NKF BUST: DOING GOOD FOR MONEY?

Today's front page of the Straits Times carries the "dirt" on the NKF-SPH fight.

NKF's CEO TT Durai flies first class (upgrading his business class tickets) and has gold-plated fittings in his private bathroom in the NKF office.

SPH's lawyer Davinder Singh is one kind of Tekan King. He asks TT Durai if $990 for a tap is expensive. TT Durai says depends on the place. Singh asks For the man who earns $1000 who give $50 to NKF, is it expensive?

One kind of happening tekan. Sure win all the debate championships type.

But the true question in this whole "lawsuit turned inquest" is: do organisations that set out to do good, as NKF doubtlessly had many years ago, have any right to run themselves like a business entity/corporation?

One of my buddies worked for Mr Durai for 3 years. She had nothing but good things to say about him as a visionary and a boss. The idea of running a body that solicits public funds to help the less fortunate, but running it to make profits, sounds good to a businessperson, and lowest-of-the-low to the rest of mankind.

She said it was tough to get into his vision, because it went against what she grew up believing, that if you do good, there should be nothing in it for you. But to understudy his thinking, to create money as a business, she learned a lot.

It must be said that NKF doesn't get all its money from the $1000-earner in the street. Other business deals, investments etc, I'm sure that would make the bulk of their earnings, hence the reserve. (So, you and I ask, why beg for money from those who have little? And why do an NKF Charity show?)

However, I wonder if it would not be ideal if do-gooders were able to make a decent (okay, not $25,000 + 12 months bonus) income from running a tight ship that got things done. Looking at NKF, for all the $189 million they have in reserves, have they done a lot for those suffering from kidney failure? I think they did a more than decent job with all the dialysis centres they set up, awareness campaigns that they run.

(I do not agree with them encroaching on the cancer turf, though.)

My belief is that fundraising must go hand in hand with business smarts, in any NGO. While WMD is very young and the money we want to give away is completely from the public, the startup was self-funded. It's not an ideal situation — if as the founders we had proper funding we could do a lot more. If we could provide a service or a product for other businesses to take up, it would help to fund our good works.

But I also believe in staying transparent and accountable, so once the T-shirt drive is over our supporters will be able to see how much we collected, how much we spent on what, and how much reached the shelters.

I don't think NKF set out to be a villain. I still believe that they have done a lot for the less fortunate. I hope that this Slap on the Wrist will help them to get back on track. Restitution must be made after this to assuage public outrage. But I hope the fallout's not so great that we destroy what is otherwise a great model for charities to follow.


PS While we were trying to get stars to endorse our pink WMD T-shirt, I tried to get Fann Wong (whom I like very much and think is a great flagbearer for our country). Her management said they would give me a discounted rate of

$7000

for her to appear in our T-shirt in a poster that would only go out online and in the shops.

I said for $7000 I would have to stand in the street corner and hawk 200 T-shirts just to pay these bloodthirsty sharks. None of that money would go to the shelter.

The reply was, "You know how many charities ask her to do this kind of thing or not?" My guess is a lot. So they must have made a lot of money by now.

As if charging charities is going to help the situation. Oh maybe it did, because I just said thank you and hung up. Her management either didn't get what I was saying, or they didn't give a flying pig's arse.

THAT to me, is far worse than NKF's first class tickets to anywhere.