I know 2 categories of fund raisers. One category has trouble raising money and is often met with derision, disgust and scorn. The other category raises tens of millions and sometimes even billions, receives great honor and is treated with dignity.
What is the difference?
What they are collecting for.
AHHHHHH!!!
People collecting for the poor and unfortunate are often seen as a nuisance that we wish we hadn't met.
Others collect for INVESTMENTS. They buy apartment buildings, renovate and then "flip" them [i.e. resell at a profit]. Or they purchase shopping malls and collect rents, allowing investors to see consistent dividends. There are many different ypes of investments, the common denominator being that the investor is happy that he can invest his money and watch it turn into more money. So these "fund raisers" have to raise millions and millions but are able to do it because they offer promises of great returns on the investment.
Full disclosure. If I had an extra 300k I would be much more excited at the prospect of investing it and watching the money grow [allowing me to reinvest the profits and become yet richer:-)] than I would than at the prospect of giving it all to Shaarei Tzedek hospital [even though 3 of my six children were born there and they saved my daughters life a number of months ago and help so many Jews]. That is a SERIOUS blemish in my soul.
So I want to give myself a bracha and avoda for this Elul - to appreciate that the dividends on giving to tzdaka are FAAAAAR GREATER than they are on any apartment complex in Atlanta [I saw that Atlanta is a really great place to invest] or shopping center in Nevada [buying that would be a "gamble"].
I am not saying that one has to give away all of his money or not invest what he has. I AM saying that we should be just as excited if not more than in doing altruistic acts of giving than we are in increasing our wealth.
I wish us all great wealth and lots of giving - generating more wealth and yet more giving:-).
