Have you seen those offers where for every purchase of such and such product, the company will donate so much money to a charitable fund? I saw a commercial the other day for a large well established, well known company that said each time you buy a particular product of theirs during February and March they will donate the profits to relief efforts in Haiti and they will match those donations up to $250,000 (for a total of $500,000; remember profit = revenue - expenses). Wow! I think that's great!
You may know which company I'm writing about; they've done some wonderful things for disaster victims in the states and I think it's great that they're willing to donate up to $500,000 for Haiti relief efforts. I just wonder why they don't just donate the money? (I do know why, but just go with it.)
So let's say they end up making $178,000 in profit by the end of March. That means they will donate a total of $356,000. But they have the financial ability to donate $72,000 more - do they just continue this project until they reach $500,000 even if it takes until July, or does the project simply end at $356,000? And if it ends at $356,000, do they throw in the $72 grand as a bonus? What if they were to reach the $250,000 mark much sooner than projected - would they be willing to continue donating the profits without the matching portion (which would still be great) or would the project just end? They could have made a donation of $250,000 back in February in addition to instituting this program without matching. Because really, if you're big enough to donate that kind of money, and want to, you should make like Nike and just do it.
And while I am apparently in the mood to question good things . . . let me ask this: is there really a need for the new perimeter security gate that is being installed around the hospital? I'm serious here, is there a need? Have we seen a real need to have this massive iron (is it iron?) gate wrap all the way around the hospital? Are we
experiencing security threats? Are we
anticipating security threats? Or was this merely grant money that needed to be spent? After exhausting the (what I am guessing is) grant money that is funding the erection of this massive perimeter barrier, will we have the money to sustain its operation? It appears that there is a security guard booth standing at each of the gate's three entrances. Does the Deaprtment of Public Health have the ability to fund three at-least-full-time security guards? If not, will the entrances simply remain open all the time? If they will, what is the point of installing the gate in the first place?
