Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History - Essay Example

Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History It is an intriguing fact that the power of common people in making a difference within the society can be more than the celebrities. This fact became evident by the recent fund raising event at the Library Store. Library Store’s Cancer Fund Raiser was recently organized at the court yard of Library Store West 5th street in Los Angeles. The general goal of Library Store’s Fund Raiser event was to raise funds for patients diagnosed with cancer which is worth knowing for the general audiences. The Library Foundation i.e. the administrator name of the library store is aiming to raise funds for contributing within the society over the years. The services of the Library foundation have been active since 1872. The library is not active for respective purpose but also working in a join with other 72 libraries in Los Angeles. The Library foundation is also involved in undertaking advocacy services as well. This shows that Library Store is involved in supporting masses within the community. Unlike other fund raising events, this was less advertised among the mainstream celebrities. It is obvious from the charity events that it could not become successful in terms of raising funds for the cause until celebrity endorsement is undertaken. But Library Store’s Cancer Fund Raiser had common people as visitors more than celebrities. This charity event was created for the first time in the Library Store with its own affiliation of organizers. The goal of this charity was backed up by its vision of supporting other libraries on Los Angeles to maintain their services to the educational institutions for spreading literacy in Los Angeles. Considering this vision, the event was a success and organized relevant activities. The intriguing fact about the fund raise was the inclusion of different standing-comedians who participated to make the event a success. These standing-comedians had successfully taken place of celebrities coming to the event. According to the organizer of fund raise, the basic goal of the fund raiser was to assess contribution of common people in Los Angles who are more than willing to contribute to the society. It will not be incorrect to state that this fund raise was far different that other charity events. It was because of low-light charity. The Library Store is an attraction for a majority of people living Los Angeles which automatically spread awareness regarding the fund raiser. In terms of activities and planning of the charity fund raise, it was noted that a number of books which were being sold as the best sellers were put to more rates. The reason of adding more rates on the best sellers was because people coming to Library Store would surely be buying sellers. It is commonly known that the best sellers as predicted in the newspapers are bought from Library Store in Los Angeles. This was the reason for which the best sellers were being sold at the charity raiser with more prices. Many IOs Application developers also participated in the event to provide access too visitors to the application through their smartphones. It should be noted that most of the book lovers in Los Angeles have converted to online book reading habit. This is with the help of IOs application for e-reading. This event was an open platform for the software developers. Seemingly, these software developers were selling their applications for raising fund for the charity. The amount which was received by the software developers for selling online or electronic books were completely given to the charity fund raiser. These software developers were basically employees of different famous software developing firms. The event was also made interesting yet welcoming for visitors because of the tech-gallery. It was a section that was created and decorated within the courtyard of the Library Store. A number of IPads which were open for the visitors to use for the purpose of reading abstracts of books. This was to persuade the readers to buy the books so that the profit could have been given to the charity. The affiliated manner in which funds were raised by the library was in the form of premium membership of the library which allowed the readers to get special discounts on buying the books and take books for run-time. The amount of money which was collected by selling of the membership of the library was given to fund raising charity reasons. This fund was sent to different hospitals. There were other ways of conducting charitable activities Different scratch cards were also distributed for amount of money so that the people could get benefit of discount on different locations in Los Angeles and at the same time be able to contribute in the charity. According to my analysis, charity through scratch cards is relatively very tough because the organizers have to buy scratch cards by putting a lot of investment. But fortunately, this event was successful in terms of selling of scratch cards for the need of charity. I can consider the success of the event to be intriguing because many other events have been reported as unsuccessful in raising funds despite great deal of celebrity endorsement and advertising (Friedman and McGarvie). Also, the event included group talks which were scheduled timely. The reason behind the group talk was to spread out the message of fund raising. The best thing about the group talk was people from different walks of life shared their ideas and views of helping people to get away with Cancer. It can be said that this event has made people as celebrities who have successfully undergone the treatment of cancer. This rather made easier for people diagnosed with cancer to communicate with other people about their disease. The group talks also allowed the visitors to get aware of different charity fund raisers for any future. The group discussion allowed the visitors to keep a track of activities and awareness plans for cancer patients. Attending this charity fund raiser helped me understand that fund raising can be done without celebrity endorsements. Common people should be persuaded to contribute to the society with the help of creating common people as role models. This was the ultimate goal of the charity event. Other than the activities and ideas that were utilized to raise fund, there were activities for the teenagers such as a speeches and reflection sessions on their favorite books. Special consideration was given to the book which were written on the subject of cancers and how to spread awareness regarding cancer. The most interesting yet intriguing fact about the fund raiser event remains the amount of funds raised by the charity organizers. This event was exemplary as organizers will not need to raise funds by endorsing celebrating or making use of expensive advertising ways. The purpose of charity is to make sure of the fact that lesser amount of money is spent on the organizing activities rather than giving it to the celebrity and advertising campaign designers. Events like these are very rare to be organized in Los Angeles and especially for cancer patients who have to get done with tests and other medical procedures on a regular basis which are expensive in real terms. Works Cited Friedman, L and M. McGarvie. Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Read More