Pushing Private Philanthropy

One of the better private charitable efforts to challenge obesity is being organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. However, like many other efforts that seek to do something fast, they often put together initiatives that are not as dramatic or innovative as they might be.

After being asked in their email newsletters about making a suggestion, I forwarded the following comment to them to see what might result. I’m looking forward to their response!

Dear Tracy at ReverseChildhoodObesity.org:

I haven’t garnered a lot of interest yet from those invested in the anti-obesity action sector, but I continue to be concerned about the future of efforts when funding and empowerment are not really given their critical due. This was why I came upon the idea several years ago about creating a different approach–one centered on using involvement, engagement and funding by truly forging a new relationship between consumers and the food sector (and particularly the fast food sector). I call the project the Nickel-a-Meal Campaign Against Obesity and it centers on having food outlets voluntarily collect an extra nickel with each purchase. They would do this by working in partnership with the credit/ATM card industry, which has the ability to automatically ad the nickel upon qualified purchases. These nickels would then be immediately and continously transferred to local or regional nonprofits or even economic develop agencies earmarked for food empowerment projects.

The possibilities are amazing! Customers would connect action with their food-buying activities. Smart businesses would be able to and may even be forced to respond to the daily reminder of their customers that it is necessary to come up with fast, affordable, diverse, good and fun food that is actually healthy.

Just a simple calculation suggests that if the fast food sector got into the game, we could generate 110,000,000 nickels against obesity EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year … and it will grow as people become more satisfied with better eats!

I’d really like to see a private foundation like you folks give serious consideration to this model. It is grounded in the very types of empowerment philosophies you have been funding for years, particularly those focused on youth and technology projects. Unfortunately, we really don’t see much of this kind of thinking in the rush to make it look like we are doing something.

People who eat poor foods and don’t exercise enough are NOT the only factor behind the obesity epidemic. Successful marketing and promotions play a major role too, which is why Ronald McWhichever is always so well known. With a Nickel-a-Meal Campaign we can harness this reality and make it work effectively for demonstrable FOOD Change!

You can see my idea at http://Nickel-a-Meal.info. Why not see about having someone write a concept paper? Or have your organization fund a process for exploring some truly original ideas?

Thanks.

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