Youth and Smart Philanthropy
How to turn an ambition into a meaningful solution
Guest writer:
Michael Van Genderen, HOPE worldwide
In October of 2017, wildfires broke out in drought-stricken northern California. They ravaged more than a million acres of land and killed over 40 people. The fires forced 90,000 people out of their homes — many of whom ended up in shelters. This disaster was the largest and deadliest recorded string of fires in the history of California.
Then, a second disaster broke out.
Concerned citizens across the United States donated everything they could to help. Donations poured into California shelters and community centers. And they didn’t stop. In fact, they’re still not stopping, even when the shelters already have plenty of what is being donated. One shelter, housing no more than a couple hundred people, reported receiving more than 50,000 sticks of men’s deodorant, toothbrushes, and other toiletry items. Other shelters have reported similar overwhelming excess of toiletries, perishable foods, blankets, and old clothes.
This is certainly not the first time this “second tier disaster” has happened. In fact, it happens nearly every time there is a natural disaster in the United States. Look at any recently disaster-stricken area: Houston, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Joplin, New Orleans, etc. In all of these cases, upwards of 60% of donated goods go unused — simply because they are unusable. This even happens in man-made disasters, like the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, where good-hearted Americans donated 65,000 teddy bears to the community. That’s over a million dollars in stuffed animals that could have instead been spent on grief counseling, funerals, or other services. What does a community do with such excess? In most cases, these donations are simply sorted and left in warehouses forever, or dumped into a landfill.
If these huge philanthropic surges were harnessed and directed to have the most sustainable impact possible, it could drastically change the way afflicted communities recover from disasters. This “smart philanthropy” was the driving idea behind the GOODdler Social Impact Youth Summit at Stanford University in November of 2017. Designed to bring together philanthropic professionals and ambitious youth, this conference focused on how to make effective, sustainable impact when addressing modern global crises.
The Summit was split across two days. The first day was dedicated to keynote speakers from major organizations involved in philanthropy such as GOODdler, Google and the United Nations. The second day was a “Hackathon” where participants in the Summit were able to brainstorm their own philanthropic organizations based on certain guidelines.
Irem Tumer, a representative of the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), gave a presentation on pressing global issues. She emphasized the suffering in impoverished communities around the world, and how these areas need sustainable change instead of solutions that don’t last. She zeroed in on how global poverty is having a dramatic impact on young women’s reproductive health and, by extension, their lives and their children’s lives. She laid out side-by-side two scenarios of a young woman’s life — one in which she is able to complete her education and is empowered to make her own decisions, and one where she is forced to drop out of school and influenced by her circumstances into a life of suffering. Tumer talked about how sustainable impact in these poverty-stricken communities can help each young woman realize her full potential, as in the first scenario she laid out. However, identifying exactly how to make a sustainable impact in a community is a very difficult problem.
This is the problem that GOODdler has committed itself to solving. In her keynote, Galina Fedorova, co-founder of GOODdler, described how her company is a web-based service that empowers local Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s — a fancy term for nonprofits) to assist in beneficial change when disaster strikes. NGO’s in the affected area can post “shopping lists,” where donors can see and purchase necessary items, which are then produced by markets local to the disaster, and delivered straight to the doorstep of the aforementioned NGO. This creates sustainable impact that does not saturate or destroy local markets, but instead empowers stricken communities to create their own change.
Eric Roberson, a representative of HOPE worldwide, described an example of how HOPE has partnered with GOODdler to create a sustainable business for struggling high school students in downtown Chicago. These students make soap, which is sold using GOODdler platform, and distributed to local shelters for victims of sexual and domestic violence. Not only is this program providing aid to these victims, it is also employing young high school students who might otherwise be involved in gang violence. Furthermore, customers who purchase the soap on GOODdler’s website know that their donation is making a real life impact instead of just sitting in a warehouse or landfill somewhere.
The presenters spoke about how their inspiration was turned into real action through their companies. This was another purpose of the GOODdler Summit — help young, inspired students to create real change in the world. Conference attendees were able to try their hand at this the following day at the Hackathon. It was an entire day devoted to “hacking” a problem based on two of the United Nations’ 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Students were split into groups tackling either SDG 1 — No Poverty, or SDG 3 — Good Health and Well Being.
Fyodor Ovchinnikov, of The Institute for Evolutionary Leadership (IEL), hosted the Hackathon. The IEL is a combination of a consulting firm and a cooperative community that is committed to training young leaders in major fields.
Fyodor tasked each group with creating a business model that would address the group’s specific SDG. He described that each idea needed to address root causes of the problems. Ideas would also need to list key stakeholders by identifying who has investment in the idea, who stands to be affected both positively and negatively by the idea, and who has the power to stop this idea. Furthermore, all projects would need to be sustainable and replicable on a larger scale. Most teams struggled to really narrow down on one idea — they came up with vague and broad principles and themes, but were not able (at first) to carve out a solid plan. This is where the team of ‘experts’ — a combination of speakers from day one and faculty from surrounding universities — was able to step in and mediate/give groups some direction.
After several hours of working out an idea, each team presented their project to the whole group in front of a panel of judges. The presenters were judged on how well they addressed the guidelines of the project — did their idea meet the root cause of their problem? Did they consider all the stakeholders? Did the idea benefit everyone involved? Was it sustainable? The Hackathon forced students to tap into their own creativity and work together with others to provide a real solution. This was the exact purpose of the conference — inspire young people to create legitimate change.
As a whole, the conference was very inspirational and motivated the participants to dream of how they can make a difference. It also helped students understand how difficult it is to create sustainable change without creating more even more problems. Many communities are so desperate for aid that they will forego sustainable change for short-term relief. These two options can sometimes contradict each other. Immediate help is usually not sustainable. Lasting change can take a while to implement. Finding the balance of both the key to smart, successful philanthropy — something GOODdler is trying to make more accessible to the world.
