Many people persecute the philosophy of the late Ayn Rand and her Objectivism Theories. I am not one of them. In Ayn Rand's Philosophy she states that people naturally do what is in their best interests, even when they help others. Inherently, people help others due to the psychological reality of reciprocity and because it makes them feel good to help others.
So, they are not necessarily doing it for the other person, but for themselves. That is not to say that it does not help the other person – just that their motivation is dual-purpose, and really that is not such a bad thing. It's good to feel good and it's good to get a little help once in a while from a total stranger.
Have you ever notice how poor people look to find people poore than them to help, maybe it is because it makes them feel better about themselves and their situation. Maybe they are not helping more wealthy people because they know they can only help them a little bit and helping someone a little bit does not feel as good as helping someone a lot – for instance giving food or shoes to a homeless person.
Then there is the non-profit director who starts out loving what they do, but in the end despises the people they are helping. What happened to their empathy? Well, they do not feel valued by the people they are helping, never get any reciprocity, feel taken advantage of and get defeated from giving so much of their passion, will, strength and resources to those who do not work very hard to solve their own problems.
At some point every 'giver' goes through a phase where he must ask; "are the people I want to help worthy of my assistance, what will they do with the knowledge I give them, will they use it for good, or do they lack character, being imperfect human to use it correctly?" and in answering these questions often one finds themselves with too many wrong answers to pursue their role as a giver. If you've never felt like this in your non-profit work, you have not given enough of yourself yet, to comprehend this article, or you are being dishonest with yourself as you read this, which is usually okay, because not many people ever give enough to ever learn this.
What I find fascinating is that many who claim to be giving only out of empathy will call me out and tell me I do not know what I am talking about, but that in fact is an opinion based on their circumstances and experiences, as the claim moral authority. Neverheless, I'd remind you of the saying; "Do not look a gift horse in the mouth" and explain there is a reason for that saying. Likewise, I promise not to ever cover your head with an fMRI brain scanner while you volunteer to help feed the homeless. Deal?