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When someone’s struggling, ask them to help *you*
When he meets someone who’s struggling, Maff Potts relies on six words. “Could you do me a favour?” It’s counter-intuitive, but it’s never failed him, he says, even in extreme circumstances. Someone may be distraught, aggressive, or feeling utterly desperate. Instead of immediately trying to fix the problem, ask them for help. Can they offer…
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What does generosity actually look like?
Brits are becoming less generous – at least according to the World Giving Index, described as the “world’s leading study on global generosity”. The UK has typically ranked in the top 10, but in the latest index it’s in 22nd place, its (joint) lowest spot yet. This is not a new worry. In 2021, analysts…
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Facing the future: how do we help unborn generations?
Acting on behalf of our descendants isn’t a new thing. Indigenous groups have long practised “seventh-generation thinking” – making decisions based on how they will affect people far into the future. Europeans began building enormous cathedrals that they would not live to enjoy – because it was the “right thing to do” for their children…
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The addictive curb-cut effect
I recently wrote about the rise of online ‘body doubling’ – websites where you meet other people on a video call for an hour or so, then get on with your own work, silently accompanied by someone else doing the same. These spaces seem to be particularly valued by people with ADHD, who often struggle…
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Why super-altruists will give up a kidney
Would you give up a kidney to save the life of an anonymous stranger? Me neither. (I’m too squeamish even to donate blood.) But some people would. In fact, nearly 1,000 people in the UK have given up theirs, not because they’ve been moved to act by an individual’s appeal for help, but as “non-directed…
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Gifts: delight, obligation, poison?
Gifts are heart-warming. It feels good to be able to give something of value to someone we care about, and it feels good to receive something unexpected that signals someone has thought of us. Or… maybe not. It can also feel stressful when you’re under pressure to find the right gift. It’s awkward when you’ve…
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Chess, 3D printers -or doing nothing: public libraries as “shared living rooms”
“Hanging out at Oodi without a reason is welcomed and even recommended.” So says the brochure for Helsinki’s Central Library, named Oodi (meaning ‘ode’) – a vast ship-like, spruce-clad building that opened five years ago. It describes itself as “an open space for culture and creation”, and “everyone’s shared living room”. I don’t think that’s…
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Friction, not oil
What happens when giving seems a little too easy? “Save a life, in your sleep”, said the sign. Buy a pair of pyjamas at this shop, the promise was, and your money will help eradicate malaria in southern Africa. There’s no question that the cause is valid. More than 600,000 people died of the disease…
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Donations for disruption
Want to do your bit for the climate? Donating to activists may offer more bang for your buck than buying carbon offsets. That’s the conclusion of research group Giving Green: even their conservative estimates suggest advocacy organisations are “much more cost-effective than even best offsets”, they say.
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Power in the picture
Way back in 2007, the Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organisations (Dochas), created a code of conduct on images and messages. It was a reaction to the somehow accepted situation of fundraisers relying on what you might call “flies in their eyes” photography. You don’t need to see an example here; if you live in…
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