Everyday News: The 7 Deadly Sins of Social Good ï¿½ And How to Avoid Them

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devil image We’ve all been there — you discover an unbelievable non-profit supporting a great cause, only to find that there’s just something not right.

Perhaps it’s unclear how much money is being donated, its Facebook page looks outdated or it’s murky about what the organization wants from its fans. It’s not easy running a non-profit, but it’s crushing to find good people committing one of the seven deadly sins of social good. Any one of these sins can turn someone away from supporting a non-profit and even jeopardize the organization’s ability to do good.

So what are the sins and how do you avoid them? See below, and let us know what you consider to be the cardinal sin of social good and how it can be avoided.

1.Slacktivism

Slacktivism is the dirty word applied to passive charitable efforts. For example, rather than write a check, volunteer or petition local officials, a slacktivist might donate his or her Twitter status for a day or donate money by proxy by, say, “liking” a cause or company Facebook Page. Slacktivism is one of the most controversial elements of social good. Some die-hards think that this low-effort form of philanthropy is cannibalizing the amount of dedicated activists and their drive to enact change.

Anyone familiar with the global Occupy Wall Street protests probably isn’t too worried about this last point. On the other hand, slacktivism can reach a broader spectrum of people that might not have normally become involved with an issue. The hope is that these part-time philanthropists can then be informed and become more engaged.

Tips: Even though slacktivism isn’t inherently a bad thing, there are some ways to get the most bang for your buck. Make sure any passive campaigns have information and resources such that any interested slacktivists can learn more and get more involved. Be sure that any minor donation is tied to the cause you’re supporting and not to a sponsor or corporation that’s essentially paying for Likes.

2. Greenwashing

Greenwashing is when a company (normally a for-profit) promotes social and charitable campaigns to help its brand image or sell products. This is another tricky area because, while greenwashing is used for financial gain, it often also results in raising money or awareness for an important cause.

Tips: Unfortunately there’s not much consumers can do with these campaigns other than vote with their wallets. For brands, it’s important to put global impact ahead of financial or brand goals. This can be done by partnering with trustworthy and committed non-profits for corporate social responsibility initiatives. Play to the company’s strengths and existing brand image rather than trying to make an incongruous cause fit. For example, HP developed counterfeit technology to help catch knock-offs of its products, and the company repurposed that same technology to help doctors and pharmacies in the developing world detect counterfeit drugs.

3. Poor Accountability

Just because you know you’re doing a good thing doesn’t mean that your donors and evangelists know what’s happening on a daily basis. One common mistake is to raise a ton of money for a cause and then go silent on how the project actually turned out.

Tips: The answer is simple to say and harder to do. Make sure you follow up on all of your projects and let your fans know what happened with the money. While it is important to do this with your success, its is infinitely more important to update your donors if something in the project went awry. These difficulties could be anything from money not being delivered to errors and mistakes in physical projects such as drilling water wells or building facilities. Charity:Water has made this feedback loop a top priority by launching “Dollars to Projects,” a campaign to match every dollar donated to an on-the-ground project with updates lasting several years into the future.

4. Charity Fatigue

Charity fatigue has happened to all of us: It’s an aversion to seeing any more bad news or painful statistics. It’s also a natural reaction when you’re overloaded with painful and sad images for long periods of time. It’s a terrible thing to think people at some point just don’t want to deal with sad news, but it’s a real problem that non-profits have to face. How do you communicate the dire need to help a cause and not depress them?

Tips: The good news is that charity fatigue is one of the easiest sins to beat. Humor is always a good way to knock people out of the doldrums while also sharing information. This strategy has worked great for Malaria No More and its “Comedy Fights Malaria” campaign, which uses comedians to help talk about serious issues. Of course, humor isn’t for everybody. Instead, try motivating people to help rather than just dwelling on the bad news.

People want to help charities and non-profits focus on the positive spirit in your messaging and make people feel like they’re part of a team trying to make a difference instead of shaming them with facts. Even if they should know those numbers, it might not inspire them to help you.

5. Dullness

Dullness is a bunch of problems all rolled into one, but the most prominent issue is repetition. The first organization that asked users to donate their status to a cause was a breath of fresh air. By the time the twentieth company was asking for statuses, the strategy had turned into a gimmick.

Tips: Organizations can always choose to double down on strategies, but seriously think about what your company can do to engage users in new and interesting ways. Water.org recently ran a “Twakeover,” which asked fans to tweet using a specific hashtag and share messages supporting Water.org to earn points. While none of that was new, the winner was rewarded with control of Water.org’s Twitter account for a week, where they could write whatever they liked. This kind of creativity doesn’t require a huge budget, but it does require a little bit of thinking. As a result, the campaign gained Water.org a bunch of new followers and motivated its base to become even greater evangelists.

6. Redundancy

Redundancy is about repetition in purpose rather than repetition in strategies, and it’s a hot-button topic for social gooders and philanthropists in general. The idea is that having multiple organizations supporting similar causes is inefficient. The better option is to consolidate like-minded organizations into sections — for example, climate change, domestic abuse, water issues — into one organization which could then pool resources, experience and funds.

The argument has understandably gained detractors in the non-profit world who argue that either a) competition is usually a good thing, even in philanthropy, or b) insist that their mission and areas of impact are unique to their organization. Practically speaking, they’re right: Every non-profit deals with a unique problem or helps distinct groups of people. The problem is that organizations like Charity:Water and Water.org will inevitably fight over the same pool of money and resources from people wanting to address water issues even though both organizations address fundamentally different problems.

Tips: Before you start an organization, scan the field and make sure that there aren’t any other legitimate organizations in your area solving the same problem you want to tackle. If you already have an organization, look for ways to partner with similar organizations in different countries or regions. This may take swallowing some pride from both parties, but if it solves the problem faster, it ought to be worth it.

7. Density

Perhaps the most common mistake is making it too difficult for people to help you. It’s a non-profit’s job to take complicated issues like world hunger or women’s rights and present them in a way that is easy to understand and drives action. If someone wants to help but can’t find how to donate or where to turn, that’s one philanthropist potentially lost.

Tips: This may sound simple, but create large buttons on your website and have clear and simple asks. It’s important to have these easy first steps clearly marked. It is equally important to have a wealth of follow-up information and more complicated tasks for people that are already familiar with the cause or are looking to become more involved. Everyday people are the lifeblood of any non-profit, but they may not get engaged if your website is too dense to decipher.

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