Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

The identified opportunity-

Charities in the United States and across the world are having difficulty bringing relief to certain issues. This can be due to problems with people donating the wrong things, lack of any donations in general, or institutions not properly distributing the aid (such as recent problems with Red Cross during Hurricane Harvey, where some people in Houston did not actually receive any of the help that RC was supposed to give), or other problems. This could have many repercussions and delay relief to the issue.

Testing the hypothesis

The who - Those who have the need are the people that are affected by issues that can be aided greatly by charity relief programs and organizations. In certain cases, issues such as global climate change affect the entire population -- so in order to determine who really has the need depends on the issue that needs relief.

The what - Are all charity organizations and non-profits inefficient to a certain degree (is it inevitable to face these problems at some point)? Is inefficiency a characteristic only found in large public orgs or does it also include community/local or grass-root efforts as well? What about religious charities and their public service? Are these large charity organizations even the most effective way of helping others in times of need -- or is there something else that can be done? How do we get more people to participate in charity events, and what is the most beneficial way that organizations can provide relief? If some non-profits have these issues, would a for-profit system or social entrepreneurial idea encounter these similar issues as well?

The why - Many people that run these charitable organizations know that their need comes from issues with management -- including perhaps lack of public awareness, insufficient funding, and even scarce donations and other logistical problems. The people that are most greatly impacted by these issues are the ones on the receiving end of the aid -- they might believe that these issues are simply natural delays with the aid, and that the process itself just takes excessive amounts of time.

Interview summaries -

For the interviews, I asked people that have experience with donating/receiving charity to explore the boundaries of this opportunity.

A strong general trend that I found among the responses were that people are more likely to make a donation or give money to a cause if they were to receive a good or service in return -- such as what nonprofit businesses/social enterprises do. Many responses also show that people want to donate to causes that they genuinely care or know about -- thus highlighting the importance of awareness in order for people to want to donate. The type of organization (religious vs. secular, national/local, etc.) also influences people's decisions to donate -- as they typically look to organizations that share similar views as them. Other responses demonstrated that they feel as though current charities are efficient, and many of them specify what they wish to be donated (such as canned food drives, etc.) thus people don't find the process difficult -- some said that they believe that these organizations are greatly helping people in times of need, as people tend to do their part. 

After analyzing the interviews, I realized that my opportunity relies heavily on consumer preference. It is difficult to create a universal charitable organization that reaches all audiences -- as everything from the cause being supported, incentives offered, to the message being displayed heavily persuades a consumer's choice of the extent of their donation. There's a lot of work and research that needs to be put into creating such businesses, especially in the start-up stages where free cash flow is restricted.