PDC-13: The PDC Life Cycle

PDC-13: The PDC Life Cycle

 

In the previous article, we looked at the traditional charity life cycle. When we say the traditional life cycle, it doesn't imply that every charity follows these. These would be the typical cycle that the ideal charities could follow.

 

Even if a charity follows the traditional ideal charity life cycle, it is interesting to note that there is room for perfection by involving people in every step. Such a model would constitute the people driven charity. 

 

The PDC takes a nontraditional approach in looking at the charity life cycle. It merges the two cycles (the life cycle of the organization and the life cycle of the people supporting it) to form a single life cycle. The people are the ones who do everything. The increased level of transparency and volunteerism fades the line between the people running the organization and the people supporting the organization.

 

PDC strongly invests in all phases of the lifecycle and follows the best practices of the charity landscape. It views charity as a long term process rather than a short term goal of fund raising. Educating the people and making them aware of the needs are the central focus of PDC. The most energy is spent on creating the awareness among people and making them realize that they can make a difference in the lives of others. Another major difference is the use of the common man to operate all the stages of the life cycle. The awareness is spread among people by the people.

 

While fund raising is important to any charity, PDC doesn't believe in collecting a single penny from a person until the person is fully convinced about the cause. In addition, there is a time gap between educating the people and requesting for their support. The time gap helps people to learn more and to be convinced about the project.

 

PDC focuses on the fisher man than the fish. PDC embarks on the potential of the volunteers than the donations they make. PDC clearly sees the value of the 2 cents of the widow than the millions of the rich man.

 

Another difference is how PDC approaches the typical 'million dollar question of charity'.

"If you need a million dollar, would you prefer to get

1. $1 million from 1 person
2. $1 from a million people"

A traditional charity would probably opt for option 1, but PDC without doubts would opt for option2.

 

PDC would invest heavily on follow-up to keep the people informed of the impact they made and can make for the needy. PDC uses people and hence will keep the costs low in all the phases. PDC would focus on efficiency in all phases and tries to squeeze the dollars to reach out to as many people as possible.

 

In short, PDC will try to leverage the potential of the common man and use the best practices of the charity landscape to reach out to the wider angle of the needy.

 

In the next few articles, we will discuss the best practices and the other aspects of each of the phases in the charity cycle. We will begin with Charity Awareness. We will hold off on the Planning phase towards the end so that we can clearly understand the needs. Stay tuned.

 

To be continued...

 

The next two topics:

 

PDC-14: Awareness: The Differentiator and the Value Builder

PDC-15: Awareness: The Instant lottery Vs the Insurance Premium

 

Thanks,

Rajesh Vargheese

St. Gregorios Orthodox Church, Austin, TX

PDC-12: The Traditional Charity Life Cycle

PDC-12: The Traditional Charity Life Cycle

Any continuous process has a life cycle. Similarly, an ideal charity project has a life cycle and it consists of many phases. Each phase has its own set of activities and objectives. An ideal charity life cycle will concentrate on each phase to fully live its life. The investment in certain phases of the lifecycle can help the common man understand the difference between 'good' and the 'not so good' charity.

 

If we look at the lifecycle of a traditional charity, we can clearly see two separate lifecycles

1. A lifecycle for the charitable organizations that runs the project.
2. A lifecycle for the people who support the charity

Let's look at the different phases of the lifecycle of the charitable organizations that run the project. This may be defined maybe 5 C's of charity. We will go through each of the phases in depth in the coming articles.

1. Conception and Planning: In this phase, the needs are analyzed thoroughly. Based on the needs, the objectives and the plans are created. The phase becomes the input to other phases. We will hold off the discussion at the end after glancing through the other phases.

2. Communication and Awareness: Once the plan has been created, the objectives must be communicated to the masses. This phase tries to answer all the questions that that people would have in their mind about the differentiation and commonality of the project with other projects. The details of the project is clearly communicated to the masses.

3. Collection and fund Raising: Most projects incur expenses to operate. Many organizations solely rely on the donations of people. In this phase, the organization tries to raise money for the projects.

4. Coordination and Execution: In this phase, the organization uses the money that it raised from people towards the benefit of the poor and the needy.

 
5. Correspondence and Follow-up: In this phase the organization tries to communicate the details of what has been accomplished and tries to maintain the confidence of the people by communicating the impact that their donations have made in the lives of the needy.

 

The lifecycle of the people who support the charity can be described by the 3 C's of charity. They are broadly classified into

A. Compassion and consideration: Once people come to know about a need or a charity project, they become compassionate and they would consider their support to help the needy.

 
B. Cooperation and contribution: Once we become compassionate, we cooperate and support the charity by volunteering our time, resources and talents.

C. Complimenting and continuous support: Once we become compassionate and the organization wins our confidence, we not only provide the one time support, but continuously support the charity by being the ambassador of the good work they do and spread the word to others and enable more and more people to reach out.

 

If our charities invest in all these phases (1-5), one can be sure that the common man would have no second thoughts in investing in his phases (A-C)

 

To be continued...

 

The next two topics:

 

PDC-13: The PDC Life Cycle

PDC-14: Awareness: The Differentiator and the Value Builder

 

Thanks,

Rajesh Vargheese

St. Gregorios Orthodox Church, Austin, TX