We have created charities to fill the gaps in capitalism, which in turn have become their own little fiefdoms of power
“There’s no worse punishment than worthless, hopeless labor.”
This quote is from The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. As a philosophy major in university, this was required reading. And while I became a fan then, the benefit of years of lived experience and the joys of aging have brought me back to it, and as happens, it was with a new perspective. Couple my ever-revising worldview with an industry that continues to navel gaze and arbitrarily push targets higher and higher, leads me to feel that we are now in a state of Camus’ “worse punishment.”
As the Pollyanna that I am, I still firmly believe that charities should be working to close their doors, a successful fundraiser is one who puts themselves out of a job. Diseases cured. Education, for all, funded. Nature protected, etc. If not to solve the problem, then why are we continuing to push this rock uphill year after year after year.
When I was a younger person, I was told that I would understand it when I had more experience or when I had bills to pay. I’m here to report back—I still don’t get it. Camus felt this way too:
“I want everything to be explained to me or nothing. And the reason is impotent when it hears this cry from the heart. The mind aroused by this insistence seeks and finds nothing but contradictions and nonsense.”
Missions have become vaguer over time, watered down to suit a strategic plan or ensure that there is a long-term vision for the organization, because that’s how corporations operate. And because the mission and the push to “raise more” have become intertwined into a monoculture there is no room left for distinction or difference – the mission is the fundraising is the mission. We have created charities to fill the gaps in capitalism, which in turn have become their own little fiefdoms of power. Where has the drive to solve these problems gone? Was it ever really there?
A mission statement is what you are setting out to complete—there should be an end to the mission. Otherwise, it’s simply a topic sentence, and the narrative can go on forever which in life, and Hollywood movies can lead to diminishing returns (The Marvel and Star Wars franchises are just two examples). As my colleague said “Pushing the rock up the hill isn’t the point, it’s the work. The point is to get the rock to the top of hill and be done with the work.”
So, if we are only working to raise more money next year “because we have to” and not because it brings us closer to the apex, then we have tipped into the absurd. And guess who would have predicted that?
For the absurd man it is not a matter of explaining and solving, but of experiencing and describing. Everything begins with lucid indifference.”
This indifference to accomplishment, this avoidance of specificity and the self-preservation-driven activity is not, I think, the heart of philanthropy nor my brand of personal and classical philosophy.
Yes, I need a job to live, but I reject the notion that a fundraiser (or any other employee) who worked at an organization who closed their doors, having completed their mission, would be undesirable as an employee. Quite the opposite. I would want them on my team. They clearly get the job done!
Another argument that has been leveled to me is that organizations need to raise more because they haven’t completed their mission; a self-fulling prophecy that they will need to raise more each year. It’s not a comfortable thing, to think that our industry isn’t on the pedestal that we wish it could be but discomfort is necessary for change.
So, what do you want me to do Laura!?!? I can hear you thinking it. And honestly, I’m not sure.
Community centric fundraising and decolonizing fundraising are likely good places to start as both of these movements de-centralize the power of wealth and capitalism. Like with so many things in life, it will take small steps, consistency and discipline but it will also take a lot of uncomfortable conversations with people who are not as willing as we are to shake things up.
In the meantime, we will have to work together to keep pushing those rocks uphill and see if maybe we can get one to the apex. It might change some hearts and minds when we do.
Keep Camus close when you have those Sisyphean days with quotes like this;
“All those who are struggling for freedom today are ultimately fighting for beauty.”
Laura Champion is the Senior Director, Fund Development at Lumenus Foundation. She is the Founder of the AFP Speaker Discovery Series, was Chair of AFP GTA Congress in 2020, and has spoken all over the globe. She has a deep love for fundraising, learning, and her one-eyed wiener dog, Mortadella. lchampion@lumenus.ca
