I'm doing some interesting work with charities and NGOs at the moment.
All in all I think the people that work for these organisations are amazing people, usually willing to take a bit of a pay cut compared to the corporate stream in favour of doing meaningful work. This usually shines through in just about every way. Sure, there is the usual office politics and competitiveness, issues with inter-departmental red tape (perhaps more so than profit-oriented organisations) but overall they are full of GOOD PEOPLE that are there to do GOOD THINGS.
So imagine my surprise when I had this conversation with a project manager from a fairly prominent charity yesterday:
ME: So it's been a difficult month, with the Queensland floods and now the Victorian floods, you guys must be flat out trying to work out the best way to get your people around the country.
PROJECT MANAGER: Oh yeah it's been really good! We've had some amazing exposure!
I could go on but I'll maintain the professional respect of not naming the charity or giving details that would make it obvious who they are. This line spoke volumes to me – to me it said I was talking to an opportunist that had forgotten what she was there for. It was actually quite sickening to see the broad smile across her face as I thought of the countless reels of news footage I'd seen over the last week of people's homes being destroyed and the pure carnage of many towns and suburbs up north. A charity definitely wants to increase exposure and, by extension the funds that come through on account of this exposure. But EXPOSURE isn't the goal. FUNDRAISING isn't even the goal – these charities need to keep in mind that they are trying to raise money to do great things.
If the focus is on the great things, on the expansion plans, on the real help that these organisations give to real people, then every single encounter (such as the one with me earlier) will come across as sincere and honest.
You always, ALWAYS need to keep in mind what you're trying to achieve, and where you fit into the larger scheme of things.
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