What is charity, How to pay it and Who is Eligible to Have it?

“ Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love.Charity and love are the same. With charityyou give love, so don’t just give money but reach your hand instead.”

                                                                                                                                    –Mother Teresa

What is a charity?

Charles A.Ellwood, Lecturer of the University of Nebraska, has marked the nineteenth century as one of the remarkable eras that have witnessed the rise of humanitarian sentiment than never before. In his 1899 lectures on Society and Charity, Charles mentioned that the nineteenth century was the time when the society began to put enthusiastic effort to help its weaker members in the struggle for their survival. Charles A. Ellwood’s lecture isunique as it was the first formal public presentations in Lincoln.

According to Ellwood’s presentation, this humanitarian sentiment contributed to the founding of philantrophic institutions and it has led to practical efforts to lift the lowest in the society so that they can live a life that matches the human standard.This was the spirit which gave birth to the charity and leads to the formation of organizations in society and it was only in the light of this spirit that charitable organizations have created a social movement.

Charity is a  deed that requires personal service as it is considered to be the life of all true charity. Material aid has been found in many cases insufficient to resolve a case of distress. Often charitable organizations touch the lives of the needy through a body of trained friendly workers. These trained social workers build  intimacy with all who are in need because in many cases it has been found that friendly counselling  and advice is all that a distressed family needs in pain.

What Is Charity and How To Pay It

Today Charitable Organizations and NGO’s  are operating in diverse sectors helping the aged people , assisting animals,working for the rights of the poor children,caring for the orphans or the  disabled,providing disaster relief and  emergency services, providing education for the poor, working to ensure food security for all, fighting for human rights and justice, working to stop domestic violence against women,contributing to rural, social and urban development etc.The charitable organizations see and treat every case of distress and suffering methodically and practically so that the relief given will effect a permanent cure.

How to pay it?

When we are blessed financially we must not only raise our standards of living but also contribute to raising the standards of our giving.If everyone stays concerned about themselves then it would turn out to be a cruel and selfish world. That’s obviously not the world we would want to live in.

Whenever we are donating money to charities it’s always better to give our chunk of contribution directly to the charity’s own site instead of giving it to a third party.We should be aware of these third-party websites because they may charge the donors a transaction fee, and charge the charity’s additional fees. So it’s always better to avoid these third-party sites.

Online giving can do an extensive amount of good by saving fundraising costs and allowing charities to communicate directly with donors more efficiently. Before donating to charities we have to make sure that they are taking enough precautions so that we can donate online safely.

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We should always check out that the charity has a contact address either online through a working email address or offline through a phone number. It may be necessary to contact the charity offline in case the charity’s website is not functioning properly. We should also make sure that the charity has a physical address to avoid scammers, who may set up a fancy website, raise a lot of money and vanish out of the site.

There are some charities that do not upgrade the information on their websites for a long period of time. It is always better to check out when the information on a website was last upgraded. We should never make our giving decisions on outdated information that may be inaccurate. In such cases, we can directly contact them to find out their purposes and the causes they are supporting.

There are also other ways we can do charity without money. For example, most of us can give blood, to help save and improve the lives of thousands of people across the country every day. It’s even possible to donate platelets which are much-needed for patients having organ transplants or chemotherapy, and other disorders. 

We can help our elderly neighbors who might be living alone by offering to mow the lawn or spend time chatting over a cup of tea or buying their groceries whenever possible. This could make a huge difference in their lives.

Who Is Eligible To Have It:

Our motivation to donate to the charity makes both of us and the society happy.Charity enables us to fill the voids in millions of lives on the earth. Giving to charity is an important responsibility.We must make our choices carefully so that our contribution reaches the most deserving recipients.Here are some eligible criteria we may donate to whenever we can:

The Poor or Needy:

Poverty reduces the access to healthcare and nutrition for the poor. It’s a big issue especially for the children as healthcare and nutrition are the foundations for a good start in life. Sound health is one of the basic human rights.We can donate to NGO’s or organizations that have specific poverty reduction programmes in the areas of livelihood, education, child sponsorship, healthcare and nutrition which can help millions of people to get back a normal life.

The Hungry:

Researchers have shown that 870 million people worldwide are hungry and severely malnourished. Starvation for many days weakens the immune system and makes the poor especially women and children, more prone to diseases and infections. We can help to prevent this. We can donate to NGO’s that have specific Food programs and emergency food relief to serve the hungry worldwide.

Water and Sanitation:

Every day about 4,000 people in developing countries dies from deadly water-borne diseases such as cholera, acute diarrhea, and typhoid caused by the usage of contaminated water. We can donate to NGO’s that are working to ensure safe water and better sanitation programs for the poor. This can make a huge difference between life and death.

 Education:

Education is important for an individual’s personal development. Education opens up job prospects and can help those in poverty to earn a decent living wage. So we can donate to the NGO’s that are toiling hard to ensure that every person receives an education. These organizations often have numerous programs that teach people specific skills that they can use to find work.

Healthcare Sector:

Today NGOs play a vital role in the delivery of health services and contribute to health systems in the developing world. We can donate to these NGO’s because they are now considered to be the safe and useful institutions that are able to supply health care efficiently and cost-effectively. There has been the rapid growth of NGOs, and significant public funds are used to pay for their activities in the health sector. Smaller NGOs usually collaborate with United Nation agencies, such as the WHO and  UNICEF  for the development of healthcare sector ,extending health care services to all.

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The main tasks of NGOs in the health-care arena are to provide health services that consist of medical, social, and psychological services, as well as nursing, material support, education, and training in developing countries. We can donate to these NGO’s working for the betterment of the public health

Conclusion:

As we can see today’s charity sector is much more diverse. The Guardian reported that over the past few years the relationship between the state and many charities has fundamentally changed as government itself are funding the sector in many countries. In some places, the government has contracted with charities to provide public services on behalf of the state.

At one hand we expect charities to provide professional services, but on the other we want them to be voluntary organizations. Our perception of charitable organizations is that they should be  based on sainthood, we are pushing today’s charities to meet a standard they cannot meet because the existing issues in our society need adequate funding to resolve.

Now that NGO’s and charitable organizations are still considered as voluntary organizations it’s important that we fund them because it’s absolutely forbidden for them to make any profits. NGO’s and charitable organizations deliver public good and work for the public interest. These organizations have been recognized to be more effective and efficient than the Government at finding solutions, caring for people, and delivering services for people and communities.