Is It Right to Give Incentives for Charitable Acts?
Let’s face it: times have changed and so have people. Today, the people, especially in America, have grown exceptionally self-centered and egoistical. Most of the people have become overly concerned about their needs and wants over anyone else’s.
An example of such a phenomenon can be seen in charity walks that are held by several charitable organizations across the nation to raise money. One of such walks is “Deborah – Walk For Hope”. This walk, held annually in specific areas across the nation, attracts wide audience throughout the nation. People from all ages, from kids as young as four years of age to adults as old as eighty participate in this walk. However, from the approximately 250,000 people that participate in this walk, do all participate simply for moral reasons? No! Let’s face it – to say such a thing would be a mere fallacy. It is true that many of these people participate for the real reason – to help the women with Breast Cancer, however, I would also like to say that half of these people, if not more, participate for the incentives that it offers. The Deborah Foundation offers incentives to its adult participants like free breakfast and lunch, free t-shirts, free bags, and even free stay at Hilton Hotel. On the other hand, it also offers its non-adult participants with incentives like toys, medals and volunteering hours. As a result, people all over strive to gather and donate the most money for the best gifts. Many people form groups and work together to raise money or spread the word across their region to support the cause. As a result, the Deborah Foundation gathers millions of dollars every year which is used to treat/cure breast cancer patients across the nation.
Many critics across the nation argue that giving incentives for charitable organizations discourages the “morality” behind such causes. However, these critics fail to consider the “help” that these incentives actually do to the deprived people. In addition, as long as morality is concerned, it is likely that once an individual gets involved in charity, although based on incentives, he may soon realize the importance behind this work and may soon carry it out on his own will. As a result, this act of giving “incentives” may prove beneficial not only to gather more money but also to attract more people to join this humanitarian cause.
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Post CommentLena Dohvoma
On November 1, 2009 at 5:22 pm
This article is very true, especially regarding the current state of the world; people are too busy worrying about themselves, which is actually okay at this time, because with the decline in various industries, some are finding it hard to provide for themselves, so if charities see that they are not receiving as much help as they need, then by all means they should feel inclined to encourage people to help them; although, the Bible does say that charity is the act of giving or loving without compulsion, this is more like an encouragement, for if they did not encourage, then no one would feel the need to donate to charity, they’d acknowledge the cause, but that would be about it. This essay covers a lot of positions on the world today, plus it really helped me in writing my english assignment, which is always a good thing.