Ideas On Eradicating Poverty (Part 1): Running Charities As Businesses

I recently gave a few comments to a TED conversation about ways to eradicate poverty other than increasing income, and thought this concept would make a great blog series.

I believe there are ways we can make a big difference to eradicating poverty by changing what we currently do, how we do it, and doing it better. The main way I believe we can do this in a short space of time is to run charities along business efficiency principles, by getting rid of duplication, centralising and streamlining. Imagine having global charities that stand together, work together, collaborate.

Consider that there are hundreds, thousands, of charities the world over all trying to make a difference in their own way, all focusing on a piece of the puzzle. Consider that many charities perform overlapping tasks, for example there may be many charities providing food and water, and others that provide water and shelter. Imagine if all of these charities partnered with each other, hundreds of them coming together, and being able to use the new strength of their collective base, and combine the functions they already do, like the provision of water.This would mean a far greater reach, as the big charity would inherit the inroads each small charity has made, and would have a much bigger voice with which to speak.

I suggest these global charities should have one vision, one voice, one framework and methodology, good governance, and a project office to manage projects and funds. Ultimately I also believe charities must have arms providing holistic solutions, and not focus on isolated needs in a specific area. For example basic needs include food, safety and shelter, water, clothing, medical needs, so focusing just on food and water in an area will not satisfy all basic poverty needs. More about this in Ideas On Eradicating Poverty (Part 2): Empower People To Help Themselves .

Centralising charities would also mean centralising funds from different fund raising efforts, and channeling funds to the most important need, so money goes where it's needed most and covers the next disaster as it happens. This is a similar concept to the way some charities already work, like UNHCR and Red Cross. Perhaps too there may be more innovative ways to get money, for example if governments are asked to be key stakeholders in these big charities, they could put robin hood taxes in place: tiny, tiny amounts obtained from everyone through a worldwide poverty tax will go a long way.

Don’t dissolve existing charity organisations, involve, collaborate and evolve. It sometimes takes years to make progress in a given area. What may be demolished in an instant may never be rebuilt, and a new solution might also not work. We don't knock down and rebuild unless this is necessary. I am suggesting we build strong multi-functional global charities using the solid foundations we already have in existing charity organisations. 


Links to related blog articles:

• Ideas On Eradicating Poverty (Part 2): Empower People To Help Themselves 
• Imagine a world where we learn from each other and work together to solve problems instead of competing: Collaboration wins over competition
• Support Leaders On All Levels Of Society: United We Stand, Divided We Fall