On Malcolm in the Middle today, Malcolm joins the Boosters. I wish this conversation didn’t remind me of so many real philanthropic groups I’ve worked for:

Philip: First, let’s review our food for the homeless program. Wayne…

Wayne: Good news Boosters, we raised $428 on our rad bowling for hobos event. Unfortunately, the decorating budget got away from us. We spent $425 on the balloons. But, I think we might be able to salvage this by taking that $3 and buying the homeless a really nice card.

Philip: Good save Wayne. Alright, Stephanie, what about our pancake breakfast for the abused children’s counseling center?

Stephanie: It’s gonna be awesome, we have tons of decorations, and hundreds of balloons.

Malcolm: Maybe if you eased up on the balloons, you’d have some more money for the counseling center.

Stephanie: I don’t think abused children want to eat in some gloomy undecorated room. I mean, after what they’ve been through, lets not abuse their sense of taste.

*Spoiler Alert (but do you really care about a Malcolm in the Middle spolier?)*

At the end of the episode, Malcolm auctions off embarrassing items from the Booster club members - raising tons of money, and thinking he’s going to expose their hypocrisy. Instead, the Boosters get excited about how much money they’re raising and offer more items for auction. The whole time they cared about helping people, they just had no idea how to do it effectively.

Categories: Community, Funny, Governance, Metrics, Philanthropy