ACORN's Bureaucratic Ballet: The Coda

Perhaps some service organizations are meant to die natural -- or even self-inflicted -- deaths.

The artist Marcel Duchamp put it this way:


I assume that when ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) got started some 40 years ago, it was with the best of intentions. However, recent news suggests the organization has seen better days and may be irredeemable. So be it.

I volunteer for a local no-kill cat/kitten rescue group. The shelter receives no government funds, partly because the director enforces a strict no-kill policy. Even if a vet advises euthanasia, the director gets a second opinion.

With such rules, naturally the shelter gets full, and the director has to turn away cats that may end up in high-kill shelters. The director hates that, but all she can do is focus on her own mission: Saving as many lives as she can by adopting spayed/neutered cats to good homes.

I have no doubt that if the director died or gave up tomorrow, the organization would collapse. Certainly, I would leave. And I would not then go work someplace else. Volunteering at a high-kill shelter would in time lead to 100 cats romping around my house.

There is a philosophy -- though not a popular one -- that charities should die with their founders, because after that they often become bloated bureaucracies whose purpose shifts away from their original intent to simply sustaining themselves.

The American Cancer Society, which was founded in 1913, once served a noble purpose. Today the ACS raises funds.

When people succumb to cancer, the surviving family might reflexively suggest donations to the American Cancer Society. Do they realize that the deputy CEO makes over a million dollars?

Do they know that Charity Navigator gives the American Cancer Society one star out of four on efficiency?

Meanwhile, newer organizations are still burning bright with the passion of the founders. Take a look at I'm Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation.

Take a look at the Association of Cancer Online Resources, which has for years maintained Internet mailing lists that put patients together with other patients.

Look at The Wellness Community.

Look for groups targeting cancers that are under-represented in research dollars. My own cancer – ovarian – comes to mind. September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Bet you didn't know.

And I bet you didn't know that November is Pancreatic Awareness Month. I have a soft spot for pancreatic patients because their survival stats are even worse than mine. I feel their pain.

In my home of Kansas City, we have Turning Point. They haven't been around long, but it's a good organization. Look around and you can probably find local groups that are doing similar work supporting patients and their families free of charge.

If you want to make a difference in the world, consider charities on the roads less traveled. What these groups lack in publicity, they just might make up in heart and soul.