In a few weeks’ time various charities will be appealing to the Maltese people for support to help them overcome the big financial challenges they face in their quest to promote their causes. The leaders of these charities often remark that the Maltese people are very generous and without their support most charities would simply not exist.

But there is a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure that the trust of people in the leaders of our charitable organisations is not betrayed. While the bulk of contributions to charities comes from private individuals whose main reward when donating money to worthwhile causes is the inner peace one finds when doing good, business organisations are increasingly acknowledging their corporate social responsibilities to the community in which they operate.

One of the gold standards that corporate organisations should adopt in their implementation of their responsibilities towards society relates to fairness. This concept has various implications. It is, of course, perfectly legitimate for a business to support a particular charity because they believe that with limited financial resources available for supporting good causes, concentrating on supporting just one charity gives more effective results.

But other businesses believe that social needs vary in any community and they try to spread their financial support across a large spectrum of charities. This may create competition among charities that try to attract the attention of corporate leaders to support their cause. Unfortunately, like in most competitions, some unnecessary hostility can build up among charities and donors.

It is indeed sad when corporate leaders concentrate more on the public relations mileage that they can get from their patronage of charities than on ensuring that they distribute their limited resources fairly so that that their money helps as many good causes as possible. Financial resources available for good social causes will always be limited. The challenge for corporate leaders is to support as many causes as they can and get some positive exposure in the community as a result of this social support.

One of the ways for businesses to ensure that the funds available for social causes are distributed fairly is to set up a trust or foundation. By selecting the right people to manage such trusts there is a better chance that all worthwhile causes are given a chance to benefit from the pot of funds made available by corporate donors.

The process of supporting charities can sometimes become more a question of projecting the charities leaders’ public image than of promoting the common good

Leaders of corporate organisations have to resist the urge to be patronising and insensitive in the exercise of their judgement on which charities to support. Similarly, national charities have a moral obligation to solicit support from corporate donors in a fair and humble way. This does not always happen as the process of supporting charities can sometimes become more a question of projecting the charities leaders’ public image than of promoting the common good.

The support that charities receive from the public is undoubtedly less tainted with personality issues. Common people contribute to charities because of an innate desire that exists in most of us to do good deeds. This positive energy is often not a result of pious religiosity but an instinctive spiritual trait that characterises us as human beings.

What is important is that ordinary people who give donations to charitable organisations should be protected from rogues who may sometimes pose as good Samaritans but are only really interested in lining their pockets. The role of a commissioner for charities is of vital importance to ensure that money collected from the public is administered in a transparent and accountable way. Charities that are authorised to collect money from the public should register with the charities regulator and follow the established rules. These rules should be kept as simple as possible to achieve a balance between proper controls and avoidance of unnecessary bureaucracy.

In most countries, in a period of economic stress, both individual and corporate donors often hold back from being generous to charities that perform such sterling work in the community. Most social analysts argue that this phenomenon has not been so evident in Malta in the last few years. This is partly because our economic performance has not been as subdued as that of other EU countries.

It is also a result of our collective social values. Despite our national vices and weaknesses we still treasure the good work done by our multitude of charities.

Our charities are indeed the jewel in our nation’s crown.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com