5/06/2007

innovative ways to get donations

Charity organisations are looking for more innovative ways to get donations from the public after the NKF fiasco. Taking the same course of actions like lucky draw prizes, charity shows, soliciting using the pretext of free medical checkups, signing monthly donations etc may draw an unpleasant taste. New and more innovative ways are needed. I can imagine that an opt in/opt out scheme for the money in the Medisave would be an attractive proposition. Just make a ruling that everyone must opt out of the scheme or else the money left after their demise will go to charity. And with so much money left unused, many will likely die without touching their Medisave, this will be a huge source of donation for charity organisations.

3 comments:

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

The failure of charities to self-regulate themselves and each other was the prime cause of the NKF incident. As the old saying goes: "Those who are unwilling or unable to govern themselves will be governed by someone else".

Thus, it is in their interest to woo the public back, and to regain the public's trust in private charities. IMO, it will be a long, hard road. Once people feel that they have been taken advantage of, it is almost near impossible to woo them back. Most people won't distinguish one charity form another, so in this case all the "innocent" charities suffer because of one bad egg.

MEDISAVE, like every attempt at government to embark on programs of "social insurance" is doomed to fail. Sure, in the sort term it may look like it is "succeeding", and its image can be "polished" by smart political rhetoric, but the truth is in the long term, anything which is non-market based will ultimately fail.

MEDISAVE is part of the grander illusion called CPF — which disillusioned people believe is some sort of "retirement fund" or "social insurance". It is not. CPF is a TAX — once paid, the money is "sunk".

People are of course free to choose — free to choose what to believe in, even though they are WRONG.

The great thing about a causal universe is that it provides "feedback" (physical and psychological consequences of one's decision) to free-willed conscious beings who direct their thoughts and actions by their pursuit of their own self-interest.

The Oriental Express said...

I remember some 20 years ago, Red Cross, wrote to us that there would be a lucky draw for blood donors. I replied that if I donated blood regularly, it was done out of love. It would be better for Red Cross to come up with more instrinsic ideas than just the lure of lucky draws! How many lucky draws can be held?

I gave blood because I realised it could save lives, and as such the reward of feeling good was sufficient for me to carry on with 75 more donations until recently when I had to stop because of doctor's instructions.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi oriental express,

there are not many of your kind around. if people are kind, your kind may be praised as sentimental idealists or go gooders. if people are unkind, they may say that such people are stupid. where got free lunch?

you must convert everything to a value in money kind.

but i believe there are still many people of your kind around. and i salute you and all of them.

if everyone only thinks in term of money, human kind is doomed. but again, there is nothing wrong in trying to make the best of a situation to improve one's lot. make more money if one can. but don't be too greedy until one cannot even understand the meaning of greed.