If you give to charity, chances are you’ve got a little extra disposable income.
Meanwhile, there are countless small businesspeople in your community, many of them just scraping by. They lament the difficulty of attracting clientele away from the big box stores, the chains, the corporate companies who always seem to know how to make everything more convenient, cheaper, and better known.
But often, these small businesspeople are producing products and services that, in a straight comparison of quality, easily rival the big boys. Also, they hire local people and are less likely to grind them down on salary, benefits and hours. They are your neighbours. They are risking their financial lives to bring you something they believe in.
So why not take some of that money and support them, instead of giving it to charity?
Do you have anything in your closet that doesn’t fit right? Take it to the nearest tailor. Are you tired of housecleaning? Take a chance on the lady down the street who runs a maid service out of her house. Are you at all curious about the ethnic deli two blocks over that makes it own sausage? Splurge on that.
You might find a new favourite food, the household help that frees you up, or the resource that transforms your old clothes into a new wardrobe. This do-gooder strategy could end up being downright luxurious in the process.
Believe it or not, this is how to fight poverty, urban decay, and unemployment. Hunting for the lowest price on food, clothes, and other goods and services while simultaneously lamenting the death of downtown and the disappearance of the middle class is a bit like complaining of the cold while sitting on a block of ice. In spite of that, it’s become common practice in our society. But there’s no good reason that those of us with a little extra money can’t start reversing that trend.
So good ahead: spoil yourself, and spoil your community.
Hi Nadine… I like your posting about supporting small businesses. We have become transfixed by big box stores and have forgotton the importance of small business in terms of the health and vitality of community. In my personal life I try to do as you suggest and at Bissell Centre where I am CEO, we prefer to work with small companies whenever possible and do so in the following ways: janitorial services, plumber and electricians, caterers, and when I meet with others over food, I always try to go to local, smaller establishments for lunch.
That said, I am not sure why your great advice includes pitting doing business with small business against giving to charity. Why one thing over the other? I offer two reasons for not seeing this as two competing choices. First, most non-profits are local as well and most are small compared to big business or big charities. Many if not most work to strengthen communities and the people in them, including business owners and consumers. Second, in my work there are many, many people who cannot work and require support, such as those with severe disabilities, mental illness, trauma, the homeless, and children living in poverty. While I agree supporting small businesses adds to the economy and helps fight against poverty, it is not the only answer and as such perhaps not really a choice between one or the other. It’s about having a comprehensive approach to tackling social problems. Yours is a good one. So is supporting charity. 🙂
Hi, Mark – great question, and one I struggled with for a long time myself. As you know, I come from a charity background and have some knowledge of your great organization, as well as your own insightful and experienced approach to the work. I’ve addressed this in a lot of past posts, but here’s the quick version: we are asking people to be all things to all people, and it’s not realistic for many. People become overwhelmed by the constant exhortations to live green AND support local AND be healthy AND give to charity AND etc, etc. Obviously, we would like everyone to do everything. But it’s simply not realistic and people become overwhelmed and burned out, with the result being that they check out of the whole shebang. I’m generalizing and exaggerating, but basically, I’m talking about donor fatigue and compassion fatigue. So given the fact that most people only have so much time, attention, and funds to devote to doing good, I believe it’s important to set priorities. And in the grand scheme of things, I believe formal charity has been given too high a priority for a long, long time. Charity does have a role, yes. But it should not be the first line of defense for solving every problem out there, to the detriment of other actions and choices. Before looking to charity, we need to look in our own backyards. We cannot help but have an impact through our lifestyle choices and at work. We need to put some serious effort into making those impacts positive, rather than assigning all that responsibility to charity and thinking we can buy virtue like that. It doesn’t work and it’s not fair to the charities. Here are a couple of past posts that elaborate on these ideas: Lifestyle vs. Work vs. Giving , and A Shocking Revelation