Week 3

Something that I forgot to mention from last weeks reading was Darwin’s theory of altruistic behavior between ants. I am interested in what types of biological, sociological, and physiological reactions encourage us to feel rewarded by helping others.  Once again I felt inclined to Google it and I found an article that discussed how helping others is good for our mental health.  An interesting argument that the argument addressed was that altruism feels good to us because nature around us gives to us and by being altruistic we feel one with nature. I think even Darwin could agree with that statement. I will certainly think twice next time I get out the Raid. 

            In the document that listed the eight characteristics of a non-profit organization I thought that the third characteristic brought up a great point that reminded me of a bad experience I had working for a nonprofit in the past. I had difficult time working in an organization with such a casual mentality and work ethic. It seemed that the person who oversaw me did not know how to correctly delegate work. As an intern I was seeking a more structured work environment that would challenge me to explore new areas of the grant writing process.  I thought that the over relaxed work environment blurred the lines too much; it was difficult to understand what aspects of tasks were truly priorities. I agree with the girl who brought up the idea of unionization of nonprofit workers in class. I think that the nonprofit workplace could really benefit from unionization, providing a more structuralized division of labor, which might lead to more productive and effective work.  I understand the other sides of the argument but the perspective that I have gained from my past experience leads me to believe that nonprofits need a push to make themselves a little more legitimate. I think unionizing could encourage this because paying higher wages could attract well qualified people into the field and cause the nonprofit sector to be taken a little more seriously as a institution and as a career path.

            I was so surprised in class to learn that religious organizations made up the largest bracket of NPO’s.  I personally do not know any really religious people, which is strange because I went to a catholic high school. I was raised catholic but I wouldn’t describe my family as religious, we are Christmas and Easter Catholics, I think I know only three people who go to church every Sunday. In my community church is not of great importance in daily life.  This is why I was so surprised to learn that ninety percent of adults say that religion is important in their lives.  I almost wished that the surveyors would have asked what degree of importance church is in adults lives, I feel that this would be a more accurate reflection of religious participation in the United States. To me ninety percent participation in religion does not reflect the way I view religion in the United States. However it does make me happy to know that people still participate in religious activities and that communities have religious venues to share collected values and share those values with the community. However I also believe that it sometimes is easier to facilitate the communities needs without religious motivation because I think it can be difficult to avoid imposing religious values on the group of people you are seeking to help.

            The other reading proposed an interesting policy problem. I am unsure how I feel about cutting charitable deductions to pay for healthcare especially because many charitable organizations help to care for people who don’t have coverage.  I think that we are in a really tough place policy wise right now considering that the new speaker of the house has proclaimed that he will not, “compromise.”  With the extension of the bush tax cuts I worry that there will be no way to pay for social healthcare and it will be so underfunded it will be doomed to fail. Although I think that deductions on charitable donations are beneficial to everyone I fear these are the kinds of things we are going to have to cut to make the healthcare bill succeed.