Throwing down the gauntlet to the world’s billionaires, 64-year-old former South Carolina governor and now head of the U.N.’s World Food Programme, 64-year-old David Beasley heaped pressure on Elon Musk and Jeff Bezons to end world hunger. Beasley’s aggressive plea for $6 billion is a fraction of the net worth of Musk and Bezons, totally over $400 billion, with Musk now the world’s richest man at $311 billion. Beasley’s aggressive style prompted Musk to ask Beasley prove that $ 6 billion would solve world hunger, but, more importantly, prove that the cash would go to the needy, not the bureaucracy, where many world charities talk a good game, but don’t actually deliver benefits to the people. Many global charities have an expense ratio of about 80%-90% or higher where only 10%-20% or go to actual recipients, the rest goes to overhead running top-heavy organizations.
Beasley claims that a $6 billion donation by Musk or Bezos could feed some 42 million, hardly enough to solve world hunger among the billions suffering from hunger or prolonged famine. Beasley calculated what fraction $6 billion would represent to Musk, currently with a net worth of $311 billion, saying it’s only 2% of his net worth. But like many wealth donors to charitable causes, they don’t like being brow-beaten by aggressive salesman like Beasley. If Beasley were really interested in eradicating world hunger, he wouldn’t have to coerce the world’s richest men to pony up or face the public scorn for staying on the sidelines. Musk told CNN’s Connect the World last week that he would consider selling $6 billion in Tesla stock if Beasley could prove that his contribution could do everything Beasley says. Musk called Beasley on the carpet to prove donations go to the needy not the greedy.
Musk wants accountability for any charity claiming to solve world hunger or accomplish any other grandiose mission. Musk doesn’t believe that the lion’s share of his donation would go the needy recipients of the charity. Beasley’s loud call of billionaires undermines his credibility by bypassing corporate fundraising where most charities spend their time. Appealing to billionaires like Musk or Bezos does little for fundraising because most billionaires already have charities nipping at their heels. Beasley told CNN that 42 million would die of famine if billionaires like Musk and Bezos don’t do something to address the problem. Pressuring billionaires to pony up more cash usually backfires, because the plea doesn’t seem plausible, even though they can make the allegations about saving 42 million starving people. Musk wants to help but he doesn’t want to be conned.
Musk wants Beasley to prove that the cash received will actually go to the needy recipients not to running non-governmental organizations [NGOs] or nonprofits. All charities have specific overhead ratios that determine how much of every dollar actually goes to charitable causes. Large charities like the American Red Cross spend about 10% of collection on charitable causes, the rest going to astronomical overhead. Musk said he would “sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” but wanted Beasley to show how the $6 billion would be spent to save 42 million lives. “I can assure you that we have the systems in place for transparency and open source accounting. Your team can review and work with us to be totally confident of such,” Beasley said, pushing Musk to open up his check book. Beasley denied that he ever said a one-time donation of $6 billion would solve world hunger.
Beasley’s approach of guilt-tripping billionaires into donating to his cause could wind up boomeranging. Aggressive fundraising demands usually shows that the charity’s network of donors is limited, leaving the nonprofit to ask for more cash. Beasley said he’d open his books to Musk but that doesn’t answer the basic question of how much donations actually go to charitable programs not running the charity’s bureaucracy. “It’s not complicated. I not asking them [billionaires] to do this every day, every week or every years,” Beasley told CNN. Beasley avoided any discussion of what percentage of donations to the U.N. World Food Program actually goes to feeding the hungry. All Beasley said to Musk is that he’d open his books and work with Musk’s people. Beasley offers Musk no assurance that if he coughed up the $6 billion, a substantial percentage would go to ending hunger.
Large charities—including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—have a real problem correlating donations received with services delivered. Nonprofits are big business when it comes to place like the U.N. Beasley wants big cash contributions from wealthy donors like Musk and Bezos, but, like Musk pointed out, he can’t reassure anyone about how much of donated funds would go to the specific causes for which they are intended. “The top 400 billionaires in the United States, the net-worth increase was $1.8 trillion in the past years,” Beasley said, spending more time analyzing the net worth of billionaires than fundraising for U.N.’s World Food Program. “All I’m asking for in .36% of your net-worth increase. I’m for people making money, but God knows, I’m all for you help people who are in great need right now. The world’s in trouble,” Beasley said, pushing hard to get the cash.
