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UNA and Utah Film Center Partner to Host Screening and Panel Discussion of Uncharitable

Uncharitable movie posterUNA and Utah Film Center are partnering to host a screening of the profound and important documentary film, Uncharitable, followed by a panel discussion with some of the film’s producers. The event will take place on September 13 at the Salt Lake City Public Library’s Nancy Tessman Auditorium.

Beginning with Dan Pallotta, whose record-breaking TED Talk on the subject has inspired top philanthropists and changemakers, this feature documentary exposes the dark side of philanthropy and introduces a radical new way of giving. In an emotional call to action, Uncharitable demands that charities be freed from the traditional sackcloth-and-ashes constraints, so that they can truly change the world.

No topic is more crucial and timelier as we confront an increasingly unstable world with the growing revelation that we are all interconnected and that our fate lies in how much we are willing to invest in positive change.

The film invites viewers to join in its calls to action, which include:

  • Asking about results and impact when you give to charities
  • Giving to overhead, growth, fundraising, and marketing
  • Giving to get the word out and to hire awesome talent
  • Giving to profound change
  • Giving up on cynicism to believe we can make a better world

The film is based on the book, "Uncharitable," by Dan Pallotta, recently re-issued by Brandeis University Press and the best-selling title in the history of Tufts University Press, its original publisher. The Stanford Social Innovation review said that the book, "deserves to become the nonprofit sector's new manifesto." The book was followed by a talk at TED in 2013 that became, as Chris Anderson, the head of TED has said, "one of the most persuasive talks ever on the TED stage, and the 16th most-commented TED talk of all time."

While the September 13 screening is free, we do ask that UNA members please register in advance.

If you are not yet a member of UNA and/or are interested in attending the screening, please contact us.

To learn more about Uncharitable, visit: www.uncharitablemovie.com

“Challenging hallowed premises is difficult; challenging the foundational premises underlying our understanding of charity is even more so. Dan Pallotta has done exactly that and, in doing so, requires us all to rethink the very nature of what it means to be charitable and how charity actually functions. He liberates charity from its Puritan constraints and cogently attaches it to entrepreneurship in a way that should make us all take two steps back and imagine a new philosophy and theory of charity itself. This is nothing less than a revolutionary work.”

— Gary Hart, Former United States Senator, Scholar in Residence, University of Colorado


“The clearest and most articulate critique I have read of the system of values that our charities and other nonprofit organizations are supposed to follow… explains in graphic detail how these values undercut what charities are trying to do and prevent them from accomplishing all that they might. Not everyone may agree with [this] position, but the nonprofit world will surely benefit from a vigorous discussion of [these] arguments.”

— Derek Bok, Former President, Harvard University