Are Poverty Activists Insane?

Everybody has heard the famous Albert Einstein quote about insanity:

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

The methodology of American philanthropy was shaped 380 years ago by a little-known man named John Winthrop, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1630, Winthrop delivered a sermon titled "A Model of Christian Charity" that provided a framework for compassion that has grown into the foundation for American philanthropy. Ever since this landmark speech, presidents, teachers and clergy have all urged various audiences to better embody this benevolent lifestyle of alms-giving.

By the late 1800's, the Puritans' personal and religious ideology of charity began to give way to more organized and, in some cases, secular efforts. Today, the National Philanthropic Trust has documented over 1,010,400 charitable organizations in the United States. It is estimated that Americans' charitable contributions total more than $300 billion each year. Even in the face of the Great Recession, Americans continue to give, despite their own financial decline.

Nonetheless, most people assume that the greatest need in the lives of the underserved is money. "That's where to begin," they say. That idea is fairly easy to come up with, since so many in poverty are economically-deprived and ending that deprivation is at the heart of poverty alleviation in America. But to give money as the answer to developing the mental and physical capacity of the impoverished is far too often a simplistic and even destructive philosophy. After all, even though Americans continue to give financially, more and more continue to suffer.

Am I the only person who finds it absurd that as over $300 billion is circulating through our charitable organizations, we live in a country where hunger has reached a 14-year high? In an age of prosperity, why are millions of Americans still struggling to find necessities as basic as food? There's more to it than the fact that there aren't enough people donating enough money.

In the Bible, Jesus says that, "the poor will always be among you." However, does this mean that as poverty activists we should not search for alternative ways to alleviate poverty? It seems to me that most charitable organizations are continuing to proliferate archaic methods that are statistically rendering less than desirable results. In a time when seemingly every sector of America is experiencing reform, should we not also demand the same from the non-profit sector?

Poverty activists need to begin identifying organizations that are finding innovative solutions, declaring war on an economic dichotomy where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Lyndon B. Johnson once said, "Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope — some because of their poverty, and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity."

Let's get to work.

Photo credit: Shane Pope