Lets face it. Life sucks much of the time. It isn't the big things that make it suck, but the little daily annoyances that can make any feelings of joy disappear faster than a mound of coke during Fashion Week. And everyone knows helping others is a quick fix for making us feel good about ourselves, and that laying out cash is the easiest way to ease your guilty conscience.
Charities take advantage of that. TV
adverts for charities are scientifically
designed to trigger guilt, and my lord, do they work! You can be
happy, one of these things appears on TV and suddenly you are thrown
into the pit of despair yet again.
"Just $2 per day will
feed and educate a child." The sombre voice over, talking over
pictures of the poorest, most disadvantaged kids on the planet,
invariably covered in flies for the gross out factor, and appealing
to the one fundamental, built in imperative shared by nearly all men
and women - "Protect Kids!"
Quite what people have to be guilty
for, when looking at people in far distant lands, or who have
suffered some natural disaster, is never actually defined - but the
assumption is there is guilt in there somewhere, which can only be
relieved by sending a wad of cash to a charitable organisation. Which
uses a good chunk of the donations to make more of those ads, or to
pay
the CEO his $150,000 per year salary.
No - I didn't add an extra zero there. Yes, it is disgusting.
So, what to do? First, do not stop being charitable! Losing the impulse to help others means losing one of the few things that makes life really worth while. But ignore the ads. You wouldn't buy a house or a car without spending a lot of time studying the alternatives, so don't put helping others in the same category as buying a donut or a new pair of jeans. Look for really worthwhile charities. Think about keeping your money in your wallet and donating something far more valuable instead - your time. Oh, and spend 2 minutes to click on this link and vote for funding for this.
What - you honestly thought there was no personal agenda in me writing this?
I like you.
$150k is disgusting??? Holy carp. That's not even a reasonable salary to live off of where I am. It's all a matter of perspective (and location). (Not to mention you got your Euro to dollar conversion off, that's only $136k USD. A bottom level manager at the relatively small company I work for makes more than that. Shoot, some of my coworkers working for that bottom level manager make that much.)
Even like the article you linked noted: That's puny compared to the top dogs of even the smallest of companies.
Other than that, I agree. :)
150k is excessive and disgusting, Especially when harder working people are making a 3rd of that and struggling to get by. I mean good grief. If you've got that much, live like a normal person and donate the excess to the charity you CEO. Duh.
Whoaaa wait, why are you assuming that the hypothetical $150k CEO is not hardworking? Or to be more accurate, that people who are paid less work harder?
In my experience, people who make a lot of money more often than not are definitely working for it.
This kind of thing bugs me a lot- when people make disparaging remarks about a general group's work ethic. Nobody here can accurately say what a week in the life of that CEO is, it may be gravy or it may be 80 hours of putting out fires.
IMHO, the only truth is that in our society you do have to pay people that much for top level management of ANYTHING. And if the point is to spread the word about a good cause WE would otherwise all be oblivious to without that big-hitter at the helm, isn't it worth it? And for the BIG charities, $150k per year is a drop in the bucket when you consider the yearly take for charity, often in the multi-millions. I'm willing to bet that a CEO who makes $150k for charity work is bringing in close to $500k if not more just from corporate networking. Consider it karma- devote your life to helping a greater cause and reap the benefits. Shouldn't it be that way? Why is it less disgusting for the CEO of a private firm to make that amount? Who is that person helping? Imagine how much GOOD would get done if people thought they would make more money as a fundraiser than as a _______ (you fill it in).
No, I am not a CEO. No, I don't make 6 fig. I am the fundraising coordinator for a non profit, I make zilch and do it on my off time, but if we could afford it we would absolutely pay someone to help us spread word of our cause. The fact of the matter is, very few people are in a position to work for free or for peanuts, and I would not hold it against someone for accepting what, in many parts of our country, is a nice but not astronomical salary when the work they do is benefiting others.
Agreed about looking before you donate, though. Not all charities are created equally. Same goes for purchasing things that will give x% back- often times there is a max. amt the company pledged and they hit it very quickly.
And yeah, your time, my time, is WAY more valuable then writing a check once a year.