If there existed a scale, balancing the world’s rights with its wrongs, there would be a negative imbalance right now. With everything that we now know about what is going on in the world through remarkable media like the internet, most would agree with this.
Then imagine that there are people who are working very hard to tip the scales in their favour, on either side. Imagine further that there are a lot of people (the majority) who are straddling the fulcrum, who have either not chosen sides, just don’t care, but more likely, who do not know what they are capable of doing or what is possible but who care and just need to be guided. It is this inactive majority and the ones who want to tip the balance in favour of what is right to whom this manifesto, indeed the entire endeavour behind WhyCharity, is addressed!
Of this inactive majority, there is one constituent part that is probably least active currently and yet has the most power to change things positively – companies! Companies have become powerful beyond measure – some more powerful in terms of the wealth they generate and command than many small countries! Some of them do a lot in order to tip the balance favourably (these should be recognised) but most do very little in terms of what they could do (these should be encouraged). It is this constituent WhyCharity focuses on even more!
The balances we speak of, we call Social Balance and the target at WhyCharity is actually to create an imbalance favouring the right, the just, the fair! Social, because all of society needs to address the problems that exist in society today and companies are targeted because they form an integral part of society, since so many people work in companies today and because they have such an impact on society: After all, companies do not operate in a vacuum!
Technology, like the Internet, is a component too of our efforts and that is because it has a wonderful ability not only to make the problems visible to all but also to allow people to collaborate, across the world, to fix the problems!
We approach a tipping point for positive global action and it is our intention to grease the tracks! Signs of the tipping point are everywhere although they have not all been manifest recently. As with any major transformation, it will happen gradually. This one has already been many years in the making and will likely take another ten years or more to be fully realised. The wars that have taken place recently and the protests against them, the terrible acts of violence that have been perpetrated in the name of religion and the solidarity expressed on behalf of victims, the up swelling of support for the plight of the poor through events like Live 8 - these are all signs! You can sit and observe or you can take part! Come join the merry dance! Subscribe to our declaration and our guiding principles but most of all, join us in taking action!
How to take action
Usually government, non-government organisations or the individual are
expected to make and manage charitable contributions. Companies need to step-up to the plate. Of course, companies have to operate in a tough competitive environment and increasingly difficult circumstances these days with tighter margins and lower profits. “Shareholder value” is the measurement against which they are held to account. This doesn’t allow for a lot of “non-productive” spending. Relevant and robust measures to justify spending are required and some work is already being done but it is far from universal and multi-lateral. Measures against which companies could be rated against their socially responsible actions is another area in which work might usefully be progressed in. A collaborative, web-based platform might very well do the trick of facilitating all this effort. Enter the charityWiki:
charityWiki
The charityWiki is simply a web site that is very easily edited by anyone so that topics like those mentioned above can easily be explored and progressed by anyone, anywhere, at anytime.
The charityWiki also fulfils another very important role! It is also the place where anyone involved in charitable work, from company CSR departments to charities, to individuals can freely upload as much information about themselves and their initiatives onto the site as they like. So it serves as a communication as well as collaboration platform. The uniqueness behind Wiki’s (the term given to the technology) behind the web site is that it is simple and open to everyone. Participation is intrinsic to the way it works.
When you go to the site at www.whyCharity.org you will land on the home page and you will clearly see that there is a section called charityWiki. There is also a section called whyCharity and this will give you more background information about the overall endeavour. As for the last but no less important aspect of whyCharity, if you have not left the home page yet, you will notice a declaration which we ask you to sign.
Declaration
There is no sinister plot to gather personal data behind this scheme (read our
Terms and Conditions to assure yourself), simply to get broad-based endorsement of the principles captured in the declaration which represent the entire endevour of whyCharity. The founders hope to get an indication (through the number of signatories) of the support for the declaration and then use this as a basis for progressing with their work
Who is behind whyCharity
We are a handful of idealists who created this initiative to take action against what we think is wasteful, ineffective and unjust in society!
We are passionate about providing a collaborative platform for adjusting - but not changing - a sector which is a major determinant of stability in this world: Business!
We are made up of two founders (Harry Timons and Stephen Danelutti) and a small group of brilliant volunteers and technicians.
We look forward to working together with you.