Diana R. Sieger is the president of the Grand Rapids Commmunity Foundation. For more information, visit Diana's President's pages or view her biography.

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President's Point of View: Just when I thought I'd seen it all . . .

March 3, 2008

… comes Oprah’s Big Give - Oprah’s new “reality” TV show that was introduced last night on ABC. I did wait until I actually viewed it before expressing my opinion.

A “charitable” view would be: “Hey Diana who does this harm anyway? It may inspire people to give back to their community and why should YOU complain when sometimes organized philanthropy may not always address all the needs in our communities.” Okay … I realize all this.

However, I am concerned when giving back is depicted as a contest - - - - okay I hear another possible comeback - “But isn’t that what applying for a grant from the GRCF or any other funder is like?” NO! This isn’t a popularity contest.

So here’s what has me going on this one. I do not like the depiction of giving as a commercial act of charity and the show seems to be a takeoff on “The Apprentice” in its approach to giving. Good and responsible philanthropy examines needs, tests various approaches to address the needs and measures the relative success. It is long term - not necessarily depressing or sobering but frankly sometimes it is.

I hope that people are inspired more by what happens in their own communities and giving to organizations that can make a difference. Don’t be afraid to give and always ask what has happened because of your generosity.

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Comments

Thank you, Diana, for addressing this new program. It's tough to digest especially as a professional who's been in the field for 25 years. I was hoping that with Oprah in the lead on this, it would have had more class. So far, I'm VERY skeptical. lw

Posted by: Laurie Ward | March 3, 2008 8:10 AM

Hi Diana, I agree with you and I was disappointed in the show. Grant making is not an easy task and there is a lot that goes into it if you want to be fair and impactful. We recently saw an example of an org. that predicted closure of a shelter if $ did not come in in big amounts. Dollars did come in but that probably was not the greatest need in the community for that purpose. It is not about "winning" it about doing important work! Kay

Posted by: Kay Marquet | March 4, 2008 11:27 AM

Hey Diana... I was also disappointed by this show. What really bothered me was the shopping spree at Target for two girls who's mom needed money to pay the mortgage. I mean really, where are the priorities?!

Posted by: Ashima Saigal | March 5, 2008 10:52 AM

I was really hoping that the Johnson Center wasn't asked to play a key role in the development of the show ;-)

Posted by: Ashima Saigal | March 5, 2008 10:52 AM

Hi Diana,

I definitely agree with you that this is not giving at it's finest, or most useful, or respectful.

Nonetheless, I do think the show is raising awareness among the 15 million viewers, and those beyond who read or hear about the show, and that in itself has value.

So does the show's pushing volunteering (via VolunteerMatch) and giving (via Network for Good). Nonprofits can capitalize on the awareness and interest. I blogged a few ways to do so here:

http://www.gettingattention.org/my_weblog/2008/03/capitalize-on-t.html

Best,
Nancy

Posted by: Nancy Schwartz | March 5, 2008 11:07 AM