Charity for the wellbeing of millionaires: A revealing absurdity
25th July 2024, Reading time: 5 mins
I got thinking about a new organisation: ‘Support for the Wellbeing of Millionaires’. It’s aim? To support people who earn half a million euros a year.
I tried to imagine why this idea bothered me. In a way, wanting to help people is good in itself. But the needs of people earning that much are already very well covered. For example, those earning the minimum wage, around €1,500 a month, have much more pressing needs. Investing our energy and resources in improving the lives of people earning the minimum wage would be far more meaningful. A person earning half a million euros has 30 times more income than someone on the minimum wage. Every euro of aid to a person on the minimum wage has a much greater impact, giving us the opportunity to help many more people. The difference in need is so great that I wouldn’t want to donate to ‘Support for the Wellbeing of Millionaires’.
My thinking didn’t stop there. I thought about the people living in extreme poverty, on less than €2 a day. They earn 30 times less than someone on the minimum wage. Their unmet needs are even more basic and simple to satisfy. We can help these people more easily and help many more.
Considering that a human life counts, regardless of country, and that aid should go to those who need it most, I want to help the millions of people living in extreme poverty.
At Mieux Donner, we don’t think that people living below the poverty line in France have an easy life. We don’t want to belittle their suffering. We welcome the fact that charities are working on this issue in France and we even hope for political changes to combat the situation. But their poverty is relative compared to the poorest people in the world. Their children don’t have a one in ten chance of not seeing their 5th birthday, they don’t suffer from diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of people every year and their children don’t suffer from night blindess due to vitamin A deficiency. With just a few euros, it is possible to deliver doses of vitamin A or malaria-protecting mosquito nets to these populations, enabling your donations to change, and often save lives.
By supporting our recommended charities, you can help the most disadvantaged people in the world, and have an extraordinary impact!
