Over the last ten years, Dan Pallotta’s TedTalk: The Way We Think About Charity is Dead Wrong racked up over 5.4 million views. After watching it, many of us bought t-shirts that proclaimed, “I am overhead” and “Human. Kind. Be Both.” We attended seminars about how to talk about the sector in a way that promoted our impact not the cost to raise a dollar. We shared the TedTalk with our board members and staff. But very little changed. A conversation at most organizations today about expending revenue on advertising would go pretty much the same as it did ten years ago. So too, discussions about paying employees fair market value.
Uncharitable, the movie, has the potential to go much further than the TedTalk was able to do. It could be the catalyst we need to co-create a new social impact sector and dramatically improve our ability to achieve our missions. Based on the TedTalk and Pallotta’s book by the same name, this film is a must-see for anyone who cares about solving the world’s most intractable problems.
Directed by the acclaimed Stephen Gyllenhaal (father to Jake and Maggie, and long-time friend to Dan Pallotta), the film expands on the theme that the social impact sector is forced to play by a completely different set of market rules to the for-profit sector and these rules keep us from achieving our full potential. Pallotta talks about our inability to pay better salaries, take risks, spend on advertising, and generally do all the things that successful businesses do without ending up in a media maelstrom.
The film documents stories that were misrepresented in the news as “scandals” and “scams” like Invisible Children in 2012, the Wounded Warrior Project in 2016, Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2010, and the collapse of Dan Pallotta's own company in 2002. Perhaps one day we will add WE Charity to the list. The film also interviews social impact leaders like Scott Harrison from Charity Water, Dorri McWhorter, from YMCA Metro Chicago, Milton Little, President at the United Way Greater Atlanta and Billy Shore, Founder and CEO of Share our Strength. It is a powerful tale of fake news and destruction. It demonstrates how much easier it is to destroy something than it is to build.
This reviewer has watched the film four times, and each time was struck by the fierce reactions from the audience. Audience members seemed outraged. There were heads nodding, a few “amens” and lots of notes taken. At one panel presentation an audience member stood up and asked a room of philanthropists, who had been invited by their local community foundation to view the film, “What will we do differently?” No one answered.
The quiet in the room happened in part because watching the film is a little like getting hit over the head with a massive reality check. You find yourself asking why you’ve never thought of this before. In this case, it was a room full of business leaders and funders who live by a set of guiding principles in their “day jobs” but have viewed charities in a completely different light. It takes time to process.
The film makers made a call to action for all of us involved in the charitable, social impact, social profit, nonprofit sector to “action” this film. They provide a list of nine ways to do this on their website. In addition, from November 27th to December 1st, select charitable organizations will offer an opportunity for their donors to receive a link to stream the film on their own devices as a thank you for their Giving Tuesday week donation. Peel Children’s Aid Foundation is one of those organizations so please watch our social media for more information.
Maryann Kerr, CEO, Peel Children’s Aid Foundation is a fundraiser, author, and leadership coach with over 37 years of experience in the philanthropic sector. She holds a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University. Maryann’s first book Tarnished: Let’s rethink, reimagine and co-create a new social impact sector was published by Civil Sector Press in 2021 and is available at www.tarnished.ca
