Generous Giving And How It Often Goes Wrong

Giving. One thing Americans do very well, especially this time of year. Things kick off with the fairly new concept of Giving Tuesday and continue on and through Christmas. It is fair to say that most of the money that comes into charities comes in the roughly 5-6 weeks from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.

It’s not just money that people donate. People donate stuff, lots of stuff.  What kind of stuff? Useful stuff like cleaning products or food or kitchen supplies, for example. Sometimes, however, it is not useful stuff. Charities, such as ones that cater to children, may receive toys or clothing that are beyond the “gently used” designation and are worthy really just to be pitched.

It is possible to donate too much of a good thing and that is the subject of this blog.

For a number of years I worked for one of the most respected organizations in the U.S., Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). There are chapters worldwide and I worked in Orlando. There is some misconception about what exactly the charity does and whom it serves, which has an impact on donations.

Contrary to common thought, the children who are ill, whether new born or teenager, do not stay at the actual House. The kids are at the hospital. Parents and siblings stay at the House in order to be close by for visitation. This means that families often have to stay over holidays. RMH does things right when it comes to Christmas with tall Christmas trees, decorations all over the place, and food galore. It really is like a home.

What does this mean for donations? Well, what do kids typically receive at Christmas? Toys, toys, and more toys. And what do people like to donate to RMH during Christmas? Toys, toys, and more toys.  Think not of a trickle, but a flood.  The number of toy donations was large in number in my days there. Now it seems it has gotten far worse.  A toy drive by an Orlando radio station brought in 10,000 toys.  No, that is not a mistake. 10,000. Ten Grand.

A cry may arise: Why are you against giving kids toys?  That’s an understandable question, but only on the surface. For it is not the donation of toys with which I take issue, but the sheer number of toys. And mind you, this is not just about Ronald McDonald House, but the nature of voluntary donations to charities in general.  A major problem is public misconception. People simply do not really understand what the Ronald McDonald House does or who it serves.  Based on the toy donations it is clear that the misconception continues.

I will not go into the entire mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities, but all it takes is a quick search online to find that information. The Ronald McDonald House is designed to be like a small hotel, but with the feel of a home. That’s why it is called a “home away from home.” The facilities are located near major children’s hospitals all over the world and parents of children in the hospital stay at the house to be near their kids. That’s the work of the Ronald McDonald House in a nutshell.

Let’s look at some numbers.

At the time of my employment, the average length of stay for a family was 10 days. There are currently three Ronald McDonald Houses in Orlando—two when I was there—with a total of 74 rooms.

Over a 30-day period, with full occupancy, RMH would serve 222 families. Excluding multiple patients such as twin babies in the NICU, that’s 222 children staying in the hospital.  If we include siblings, multiplied by the average number of kids in the American family, we’re looking at roughly 500-550 kids over a 30-day period.

If we look at just the toys donated on this particular toy drive, excluding any others that come in, that is 20 toys per child. But here’s the kicker: those toys aren’t distributed to children who were either in the hospital or staying in the house before the toy drive. They are given out nearer to Christmas, meaning the number of children receiving toys decreases and the average number per child doubles or triples.

The other consideration is storage. Where are all these toys going to go before they are given away? While Ronald McDonald Houses are equipped with storage, just picture trying to find space for thousands upon thousands of toys.

One practice in the past was to store the toys in an unoccupied guest room. Ah ha! See? There’s storage! But what gets removed in the process?  A room. Guess what that means? One less room to house a family.  And with 10,000 toys, even spread across three houses, that could mean two rooms out of commission.  The inviting lobby area that guests see when they first enter the house?  There is now hardly a place to stand because of the sheer number of toys extending out from the Christmas tree.

Below is a screen shot of the sheer number of toys from the toy drive. These are not your run-of-the-mill $5 elephant gift items. There are bicycles, video game systems, large stuffed animals, untold others.

Another indication that the mission of Ronald McDonald House is not understood clearly is the lack of gifts for the adult parents.  Where are the coffee makers, the TVs, the IPads, the toasters, the dresses or sport coats? They’re not there.  That is not meant as a request to start giving those items to the parents (though I’m sure they’d appreciate them), but simply to point out the disconnect between the giver and the mission of the charity.

The rough estimate of the toys gathered in this toy drive can conservatively be listed at $150,000 and could even be well beyond $200,000. A way the RMHC breaks down operating costs for the general public is by the cost per room.

As of 2016 in Orlando it was $75 per room per night. (Guests are asked to contribute $20, but payment is not required.) That rate multiplied by the number of rooms (74) = $5550 per night to keep things running, with a yearly operating budget of $2.2 million.  That means if the dollar value of all those toys from the drive were turned into one of those huge cardboard checks you see presented at events, it would have paid for nearly 10% of the operating budget.

Think about it for just a moment. That toy drive only lasted three days. Can you imagine raising $200,000 in three days for the Ronald McDonald House? That’s incredible! Or, at least, it would’ve been.

When I stated that this issue with toys is but a microcosm of voluntary donations to charities in general, I had in mind what I call the Teddy Bear Problem.

In December 2012 Newtown, CT saw the terrible tragedy of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.  It could easily be labeled a disaster, much like a natural disaster. Like natural disasters the first stage in helping people is the Relief stage. This is when immediate aid is needed to bring order back into people’s lives with food, medicine, cleaning supplies, temporary shelter, etc. The other two stages are Rehabilitation (rebuilding homes, cleaning up the mess) and Restoration or Development (counseling, long-term funding).

Since Sandy Hook was not like a tornado or hurricane, relief came quickly in the form of assistance from within the community itself. Rehabilitation and restoration would quickly follow. But the generosity of Americans flooded into Newtown in the form of donations. And more donations. And more donations.

As great as that generosity was, the donations mainly came in the form of toys, many of them teddy bears.  There were so many toys it took a 20,000 square foot warehouse to hold them. Newtown only has a population of 10,000.

A local aid worker said, "On the one hand, we really treasure that outpouring of love and support. At the same time it's beyond our capacity to use effectively." That is an understatement.

This type of misguided giving is so common that relief workers often call it the "disaster after the disaster." Disaster relief sometimes brings anything but relief. Gift cards, but more specifically, money, is desired so that supplies are purchased locally, in the right quantities, and delivered quickly. Even though donating money might not feel personal, it is really the most compassionate thing people can do. One caution when donating money is to be sure the money is used properly. There is nothing wrong with inquiring of an organization about its fiscal responsibility.

Where does Ronald McDonald House fall in the Relief-Rehabilitation-Restoration model?  Most likely Rehabilitation. RMH is already established, so Relief is not necessary. Restoration would happen after the child is discharged from the hospital and the parents go home. That leaves the middle option. Each RMH chapter has specific wish list items to donate. Consider carefully the mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities (or any charity). Look up charity website online. Pick up the phone and call. Go by for a tour. There is no lack of information.

No doubt, Ronald McDonald House stays open because people do generously donate money and time throughout the year, not just during the Holidays. But imagine if people working in development fundraising had more peace of mind because they know the money will be there, not just hope it will be there. What if they didn’t have to walk through a thick wall of toys to do their jobs more efficiently?

By all means, donate. Make that donation count.