Criticism
Evaluating a charity is no straightforward task. In “Everything You Know About Charity is Wrong,” author Richard Levick argues it is time for charities to be given a fair chance to accomplish their missions. The problem is that charities are restrained because so-called “watchdog groups” and some donors insist that charities must have extremely low overheads. As a result, charities are discouraged from making the kind of investments that a for-profit organization would make to grow. Levick argues that if an organization is to succeed, it will have overhead, no matter whether it is a non-profit or for profit. He echoes the argument being strongly advanced by entrepreneur Dan Pallotta, whose book, Charity Case, discusses how practically everything we are taught about charity is backwards. Pallotta argues that society demands that every dollar donated go directly into services. He is championing the cause to fix the culture that hamstrings charities.
Planet Aid has received tens of millions of dollars in grants from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) since 2004. The Copenhagen Post reported in 2009 that the USDA was taking a closer look at Planet Aid and the grants it has received. The USDA has audited Planet Aid repeatedly since that time, and all results were satisfactory. The USDA recently awarded an additional $20 million contract in 2012, and implementation on the project has begun in 2013.
As with other charities, Planet Aid has been attacked by the CharityWatch. CharityWatch claims that Planet Aid gives only 34% of funds raised to charity. Planet Aid is clear that it is focused on supporting international development projects, and protecting the environment through its recycling program.
Read more about this topic: Planet Aid
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Parents sometimes feel that if they don’t criticize their child, their child will never learn. Criticism doesn’t make people want to change; it makes them defensive.”
—Laurence Steinberg (20th century)
“I, with other Americans, have perhaps unduly resented the stream of criticism of American life ... more particularly have I resented the sneers at Main Street. For I have known that in the cottages that lay behind the street rested the strength of our national character.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“To be just, that is to say, to justify its existence, criticism should be partial, passionate and political, that is to say, written from an exclusive point of view, but a point of view that opens up the widest horizons.”
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)