Article Critique - Charity, Problem Solving and the Future of Social Entrepreneurship

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CRITIQUE

Intro

In J. Gregory Dees article "A Tale of Two Cultures: Charity, Problem Solving, and the Future of Social Entrepreneurship", the author takes on the complex issue of society's attitudes toward charitable acts and the problems created from traditional methods of "caritas", the Latin for caring, compassion, or love (Dees, 2012).
Through the entire read, Dee's contrasts society's traditional view of giving to charity and the feelings and intentions associated with such actions against the changed viewpoint in modern day progressive philanthropic movements toward charitable restructuring and problem solving via charity. In other words, the author is seeking resolutions that tie both traditional and progressive sides together to change the mindset of people from not simply "giving" to the weak in society without any thought around their gifts end result, to having charitable people begin demanding that their gifts are used in resolving society's weaknesses, permanently (Dees, 2012).

Problem statement

In reviewing this article the problem clearly identified by the author is that society's traditional view of charitable acts and the structures supporting these acts of kindness are actually a detriment to society. Dees attempts to demonstrate in his research that charity by its basic construct is merely a patch in a much larger hole, not an actual solution. The author contends that the much more challenging act of using charity to correct society's problems and doing the necessary work to remove the need for charity as a survival mechanism is a problem that is hard to correct based on the strong emotional and cultural stigmas attached to charitable acts (Dees, 2012).
Additionally, Dees points out that the laws in the United States along with other countries have not progressed to accommodate nonprofit and for profit combination charity's that aim to effectively cure many of society's ailments. The laws are set up to only help nonprofits and accommodate donations. There are no laws that aid in the collection of charitable wealth for profit that can be used selectively to attack specific issues as decided by a more corporate type of organization, not a volunteer effort (Dees, 2012).

Procedures

In this article, the author's research demonstrates the standard processes and procedures that have been in place for hundreds of years that help support charitable giving. In general the procedures around charity are directed at establishing voluntary or very low wage agencies that are charged with redistributing the gifts they receive from donors toward various efforts as they decide without much thought around "best practices". There are also laws in place that allow for tax credits or tax breaks to individuals who donate a specific amount of their earnings each year (Dees, 2012).

Flaws

The argument that the author makes against the traditional process of charitable giving is that the system is not logical from a business perspective (Dees, 2012). Dee's contention is that the deeply rooted emotional, societal, and cultural beliefs that dominate charitable behavior all drive people to act on raw emotion without very much thought given after the ...