Charities cheat themselves by losing conversation, opting for the online
October 26, 2025 11:07 AM
Rant of the week
Among the Canadian institutions and individuals that express a never-failing, charitable presence within our country and abroad, universities and students play a huge role.
Undergraduate students in this country are active members and leaders of countless charities. We support Shinerama, Right to Play, the Canadian Cancer Society, OXFAM, UNICEF, Greenpeace, and too many other organizations to list here.
Even setting formal charities aside, students form a huge amount of the push for social justice issues on a daily basis. With the community leaders, professors, and friends that bring these things to our attention, we are into inclusive language, free speech, women’s rights, and aboriginal and black advancement.
Many students give their money and their time, and similarly their heart and soul to the organization or cause that speaks to them the most. They hold awareness or fundraising events, talk to friends about why the cause is important, and even take trips abroad to volunteer.
We even put aside our bittersweet relationship with Facebook to spread the word. Where Facebook comes in, trouble is sure to follow.
Picture this: as you sign on, you see multiple event invitations to charity events that you theoretically support. But you click ignore, ignore, ignore. You do it; I do it; let’s just get it out in the open.
An interesting thing happens when our computers start to invite us places. That thing is that we don’t really care. Because they are not people and have no feelings, we reject their requests with merciless efficiency.
Even if it is a charity we are fond of and even if we see that other people we know are going, we hit ignore. Because we are busy studying for midterms and figuring out how to cook, and working to pay this semester’s tuition.
And it’s really not our fault. Because no matter how digitized our lives get, most of us still thrive on real face-to-face social connection. Who could blame us for preferring to be invited to an event by a real, live person and seeing an invitation from our computers as gray and muted in comparison?
One day not so long ago I was walking through my students’ union building. A group of students had a table for their charity set up with a poster. On my way by, one of them stopped me with an old fashioned “hi” and started telling me about the cause and why it was important.
He kept it brief, but told me he was really hoping to get high attendance for the event that night. I have no doubt that he did.
Looking at the Earth Hour Facebook group in contrast shows an immediate difference in results. Thousands of people regularly sign up for this event that promotes abstaining from use of electricity for one set hour. But do all the people that respond “attending” actually follow through? I seriously doubt it.
My point is simply this. If we really want to inspire some emotion in people about our charities so that they will give their time, why do we use the most emotionally muted means available?
Sending a request to me through my computer when I don’t know you just inserts a degree of separation between you and I, between your passion for the cause and my receptiveness. That separation makes me passive and listless. While Facebook may be a valuable tool for increasing awareness, it does little for commitment and should not be used exclusively to promote a cause.
If you ask me, students get involved in charities because they get that uplifting feeling that they, along with others, are getting something done that no individual could accomplish on his own. They can feel the progress that is brought about by teamwork.
Personally, nothing makes me feel less a part of a team than sitting down for a nice chat with my Facebook account. If we really want people to attend our events and care about our causes, then we have to do it the old fashioned way. We have to stop doing the laziest, easiest promotion and get out there to talk to people.