What is wrong with "Charity"?

Mike Rusche — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:17:00 GMT

Why are we getting so far away from the word charity?

Why is non-profit the more commonly used description?

Non-profit? How boring is that? Charity is a word derived from a word used for love. Non-profit? That’s a government tax category!   “I work for a 501(c)3. The most important thing is we’re taxed differently.”

I like big words. From reading this blog you’ll see that I have very limited ability to use big words, but I like them. I love when someone throws in a Latin term like ad infinitum or in perpetuity. But like I said I’m no connoisseur of words. I did tell a girlfriend in high school that she couldn’t use big words if she couldn’t pronounce them. She said I was the anti-thesis of something.   And she pronounced the anti with a long i. I told her she read too much. Then later in life I upgraded my rule to include, if you can’t spell it, don’t use it.

If someone works at a school or a church, they aren’t going to answer the question of where do you work with “At a non-profit”. Educators are much more proud of the tangible work they provide than to say, “Yep, it’s a tax-exempt organization!” Not-for-profit. Woo hoo!!

It’s neat that the word non-profit, despite its negative prefix, is a word that comes with great character. Now that I think about this I am reminded that a good friend of eTapestry, Tom Suddes, changed what he calls non-profit. He doesn’t like the word starting negative either and calls you all “For Impact” organizations.    Now that’s it.

Philanthropy. So, that’s a cool word. And charity is an awesome word. I’ve been in the ‘philanthropic’ industry since 1996.   I think a dozen plus years gives me enough experience to be able to recognize that there are so many super hearts at all the charities that are our clients. And in hearts of those that aren’t.

I think we moved away from it because of it’s Christian origins. It’s sad that in most things people like to explain the origin of something and how far back it goes.   But if it’s politically incorrect like only this can be, then we need to change the name to something dumb sounding.

Who can put charity back on the street and let people know the word is about compassion?   Tax time is about as dull part of the year as it gets for me. Don’t tell me your tax status.

It is extremely cool that the work that charities do is so important and admirable, that it does warrant not being taxed by our government. But let’s focus on the hearts.

Let’s focus on the charity.

Rick Radcliff
VP of Conversion, Consulting & Data Services
eTapestry

The Thread : charity

What is wrong with "Charity"?