Almostgotit.com

Red Cross in Haiti (2008)

Want to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti?  Relief organizations need your help, but want donors to know that some kinds of help are definitely better than others.

InterAction, a coalition of U.S.-based international non-governmental organizations (including the Center for International Disaster Information)gives these tips:

• Cash donations are widely recognized as the most efficient and effective means of relief in the established international disaster response community.

• While they may be well-intentioned, clothing, canned goods, and other in-kind donations are *not* the  preferred choice for humanitarian contributions to Haiti.  Consider reserving these kinds of donations for needs in your local community.

• Donate wisely!  Make sure your money goes to a credible responding agency for international emergencies.  InterAction is regularly updating this list of  member agencies who are responding to the earthquake.  For more information about how to choose a legitimate charity, visit www.give.org.

Ephesian Artemis: the multi-breasted woman (image:metahistory.org)

Last summer, a friend of mine agreed to do some professional work for the church where she is also a member. At that time, she told the church that she would also need to be paid for that work, and to her best understanding, the church agreed.

Her first check was late, and didn’t come until my friend asked for it. Her second check never came at all.

While last on the premises because of the work she was doing for the church, my friend was confronted in front of several other people by the church’s (salaried) budget director. “What’s this about your needing a check from us?” he demanded. “We don’t have that kind of money!”

My friend was both surprised and embarrassed by this encounter. Later, she was also angry.

So am I.

Why do churches and other non-profits so seldom understand that their business matters still need to be handled in a business-like fashion? Why should professionals be expected to work for free, especially those who have already entered into an agreement that they would be paid? The business manager himself is a full-time, paid employee of the church. Why did he fail to see any irony here, himself?

One wonders at the unexamined assumptions going on here. What additional rights do we all presume nonprofit organizations to have, including the organizations themselves? Is it relevant that my friend is a member of the church (as is the business manager?) Is it relevant that my friend is a woman, or that she used to be married to a fairly wealthy man?

My friend is also a highly-trained professional, is currently a full-time student who must carefully choose her commitments, had already negotiated terms with the church, had already heavily discounted her fee for them, and even had generated income for the church, through her work for them, which was more than adequate to cover her own fees.

What would you do, in her situation?