Goat alert

I've accepted the challenge, and I'm even challenging some people at Richview to get in on the goat action this Christmas:

Through their Christmas Catalogue, World Vision offers you the opportunity to buy various items for needy families overseas. Last year (while I was still working with World Vision) Robert bought a goat, and badgered a whole lot of others to do the same. We had some fun with it. I think the best part was when Robert called up, told us he had bought a goat on the net, and asked where he could go to pick it up. So let's go with it. Robert is buying a goat. Lisa is buying a goat. We'll buy a goat. That's 3 so far. Who else will step up to the plate? You can get one through World Vision Canada or World Vision US. I'm sure you can get one through other countries as well. One other thing: If you buy a goat, or anything else they offer, leave a comment and let us know. You'll make Robert's day, as well as a huge impact on the lives of several people.

Comments

[ed]

We're most likely going to get a goat. But something else came up, some people can't afford to buy a whole goat and mentioned contributing some money to this, how do we deal with that, maybe next week, invite several people to go into this together and buy a goat or whatever else?

[Darryl]

Good point - there are also some less expensive animals available too.

[kevin]

Hmm. I bought a turkey last week for a family here in town. Does that count? :) Seriously, though, when you buy a goat through an organization like that, does that 75 bucks actually buy a goat? Or does all of the money go into a centralized account and the 75 bucks for a goat is just representative of what 75 bucks will provide?

[Mike]

Let me try and answer that one, Darryl. Do organizations like World Vision take the $75, go out and buy a goat and say "That's Kevin's goat"? No. Do they take the money, pool it, go out and get goats with it? Yes. The truth of the matter is (in the US case) a goat may cost, say, $60. The rest is used to get it to those who need it, training, and some to pay the salaries of those who work in the program. It takes money to run these programs, and some are better at it than others. Having worked at World Vision, however, I'm comfortable sending my money there. (Thanks for the plug, Darryl!)

[Brian Mullins]

Partners International does something similar with their "Harvest of Hope" Catalog. We've had Sunday School classes and Awana groups buy various items for national missionaries and the needy around the world. And like World Vision, they are a thrifty organization. Check them out at www.partnersinternational.ca

[kevin]

Thanks, Mike. And I'm not complaining about that. I think it would be silly if they would buy 37 goats and 2 turkeys just because that's what people sponsored, if what they really needed was 13 goats and 48 turkeys to give a better balance to meet the need. And I have no problem at all with funding those who are doing the work. Now, the organizations with 60% overhead.... ;)

[Mike]

I hear you, Kevin! Working at World Vision was a real education. There was a study done at the University of Western Ontariio (I think) that said you shouldn't deal with a charity that had an overhead level of less than 17%. The reasoning was that any organization with a lower number than that couldn't possibly have the infastructure to spend your money effectively. And twice in my one year at WV I had to turn away donors who wanted to give us million-dollar gifts on the condition that there be NO overhead at all. That's not a realistic expectation, and it's also not fair to smaller donors who would, in effect, need to cover the overhead of the large gifts.