Chapter 25: Guidelines for Giving Help

(This is chapter 25 of "Up and Out," a book condensing my long experience about how to best help poor people.  I pledged earlier to get it up online as soon as possible, so it would be available for free to everyone trying to cope with helping the Katrina evacuees.)

(These are not things that need to be done during the first part of this emergency.  Rather, this is for the time after that, when Katrina evacuees will be moving from getting immediate emergency assistance to trying to normalize their lives.  That is when good programs to help them "up and out" of their situation need to kick in.  The following is for that time.)

(For other chapters, look under "Categories" and click on the chapter you want.)

UP AND OUT: A GUIDE TO TRUE COMPASSION FOR THE POOR"

PART II: MOVING UP AND BREAKING OUT OF POVERTY

Section 3: Getting Into Action

Chapter 25: Guidelines for Giving Help

We begin, first, with the second guideline for giving help to the poor.

Guideline Number Two: Never give cash.

Never!  Never, never, never.  Do not give cash. 

Do not give cash as handouts on the street.  Which leads us to the first guideline for helping the poor.

Guideline Number One: At least do no harm. 
   
If you do not have time to give in a non-cash way to street beggars, for heaven’s sake do not help kill them!  Many a street drunk has binged and died from having too much cash.  Many a street drug addict has overdosed and died from having too much cash.

You have no way of knowing how many others have also given them cash that day.  The total can be pretty big.  Your cash will only be used to subsidize their addiction.  That is all they truly need cash for.  They can get free food, and usually even free shelter, at any number of places. 

It would be kinder not to give them anything at all than to give them cash.  If you want to give to them, work out some way to carry vouchers with you to give them for a meal.  Make sure they are some kind of vouchers that cannot be sold on the street for cash.  (And be sure to donate enough money for the vouchers to whatever charity may furnish them.  That is only fair.)

Do not give to charities about which you know little.

It is not wise to give to volunteers with buckets walking alongside your car, or waiting outside some store, collecting cash for some charity.  You probably do not know how the money will be used.  (Unless, that is, they are with that excellent charity which collects money in pots in front of stores around Christmas time, the Salvation Army, one of the finest of all charities working with the poor.)
    
You should know quite a bit about a charity before choosing to give to the poor through it.  You should know how well it uses its funds, how much of its funds go directly to charitable work, and how financially accountable it is.  Most of all, you need to know how successful it is in helping the poor.  You should have some idea what its success rates are, and how they are figured.

If you are working with a good charity, whether as a leader, an employee or a volunteer, you never give cash to clients.  Never.  Remember guideline number two!

Your charity needs to have strict, well-defined rules about how it will give help to clients.  This is for the clients’ sake.  It is also for the sake of using limited resources for the greatest effect.

Here are more guidelines.

Never give a check to a client that is made out to the client or to a relative or any other individual.      

The other individual is often someone who has agreed to give the money to the client.  Any check should be made out to the utility company, the landlord, etc., never an individual.  (If the landlord is an individual, not a company, require some documentation showing that the person is indeed the landlord.)

Do not give any assistance with past-due utilities, danger of eviction, etc., without   
       documentation showing all the information.

It is also good to work with related charities that are accustomed to giving this kind of assistance.  Often they will get the required documentation, do the paperwork, perhaps share previous information they may have about the client, and work with your charity to put together a “package,” with two or more charities contributing to the sum needed to help this particular client.

No giving should go directly from an individual to a client.

The donation should be made to the charity or church, then to the client.  No exceptions should be made.
 
It may happen that a client will approach a member of a volunteer team privately.  Or it may happen that a team member simply wants to give to a client.  The response should always be that all giving must first be cleared through the team.  (Clients will frequently approach individuals on the team for money, as they are easier targets than the entire team.  But the wisdom of the entire team needs to be involved.)

Giving through the church or charity will also preserve the tax deductibility of the gift for the donor.  Gifts directly from individuals to clients will not be tax deductible.  Tax deductibility does encourage more giving.

No giving should happen until the person asking for help agrees to become a part of
       the program of the charity. 

There should be no one-time giving to clients.

When a person needs to ask for financial help, that is a sign that a lot of things have gone wrong.  It is not just one thing that needs fixing, but many.  Giving money one time will not fix what is wrong.  It will only help the needy person to keep putting off fixing the problems that caused help to be needed in the first place.  One-time giving, given and forgotten, is not truly kind or helpful.  A needy person needs to be helped “up and out,” not just enabled to go “on and on” in their problems.

By insisting that people asking for help must enter a program to get it, a whole new life can open up to them.  Their most basic problems will be addressed.  Their worst dysfunctions will have a chance of being overcome.  They will find moral support and kind hearts.  They will also be strictly required to do the things that will help them, in order to stay in the program.  They will not have any other choice.

The kind of help they need is not a one-shot cash gift.  It is to be enabled to move up and out of the trap in which their lives are being distorted and blocked.

There should be no giving without strings.   

Strings are vital.  They turn a gift into a useful tool to help bring about growth and empowerment.  They are a “multiplier.”  They enlarge and magnify the helpfulness of the gift.  Strings turn a gift into a “matching” gift.  It is the client who supplies the “match” for the gift.

If the needy person is already in your program, further giving can be tied to some achievement within the program.  It could be something such as getting to some point in their study of math, or passing a certain test needed to get their GED.  It could be completing their course in budgeting or nutrition.  It could be giving their apartment a thorough, top-to-bottom cleaning, or finding a reliable baby-sitter.

When a financial need is filled, clients themselves should provide some part of the
       money needed.
    
What is being taught here, remember, is self-reliance and independence, not to be dependent on others financially.  Even though the clients cannot supply all the money for a given emergency themselves, it is good for them in many ways to supply at least a part of it. 

They may have to wait until they have been at work at least a week or two before they can do that.  But the charity can often arrange for the emergency to wait that week or two, in order for the clients to be able to help in their own rescue.  It is much healthier training for the clients.

Do not make loans to clients.  Either make the money a gift, or do not give it.

These are people who already have a bad record in paying what they owe.  The chances are against their repaying a loan from your charity.  Not repaying your loan fully could lead to bad relations all around.  Do not complicate their progress by adding one more bad loan.  Do not reinforce their bad credit habits by one more occasion for bad credit. 

By all means, attach helpful strings to the gift.  Do not give the gift until the conditions have been fulfilled.  But do make it a gift, not a loan.

Do not give a lot of money at once, whatever the need.

Remember in chapter 4 the description of how the clients of a family homeless shelter used the money the shelter saved them, by supplying them free food and housing, to buy cocaine?

Even though you are not giving them cash, the non-cash help you do give them can free up income to be spent on other things.  (Remember, they may have sources of income that you do not know about.)  These large sums are windfall money to poor people.  It is “free” money.  They may well use the money freed up by your gift to do things that are wasteful and even harmful.  It is better not to tempt people unnecessarily.  That is especially when they have already shown that they have a severe problem in handling money well.

Never give money without getting a full financial statement from the person in need.

Your charity needs to have a blank form for them to fill out.  It should ask for the names, ages and social security numbers of all their family and all persons living with them.  It should ask for complete employment and education history.  It should ask about any medical problems, and prescriptions needed, for anyone living with them.  It should ask for all sources of income, a list of all expenses, a list of all regular bills with due dates, all unpaid bills and debts, the amounts and due dates, and for all non-income kinds of assistance, such as subsidized housing, food stamps, etc.

Until you have this information, you do not really have the foggiest notion what their true needs are and what their situation is.  Until you know that, you cannot possibly know how best to help them.  Without such written information in hand, you cannot even proceed to interview them with any hope of learning what you need to know about them.

They are used to this requirement.  They will fill out the forms, and answer your questions.  Just be patient. 

Watch carefully.  They may be embarrassed to ask for help if they do not read well enough to fill out the forms.  Respectfully offer assistance if that seems to be the case.  And do not hesitate to insist on their making things clear that you do not understand. 

Let them know that it is important to give all information accurately and completely.  Also let them know that a criminal record or having a serious illness will not automatically disqualify them from being in your program.  The less they feel they should hide information from you, the better.

It is very important, having gotten this information, to treat it confidentially and in a respectful way.  Care must be taken that people do not see these documents who have no business seeing them.  Especial care must be taken to file or store them in a way that is protected from unauthorized viewers.

In the case where there is HIV infection or AIDS, there are severe legal penalties for disclosing such information to other people. The legal consequences can easily be large enough to wipe out your church or charity!  Be extremely careful to keep this information completely confidential. 

After looking at their financial statement, you may want to require them to take your budgeting course as a condition of assistance.

You are likely to find that some of their expenses are unreasonable.  Many will have phone bills of over $100 a month.  Many will also have TV Cable bills of over $100 a month.  Expenses for food, clothing and even housing may be out of line.  This information will enable you to help them improve their situation.

For instance, if their food expenses seem unnecessarily large, you may find that they are not utilizing such assistance as WIC or food stamps. 

It may seem contradictory to recommend their applying for additional government help when you want them to become financially independent.  But as their incomes go up, they will lose eligibility for these programs anyhow, so they will not be on them long.  Meantime, they serve as crutches to help them get to where they need to go. 

Also you will want them to take your nutrition course.  They will learn, not only how to eat for less, but also how to prepare meals that are tastier and healthier.  They will also learn how to do all this in less time.  A good nutrition course, designed for people like them, will help them have more money, more time and be healthier.

Do not assist clients to live at a level that they cannot sustain after you stop helping
       them.
   
For instance, do not help them to get their children into a day care center that costs too much for them to keep using after your assistance ends.  That can cost them a job.  Instead, help them to find day care they can afford from the first. 

This most likely will be what we came to call a “granny” baby sitter.  It is usually a relative or neighbor.  Often, they are already caring for one or more children of their own.

You should insist that the client pay this friend or relative at least a little.  Often, they offer to do it for nothing.  But that usually does not last, and they just quit helping.  If there is some pay—even just a dollar or two an hour per child—the baby sitter is more likely to last.

Also, do not supply clients with a car, even an old one, if they will not be able to make any needed payments or keep the car running after your assistance stops.  That may cost them a job when it inevitably—and suddenly—happens.

It would be better to encourage them from the start, for instance, to use public transportation.  Sometimes it is even advisable to look for jobs only along the bus lines that are available to them.

As they move up in the work world and their income increases, they will be able to afford more of the things that they cannot do at first.  One thing at a time is a good rule for them.

Avoid giving so much help for so long that you come to be seen as a “Santa Claus.”

Clients can come to feel that you will always be there, always giving help.  That gives them less incentive to try hard and to depend on their own efforts.

They need to think in terms of needing less and less help.  And they need to know, from the beginning, that help will end someday.  In fact, most programs announce at the beginning that there is a time limit on how long anyone can receive help.

Giving should be used to attract and keep needy people in the program until it is
       completed.
    
This also may seem contradictory.  But just like everyone else, needy people have other things to do with their time.  Once they get a job, many are no longer interested in a program.  They do not believe they are dysfunctional.  They know your program can continue to help them, but it may not seem worth the time.

For their future welfare, it is best for them if they complete the entire program.  Financial incentives for them to keep attending are a good idea.  This can be giving such things as a bag of groceries, or a week’s worth of bus fare to work, at each weekly session.

Appreciation for their efforts, applause for their successes and rewards for accomplishments all help.  Every effort should be made to get them to complete the entire program.

These guidelines are important.  They come out of years of experience of many good charities.  They help to insure that help given to the poor is not just temporary.  They make it more certain that the time and money many good people invest in the poor will give them the maximum help possible.

Helping poor people up and out of dependence and poverty is the most compassionate way anyone can help them.  Such guidelines as these are time-tested ways to do that.