Should a private enterprise be given a charity
fund raiser? This was the question that came
to my mind recently when I learned that my
friend Owen Holmes had organized a benefit
show for an ailing business...the locally owned
coffee shop Uncommon Grounds.
The lineup originally included the Yusge,
Laserstar(who was unable to attend) and the
novelty group Heavy Flow. As a firm believer
in supporting my friends, I attended the fund
raiser. The Yusge...shown above were amazing
and their performance alone was enough to
warrant the donation.
What was unwarranted was a fund raiser for a
private business. Surely if Diane Lee, the owner
and operator of the coffee shop received windfall
profits, she would not share these with her patrons.
In the same way we should not share in her losses
in the way of a benefit show. Setting that aside the
real push should be a sustainable one instead of a
one time boost in revenue. The push should have
been to bring more people to the local coffee shop.
As an occasional patron I hope the business survives
however I do not wish to see any business getting by
in a depressing zombie like state where there is a
dependence on subsidies from such benefit shows.
When business plans don't work out profitably...it
is time to either adapt and change the business plan
or fold up shop. It is important to be comfortable
with these hard economic realities prior to getting into
any venture.
It is also important to keep in mind that private
business bail-outs are only successful when the
business plan is altered to increase profitability.
One could look at the Harley Davidson bailout of
the 80's as an example where a bailout "worked."
The scale and the source of the funds (forced via
taxes versus voluntary) are different but the
concept of the bail-out is the same.
The best thing that I can say about this event is
that the organizer Owen Holmes is a well intentioned
idealist. There are times where people do things
to appear better than they really are but this is
genuinely not the case here. The problem with
such idealism is that it neglects important differences
between what is, what isn't, what can be and what
can't be. It is no wonder that such events are
generically applauded because people rarely ask
the follow up question of "what next?" If you tell
someone that you're against a these types of charity
shows, you're likely to get a bit of stink eye thrown
at you. This has been boiled down to a right and wrong
point of view instead of any sort of debate or question
as to the efficacy of the plan.
From this vantage point it is dubious at best.
