‘UnCharitable’ documentary advocates for non-profits

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This article was published 03/02/2024 (951 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Coming soon to a theatre in Brandon is a movie that targets charities and non-profits — and challenges them to change their way of thinking about how they operate.

The documentary, “UnCharitable,” encourages charities to break out of old mindsets that have been in place for hundreds of years that stifle how they operate, recruit and market themselves, for fear of being ostracized.

“UnCharitable” started out as a book by American author Dan Pallotta, who shared his experiences running non-profits that raised millions for AIDS and breast cancer research.

From the book came his TED Talk, which is a platform that showcases innovative and interesting speakers and presenters.

Pallotta’s TED Talk, “The Way We Think about Charity is Dead Wrong,” has more than five million views.

And the new documentary is catching the eye and interest of several non-profits in Westman, including Brandon’s Beth Proven, who is on the foundation board of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners, an organization that brings donors and charities together.

“Charities are being asked to do a lot in this day and age, and we’re being asked to sort of change the world,” Proven said.

“There are environmental charities that deal with climate change, medical charities raise money to cure diseases and deal with mental health issues — some of the important topical health issues of our time,” she said.

“And they’re being asked to do that with very little resource, very little input. And I think the point in the movie is that sometimes you have to spend money to make money, and with just a few tweaks, we can open opportunities for the charitable sector to do more.”

The book’s author, Pallotta, who is also featured in the documentary, stated that unfair expectations are put on charities because too many are worried about overspending on overhead, which includes the cost of operating.

Those concerns, Pallotta explained, force organizations to cut back when they should be doing the opposite.

“We’ve all been taught that charities should spend as little as possible on overhead under the theory that, well, the less money you spend on fundraising, the more money there is available for the cause,” said Pallotta in his TED Talk.

“We have it precisely backwards. We should be investing more money, not less, in fundraising, because fundraising is the one thing that has the potential to multiply the amount of money available for the cause that we care about so deeply.”

“UnCharitable” will be shown for free next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the J.R.C. Evans Theatre at Brandon University.

It’s being brought to the Wheat City by Proven and a small group of community-minded people who have been working in the non-profit sector for many years.

Speaking with the Sun outside the theatre, Proven said she agreed with a point made in the film that if possible, it’s in the non-profit’s best interest to have the best talent in leadership.

“If charities do pay well, they can attract the top people to work for them. And sometimes it’s those top people that have the big vision, have a network, the ideas, the energy and the ability to rally people around a situation that can really make a difference and transcend what a charity is capable of doing,” said Proven.

Alongside Proven was Laura Kempthorne, executive director of Brandon Area Community Foundation Inc., also instrumental in bringing the documentary to Brandon.

“I think this movie is going to show to the audience that it’s a mindset, first and foremost. And we have all wonderful volunteers that help us dearly and believe in us. But we all have to be on a different path for all of us to move forward. And I think this movie is going to help that,” Kempthorne said.

“This is an issue out there for everyone that’s in the non-profit sector.”

At the end of Pallotta’s TED Talk, he encouraged the public not to ask a charity what their overhead is, but to ask about the scale of their dreams and what resources they need to make them come true regardless of what the overhead is.

“If we can have that kind of generosity, a generosity of thought, then the non-profit sector can play a massive role in changing the world for all those citizens most desperately in need of it to change,” Pallotta said.

Proven said she thinks this movie, and the groundswell that will follow, will excite people and create a level of enthusiasm “that we haven’t had in our sector for a long time.”

“It’s not about criticizing donors, and it’s not about saying society’s not giving enough because that’s not what the movie is about,” she said.

“It’s more about how charities are governed, and what the structures are, that are holding charities back.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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