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