Jun

25

Concerns and questions about The Girl Effect and Global Giving.

Filed Under The Way I See It 

I have some concerns and questions after watching The Girl Effect Video (see below) and going to Global Giving to donate some money. How much of the money I donate will actually go to the girls and how much of that money is used for admin?

I like the premise behind The Girl Effect. It’s not a new premise. Most of you have probably heard that expression that goes something like

“Give someone fish and feed them for a day; teach them how to fish and feed them for life”

I’m very much into teaching people how to fish. I try to do that in my classroom to help my students help themselves. I want to empower people, so The Girl Effect message appeals to me very much. But, and a very big but. I’m worried that the money I donate will benefit the charity more than the girls I want to empower.

Now, in all fairness to Global Giving , they have posted the audit of their financial records on their website, but I can’t make sense of it. It seems to me that more than 50% of the money they get goes for admin, but I’m not sure.

Could someone who knows how to read the audit interpret it for me so that I can make an informed decision. I would really appreciate it.

Below is the Girl Effect Video and here’s the link to Global Giving . There’s a link to their financial audits in the column on the right hand side of the page.

Thanks.

Comments

One Response to “Concerns and questions about The Girl Effect and Global Giving.”

  1. Donna Callejon on June 26th, 2008 6:19 am

    Elona,
    Thanks for your enthusiasm for investing in girls. As you point out, this is a known success strategy - especially in developing countries. There are also almost 100 women’s funds in the US that have programs that invest in girls in the US - trying to keep more low-income girls in high school, avoid teen pregnancy, etc.

    Re your question about how much money goes to the projects. In fact, 85-90% of the money given to projects on our website goes directly to the project…and the project implementer has agreed to use the funds only for that specific project, not overhead, or other costs. Our model is a bit complicated, so the financials merge general funding we’ve received and donor contributions in the revenue category…but you can see on this “How it works” page how the process and money flows. Finally, I just wanted to mention that if anyone is ever unhappy with their donation for any reason, we have “GlobalGiving Guaranteed,” and we’ll give you a gift certificate for your donation amount to give to another project.
    Hope this answers your questions.

    Donna @
    GlobalGiving

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