{"id":833,"date":"2009-07-22T22:11:55","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T16:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/blog\/?p=833"},"modified":"2009-07-22T22:11:55","modified_gmt":"2009-07-22T16:41:55","slug":"the-story-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naveen.bachwani.com\/greymatter\/2009\/07\/the-story-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was talking to a friend who works in Social Development, and the conversation veered towards what can such institutions do differently to make a bigger impact on Society.<\/p>\n

I had a few ideas in this regard, and I was happy to voice them.\u00a0 I told him that organizations that were focused on social development efforts have to straddle two different ends of the spectrum.\u00a0 On one end, they have to engage in grassroots work and ensure that their efforts yield results.\u00a0 This includes identifying areas in which they can make a difference, getting together the resources needed, going about it the right way, making results measurable and increasing accountability of the initiative.\u00a0 On the other hand, there’s what I call the “megaphone” factor.\u00a0 It’s equally important to garner support for the cause, to make the programs more visible (to stakeholders, investors, media, etc.), to leverage the power of communication and connect with volunteers who can contribute in a small albeit meaningful way.\u00a0 Both ends were important.\u00a0 In fact, what’s needed is to achieve a balance <\/em>between the two.<\/p>\n

A few days later, I chanced upon an Op-Ed piece<\/a> in the New York Times that resonated some of this thinking:<\/p>\n

In a thoughtful book published this year, \u201cThe Life You Can Save,\u201d Professor Peter Singer of Princeton University offers the pond example and explores why we\u2019re so willing to try to assist a stranger before us, while so unwilling to donate to try to save strangers from malaria half a world away.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons, I believe, is that humanitarians are abjectly ineffective at selling their causes. Any brand of toothpaste is peddled with far more sophistication than the life-saving work of aid groups. Do-gooders also have a penchant for exaggeration, so that the public often has more trust in the effectiveness of toothpaste than of humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s growing evidence that jumping up and down about millions of lives at stake can even be counterproductive. A number of studies have found that we are much more willing to donate to one needy person than to several…<\/p>\n

For example, in one study, people donate generously to Rokia, a 7-year-old malnourished African girl. But when Rokia\u2019s plight was explained as part of a larger context of hunger in Africa, people were much less willing to help.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A few socially-focused organizations may have mastered the art, but others definitely needed to get better at the “megaphone” factor, and in ways that leave a lasting impact.<\/p>\n

See Also :
\nGordon Brown’s inspiring TED talk on Global Good<\/a>\u00a0(July ’09)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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