The Rundown - Philanthropy Games - February 3, 2023
The Influencer and Gamer World is making an impact on Philanthropy and it is raising some big ethical questions
And then there is this guy….
If you are over a certain age the name Jimmy Donaldson probably doesn’t mean to much to you. If I said he was “Mr. Beast”, that might elicit a few confused looks for many. For others, they would know exactly what I am talking about.
Mr. Beast is probably one of the top YouTube influencers of all time. His five channels has over 213 million subscribers. All his videos combined have garnered 33 billion (yes, billion) views. I have never watched one of his videos, but I know my children have and they generally revolve around him doing “stunts that cost a lot of money”, according to my fifteen year old son.
I became vaguely familiar with Mr. Beast as my entire family was caught up in a YouTube series featuring another influencer, Ryan Trehan (who enjoys 11 million subscribers), as he travelled from Los Angeles to visit Mr. Beast at his North Carolina home last summer armed with nothing more than one month of time, the clothes on his back and one thin penny.
Trehan used the video series to raise funds for Feeding America and we talked about his adventure and the philanthropic impacts of his work here:
But, back to the topic at hand. Mr. Beast’s latest video work takes on the audacious work of giving sight to 1,000 blind people. Don’t believe me? Watch it here:
The video has garnered a ton of attention, most notably in the gamer world. The website PCGamer had a write-up on this adventure that can be read here. As a side note, never did I imagine that the world of gaming, video influencing and philanthropy would collide. Yet here we are.
What exactly are we watching here?
The writer of the PCGamer piece, Rich Stanton, sums up the reaction to Mr. Beast’s video in a fairly stark contrast.
There are two schools of thought on MrBeast. His fans see him as an incredibly benevolent individual who's equal parts P.T. Barnum and Mother Theresa, using pomp and pizzazz to do great things. Then there are those who see him as an incredibly successful and hard-nosed businessman, a millionaire who spends brand money on performative acts of charity for clout.
The truth, like all things, probably resides somewhere in the middle.
In the article, Stanton cites this tweet, a reaction to Mr. Beast’s charitable effort:
Ethical fundraisers talk a lot about “Charity Porn” — the desire to use the lives and circumstances of the downtrodden to get more dollars funneled in to serve more of the downtrodden (or, at worst, pad the pockets of those hustling for donations). Fundraisers know that exploiting the lives of those that we are serving is not what we are called to do and can actually cause more damage than good. Even in my own shop of running a food pantry, we absolutely do not allow camera or footage of our clients here. No one deserves to be inadvertently “outed” for using our services. It’s not that it is a point of shame, but it certainly isn’t our job to broadcast their use of our services.
So, should we appreciate the giving back of Mr. Beast?
Let’s face it a guy with over 213 million YouTube subscribers with 33 Billion views is no fool. Mr. Beast started his YouTube content creation in 2012 and now earns an estimated $26 million in YouTube revenue alone; yes, a $500,000 paycheck every Friday. His net worth is estimated to be over $150 million. Not bad for a guy who makes videos directed at teens and kids.
And that is why he isn’t a fool.
He understands exactly what he is doing and more importantly, what he is promoting and why he is promoting it. Call his philanthropy a good deed, sure. But, I seriously doubt that if it wasn’t garnering the eyeballs and attention that it is getting, he wouldn’t even consider doing it. Sure, he might cut a nice size check every now and again to his favorite charity, but to create a video about it is a different story altogether.
And it’s a different story because while he has mastered the YouTube game, viewers can still be very fickle. To do content creation well, the first rule to follow is to understand your audience. Writing a check to a doctor or clinic for eye surgery is boring. Seeing people have sight for the first time….well that is compelling.
And let’s face it, as fundraisers, we are in the same boat. When we are prospecting for a new donor, we think long and hard about what that first ask is going to be. All while realizing that we aren’t putting those we are helping in a position where they can be hurt.
I don’t believe that we haven’t seen the last of these types of videos. Even with the controversy, this video has garnered over 77 million views in five days. That kind of attention garners other influencers to try the same thing. It may not be as popular as the great ALS ice bucket challenge of 2014, but we will see more of these type videos in the future.
The Weekly Notebook
A quick rundown of what I am seeing and hearing in the nonprofit world….
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Ready to Learn Something New?
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Online Learning Options from Texas A&M Announced
If travelling for professional development isn’t in the cards (or the budget), the Center for Nonprofits at Texas A&M University has some great offerings! I recently enrolled in one of their certificate programs and really enjoyed the online format and the online discussions that were developed. It was time and money well spent and I would highly recommend this program, especially for early or mid-career professionals. The next session begins in early February and you can learn more here!
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Charity porn ranks right up there with tokenism.