Jesse J. Holden
jesse@scumbly.com
I donate 50% of all pre-tax Scumbly profits to Doctors Without Borders (known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières).
Doctors Without Borders is an international humanitarian aid organization that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in danger in more than 70 countries.
Although half of your payment is donated to this charity, you are not "double-paying" for services. Scumbly remains aggressively priced — better than its competition. Since the donations are made by me, they will not affect your taxable income.
In this way, you can have a positive social impact at no cost to yourself.
Doctors Without Borders was chosen for several reasons. Further reading is available on their website at About Doctors Without Borders.
As of 2005, the organization's expenses were 85.7% what they call "Program Services" — actual humanitarian action. 12.9% of their expenses were "Fundraising," and 1.4% were administrative expenses. The Doctors Without Borders financial information is available on their website, and describes thoroughly to how their contributions are spent.
Doctors Without Borders was formed by a group of doctors who assisted the Red Cross in Biafra, but were disillusioned by the Red Cross' unwillingness to speak out against the Nigerian government's military attacks on hospitals, health workers and volunteers. The doctors saw a need for an organization that would not only provide aid, but would emphasize the importance of victims' rights over neutrality.
Doctors Without Borders' decision to intervene in any country or crisis is "based solely on an independent assessment of people's needs; not on political, economic, or religious interests."
Doctors Without Borders takes great risks in their work. Their volunteers place themselves on the front lines to provide aid where it is most immediately needed. As an organization, they speak out publicly against the atrocities (and their perpetrators) that have brought about such miserable conditions.
The willingness to forgo political neutrality when it interferes with the welfare of those they help, as well as the immediate personal risks volunteers undertake, are critical aspects of charity work — and what sets this organization apart from its peers.
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