How You Give Matters
A Look Inside: Article Series
Why can’t we give people living in poverty more money?
The most concise answer is simple — because poverty is about more than money. Poverty is multidimensional and complex. I describe it that way for a specific reason (Check out a breakdown of Oxford’s Multidimensional poverty index on the book’s website here). Alleviating poverty will require meaningful contributions and effort from all of us — not just governments giving foreign aid, corporations contributing via their CSR efforts, and non-profits working tirelessly on social justice projects. With that in mind, everyone should learn more about how to give.
In Uplift and Empower, I differentiate between two primary types of giving: sympathetic giving and expectant giving. The idea isn’t new. James L. Payne, the author of Overcoming Welfare, wrote about the terms in the ’90s, and I cite him in my writing. Sympathetic giving is a hand-out. It is giving based on how much sympathy or pity we feel for the recipient. One example of sympathetic giving is volunteering at the soup kitchen once or twice a year around the holidays…and never going back. In more academic terms, it is a form of paternalism, which is a nice way of saying that the donor-recipient relationship is more of a parent-child relationship.
In contrast, expectant giving is a hand-up and a form of exchange. One example of expectant giving is working in exchange for aid. Keeping in line with my soup kitchen example, expectant giving in that context would be a soup kitchen that implements a small charge. Expectant giving is a form of partnership where both sides benefit and interact as equals. In Uplift and Empower, I share more details and examples of what partnerships in poverty alleviation look like and how they contrast to more paternalistic methods of giving.
While expectant giving is useful in theory, it is harder to implement in reality. Imagine if a person in need was searching for food available in their community when they hit a rough patch. One soup kitchen charged every adult a quarter meal fee and every child five cents. The other was free. Where would you go?
Beyond that scenario, who wants to be the person advocating for giving…less? And not just giving less but telling people to work to be helped too!
As I write in Uplift and Empower, “If you aren’t willing to give, no one considers the idea that you are thinking about the downsides to constant giving over time. Instead, you are labeled as selfish, racist, sexist, or heartless. Yet, advocating against sympathetic giving is not advocating for less help. It’s advocating for a higher quality of help.”
If you’ve made it this far (thank you!), I challenge you to act on your new knowledge by:
- Ordering a copy of Uplift and Empower so you can learn more about these terms and why they are so critically important to the future of poverty alleviation. (Tip: If you donate 17 USD or more to the Uplift and Empower scholarship fund, I will send you a SIGNED copy of the book!)
- Checking out the “How Can You Help?” page on UpliftandEmpower.com to learn more about how you can help in substantive ways within the three broad dimensions of poverty.
- Remembering that poverty alleviation is about more than money. Don’t just donate and consider social problems out of sight and out of mind. Take action and find ways to transfer your skills, knowledge, and connections to someone with a low-income where you live.
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Short Excerpt From Part Four of Uplift and Empower:
This article was originally posted on the Uplift and Empower website and included a short excerpt from the book. You can read the article (and book excerpt) here.
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This article series, A Look Inside, is a sneak peek into the research and writing process behind Uplift and Empower (with added details and reflections in our new COVID-19 world). Sign up for the Uplift and Empower newsletter to get new articles sent straight to your email inbox.
Uplift and Empower was published on August 15, here is the link to buy it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1641379243/! (The book is also available for sale at BN.com, Kobo, Walmart, and other distributors worldwide. Check UpliftandEmpower.com for more options.)
If you want to connect, you can reach me via email at danielle.tarigha@gmail.com or connect with me on social media:
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