This blog post was previously published on Under African Skies. 

These days, doing good is hot. It’s an age where seemingly every celebrity runs a non-profit and every American youth above a certain income level goes on a “service trip.” Philanthropy has a way of exploding across our social media networks: #Hashtag activism, online petitions, and Instagrammable moments like a village using its new borehole for the first time resonate with the masses like nothing else.

But therein lies a shortcoming of globalization and its latest accomplice, social networking: we are more plugged into what’s happening around the world, but our responses seem to remain the same. One such stagnant response is that of the non-governmental organization (NGO) founded out of the sometimes-nefarious, sometimes-naive savior complex.

Don’t get me wrong: starting a civil society organization is a great way to meet the community needs left unaddressed by the government or the private sector. But, NGOs can also become tools for strengthening an individual’s ego. It starts off quite innocently: you find an issue you care about (malaria!), you find a country where it’s a problem (The Gambia!), and you start an organization to combat that scourge (Swat Away Malaria!). But, at the end of the day, you haven’t looked beyond yourself for an answer to this issue: you haven’t consulted local stakeholders, collected data, or engaged the community in collaborative solutions. In essence, your newborn organization suffers from Founder’s Syndrome: it revolves around you and your ideas, not the vision or experience of the community or its wider group of stakeholders.

Sometimes, this type of NGO survives: it catches a big-time donor, it rides on the wings of its larger-than-life celebrity founder, or it learns enough real-life lessons to sober up and transfer leadership to the grassroots. Many others don’t, and the casualties of ego-driven humanitarianism pile up.

As I’ve been learning over the last four months, the right way to start an organization demands collaboration, patience, and–above all–humility. Whether you’re a foreigner or a local, whether you’re affected by the particular issue or not, the second you start an NGO, you have to become a completely different leader. You are a conduit for the community, not a one-stop shop with a monopoly on social justice solutions. Your innovations and ideas are both constrained and spurred by the needs of affected groups. You are guided and driven by the expertise of local leaders and stakeholders.

Above of all, you consistently downgrade your ego. If you are truly serious about serving other people, you have to ask yourself every single day: “Am I making this decision or pursuing this project because it makes me feel good? Am I disagreeing with that social worker because I don’t want to be wrong? Do I really know everything in this situation?”

If you’re doing it right, you’re going to be embarrassed because someone will call you out on your inaccurate cultural assumption at a stakeholder workshop. You’re going to get burnt out from running more consultative meetings than you ever imagined possible. People will prove you wrong day after day after day. And you’ll take it all with grace and acceptance, knowing that each time your ego’s checked, you grow more capable of leading your organization and making a difference in your community