Many times when people claim there are no funds available for a particular line of work and that it must be funded through charity, IMO they just aren't being creative enough. "There's just no funding available" becomes the excuse for naive career choices and a lack of basic common sense. Not always... but quite often. A lot of recent graduates are just out of touch with market realities -- and hideously bad at marketing themselves.
For example, there may not be much funding for sex ed careers in schools, but there's ample opportunity for skilled teachers to provide this service online, which is probably a better venue for it anyway. It's easy to blame "the system" when you can't find a job. But meanwhile smart people who know how to market and sell such knowledge intelligently are getting rich from it online, and there are plenty of people providing this info for free too. Naive job hunters complain about the unfairness of it all while being totally ignorant of the fact that the students are already learning what they need to know online.
You can also create a wonderful non-profit w/o having to rely on charity. One example is Toastmasters International, a non-profit that relies on member dues, product sales, and a few other sources of income.
I agree that charities are a positive way to fill some gaps, but I think we'll fill far more of those gaps by making more conscious career choices.
Again, charitable giving is fine, but we'd be better off if more people focused on giving through their careers vs. simply giving money to charities. If you devote your life to a cause, your cash goes along for the ride, and you'll probably have a lot more cash to give. Many charities, in fact, merely treat the symptoms created by people who live and work without much consciousness or awareness. |