OK . . . I have a confession to make. When I’m on the road and run down, sometimes I flop into bed and watch an episode or two of South Park on Comedy Central. While the show’s satire is often over the top, their social commentary on all sorts of current events is razor sharp. A few nights ago I found myself caught up in this “travel habit” and engaged in watching season 19 episode five, which was all about Internet Shaming and included a subplot about Charity Shaming.
If you don’t know what charity shaming is, this short YouTube video snippet from the South Park episode captures it perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKsOwJ8AGWo
Of course, the example South Park uses focuses on a point of purchase transaction that you could assume is likely part of a larger cause related marketing effort. However, this episode kicked me in the brain, and I think there are many other examples of charity shaming that go beyond the cash register.
For example, what about the Salvation Army’s red kettle campaign. I’m greeted by a volunteer who is ringing a bell and wishing me a Merry Christmas and asking for a donation. I need to decide whether or not to publicly walk by the kettle and not support the charity.
If I am right about the Salvation Army aforementioned example, then surely Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts selling stuff outside of grocery stores gets added to the charity shaming category. And my old favorite activity (read this as sarcasm) of selling duck race adoptions to unsuspecting customers exiting the grocery story is another example. Right?
I recently attended a few different charity gala ball charity / auction events in my community. During those events’ live auctions, there was something called “fund-a-need” where attendees are asked to put their bid paddle in the air and make a contribution to support a specific project at a certain funding level. If you want to learn more about this fundraising strategy, our friends at Fundraiser Help blog do a nice job explaining it.
In previous years, I’ve enjoyed putting my bid paddle in the air to support fun projects and programs. One year I think I bid on underwriting the cost of a mattress (or maybe it was a blanket) for our local homeless shelter. Another year, it was underwriting kitchen renovations and a food program at our local Boys & Girls Club.
However, recently the fund-a-need strategy has evolved away from projects / programs and towards a more simple request of “we need your money to underwrite everything we do for our clients“.
There was something I didn’t like about the new fund-a-need strategy, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. At first, I thought maybe I just missed the emotional case for support messaging that came with a specific project or program. However, now I’m beginning to wonder if my objection is bigger than that.
Could it be that asking people to put their bid paddle up in the air in front of their peers and friends to simply give an unrestricted contribution to your organization is nothing more than “Charity Shaming“?
I’ll leave it there today and let you chew on this question. If you have thoughts or opinions, then please use the comment box below to share them. I would love to hear what you have to say because I am honestly struggling with what bothers me about fund-a-need auction strategies that lack project and program components.
You might also want to check out the following:
- Hulu: South Park episode on internet and charity shaming
- Search the Twitter hashtag #charityshaming
- Esquire.com: South Park Shamed the Internet Over Internet Shaming
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
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