DonorsChoose, Charity of the Day

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-15-2007 @ 9:12PM

Holden said...

"I don't think anyone is saying that one charity is better than the other."

If that's true, we have a real problem on our hands.

Do you think that one business is better than another? Obviously there's no "master ranking" - different businesses do different things - but the notion that they're "all doing great work" is pretty ridiculous, even if all of them are trying to (which they largely are).

The achievement gap is a notoriously thorny problem that has resisted well-intentioned, well-funded efforts again and again. To say "improving school supplies so that students have their own books to read is going to improve the educational experience for those children" as though it's a fact, requiring no support (when in fact I believe there is no support for this claim) is to dismiss one of the toughest and most important problems we have in our society with a cavalier negligence it doesn't deserve.

I'd like to see us acknowledge that most charities are trying to do incredibly difficult things, and things that matter - and just as with any other organization, we should approach them with skepticism and demand the best, rather than saying "eh, it's charity, I'm sure it's fine." I'd like to see us think at least as hard about giving as we do about consuming, at least.

12-27-2007 @ 1:07PM

holden said...

Holden (my name's Holden, too!), I think your point is an excellent one. I haven't thought much about it, but it certainly warrants our time -- thanks for posting the GiveWell link!

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

Join Luxist on Facebook!

Luxist bloggers (30 days)

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Deidre Woollard	178	3
2	Jared Paul Stern	51	0
3	Ariel Adams	43	0
4	Tom Johansmeyer	39	0
5	Rigel Celeste	30	0
6	Annie Scott	26	5
7	Carrie Coolidge	24	0
8	Noah Joseph	23	0
9	Lisa Palladino	23	1
10	Jeremy Korzeniewski	21	0
11	Deb West	14	0
12	Alison Wellner	11	0
13	Jonathon Ramsey	9	0
14	Ariston Anderson	7	0
15	Kristin Young	5	0
16	Brendan Cleary	5	0
17	Amanda Gordon	2	0
18	Ann Brenoff	2	0
19	Sam Abuelsamid	1	0
20	Dan Roth	1	0