Thursday, May 10, 2012

Charity begins at home

There are many charities in Israel; some would say too many. Some of these, especially those connected with orthodox Jewry, might be on the dodgy side. Twice a year, at New Year and Passover, many charities appeal - these days, by phone - for donations. Whilst I don't mind giving money to charity, I don't like being approached in my home for money. A few years ago, I decided to give money only to two charities; this way I could fob off any other charity by saying that I had made a charity budget and had already donated that budget.

One of these two charities is 'LaTet' (to give), which provides food for families below the poverty line; I can't recall at the moment the name of the other charity, but it cares for autistic children. Both charities made a great step forward last year when they introduced automatic monthly donations via credit card. In one fell swoop, they improved the amount of donations that they receive, they required less manpower to achieve those donations and they also made it easier for the donators.

I received a few months ago a receipt from LaTet, noting absent mindedly that the receipt was printed via Priority, the same ERP program that I use at work. The only thing that struck me at the time was how such a program could be so flexible to support both a company which manufactures furniture and a charity. 

Last Friday night, I was walking after dinner, looking at the full moon and at the city of Bet Shemesh, whose population is an uneasy mix of secular, traditional and ultra-orthodox Jews. I wondered how many people there had enjoyed a full Sabbath meal and how many had gone hungry. I idly wondered whether I should volunteer a cooked meal every week (I have done this on occasion for families on the kibbutz in special circumstances) or even volunteer to deliver meals. But then I realised that if I really want to make a contribution, then I should do it in an area where I have a competitive advantage (as we say in MBA speak): implementing Priority.

Fired with enthusiasm, I found the website of LaTet, and sent them an email volunteering my services in improving their implementation of Priority. I have no idea whether they make good use of the program or whether they simply know the basics, but at least I am prepared to help.

I had half forgotten about this until yesterday afternoon, when a lady telephoned me, saying that she was from LaTet, and that I could contribute to them a very valuable service by donating my time and knowledge (those aren't her exact words by any means; hers were more like 'hitting the nail on the head'). It seems that their use of Priority is somewhat basic/lacking. She said that they had no money to pay for a consultant to do a professional job and so they were very pleased that I contacted them. We agreed to meet next Sunday, when I will go to their offices and learn what they are doing.

Later I realised that they hadn't checked my bona fides; I might not be an expert in Priority (a fact which would quickly arise in our meeting) or I might be an expert, so expert that I could extract from them money without them knowing. Unfortunately, there have been several cases in which charities have been fleeced (either knowingly or unknowingly) so this possibility definitely exists. There was a small uproar a few months ago about this charity when it was discovered that the general manager was receiving a monthly salary of 30,000NIS. I, probably like many other people, thought that he was donating his time for free (Shimon Mizrachi is the chairman of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club and he definitely donates his time). A crook might see this as an opportunity to improve his standard of living.

It later occurred to me that the 'not having enough money to pay a consultant' story didn't quite ring true: I know that we pay 30 thousand NIS twice a year in order to use Priority. This payment covers licensing issues along with help desk support and is compulsory. It may well be that this charity has much fewer users than we do and also fewer modules (after all, they don't need the production side at all which greatly simplifies matters) so their annual cost should be much lower. Maybe the company from whom they receive help desk support even waived the cost as a donation. Whilst I won't ask about the money side, I will ask if the charity receives help desk support and from whom. Help desk support is not implementation and development, which is what I do.

It will be very interesting to see how they run their business and how it can be improved. Like every good deal, both sides should derive profit (not necessarily monetary) from the agreement. They should be able to improve their existing and potential customer management whereas I should be able to learn another organisation's need (grist for the doctorate mill).

I should note that this is the first time I have done anything like this. Of course, I have donated my programming time to deserving causes on the kibbutz, but that's like (or at least, was like) helping my family. It's not nationwide charity work.

More on this subject in a few days after the meeting.

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