#modest needs

what an absolutely fantastic time to find a random and incredibly vague us government email in my inbox about being a potential victim, scaring the shit out of me, only to learn that the founder of the one usa-only charity i donated to has been embezzling funds since 2015 and plead guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion.

i don't think i donated more than $30 after 2010, due to me wanting to focus more on canadian and international charities, but holy shit. i should have realized something was up when his newsletters changed from genuinely moving anecdotes about people that have been helped by his charity and his own feelings about charity to just a list of people you can donate to. i thought it was because the organization was expanding and he had less time to do this stuff but yeesh. glad i got so annoyed by those emails and stopped donating.

“I’d probably just spend it on something stupid I’d never use. And they need it more than I do.”

Beth said that when she was 8 (see this post) to explain why she wanted to make microloans through Kiva. With repayments and interest, her donations have more than doubled in value for repeated re-loaning. 

Beth’s quote is almost always true. So, finally, last night, we got around to what might be the most important act of our holiday season: giving to nonprofits. Sure, we are giving presents to each other, but whatever our complaints in life, we know there are millions of people around the world whose basic needs are not met.

For a local focus, we chose nearby community organizations that operate food pantries and winter heating assistance programs. It’s important to remember that people living in our own area face insecurity with food and other needs. 

For a global focus, we had the kids look through the World Vision Gift Catalog. Beth, age 10, filled a notebook page with items that caught her attention, and then with Luke, age 14, narrowed it down to a few items that would fit our donation budget.  There are plenty of small items on there, like mosquito nets for a family ($21+) or their 5x multiplied medicines ($25+).  

I have worked in the nonprofit world for years, so I know the listed dollar amounts and items are all about money pools and averages. This is especially true for a global nonprofit where costs and needs fluctuate wildly from one country to the next. In the case of “multiplied” medicines and other goods, nonprofits also leverage corporate donations that might already have been given even if you didn’t donate. And individual stories profiled by nonprofits are often heavily edited, and may actually be fictional composites assembled from real people in similar situations. However, even with all this marketing spin, reputable nonprofits still do good things with your donations, though it might not be precisely the good things you clicked on when you made your donation.

I have previously mentioned World Vision, Kiva, Modest Needs, and Trees for the Future, and to this I would add Covenant House, which provides housing and support services to homeless youth. But you don’t have to support these specific nonprofits. If you choose to donate somewhere, check out nonprofit ratings on sites like Charity Navigator and GuideStar. And if you don’t have money, consider time. Many nonprofits have volunteer opportunities.

There is no end to the good works to be done in the world. Go find some and support it!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and whatever floats your boat this season.

Beth, age 8, explaining why she decided to give away all of her money.

For over a year, she’s been saving money from chores, birthdays, and holidays. She recently realized she had over $100 and could not think of anything she really wanted to buy herself. So, through my accounts, she made four $25 microloans via Kiva.org (all to women needing business loans, if you’re curious) and also donated farm animals through World Vision.  I am super proud of her. I was never that generous as a kid. Or as an adult, for that matter.

So, it’s worth asking: do microloans work, or did my daughter just throw away her money?  

In 2014, Hugh Sinclair had a harsh and widely-reported teardown of Kiva and decided “Kiva is a scam, and if we are to contribute to the welfare of the poor and restore any faith in the integrity of the U.S. financial sector, such players should be regulated immediately.”  Kiva responded with a teardown of Sinclair’s teardown, noting, “We know that poverty is multidimensional, that microcredit is just one tool, and that it is far from being perfected.” 

Kiva is hardly the only microfinance crowdfunder.  When NPR tackled the question “Can microloans lift women out of poverty?” in 2016, they concluded, “if microloans haven't proved themselves the poor's salvation, neither should the industry be scorned as useless.”  Simone Schaner, an economist at Dartmouth University, was quoted with probably the most salient point of all: "Microfinance is a victim of an unfortunate tendency in development, which is that everybody wants to find a silver bullet to solve poverty. And the fact is that poverty is this massive, incredibly difficult problem. There is no silver bullet."

If you’re at all curious about Kiva and microfinance, I recommend that you read the links above and understand the goals, limits, risks, and benefits involved. The whole business is not as clear-cut as Kiva’s marketing would suggest.  It’s not like sponsoring a child through World Vision (which we also do) where there’s a more direct connection (though that is not always what it seems). But it’s also not scammy and useless, as Sinclair would lead you to believe.  My own decade-plus experience with the international nonprofit world leads me to believe that Schaner’s point is the most accurate: microfinance is a tool, and can be useful, but it’s no silver bullet. 

My daughter is already planning on saving up for her next donation. There is no end of need in the world, so in the interests of broadening her horizons, we agreed that we’d look at other charities too.  For example, Modest Needs crowdfunds money for Americans facing temporary financial needs. And there are several local charities -- homeless shelters, food pantries, veteran’s groups, etc. -- that are worthwhile.  Bottom line: trust but verify; investigate with open eyes, mind, and heart; do good when you can.

NEW YORK (AP) — The charity was called Modest Needs but federal prosecutors who filed charges against its founder say his weren’t.

Rather, prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan say, Modest Needs founder Keith Taylor had such expensive tastes that he embezzled more than $2.5 million from the charity between 2016 and May 2024 and spent it on meals at some of New York City’s priciest restaurants as well as cosmetic surgery and a luxury apartment.

Links to good causes

A lot of people are posting some great links to petitions, organizations, and fund raisers, helping BLM and other great organizations. I thought I’d post some links to some other great causes.

Code cooperative

The Code Cooperative is a community of people who learn, use, and build technology to create life changing possibilities for individuals and communities impacted by incarceration.

This…

Please share this information I know so many people on Tumblr reach out for help for these sort of things.

This charity does great great work for those who need a little help to keep from drowning by a financial situation snowballing.

If you need any amount of cash for medical help or rent or food or emergency bill.. Please check this podcast out they will explain it best. And then go to Modest Needs web page.

The holidays are coming, and so is charity season! Instead of dropping your change in the Salvation Army bucket, please consider donating to Modest Needs. In their own words, "Modest Needs is a tax-exempt charity where you can make small, emergency grants to low-income workers who're at risk of slipping into poverty and for whom no other source of immediate help is available."