Does Doing Good Wear A White Face?

Last week's column posed the question, "Is making a difference only for the rich?" A friend sent me a link to an article from the Guardian newspaper about a super-private meeting of the world's richest people that took place recently - so that they could talk about the world's problems. The group - who call themselves the Good Club - includes Bill Gates, George Soros, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, Ted Turner, and David Rockefeller.

For six hours, the assembled billionaires discussed the crises facing the world. Each was allowed to speak for 15 minutes. The topics focused on education, emergency relief, government reform, the expected depth of the economic crisis and global health issues such as overpopulation and disease.

(Given this week's question, I wonder if Oprah is the only African-American in the Good Club?)

And readers wrote with all kinds of responses to last week's question. One commented that she hadn't heard about many examples of diversity in the ranks of those changing the world. I immediately shared two examples with her. One well known, and one less so.

New Radical pioneer Muhammad Yunus is certainly in this camp. As a professor of economics in Bangladesh, he was distressed to learn that women from a nearby village were being charged extortionate rates of interest, thereby ensuring a lifetime of penury. He lent them money, and this gesture grew into the now widespread practice of micro-lending, his world-famous Grameen Bank, and ultimately, to his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.

The Grameen Bank lends to poor people with little or no credit history. Low-cost loans mean that the poorest of the por can begin to build futures for themselves. This practice has been so successful in Bangladesh that Muhammad predicts that the country will have eliminated extreme poverty within 10 years.

Aditya Jha is a good cross-cultural example. Born in India, he emigrated to Canada and created several successful companies. By chance, he attended a dinner where the Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, Stan Beardy, was speaking. "My people are suffering," Beardy told the black tie crowd. Aditya reports being shocked by this statement and the reality it conveyed. "As an immigrant to Canada, I wondered how is it that these people aren't sharing in the prosperity that I've enjoyed since coming to this country?"

Aditya responded by establishing a foundation that underwrites a series of programs designed to help these communities learn the business skills he believes will help lift them out of poverty, including one that pairs aboriginal youth with corporate executives - a kind of job shadowing. Even better, his New Radical role is part of a growing trend in the First Nations community. Native leaders are embracing entrepreneurship and microlending as a way to help their communities. "If they develop their own revenue," he told me, "They can address complex social problems without relying on government help."

Afterward, I wished I'd added a third example: President Barack Obama. As he put it in his speech in Cairo earlier this week, "Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President." He's a fine example of a New Radical, someone who is putting skills acquired in his career to work on the world's greatest challenges, and doing so in a way that is positive, constructive, and hopeful. His speech is a work of art.

There are important initiatives around the world designed to help increase diversity within organizations. Here's a particularly interesting one: DiverseCity:

Toronto has long welcomed people from all over the world with a promise of opportunity. Today we stand proud to have the world reflected in our city. Now is the time to reach out and tap into the potential this offers. Ours is the most ethnically and racially diverse region in Canada yet there is a striking lack of diversity at the top of our public, private and nonprofit organizations...

Maybe it's time that we thought about whether we're doing the same in this changing-the-world space?

Again, our conversation on this topic is mirrored by what they're talking about over on socialedge.org. Rod Schwartz, CEO of ClearlySo (and clearly a rabble-rouser!) asks the provocative question, "Are the only Innovations in social entrepreneurship Anglo Saxon?" Check out the Social Edge site and join the conversation.

Finally, a conversation this week got me thinking about an aspect of making a difference that hadn't really crossed my radar - even though I've been struggling to recuperate from an injury in the last year.

On Monday, I interviewed Allyson Hewitt, the director of social entrepreneurship at MaRS (a non-profit innovation centre) for another project I'm working on. During our call, she said, "If we're talking about valuing diversity in this new world we're creating, we need to value all diversity." She was referring to the disabled, and told me about Al Etmanski. He's the founder of an organization whose mission is to "reduce the isolation and loneliness of people who are marginalized and ensure that the gifts and contributions of all members of a community are welcomed. The PLAN Institute improves the lives of people living on the margins of society and enrich their communities by creating opportunities for mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships to form. We promote the leadership and participation of people with disabilities and their families in helping us to revitalize our communities. We do this by creating opportunities for dialogue, collaboration and partnership."

Seems to me that this idea deserves an entire column (and I would love to hear your stories on how the disabled are making a difference - a really neat twist, in that New Radicals often work for the organizations designed to help the disabled... and now those with disabilities are working alongside us, sharing what they have to offer). Plus, Al also created a retirement savings plan for the disabled. Watch this space for more details soon. Here's where to read about it now.

As regular readers of my writings about the New Radicals know, I believe that this is a movement for all. Maybe we need to be thinking about ways to include not just people from - as I say regularly - "each field, every sector, and around the world", but also people of all ethnicities. And all levels of ability. (New Radicals are people who put skills acquired in their careers to work on the world's greatest challenges - for more, please see archived articles.)

What do you think? And what stories can you share with us? Please comment below, or feel free to email me directly at [e-mail].

Today (June 5) is World Environment Day. Everywun is planting one tree for each person who signs up on their site, designed to help people benefit causes they care about by taking fun, easy, and cost-free actions at http://www.everywun.com.

Julia Moulden is on tour, talking [http://www.speakers.ca/moulden_julia.aspx] about the New Radicals [http://www.wearethenewradicals.com]. She also writes speeches [http://www.juliamoulden.com] for the world's most visionary leaders. And, when she's healed, will go kayaking on Georgian Bay.

Comments

[Lozange]

As a resident of the city the journalist writes about, I can safely say multiculturalism is showing cracks with neighbourhoods "reverse" ghettoizing whereby even the English language is not spoken nor posted on signage and where native or multigeneration Canadians are excluded and even discouraged from purchasing homes by sellers. Having said this, it remains that our black community which harks back 8 generations for many regularly often gets sent back to the starting line alongside the newly arrived in a battle for rightful place.

In terms of world good, nowhere is it more blatant than in the US leadership, that it seems to always take another to finish a white man's job.

[bubbuh]

Only for sompletons

Evil
http://rescindedred.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/hitler.jpg
http://www.pixolator.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=53019
Only for sompletons
Good
http://www.brooklynvoice.com/Newman/armhem/louis-armstrong.jpg
http://weblogs.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/blog/070614_oprah_vmed_12p.widec.jpg

Very little is black and white, even black and white

[byanymedianecessary]

This and the idea that only the rich can change the world really shows a basic misunderstanding of philanthropy. The fact is, the less money you make, the more of it you give away. People in the lowest income brackets give away the highest percentages of their income 5 fold. Not to mention that the ways in which the rich give are much better documented for tax purposes. I, for example, have donated about 10% of my income in the past few years, but most of it is not documented because some of this is in small acts like paying for meals for youth that I work with, or their transportation, or bringing home resources into my non-profit's office to make up our financial shortfalls (like printers, modems, computers). Most non-profit entrepreneurs, or mission driven businesses have similar backgrounds and to say that because they're not sending dozens of malaria nets to Africa they are not making a difference is short sighted and not surprising given the focus our culture has on the elite, the rich and quick fixes. The network of small non-profits and social-ent­repreneurs­hips around the country doing amazing work make up at least as much good as bill gates is able to do in writing a check (not to say that the wealthy should not also take part) but let's not pretend we don't all have a role in making this world a better place.

[Cherita Smith]

Although I think doing good in a big enough way to garner lots of media attention probably does wear a white face, for various reasons, I have to agree with everything you've said here. In fact, there was a recent article about how the poorest American's are actually the country's most charitable demographic:

"The latest survey of consumer expenditures by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the poorest one-fifth of American households contributed an average of 4.3 percent of their income to charitable organizations in 2007, while the richest fifth donated 2.1 percent of their income. The pretax household income of the poorest fifth averaged $10,531 in 2007, while the top fifth averaged $158,388." (The entire article can be found here: http://bit.ly/BoHxm)

@Julia: I think a question like "does doing good wear a white face?" is not specific enough... what is meant by "doing good"? Clearly, those in the poorest demographic earning $10,000 per year don't have enough money to start a foundation or become social entrepreneurs, and if you're basing the idea of "doing good" on large enough acts to get noticed (like starting a foundation), then one can't ignore the economic disparity that exists between whites and non-whites. So in that sense, it's not entirely shocking that "doing good" does wear a (mostly) white face. Like most things, I think this question is a bit too complex to simply answer yes or no.

[Shzron1946]

What I have learned from working in the world of community programs funded by the government, private business, wealthy people and foundations is that the people who give on a certain level get together and decide the types of programs they will provide funding for. Then the people in the know understand that they must shape their proposals a certain way. For instance, I have been aware of years when the important goal was strengthening volunteer programs or enhancing access to primary medical care, or organizing communities by building block clubs. Green jobs and the environment are popular nowadays, and I believe that education is probably about to make a big comeback since so many school districts are suffering.

I see nothing wrong with this. People with money who want to do good works should have some input into where their money is spent and the kind of good it will do. And if they want to present an organized front, to pu emphasis on certain points, that, too is their right.