) and the readings that are required at each partner school (https://www.thephilanthropylab.org/school.aspx?school=reading).

If you have a chance, I recommend exploring these parts of the website. Most of these schools seem to have a larger budget than us ($100,000), but I think we can definitely learn from some of them. The website allows you to view some student highlights and the projects they have started and charities that the classes donated to. As a class, we have mentioned having a hard time connecting with the Salwen Family and other large donors. But this is a resource that gives us a chance to hear from people who have gone through a very similar experience in other parts of the country. While we could reach out to alumni from our class, read their blog posts or read articles published by them, this gives us the opportunity to think beyond the Binghamton philanthropy experience. I am sure many of us plan on moving somewhere else after Binghamton or plan to go to graduate school but that can be very stressful. Over the Skype call, we heard Alexandria say that philanthropy was hard to keep up with once she moved and had to focus on herself. Maybe through exposure to these initiatives elsewhere beforehand, through relatable sources like this one, we can make philanthropic transitions in new areas easier for ourselves.

I’ve also found the book A Path Appears and its website particularly useful. A Path Appears has introduced us to new ideas, nationally and internationally, to enable us to figure out where our priorities stand. It helps guide us in a direction towards helping these issues, while making it seem like less daunting of a task. A couple of times per semester, I order cookies online to send to my siblings, but after hearing about the Greyston Bakery mission, I am excited to start purchasing through them for about the same cost. It won’t make a huge difference, but at least it is something. A Path Appears shines a light on so many organizations that I am sure we can each find a way, even as students, to help out more than we are. I am still searching for clarity on many of these social issues and my passions but I hope that over the next few months I keep moving towards finding more clarity. I think that by reading some of the books in The Philanthropy Lab curriculum will help me keep moving towards this goal just as A Path Appears has done.