It is human nature that he cannot survive alone in society. People need others to fulfill their purposes. If people in society are caring, than there will be fewer problems in that society and vice versa. Pakistani society has many challenges and each challenge demands the immediate attention of government and general public. According to the report of Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, published in the Economic Survey of Pakistan, about 39% People of Pakistan experience multidimensional poverty. Pakistan also has the lowest literacy rates as according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation (UNESCO), Pakistan has 55% literacy rate and stands at 160th position among the countries of the world. The health sector also requires a lot of attention as conditions of government hospitals are not according to international standards.
The Government of Pakistan cannot alone solve these problems until people of Pakistan stand with the government. Philanthropy works as a bridge between the government and general public to solve the major issues of society such as poverty, education and health. Philanthropy is a phenomenon which provides moral support to people to minimise problems by creating an atmosphere of mutual concern and sympathy. The main purpose of philanthropy is to bring improvement in the quality of human life. The practice of philanthropy and associated institutional arrangements vary significantly through different cultural zones in Muslim world.
According to the report of Charity Aid Foundation (CAF), people of Pakistan have shown a decreasing trend to engage in philanthropic behaviour. Among 140 countries, Pakistan stood at 94th position with a score of 28%. This decreasing trend is unbalancing society, as the rich become richer and the poor poorer. It’s an alarming situation for Pakistan. This decreasing trend could make it difficult to survive for those philanthropic organisations which are working for the betterment of society.
There is no systematic data collection available which quantifies the value of philanthropy in Pakistan but the activity is enormous in terms of reach and impact. In Pakistan, a majority of people prefer to donate privately among the poor to whom they know. This behavior limits the broad effect of philanthropy. In this regard, it is important that people should donate to philanthropic organisations, enabling them to help society in a broader way. However, the upper middle class have started to support social welfare organisations they trust. It is estimated that the total cash and in-kind donations received from by companies and individuals is up to an amount of Rs 240bn annually. 60% of it this disbursed in Ramadan (about Rs.146bn) in the form of Zakat, fitrana and khairat in 2015.
So direct giving to needy is a barrier because it limits the scope of philanthropy. That’s why philanthropic organisations fail to produce significant effects on Pakistani society. It is essential to understand what people think about philanthropic organisations. People don’t have much trust on philanthropic organisations because they do not provide sufficient information to donors for decision making purposes. There is a perception that philanthropic organisations spend too much money on their own expenses rather than spending on solving the major issues and so on.
There are a number of philanthropic organisations which are doing good work. These include the Edhi Foundation, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplant, Shaukat Khanum Foundation, Saylani Welfare Trust, Aman Foundation and The Citizen Foundation. These philanthropic organisations set a benchmark for others and proof that how an effective philanthropy could be done by using limited resources.
To attract more people towards philanthropy, philanthropic organisations should review their activities/campaigns while ensuring that they are efficiently using their resources. For this purpose, philanthropic organisations should provide such information which is helpful for donors. Philanthropic organisations should also make themselves transparent regarding their operations. It will help philanthropic organisations to get more attention for philanthropic giving. Philanthropic organisations should effectively communicate the current need of society to get more attention and contribution.