Are We As Generous As We Think We Are?
I realize that I started this series with a suggestion that you visit the ONE site, but I never explained why.
The truth is, I’m generally a bit skeptical when presented with a cause célébre like this. I’ve got nothing against Brad Pitt and friends, but when groups feel the need to lead with a celebrity face, it makes me wonder what they’re trying to sell me.
ONE has a lot of sizzle, and I’m not yet convinced that there’s a lot beyond that. But I signed up and told you about it anyways.
Why?
Because I’m convinced that global poverty is a critical problem. And because I think that an educated and engaged United States could accomplish mighty things.
The problem is, the US people are neither educated nor engaged. If we make some noise about it, perhaps a campaign like ONE could help change that.
Last December, when the UN was calling the US government “stingy” for its initial announced contributions to the tsunami relief effort, I remember having a conversation with a friend who works for a relief and development organization. Although he admitted that our government could have handled the initial announcement differently, he was pretty frustrated by the label “stingy.” Americans are generous people, he said. As donations come in to the organization he works for, he sees that generosity in tangible form every day.
I think he’s right. Americans are generous people. But I don’t think we’re as generous as we like to think we are.
In 2001, the Program on International Policy Attitudes conducted a study of US attitudes regarding foreign aid and world hunger. Some of what they discovered is striking. When asked to estimate the portion of the US budget devoted to foreign aid, most people thought it was around 20%. Care to guess what the actual percentage is? Less than one percent. Think about that for a second. We’re not just wrong, we’re off by a factor of 20.
The same study asked: of the total aid given by wealthy countries to poor countries, what portion is given by the US? People thought that 33% sounded about right. The actual amount is about half that. And when ranked according to the percentage of GDP devoted to foreign aid, the US consistently sits at the bottom of the list of industrialized nations.
Are we generous? I still maintain that we are. In total dollar amounts, the US gives significantly more than any other country. Plus, none of these numbers reflects the time and money that people donate to charitable organizations.
But the numbers do reveal that we’re not as generous as we think we are. We think we give more. Maybe it’s time we did give more.
In part, these numbers explain why similar studies consistently show that we want our government to reduce foreign aid. And this is where I hope ONE can be helpful. This is certainly where they need to start.
Like it or not, policy often flows from public opinion. If we wrongfully believe that we’re devoting too much of the budget to foreign aid, there’s no way that our leaders are going to increase it. If it takes Brad Pitt and Puff Daddy and that Tom Hanks guy to open people’s eyes, then I guess I’m down with that.
But it shouldn’t take them. It should take you. It should take me. We should talk to our families and friends about this. And we should convince our leaders that we’re ready to give more.