Ultron Might Have Solved One of Philanthropy's Big Problems
Ultron, a misunderstood, hard-nosed robot profiled in the blockbuster movie The Avengers: Age of Ultron, has selflessly dedicated his entire existence to saving the world from humanity. Amidst the flurry of flying robots, arrows, and "hulk smashes," he leads the campaign to take Sokovia. While conquering the city, Ultron takes a bit of downtime to sit with his arch-nemesis and fellow AI, Vision, to get into some philosophy: the universe is so big and the human race is just a drop in the bucket. In a world where change seems so slow and far away, what's the point of helping humanity? He tells Tony Stark's creation, "The world needed a shield. Stark settled for a slave." Vision, always a gentleman, seems to sympathize a bit with the depressed Ultron. Vision makes a concession or two to help Ultron feel better about the planet, saying, "Human beings are fearful and in need of protection. But then, that fear can inspire them to do great things." Vision is always a class act. As it turns out, UPenn students feel a lot like Ultron. In a study at the university by Deborah Small called "Running Ahead: Learning About the Identifiable Victim Effect," researchers paid students to fill out a survey and then asked them to make a donation to a leading charity. The first survey gave a general overview of the state of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The picture it painted seemed quite daunting with statistics on the millions of people who face hunger in Zambia and the tens of millions of people who need immediate assistance in Ethiopia. The second survey described the situation of one girl named Rokia in Mali, Africa who is facing starvation. Donations after the second survey were 2x higher than donations from the first ($2.83 compared to $1.16). When the researchers asked students to reconsider their donations, those from both survey groups gave around the same amount at $1.20. What does this mean? Ultimately, when people really think about donating to philanthropic efforts no matter the marketing campaign, the intimidating scale of the poverty war sends people scampering. Raising money for non-profit groups becomes tough not because people don't believe in the goal, but rather people reason that there is really no point. After all, my dollar might have more social utility going towards an iPhone app or a grilled cheese than it would if it got lost in the gears of an organization somewhere fighting the impossible. So what can non-profits do to fight this natural tendency towards human hopelessness? Organizations need to be cognizant of the fact that this skeptical sentiment exists, and they must work against it by creating a list of specific, small-scale problems to address. These problems need to have definitive solutions that donors can comprehend. Additionally, non-profits would be wise to present those problems in marketing campaigns along with the answer. In an article titled, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," Peter Singer writes anecdotally that human beings are more inclined to act on a problem if there is a specific remedy, saying, "If it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything morally significant, we ought, morally, to do it. An application of this principle would be as follows: if I am walking past a shallow pond and see a child drowning in it, I ought to wade in and pull the child out. This will mean getting my clothes muddy, but this is insignificant, while the death of the child would presumably be a very bad thing." An individual seeing another person drowning would gladly part ways with a valuable possession like an expensive outfit to save that person's life. Singer contrasts this example with another. He writes that there are hundreds of thousands of refugees in East Bengal who are starving in makeshift camps and notes that countries will more likely than not fail to provide the adequate aid to India in order to help them (this was in the spring of 1972). So when Vision aptly replies to Ultron, saying, "Human beings are fearful and in need of protection. But then, that fear can inspire them to do great things," it's clear he is onto something. Non-profits need to change the fear donors have into inspiration in order to increase their funding. One of the most effective ways of doing so might be to put potential donors in front of smaller problems with clear cut solutions and work incrementally.
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