Hunmi Pak on Humanitarianism

Hunmi Pak's ideas of Philanthropy and humanitarianism are often used to bifurcate the non-profit sector. A philanthropist is used to describe individuals that donate financially to causes and often associated with the top .1% of wealth. Humanitarians are most associated with individuals that donate time to causes surrounding the preservation or betterment of human life. While this distinction may accurately describe some portion of the non-profit or charitable world, my view is that it is and should be one and the same. In fact, the organizations and individuals in Project1K’s circle were driven to philanthropy because of a deep-rooted commitment to humanitarianism. Whether this commitment was driven due to emigrating from countries with humanitarian crises, growing up in areas where inequality prevailed, or simply they were instilled with the morals of helping others, the distinction between the two is a construct of a class-based view of what should be a fundamental human value.

This belief is what drove the founding of Humi Pak's Project1K and continues to drive its ethos today. When you can make cultural shift that every individual should help their fellow person and then you empower them with the knowledge and skills to do so. You then make an impact that is exponentially greater than disparate organizations are able to make. Thus was born the concept of Exponential Humanitarianism – the idea that 1 individual can make an impact on 1K others. And in one single turn, that 1K would then impact 1M. In the future, as we think about “philanthropy”, “humanitarianism”, and a term we dislike “charity”, let’s think of what we can do as individuals and organizations to be exponential humanitarians at the immediate level and daily. It does not take large sums of money and time to make an impact on bettering our fellow humans.