Telethon

The big event this weekend in Perth was the 24 hour pledge for donations called "Telethon.":http://www.7perth.com.au/7perth/prog/OpenDocument.cgi First of all let me just say that I donated $10. However, I often wonder about the value of donations. Essentially donating is redistributing income. While helping out less fortunate people is a worthy cause, I can't help but wonder if there is a better way. The problem I see with donating is that a single dollar results in at most, a dollar going to the charitable cause. This is analogous to a sole trader whose income is limited to their time spent working. In other words, when charities stop asking for money, they stop getting it. To take the analogy further, the wealthier folk find ways to create multiple incomes streams there by "leveraging their time.":http://alexpooley.com/articles/2005/10/30/its-about-time If charities were to take more of a busines approach then they could potentially derive charitable donations without even asking. I know that there are people and organisations that approach charities with this attitude. This is definitely a direction I will head once I manage to find enough time to do such a thing. With all that said, there are people that need help regardless of how they find it. However merely distributing income is only a short term solution and will not deliver the greatest long term benefit.