Every bit makes a difference

December 24, 2008|Gannon Gillespie and Ellen Agler, Gannon Gillespie is director of U.S. operations of Tostan, a nonprofit organization that empowers African communities to lead movements for health, education and economic development. Ellen Agler is vice president, Latin America, for Operation Smile. They are co-chairs of the Hilton Humanitarian Prize laureates group, whose members have been recognized for serving the world's most vulnerable populations.

With the financial crisis continuing to dominate national and international headlines, it is clear that the coming months and years will bring tough choices to all of us. Everyone, rich and poor, must reconsider priorities and budgets. Yet as most of us worry about our own futures, there are people in the United States and around the world whose futures are even more at risk -- those who depend on our generosity for their very survival.

In times of financial hardship, the less fortunate suffer in amazingly disproportionate ways. While many of us make ends meet by cutting back on "discretionary" spending and pushing larger purchases off into the future, people living in poverty have no such options. They might be forced to cut their one daily meal in half, forgo medicine or stop sending their children to school.

Historically during recessions, Americans have expressed their solidarity with the less fortunate by reaching out, volunteering and giving even more. This was true during the oil crisis of the 1970s, after Sept. 11 and in countless other market dips and crashes -- even during the Great Depression. Maintaining this generosity is even more crucial in the current crisis because of the undeniable fact that we all now live in a global village, with our economies, our health, our security and our lives connected in unprecedented ways.

Those of us in the nonprofit and charity sector rely on three main funding sources: government agencies, foundations and individual donors. This financial crisis threatens all three. Foundations may be hardest hit, as their giving is often completely tied to their investment portfolios, which have plummeted in recent months. This leaves government and individual donors to fill the gap, even as both face major financial challenges of their own.

The good news is that so many charities and programs are worth giving to. They are making real traction in alleviating poverty, disease and suffering. As more people face hard times, we will all benefit from the effective strategies and models they've developed in recent decades. Consider just three recent examples from the work of our fellow Hilton Humanitarian Prize laureates.

* Operation Smile and Partners in Health collaborated in Haiti to give free cleft lip and palate surgeries to 120 children and adults, among the nearly 11,000 patients in 28 countries who were treated without charge by Operation Smile in 2008.

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