meeting in the aisle

Is ‘The Amazing Race’ really better than poverty porn?

There is quite a debate raging at the moment about poverty porn and the negative imagery and stereotypes many charities use to raise money.

Over at Wronging Rights there is a discussion about the positive portrayal of “the real Ghana” in the American reality TV show The Amazing Race (TAM) acting as an ‘antidote to poverty porn.’

I recently saw the episode where contestants go to Dhaka, Bangladesh, and I was also impressed with the depiction of one of the most populous cities in the world where poverty is visible on every street.

Wronging Rights praises TAM for showing Americans struggling to do things Ghanains do every day, showing a positive and cheerful side of Ghana, and showing realities like traffic jams and homes with TVs.

In Ghana, TAR confounds expectations by doing the exact opposite. It (a) shows bumbling Americans; (b) highlights the lives of Ghanaians in Ghana; (c) rejects poverty porn. - Wronging Rights

There is an acknowledgment that the comments coming out of the mouths of some of the contestants are pretty awful:

“I hope I get to hold little African babies” - a female contestant.

But there is much support for the depiction of a different side of Ghana than one portrayed by fundraising charities (I use ‘different’ as opposed to ‘real’ because there are many versions of the ‘real’ sides of places - but that’s a whole other blog post on its own).

My problem with this argument is that this TV show does a better job at portraying people living in Africa than charities who use poverty porn because it is like comparing apples to oranges - we’re talking about completely different things.

The purpose of The Amazing Race is to entertain. It is not a documentary, it is a competition, and it most certainly not reality.

How can this be compared to a fundraising appeal which seeks to raise the money needed to fund aid projects? While it is wonderful to think that portraying entertaining, happy, funny images of developing countries and that being enough to inspire people to dig into their pockets - fundraising departments are often skeptical at how effective this would really be.

I want to be clear here that I am just as disappointed at poverty porn myself, (and have said so here and here), but I think this comparison between an entertainment show and fundraising appeals is unfair and unrealistic.

What would be more helpful in progressing the charity world on from relying on poverty porn would be more examples of charities raising substantial amounts of money and support using positive imagery.

To start, I suggest looking at the way Charity:water fundraises. Right now their landing page doesn’t have a single image of sad looking people living in poverty. It’s the same story with their christmas appeal and even when they are informing you about the problems of dirty water, they manage to do it without a single heart-wrenching image.

Kudos to you (yet again), Charity:water…

What makes a good NGO website?

In my little corner of the world I spend a significant amount of time managing a website for an NGO (Non Government Organisation), and leap from link to link chasing leads to examples of charity websites that are getting it right.

I have found “the search” for my ideal NGO/charity website long and never-ending, but have come across a couple of sites that stand out above and beyond most others.

Here’s what I am specifically looking for:

• Transparency - I want to be able to see what the organisation does, how it does what it does, and what it spends my money on.
• Action - Now I’m here, what do you want me to do? Give you money? Sign a petition? Become your friend? Tell my friend I found you? Volunteer? Make it clear, and don’t ask me to do everything.
• Fundraising - How straightforward and secure is it for me to give you money? How do I know it’s straightforward and secure?
• That ‘je ne sais pas’ factor, the tap in to my heart versus my head, and a reason to come back.

And now, to my favourite sites:

Charity:Water

From the stunning photography and uncluttered homepage to the straightforward messaging and innovative way of explaining who they are, what they do, while demonstrating success. It is my communication-nerd dream to do something this good.

WWF (UK)

“What we do” and “How you can help” - WWF get straight down to business. (And also, who wouldn’t want to adopt a turtle?)

Medicens Sans Frontiers

Not one website as such, but an approach I like is MSF’s multi-pronged approach to online presence. They have a traditional website, but also a Doctors Without Borders blog which is a great vehicle for proving their effectiveness as an organisation. They look very, very hard working this way, and this allows other bloggers to reblog their content, effectively increasing the reach of the MSF message by allowing people to use MSF content on their own sites, making it very personal - genius!

I also love the microsite for their Starved for attention campaign. 

Free Rice

Ok, so this site doesn’t do loads of things I want it to (i.e. telling me who they are simply and clearly) but it does two things so well it gets a mention. It gets me interacting with the site (by asking me questions) and wanting to stay there as long as I feel like I’m doing something good (feeding people with…”free rice”). The United Nations World Food Program was on to something with this one.

Acumen Fund

This site made it on the list after I looked at my own web use and discovered it’s the site I come back to most of any NGO, so they must be doing something right for me. Like the Acumen Fund blog, which has a useful mix of helpful information, think pieces which are thoughtful and analytical, and project outcomes.

They have my trust, and I don’t hesitate to hand over my hard-earned when they ask me for a donation - and they don’t ask all the time, which helps.

What about you? Do you have a favourite charity website?