We’ve talked in the past about the sometimes daunting feeling, particularly in our own individual giving, of feeling powerless to really affect much change in light of so many huge problems.
Without Oprah’s millions, we think, who are we to really think we could make an impact?
We’re afflicted with that feeling of smallness that can often lead to doing nothing at all, or we find ourselves spread thin by the feeling that we should care about everything, and therefore find our impact diminished as our already limited resources are spread over every valid cause and issue from here to Hong Kong.
It’s the typical dilemma of the everyday, every wo(man) philanthropist.
So it’s kind of funny to hear that Google–yes, Google–that behemoth of technical genius, strategy and innovation that has revolutionized how we find ourselves (and others)–is also feeling that daunting feeling of smallness.
The New York Times has the story, of Google’s first foray into grantmaking decision-making with its new foundation, Google.org.
And even Google is feeling the challenge of getting through the nos to the yesses–proving that no matter who you are, or what resources you have, having a strategy, goals and plan behind your giving is crucial.
Larry Brilliant, the director of Google.org explains, saying, “There are 6.5 billion people in the world, and in the last 18 months I’ve met 6.4 billion." The article continues, "Dr. Brilliant likened his moral quandary…to that faced by a saint wandering the streets of Benares. There are 500 steps between the road and the Ganges. On every step are beggars, lepers, people who have no arms or legs, people literally starving. The saint has a couple of rupees; how does a good and honorable person make a resource allocation decision? Do you weigh a hand that’s missing more than a leg? Someone who’s starving versus a sick child? In a much less dramatic way, that’s what the last 18 months have been for us.”
The article goes on to discuss Google.org’s challenge of coming to its own strategy and plans for how it will invest the foundation’s funding, the key to truly being a successful philanthropist–whether you have $10 or $10 million to give.
Because, when it comes to really making a difference, it doesn’t come down to how much you have to invest, but also to how willing you are to make the tough choices by focusing your giving around the nexus where your passion meets a clear sense of purpose and focused strategy.
It’s never easy. When Oprah started her school, there was criticism a plenty. The Gates Foundation has also taken flack for some of its decisions. In times, Google.org will, too. When it’s your own giving, maybe you beat yourself up for not being able to say yes to it all, or for not being able to do more.
Because anytime you say yes, you’re also saying no, and that takes just as much courage as it takes cash.
But therein lies the power of true change and transformation–in affirmatively putting your investments and your time and your talent behind one or two focused yesses that are a reflection of who you are and what you believe.
That’s when the search leads you beyond the surface, to true social change.
