Street Beggars

Years ago, when I first moved to the mountains of Northern Virginia and began employment in downtown Washington, DC, I realized that I would encounter street beggars daily. I decided that to ease the pain of confronting their pain, I would follow this simple rule: I would always give money to street musicians; I would never give money to street beggars. I reasoned that street musicians were giving something of great value to those of us who had the good fortune to hear their impromptu, informal concerts. Street beggars, on the other hand, brought all of us down. By making the decsion ahead of time about who and who not I would give to, I was mostly able to avoid guilt when I turned down a street beggar's plea.

Today, I listened to the internet radio cast "Bringing Your Genius to Life" by Michael Neil regarding philanthropy and learned a new and possibly better approach to the situation. Michael's guest, Bill Cumming, told about his practice (inspired by a philanthropic mentor) of sometimes giving $20 to street beggars who asked him only for spare change. He pointed out that doing so would provide several modest opportunities for the recipient while a handful of change would not.

Bill Cumming's approach is in tune with the Cowgirl Philanthropy philosophy that a gift should be large enough to be noticed by the recipient.