Problem

Compassion fatigue

Other Names:
Increasing resistance to charitable giving
Fluctuating response to appeals for aid
Public disillusionment with compassionate aid
Nature:

Appeals for donations to help people in a crisis may initially meet with large responses but repeated frequent appeals may soon result in little or no response. Charities know that extraordinary success of one appeal is unlikely to be repeated by a similar one. Images of famine or flood victims become too familiar and people become inured. "Compassion fatigue" can sap public sympathy. Causes become fashionable and unfashionable. Long-term relief projects are in danger of becoming out of favour with the public and thereby may be terminated prematurely.

Broader Problems:
Indifference
Disillusionment
Narrower Problems:
Refugee fatigue
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-beingGOAL 10: Reduced InequalityGOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
Problem Type:
F: Fuzzy exceptional problems
Date of last update
01.03.2021 – 16:57 CET