WE - Your Opinion?

[Baggsy]

We need a volunteer . . .

Besides that the two brave big shots are hiding behind Bardish Chaggar's skirts.

They might see the need for her to go too.

 

[Evoex]

The whistleblower probably had to sign an NDA during the discussions with WE so exposing the scam opens them up to civil liability (and obviously the end of their career).

Perhaps!

 

[jc100]

I feel like someone needs to defend WE here. It seems like the unpopular thing to do, having read this thread and seeing all the unavoidable news of late, but every now and then, someone's gotta take a contrarian view.

I've had the fortune to join WE in India, spending a week with some board members (at the time, I don't think any of 'em are there anymore), Craig, and some other employees, both from Canada and local staff in India. I went in to the trip with some of the same trepidation that have been raised here ... fancy digs in a seriously impoverished land, with 'volunteers' paying to pat themselves on the back and feel 'blessed' for some IG likes. After spending 10 days or so in a remote part of the country with WE, my opinions changed. This group did the work. I saw schools that they had built (still standing!), were building (supervised by local experts hired/paid to oversee the work) and were planning to renovate/fix/rebuild. I saw whole villages that received new stoves that had simple solutions to improve the lives of the people living there. I saw the livestock and crops that WE bought for local farmers that improved yields, affording larger profits for villagers. WE's philosophy seemed to be to teach and do big and little things that would improve lives for generations to come. Craig had a genuine passion for all of this, as far as I could tell (I never met Marc). While this particular place had a WE compound and offered paid trips, they also did this kind of work in places where they did not have trips or a fancy compound.

On that trip, every day was planned with something new ... building, tourism, showing off their work. It was structured differently than the normal 'paid volunteer' trips, I think ... I've never done the paid volunteer trip thing. On the day we went to the school-in-progress, we built for a few hours and were scheduled not to go back for the rest of the week. I happened to really enjoy the building part and asked the organizers if I could do that instead of other activities I was less than interested in. They drove me and a team I 'recruited' back and forth every day to the build site, had local builders supervise, direct and help me, and we got some actual work done. When I asked how long after we leave before they destroy it and rebuild to code, they assured me that that's why they had the local builders there, so that work wouldn't have to be done twice. They checked my work diligently and corrected/fixed as we went along. It all seemed legit.

I also never signed an NDA! I can't vouch for everything going on with WE and, to be honest, I've generally stayed away from the coverage. What I can say is that I've seen the good work they do. I can vouch for Craig's passion and actual desire to make the world a better place.

That's good and all but since there were local builders and experts there wouldn’t it have made more sense to pay them to recruit more locals under their supervision to build the schools etc rather than send a bunch of unskilled labour on expensive flights to do the same thing?

 

[250R-ICE]

That's good and all but since there were local builders and experts there wouldn’t it have made more sense to pay them to recruit more locals under their supervision to build the schools etc rather than send a bunch of unskilled labour on expensive flights to do the same thing?

That's too easy of a solution. The pyramid scam doesn't work when you actually spend the money.

 

[regder]

I can't say I've looked into it too far, so please take this post with a grain of salt, but it would be a shame if a good charity went down because some parties wanted to take down Trudeau and used this charity and their ties to him as a means to do that.

I grew up in the same general area, and around the same time as Craig. Back then, heard a lot of good things about him and WE's predecessor, Free The Children. More recently, the WE day events seemed like great opportunities to get youth active in charity and making the world a better place. According to Charity Intelligence, WE gets an A rating, with 86 cents/dollar going to their mission, WE Charity. Another A rating from MoneySense, Canada’s top-rated charities 2020: Top 100 | MoneySense.


Completely separate from WE, someone earlier in this mentioned that charities are a scam because many higher ups make extremely good money. I have a different opinion. Charities are a business who's purpose is to raise money which then goes to fund their missions. It would be nice if everyone that worked at a charity was altruistic, but that's not the case. To get good people to run your operation, you have to pay them appropriately. Otherwise they wouldn't be working at a charity, but in the financial sector, etc. A lavish dinner, with expensive speakers, that costs a million to hold but raises ten is perfectly fine by me.

 

[ToSlow]

 

[Mad Mike]

I feel like someone needs to defend WE here. It seems like the unpopular thing to do, having read this thread and seeing all the unavoidable news of late, but every now and then, someone's gotta take a contrarian view.

I've had the fortune to join WE in India, spending a week with some board members (at the time, I don't think any of 'em are there anymore), Craig, and some other employees, both from Canada and local staff in India. I went in to the trip with some of the same trepidation that have been raised here ... fancy digs in a seriously impoverished land, with 'volunteers' paying to pat themselves on the back and feel 'blessed' for some IG likes. After spending 10 days or so in a remote part of the country with WE, my opinions changed. This group did the work. I saw schools that they had built (still standing!), were building (supervised by local experts hired/paid to oversee the work) and were planning to renovate/fix/rebuild. I saw whole villages that received new stoves that had simple solutions to improve the lives of the people living there. I saw the livestock and crops that WE bought for local farmers that improved yields, affording larger profits for villagers. WE's philosophy seemed to be to teach and do big and little things that would improve lives for generations to come. Craig had a genuine passion for all of this, as far as I could tell (I never met Marc). While this particular place had a WE compound and offered paid trips, they also did this kind of work in places where they did not have trips or a fancy compound.

On that trip, every day was planned with something new ... building, tourism, showing off their work. It was structured differently than the normal 'paid volunteer' trips, I think ... I've never done the paid volunteer trip thing. On the day we went to the school-in-progress, we built for a few hours and were scheduled not to go back for the rest of the week. I happened to really enjoy the building part and asked the organizers if I could do that instead of other activities I was less than interested in. They drove me and a team I 'recruited' back and forth every day to the build site, had local builders supervise, direct and help me, and we got some actual work done. When I asked how long after we leave before they destroy it and rebuild to code, they assured me that that's why they had the local builders there, so that work wouldn't have to be done twice. They checked my work diligently and corrected/fixed as we went along. It all seemed legit.

I also never signed an NDA! I can't vouch for everything going on with WE and, to be honest, I've generally stayed away from the coverage. What I can say is that I've seen the good work they do. I can vouch for Craig's passion and actual desire to make the world a better place.

I don’t think there are people criticizing their work, the issues popping up are related to ethics and self enrichment. Setting up “product placement and positioning” for corporations, slimy quid pro quo arrangements with high ranking politicians, exchanging grants for political platform promotion to student children, self dealing between their brotherly owned for-profit company and the WE Charity, Charity real estate deals funnelled thru family.

Priests do good work, but it’s kinda moot if the get caught in the rectory with a choir boy.

 

[backmarkerducati]

Completely separate from WE, someone earlier in this mentioned that charities are a scam because many higher ups make extremely good money. I have a different opinion. Charities are a business who's purpose is to raise money which then goes to fund their missions. It would be nice if everyone that worked at a charity was altruistic, but that's not the case. To get good people to run your operation, you have to pay them appropriately. Otherwise they wouldn't be working at a charity, but in the financial sector, etc. A lavish dinner, with expensive speakers, that costs a million to hold but raises ten is perfectly fine by me.

The problem is many charities are spending way more on fund raising than they are on causes. When they spend 10 million to raise 15 million (sound good so far), then pay their executives and then have 2 million left for the cause we have a huge problem. Onlu 20% of what you gave goes to the reason you gave it. Yes they need to pay well to have competent people at the helm, but many, likely most, are just a rinse and repeat of waste.

It is really easy, they document how much goes to the cause and the donors tax returns reflect it. Simple is usually best.

 

[250R-ICE]

WE is a For Profit charity. They are in business to make money off charitable donations. On top of that they blur lines within their own corporation. This is a quote from Charity intelligence website. Would make me think twice before I gave these guys $20 let alone almost one billion.


ME to WE: There is donor confusion about the blurred lines between WE Charity and ME to WE. Collectively these two distinct organizations are referred to as “WE”, or “WE organization” or “WE movement”. ME to WE is an affiliated social enterprise/for-profit private corporation controlled by Craig and Marc Kielburger, We Charity's co-founders. Where WE Charity was founded in 1995, ME to WE started up in 2004. ME to WE's CEO is Roxanne Joyal, Marc Kielburger's wife. WE Charity's CFO is also ME to WE's CFO

 

[GreyGhost]

WE is a For Profit charity. They are in business to make money off charitable donations. On top of that they blur lines within their own corporation. This is a quote from Charity intelligence website. Would make me think twice before I gave these guys $20 let alone almost one billion.


ME to WE: There is donor confusion about the blurred lines between WE Charity and ME to WE. Collectively these two distinct organizations are referred to as “WE”, or “WE organization” or “WE movement”. ME to WE is an affiliated social enterprise/for-profit private corporation controlled by Craig and Marc Kielburger, We Charity's co-founders. Where WE Charity was founded in 1995, ME to WE started up in 2004. ME to WE's CEO is Roxanne Joyal, Marc Kielburger's wife. WE Charity's CFO is also ME to WE's CFO

Anytime you call something a social enterprise instead of a business you know it is all kinds of sketchy.

 

[regder]

The problem is many charities are spending way more on fund raising than they are on causes. When they spend 10 million to raise 15 million (sound good so far), then pay their executives and then have 2 million left for the cause we have a huge problem. Onlu 20% of what you gave goes to the reason you gave it. Yes they need to pay well to have competent people at the helm, but many, likely most, are just a rinse and repeat of waste.

It is really easy, they document how much goes to the cause and the donors tax returns reflect it. Simple is usually best.

I agree on this completely, there are many charities who's purpose is less about charity and more about making money. Unicef for example only uses 58c/dollar for charity, UNICEF Canada. Canadian Cancer Society is 61c/dollar, Canadian Cancer Society

I would not paint all charities with the same brush though.

 

[Baggsy]

One we give to PWS&D is 92%, 4 is admin, 4 is education & fundraising.
I believe that they look for churches in the target area, and work through them to get locals involved and funded.
That being said, their total budget was around six million in programs, including matching donations.
2019 Annual Report - Presbyterian World Service & Development

 

[jc100]

One we give to PWS&D is 92%, 4 is admin, 4 is education & fundraising.
I believe that they look for churches in the target area, and work through them to get locals involved and funded.
That being said, their total budget was around six million in programs, including matching donations.
2019 Annual Report - Presbyterian World Service & Development

Do they make the locals swear allegiance to a particular sky friend or are they religion free in the way they help communities?

If there's one thing I detest more than a dodgy charity it’s missionaries.

 

[HDRod]

That's good and all but since there were local builders and experts there wouldn’t it have made more sense to pay them to recruit more locals under their supervision to build the schools etc rather than send a bunch of unskilled labour on expensive flights to do the same thing?

I would agree with you, but WE's not paying to fly people there. My trip certainly wasn't free.

 

[jc100]

I would agree with you, but WE's not paying to fly people there. My trip certainly wasn't free.

No, but the money you spent on the flights etc likely could have gone into the pockets of a local labourer, enriching the community and providing skilled labour.

 

[Baggsy]

Do they make the locals swear allegiance to a particular sky friend or are they religion free in the way they help communities?

If there's one thing I detest more than a dodgy charity it’s missionaries.

Do they make the locals swear allegiance to a particular sky friend or are they religion free in the way they help communities?

If there's one thing I detest more than a dodgy charity it’s missionaries.

Not sure what to say to that.
On the one hand you're confusing evangelism and mission, not that a few missionaries don't either.
On the other hand, the money tends to stream through churches or religious organizations in the affected area, so if someone asks questions, they'll be happy to give them answers.
I believe that it's intended be mission in the way that Mother Teresa did it for the RC church, and not in the way that was done for the residential schools here.
In some countries where missionaries work, any hint of evangelism can get you arrested or your throat slit.

 

[Mad Mike]

I would agree with you, but WE's not paying to fly people there. My trip certainly wasn't free.

You bought your trip from Me to We, a for profit travel / tour operator owned by the Kielburger bros. This is a tricky setup they blur the lines between We Charity and the for profit tour company for a reason -- the private for profit company is under no obligation to disclose their finances, the bros. can use it's close links to We Charity to alter funding metrics for the charity, and take any amount of profit, expenses, and salaries out of Me to We without public disclosure.

Clever, but also can be considered deceitful.

 

[jc100]

Not sure what to say to that.
On the one hand you're confusing evangelism and mission, not that a few missionaries don't either.
On the other hand, the money tends to stream through churches or religious organizations in the affected area, so if someone asks questions, they'll be happy to give them answers.
I believe that it's intended be mission in the way that Mother Teresa did it for the RC church, and not in the way that was done for the residential schools here.
In some countries where missionaries work, any hint of evangelism can get you arrested or your throat slit.

I have a big issue with organizations that say “hey, you...desperate poor person, I will help you but only if you listen to my words of wisdom and read about my sky friend and feel obliged to do so, so that I can go to my imaginary sky party place when I die”.

On the other hand...I quite like NGOs that provide exactly the same level of help without any mumbo jumbo or arm bending/guilting involved and those involved are doing it because it’s the right thing to do and not for some reward in the afterlife.

 

[Mad Mike]

I have a big issue with organizations that say “hey, you...desperate poor person, I will help you but only if you listen to my words of wisdom and read about my sky friend and feel obliged to do so, so that I can go to my imaginary sky party place when I die”.

On the other hand...I quite like NGOs that provide exactly the same level of help without any mumbo jumbo or arm bending/guilting involved and those involved are doing it because it’s the right thing to do and not for some reward in the afterlife.

Missionaries don’t bother me. For the most part they are honest and altruistic - both virtues I admire and respect. They also go places Charity Inc won’t go.

Charities Incorporated somehow bother me. Yes, the do some good things but they are simply businesses that often employ and enrich their leaders and friends at the expense of unknowing donors and tax payers.

 

[J_F]

haven't taken the time to read up on WE
are they they a take a bible if you're hungry outfit?

I do like to hear about it when American Missionaries try to save people
like every few years one of them gets hacked to bits on North Sentinel Island

last one waded ashore singing hymns and didn't get too far