Week 2: Brainstorming

Hi everyone! Welcome to Week 2 of my project!

This week, I continued my correspondence with service organizations in Mexico, started brainstorming ideas to raise funds, and gather what they need. Additionally, I intend to showcase my journey through a compiled video documentary at the end of my project, and I started the initial recording and documentation. 

To answer one of my core questions, “Why do people feel the need to help others?”, I examined “Why Do People Give?” by Lise Vesterlund. 

Vesterlund starts the article with a striking statistic, “In 2000, 90 percent of U.S. households donated on average $1,623 to nonprofit organizations.” According to the Census, the median household income in 2000 was $42,148, demonstrating how Americans donated a significant amount to help others. 

On the economic side, individuals are motivated by tax deductions and incentives when donating monetary amounts. Additionally, giving is influenced by various factors, like gender and income. Women are shown to be more price-inelastic, and men are more price-elastic. 

Vesterlund also makes the distinction between public and private benefits of giving. Public benefits are the actual impact of charitable organizations. Private benefits are the individual satisfaction or societal recognition that giving provides. 

In my opinion, helping others has both public and private benefits. It’s simultaneously rewarding to support bigger causes and feel fulfilled while doing so. Through my senior project, I hope to explore the private and public benefits of community service. 

Thanks for getting this far, and I’ll see you next week! 

Sources:

DeNavas-Walt, Carmen. “Money Income in the United States: 2000.” Census.Gov, 16 Dec. 2021, www.census.gov/library/publications/2001/demo/p60-213.html#:~:text=Median%20household%20income%20in%20the,of%20%2433%2C447%20and%20%2430%2C439%2C%20respectively.

Vesterlund, Lise. 24. Why Do People Give? Dec. 2017, https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300153439-027.