Commitment, Kony and Slacktivism

I am often asked to volunteer for local nonprofits or for a fundraiser they are holding.  I am more often asked to  promote an organization or event within my personal and professional network.  I am most often asked to give money.

I do not take any of these requests lightly.  I look into the mission and core values of the organization in question.  I evaluate their digital presence, read their press, look at their funding allocation and check out their leadership (Board and executive team).  Then I decide on my best course of action, because once I commit, I'm all in.  I subscribe to the "go big or go home" school of volunteerism.

When the Kony video began burning up the internets, I took this same tack.

First, I ignored the video.  Since M, I've become hyper sensitive to suffering of children and often cry at reports of illness, injury or abuse.  I'd heard reports of the LRA's practices and didn't think I could take watching it.

Then, B asked me what I thought about it.  He's notoriously skeptical about ... well, everything, so if he felt I needed to see it, I knew I should.

What hooked me was the "what will I tell my son when he asked me what I did to help" line.  B and I regularly struggle with "how will we explain xyz to M" questions.

Next, I looked up Invisible Children (their mission/goals, outside assessments of them, their financials) and I looked up Kony (Amnesty International and the UN).  I decided I would promote the video and the goal of making Kony the most famous man in the world.  I chose not to purchase any products or donate money.  I was on the fence about the "Cover the Night" plan ... it could easily be framed as vandalism, graffiti and litter, leading to a backlash and muddying the stated goal.

Now that April 20 has come and gone, I'm confused that so many have written off the campaign as a failure.  It's true, the night was pretty sparsely covered, however, Kony did become the most famous man in the world for about 72 hours (eons in news cycle time).  I think their biggest mistake (other than the obvious breakdown of the person who was their public face) was the time lag between release of the video and release of the poster plastering troops.  The digital attention span is short; the GenY attention span is even shorter.  Had it been five days after the launch, I think we all would have woken up to orange covered streets.

I'm also confused on the slacktivism accusation.

Don't get me wrong.  As a GenXer, I've got no love for GenY (or the Boomers ... uh oh, my Jan Brady/middle child issues are showing).  However, making it as easy as possible for people to "engage" has been a practice of nonprofits for as long as there have been nonprofits.

For example, as a member of Amnesty International, I regularly receive prewritten letters/post cards for me to sign and mail (postage paid) to members of Congress, the UN, leaders of other countries, etc.  Seriously, I can be uber-lazy AND feel like I'm helping to save the world.  Every time I sign and mail, I think "well played Amnesty International, well played".  Of course, this is an organization I vetted long ago and wholeheartedly believe in their mission.  When they ask me for help, I want to help.

Is that really so different from asking someone to "share" a video and hang a poster?

I would love to see everyone generously giving of their time to support an organization they believe in.  I've been in volunteer recruitment mode for my various nonprofit projects since 2008.  I estimate 20 percent of people I ask say "yes" and maybe 10 percent actually follow through.  It's not that these people don't care, they just get caught up in their daily activities and it's hard to see how they can add more to the mix.

So if an organization can advance their goals forward by asking people to do something that they can easily fit into their schedule, then good on 'em.

Oh, by the way, I'm still recruiting for the ACS Cancer Prevention Study 3 ... if you want to "share".