Philanthropy Needs A Heard Head and Soft Heart
Great investors take process seriously.
They have a checklist for due diligence and commit time to deeply researching a company before investing. Great donors should do the same. I like to know the CEO and board members before I invest. I like to know management before I give to a non-profit. Ultimately, my assets will benefit these causes so the giving part is just as important as the compounding part of the equation. For my family, Watsi has been a particular focus. From their blog:
Support for Watsi is the one thing I ask for my birthday each year, my cause when I go on expeditions, and my current philanthropic effort for my Vale Tudo newsletter. As I mentioned in a recent post,
Over a long period of time, professional and personal life becomes a mix bag successes and failures. But this is one of the few things that I’ve done that has been 100% positive.
Over the course of a decade, we’ve helped fund healthcare for 483 patients in 13 countries. mostly in east Africa and southeast Asia
Most recently, we helped fund burn repair surgery for 18-month old Nana in Cambodia so that she can use her injured hand again.
According to Watsi,
… Nana’s left-hand fingers were severely burned from a pan of boiling oil. Her mother took her to a local clinic for medications, but her fingers did not heal. She has since developed scar contracture on three of her fingers. This means the scar from the accident is pulling together and tightening the skin surrounding it, leaving Nana unable to hold objects. In order to help her condition, she will need to undergo a contracture release surgery, as well as a skin graft surgery to repair the scar tissues.
When Nana and her family learned about Watsi’s medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC), they traveled for three and a half hours seeking treatment. Surgeons at CSC performed a burn contracture release surgery to help Nana use her fingers again. Her mom said,
I hope after this surgery my daughter can use her hand like other children.
Burns are painful and hand surgery can be tricky. The outcome:
Surgeons repaired the painful skin contractures on her fingers and replaced the dead skin with a new skin graft. Nana remained in the hospital for several days while her incision healed, and when surgeons were sure the new graft had developed an adequate blood supply, she was able to return home with her parents. Nana and her mother worked with the physiotherapy for range of motion exercises and hope to have full use of her fingers soon.
The cost? Just under $500. This seems spectacular to Americans used to bills that could easily be orders of magnitude bigger. Anything I spend is money that I can’t spend elsewhere, which is why I try to give with my head as well as my heart.
Charity Navigator offers convenient tools for quick research into non-profits. In the case of Watsi, they offer a four star rating based on their review of Watsi’s accountability, finance, culture, and leadership.
In terms of accountability, CN investigated Watsi’s board to ensure at least three members and most independent. They reviewed their audit. They looked through their Form 990 (which donors can also do directly), and made sure that there were policies for board meeting minutes, document retention, whistleblowers, and that their website is compliant.
In terms of finance, they saw that Watsi is solvent and financially sustainable. Their management is, based on my interactions, excellent, and they are compensated reasonably.
They spend their money on their program with over 80% going to healthcare (and 100% of marginal gifts going to healthcare).
In short, based on my direct interactions as well as my review of data from both Charity Navigator and filings with the IRS, I can give to Watsi with total confidence that they serve the purpose that I intend my money to serve.
