Well, we didn’t win! But that’s okay because I believe a large portion of RAINN’s mission is to spread awareness about a pressing issue, and I’m happy we were able to help do that through our project. It was very fitting that our presentation was around the time of UR’s annual Take Back the Night and April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I feel like through choosing RAINN as our organization, we were able to learn a lot more about this issue and being so proximate to it on a college campus made it hit home more. Throughout this process, I’ve tried to try out the Doing Good Better strategy of picking a charity which is able to be the most effective/make the largest impact. But, being the emotion-driven person I am, I can’t part from donating to causes which I care about. And to be quite honest, I don’t think this is a bad thing. Even if my money will be worth more at another charity, I think it is important to remind ourselves it is okay to give to things simply because we care about them.. a little something is better than nothing. I am ultimately happy with our class’s final vote as I believe the establishment of health infrastructures will help alleviate other social issues. People can’t thrive if they can’t even survive.

It is still difficult to decide whether or not RAINN is the best charity to donate to. According to the Feminist Majority Foundation, Greatist, and GiveWell, RAINN sticks out as one of the highest impact giving opportunities. I feel as though the more research I conduct, the more I find that RAINN is constantly among the top rated abuse and sexual assault related charities. So, I think if we are only evaluating charities on these terms, then RAINN would be worthy of a donation. However when taking into consideration charities of all kinds with the biggest impact, RAINN falls short of organizations that try to combat issues such as Malaria.

I think the most challenging part about deciding whether or not groups are worth donating to is that we are evaluating them based on whether or not they are the best. RAINN is a good organization, but because it’s not as transparent in its financials as other organizations or doesn’t directly give as much of it’s donations to the cause as other groups, it’s not as worthy. I don’t that completely discredits it as a charity though, as it still accomplishes a lot of meaningful work.

In chapter 3 of Vaughn’s Power of Critical Thinking, he discusses the differences between deductive and inductive arguments and how to judge the validity of them. He goes through 4 steps individuals must evaluate in order to fully understand an argument. The steps include asking oneself questions such as “is it the case that if the premises are true the conclusion must be true?” and “is the the argument intended to offer conclusive or probable support for its conclusion but fails to do so?”

Vaughn further emphasizes the importance of such a step process by shedding light on the fact that public figures often promote mystifying information and consumers blindly swallow it. As a journalism student, I believe Vaughn’s ideals and practices are applicable and practical to all situations. Individuals must take the time to slow down, ask questions, and evaluate texts/situations before jumping to conclusions. After all, the conclusion may not even be true if they haven’t evaluated the premises.