All these people are going to use . . . (photo: Smithsonian)
… these, to change the world.
Let’s try something. Because who knows?
The world is plagued by the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Hardest hit are the poor: developing nations with minimal health infrastructure, and African Americans and Native Americans – who also lack health care. The lead agency pursuing treatments and cures is the WHO, the World Health Organization – from which the president has withheld funding.
The WHO has prevented millions of deaths from HIV, malaria, and other diseases, while supporting child and maternal health, clean water programs, and other lifesaving projects.
Individuals can donate to the WHO’s COVID Response Fund. I’m going to ask you to do so – though the WHO has made that harder with recent confusing advisories. Wear a mask, or don’t? Asymptomatic carriers: contagious, or not? Everyone wants definitive answers now, and the WHO tried to give them before having them.
But I’ve never given to a perfect organization, have you? No? Onward, undaunted, then. Because, like your political party, your church, your school, your favorite nonprofit, they are doing essential work, and they need your and my help to do it.
We could ask America’s 540 billionaires to do this for us. The top 15 of them alone have a combined net worth of $1 trillion.
But we’d have to wait for them to consult with lawyers, accountants, and PR firms. We can do this now, ourselves. The need is urgent: infections are spiking again. Besides, there’s an upside to doing things differently.
We need to provide the funds that are lacking: about $500 million. The average amount of US membership dues and voluntary contributions is usually a little less than that. If only ¾ of those who voted in 2016 donated to the WHO’s work on COVID-19, we’d each only have to give $5.
$5.
Each.
Reverse a bad decision, and rejoin the fight to kick COVID to the curb. For five bucks.
Let’s do it by July 4th.
Why July 4th? Because the need is urgent, and we don’t need more time. We won’t be delayed by lawyers, advertising, or creating a website. This just needs to go viral. (Sorry) A deadline will light a fire under us – and give us something to celebrate together. We could use a win.
Can we do it? Without a big donor or a celebrity endorsement? It’s still $500 million.
- We financed World War II with war bonds. 84 million people bought them. (The equivalent of 204 million today.)
- We’re fighting racism with massive, peaceful, diverse protests across the country.
- During the pandemic, people are supporting food banks and local mutual aid groups, donating stimulus checks, sewing masks at home.
Mr. Rogers’ Mom told him to look for the helpers in disasters. Millions of Americans are too busy being helpers to waste time looking for them. The government led and organized the WWII efforts. But we don’t need them to do everything for us.
Yes, we can do this. Here’s how. We focus on the numbers: not the size of donations, but the number of donors.
Instead of deciding how big a donation to make, think about how many people you can get to donate. Ask friends, coworkers, and social media contacts to make the smallest donation they’ve ever been asked to make: $5 or $10. (They may, of course, choose to give more.) Ask them to ask their friends to do the same.
The goal, and the point, is a lot of small donations rather than a few big ones.
Raising $500 million from a couple of billionaires is barely a story for a day in the business section. No big deal.
Raising it from 10 million, 100 million, or 204 million Americans, $5 or $10 at a time – that’s a damn resurrection. It proves we can still unite to lead the world in doing big things, suggests to the president that a lot of us disagree with his decision – and may just kneecap COVID-19.
I’d like to ask you to donate $5, right now, to the WHO’s COVID-19 Response Fund, to get the ball rolling. (See how easy that was?)
Once we do this? Imagine what other big changes will seem possible. Let’s talk about it over burgers, brats, and brew on July 4th. And when we do beat COVID, you can tell everyone that you helped gather the troops to get it done.
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EDIT: I just learned that Facebook is matching donations to the WHO’s COVID-19 Response Fund. So you can double your donations by making them there.
Uncommontary 