Charity: Ball in Our Court

Charities have been under scrutiny these past few weeks. They have been analysed, questioned and probed.

Now it's our turn to be tested. Us, the public, who gave freely to NKF's many shows on Mediacorp Channel 8 and who were outraged over the recent revelations of possible misuse of funds.

The President's Star Charity is upon us again. Will we, who gave so much to one single charity, be willing to give to a cause that supports 47 charities? Are we so scarred by the NKF incident that we cannot trust other charities?

Let's look at it this way. Nobody forced a gun to our heads to donate during the NKF charity shows (I am not talking about donations to NKF through other means). We sympathised with the plight of patients shown on air, we answered the pleadings of the stars flown in from abroad and we gasped at the courage of local artistes who risked life and limb (and in some cases, eyesight). We did this, mind you, knowing that NKF did more on-air charity shows than any other charity and knowing that NKF raised more money from on-air shows than any other charity.

Let's ask ourselves a few questions here. Why did we give more to NKF's shows than to shows to benefit other charities? Were the stars appearing on NKF's shows more appealing to us? Did they perform more heroic and dangerous stunts? Were the videos of the kidney patients more touching because they were more professionally made? Were the stars on the NKF shows pleading just a little harder, or seem just a little more desperate?

Here's the big question - WHY do we give to charity during such shows? I hope the answer is not because of anything in the list of questions above.

I am not naive. I know that celebrity spokespersons and charity shows are vital to charities, who might otherwise languish, with most of the public not knowing of their existence. Charity shows raise awareness for a cause. Celebrities are the messengers raising awareness. Say you like Zoe Tay. She tells you that cancer patients need your help. Would you:
a) Donate because Zoe is telling you to give?
b) Donate because you must show support for Zoe?
c) Donate because Zoe must be the celebrity that gets in the most donations (hey, it IS a competition)?
d) Pay attention to what Zoe said because you like her and donate because you now realise the plight of cancer patients.

Whatever your motivation, money gets donated and the charity benefits. That's a good thing. But if you donate because of (a), (b) and (c), then charity becomes part of the show business machinery and charity shows a form of life reality TV. How does that do the charity any good?

If charities need to appeal to those instincts in us (ie celebrity worship), lack of governance and transparency is the least of the problems facing the charity sector. As damaging as the NKF revelations have been to the sector, I would worry a lot more if the community is giving because of how the cause is packaged, rather than the cause itself. Yes, targets are important, but so are motivations.

So, this is our test now. The President's Star Charity might not be as exciting or as slick as the NKF shows. There will not be any death defying stunts. We are still recovering from the NKF saga. Do we give? Do we care?