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Why do people donate money to
Quechua Benefit? This question
is of paramount importance to
the charity – one which the
board of directors devotes a
considerable amount of thought
to answering. Quechua Benefit
knows that alpaca breeders from
around the world are generous;
they have donated more than
$1,000,000 to the charity since
1996. But if we can definitively
discover the “why,” we will be
able to become more worthy and
therefore raise more money and
address more needs among one
of the poorest populations on
earth. The heart of the answer
lies with you.
Mother Teresa said “If I look
at the masses, I will never act; if
I look at one, I will.” This simple
wisdom reveals a facet of the
question: why do people donate
money to Quechua Benefit, and
also why do some people “not”
donate? There are, in fact, many
reasons why people do not give
to a particular charity or why
they may give to one cause and
not another.
It is a well-documented fact
that the farther from home or
the less personal the need, no
matter how worthy, the less like-
ly people will be to give money
to the cause. The 2004 tsunami
that hit Asia killed more than
200,000 people and left millions
homeless. Americans responded
mightily to the Asian catastro-
phe, giving 1.5 billion dollars to
various disaster relief efforts. In
contrast, however, when 1,600
people died during Hurricane
Katrina in New Orleans,
Americans donated 6.5 billion
dollars. New Orleans is much
closer to home and more
personal than a beach in
Southeast Asia, and Americans
responded accordingly.
People feel the need to take
care of their own, but it also
illustrates a challenge for
Quechua Benefit, which is
raising money to help a largely
anonymous people in a remote
area of the world. Grants for
causes in Peru are also very hard
to come by. Many large charita-
ble trusts do not allocate money
to Peru. Thank goodness for
alpaca breeders who feel a more
intimate connection to the
Quechua by way of their alpacas.
People are also less likely to
give to a hopeless situation,
where only a small percentage of
the affected population will be
helped. Studies have shown
appeals that offer to save 75%
of 100 people are more likely to
gather donations than appeals
that suggest the same amount of
money will save 25% of 1,000
people, even though a much
larger absolute number of people
would be saved. After 13 years,
Quechua Benefit knows the feel-
ing of helplessness or futility that
arises from being able to serve
only a fraction of the need. We
have had to leave long lines of
people waiting for rotten teeth
to be removed. But that is no
reason not to go, not to return;
not to try or not to contribute.
When money becomes the sole
means by which people can help,
they are proven to be less likely
to donate. This is a particular
problem for Quechua Benefit.
Peru is remote and hard for vol-
unteers to access. It often costs
more to ship donated clothes
and supplies than it costs to buy
them in country. And then there
is the problem of the “aduana”
or customs. We learned the hard
way by having donations of
clothing and dental equipment
seized, even though we had
approval letters signed by the
Peruvian Consulate in the
United States. Every time a team
goes through customs in Lima,
I hold my breath.
The reasons that people do
not donate to Quechua Benefit
are common to any charity.
Sadly, there are many more –
often complex – reasons why
people decide not to donate to
a particular cause. Quechua
Benefit’s goal is to find ways
to persuade people like you
to make us your charity of
choice. Some things we are
doing in this regard follow.
The Quechua Benefit website
and newsletter work hard to
bring the charity’s efforts closer to
each of you. We want you to see
the nexus between your dona-
tions and the results on the
ground in Peru. We want to
introduce you to the people who
you are helping by picture and
word. In the future, we will fol-
low Mothers Teresa’s admonition
to relate our efforts to the indi-
88
Alpacas
Magazine
Quechua benefit &
Charitable giving
By Mike Safley